I DESPISE Ads Like These. Not Only Are They Awful And Annoying, But They Don't Even Show The Gameplay!

I DESPISE ads like these. Not only are they awful and annoying, but they don't even show the gameplay! And I've played Project Makeover, so I know it's not like THAT.

In my experience, the ads that get my attention more are the ones that look like a trailer or show actual gameplay. Not this "woe is me" BS and "you can do better"

memes to redraw, but they’re all from the weird Project Makeover ads 💀

Literally makes no sense. How could LADYBUG convince FELIX to trust humans. I heard that Felix learned of Ladybug's identity: Marinette, a happy girl who had no struggles in her life growing up (Derision don't count nor is it enough) and had a great support system. AS IF he'd listen to her!

And if he DIDN'T know Ladybug's identity, that would be even worse. It basically makes her