This was meant to be an art blog

Tigress: How did you do that without turning around?

*Po and the furious five were beating up a bunch of bad guys as per usual in the valley, whilst confronting them, the wolf bandits start mocking Po and Tigress*

Wolf bandit leader to Tigress: "HAHAHA! Sorry to break it to you, kitty, but you and your pudgy boyfriend are no match for us!"

Tigress, growling: "'kitty'?"

Po, taking a double take: "wait- 'BOYFRIEND'???"

The five and the group of bandits they're beating up: *freezes midfight* "uh oh."

Tigress, pounding her fist together: "I'll show you who's a kitty-"

Po, holding Tigress back: "WHOA WHOA WHOA FREEZE, PAUSE, TIMEOUT- I'M NOT- ME AND TIGRESS ARE NOT TOGETHER!"

The bandit leader: "you're not?"

The five and the rest of the bandits: "you're not??"

Tigress, surprisingly: "we're not?"

*Manifesting KFP4 does justice to the franchise*

*Manifesting KFP4 fixes every damn plot holes & character development that was butchered by every KFP animated series. Yes I am sounding very sour regarding the series & no! None of the series did justice to the franchise. End of discussion*

*Manifesting more Shifu & Furious Five screen time*

*Manifesting previous movies villains cameo*

*Manifesting nobody d!es*

*Manifesting Tigress to have an important supporting role*

*Manifesting a heart warming father daughter moment between Shifu & Tigress*

*MANIFESTING A BADASS TIGRESS MOMENT....ALSO HOPING FOR ANOTHER WARDROBE UPDATE SOMETHING SLEEVELESS AGAIN THIS TIME*

okay so this is actually a theme in a lot of my fics because i actually feel like it’s that important to the show and to their characters and why i’m really interested to see “risk.” marinette and adrien are, in different ways, both risk averse. this shouldn’t be a big shock to anyone who regularly reads analysis of this show. adrien’s is a learned behavior mostly: as chat noir he takes risks more freely, but as adrien, he’s learned that the nail that sticks out gets hammered down. to quote stephen schwartz as performed by idina menzel, “don't dream too far/ don't lose sight of who you are.”

we see adrien ask his father for things on occasion, but typically they’re either low risk, low reward (“will you have dinner with me father” would get adrien a small bit of happiness if fulfilled and is unlikely to be punished for asking) or they’re something adrien finds so important that he’s willing to risk it, and even then he does his best to minimize the risk (i.e., preparing a speech to ask to go to marinette’s birthday). but in general, adrien doesn’t ask for much and tries to be happy with what he gets, because maybe if he demands more he’ll end up losing what he does already have. this translates over to his relationship with ladybug and hesitancy to ask her directly to fulfill his emotional needs.

for marinette, i think this comes more naturally. she’s an anxious person. she’s terrified of rejection. being with adrien could make her so, so incandescently happy — but she’s not willing to risk what she already has with him. better to enjoy the scraps of friendship than to ask for more and risk ruining everything. sacrifice the possibility of romantic happiness because the process of going after it could leave your friendship in tatters. now, she’s made some progress here this season and is getting more self aware about it (especially in glaciator 2 and simpleman), but as much as she’s starting to accept that she can’t control the outcome, she still isn’t ready to actually face that in action.

as ladybug, it’s even more pronounced, since the risk isn’t just personal — she’s risking the safety of the world. so even if making changes to how things are done might be better for her, she doesn’t know if it’s safe. fu’s rules are safe so she’ll keep following them even if it’s making her and chat noir miserable. she bent them a bit to tell alya because she was at her absolute limit, because she couldn’t sustain it anymore. but after that she goes back to wait she was doing before. even though telling someone her identity made things easier, she’s not willing to take more risks like that, not unless it’s necessary, not even if she’d be happier (and we know from ephemeral that she would). and that still hasn’t changed by the end of kuro neko and i don’t know if everything can be resolved until it does.

but it DID change during ephemeral. her choosing to reveal herself was so huge and she was so nervous and tense but she’d finally realized that she wanted this, wanted chat noir, badly enough to take that risk, that this happiness was worth it. part of that i’m sure is the happiness finally felt within reach for her, but she’s still scared in that moment. and ephemeral ultimately does confirm that this is a huge risk. she’s not imagining things. telling chat noir her secrets very much can directly lead to shadowmoth winning. i don’t think it’s inevitable, but we see that her fear is well founded and the risk is real.

(sidebar but now that i’m thinking about “i’m not that girl” it’s officially going on the playlist for ephemeral: hands touch, eyes meet / sudden silence, sudden heat / hearts leap in a giddy whirl is like. that ladybug reveal moment. and then every so often we long to steal / to the land of what-might-have-been / but that doesn't soften the ache we feel / when reality sets back in UGH why don’t i know how to make amvs or gif sets. if you do please @ me i have ideas)

so “risk.” it’s scary for both of them. and it’s an episode title. in the finale. and we know that there’s some possibility of ladybug risking her identity, perhaps for adrien (not to him, i don’t think, but for his sake) — the very thing she’s most scared of risking, because like in the season premiere, she’s facing a point where not taking a risk is worse (especially if my prediction is right and adrien will be in more danger than just potentially leaving town). she couldn’t bear to lose alya’s friendship and she can’t bear losing adrien either. as for confessing her feelings, she might not be ready to take the risk of confessing if that means losing what she has with him, but if that might be lost anyway? well that changes things, doesn’t it?

There is something about CatWalkers design that kept me busy all day and now I believe I figured out what it is!

Back when we got his design leaked I immediately thought it was Adrien and my opinion on that definitely hasn’t changed til now. Not only because the design is way too well though out and beautiful to waste it on a Chat Noir imposter or Félix (honestly no offense), it’s especially because when you compare Chat Noirs design to CatWalkers they may seem very different on the surface, but when you actually take a closer look at them you notice CatWalker doesn’t fell WRONG per se as a second design for Adrien as the black Cat; even when he’s deliberately trying to distance himself as much as possible from Chat Noir. And that’s because CatWalkers design STILL incorporates most of Chat Noirs key character design aspects; they merely put a twist on them.

So this is still Chat Noir: but the inverted Chat Noir!

This little analysis post is made off 3 points and will most likely be edited after “Kuro Neko” airs because of obvious reasons.

Enjoy!

oh my gawd, i thought that pose looked familiar!!

Mundo Gloob just showed the trailer of episode #23 "Kuro Neko"!!!

This episode will premiere Tuesday, January 24th at 19:30pm (Brazil Time)

The trailer is very spoilery so...

Watch it at your own risk!

“It’s a date, then!” she said, flashing two finger guns with the biggest smile she could muster.

I made it so wherever I look explodes

Thank you!! Haha I love this genre 💖💖💖 They’re not all necessarily set AFTER the season (since we don’t really know what’s going to happen in the finale), but these all deal with the season 4 fall out. I think I’ve recced most of these before (I've previously recced angst hidden gems, sadrien and sadinette), but it’s nice to get them all assembled in the same place.

Also, if anyone has any to add, I’d love that because at the moment I am eating this specific flavour of angst up with a spoon!!!!

team is a four letter word by @ladyofthenoodle

Alya didn’t want to come between Ladybug and Chat Noir. But she didn’t want to stop being Rena Rouge either. And if Chat Noir didn’t want to talk to her, then she’d need to find a different way to prove all three of them could be a team.

Her plan unintentionally brings a few secrets to light, which leads to even more secrets coming to light, which leads to… well, Alya is sure it’ll all work out eventually.

Multi-chapter. Warning, this fic is a WIP! I’m obssessed with this one. Season 4 spoilers all over the place, but the dynamics between Marinette & Adrien & Alya & Nino, the characterization, the emotion, the different perspectives and distinct voices!!!! I’m sure once it’s complete it’s going to zoom past that 500 threshold, but it’s so, so good, I’m going to rec it while I can lol

Bitter Water by @karkalicious769

“Plagg, I renounce you.”

Ladybug doesn’t move. She can’t move. To move would mean acknowledging what just happened, and if she doesn’t acknowledge it, then it’s not real.

Finally, she turns around. There’s no one waiting for her there. No wink of green eyes and a shit-eating grin coupled with finger guns as Chat Noir teases, “Had you for a second there, didn’t I, Bugaboo?” (And she’d be furious at him for a joke like that, but she’d hug him anyway, because at least it’s a joke.)

This isn’t a joke.

The Ring of the Black Cat sits abandoned, and Chat Noir is gone.

Two-shot. Marinette’s choices regarding Chat Noir in season 4 have consequences, and she needs to face up to that. This totally made me cry, but it was very cathartic.

The Angst of Adrien Agreste and Chinese Finger Traps by @coffeebanana

Chat Noir gets gets his fingers stuck in a toy he can’t get out of, and Marinette wasn’t expecting Adrien to show up to school the next morning with the toy she’d given Chat Noir.

SEASON 4 SPOILERS (Gang of Secrets, Optigami)

One-shot. This should be crack, but it’s not. While the vehicle for the reveal sounds ridiculous, the fic does a great job of delving into the underlying issues season 4 has been brewing and actually addressing them in a way that doesn’t feel like crack at all.

Transcient by @flightfoot

Everything was fine now, right? She’d assured him that she wasn’t mad about Su-Han knowing his identity, and he sounded like he was feeling better. She’d fixed the problem.

So why wasn’t the lump in her throat disappearing?

——————————

Chat’s worried about how Su-Han managed to learn his identity. Marinette re-examines her “Obtain Chat Noir’s identity” plan.

One-shot. Ephemeral fall out. Because of the content there’s obviously a lot of Adrien angst here too, but I appreciated Marinette’s perspective here, especially how upset she was to realize how much she’d hurt someone she cares about. And really some of the best angst comes from characters dealing with the fallout of their own mistakes.

The Importance of the Black Cat by @chatonne-rousse

Plagg gets down almost two full wedges of cheese before Adrien sits down on the edge of his bed with a heavy sigh.

“Hey, Plagg?” His voice is quiet but doesn’t betray any emotion yet. That’s actually more worrying.

Steeling himself, Plagg swallows the last big bite of cheese and zips from the desk to perch on top of the globe, facing his holder. “What’s up?”

He heaves another sigh before looking up into Plagg’s eyes, emotions still unreadable.

“How important is the black cat?”

*****

Adrien has a lot on his mind - concerns, questions, doubts. And right now, he has only one being to confide in. There is not enough cheese in the world to make Plagg want to handle this situation, but his holder needs him, and he knows two things with certainty: his very important place in the world, and that no one hurts his kitten. Not if he has anything to say about it.

One-shot. You want some season 4 flavour Adrien angst? How about some post-Optigami wallowing? I love the portrayal of Adrien and Plagg’s relationship with the mix of light and heavy. Pretty sure I still owe Rosie a sequel to this one because I wanted to see more resolution afterwards and made the mistake of sharing my thoughts on that 🙈 It’s just very thought-provoking!!

and say you want me by @ladyofthenoodle

“If you’re still partners, what’s the problem? Did he do something to upset you?”

The problem was that even after they’d reconciled and tentatively worked things out, Chat Noir had still been hurt. He’d asked for space, and Ladybug had been so careful to respect his request. After months, she’d hoped they might grow closer again, but there was still a wall between them. She wasn’t sure if he’d ever ask to cross it.

But oh, she’d wait forever, if only he would.

One-shot. More season 4 fallout, this time it’s Marinette trying so hard to respect Chat’s boundaries after hurting him, but she’s missing her partner and mourning what was and in that kind of dark headspace where it seems the problem will never be fixed.

Partners by @karkalicious769

“Um.” Alya fidgeted nervously as her earrings beeped their countdown. “Ask me a question that only Ladybug would know the answer to.”

Chat Noir barred his teeth, and— Were they always that sharp? At least he wasn’t growling again. “You are not Ladybug,” he snapped.

“Just do it!”

It was all Alya had to go off of and she really needed to pull this partnership together before the akuma got any worse. She wasn’t deluded enough to think that she could do this without Chat Noir.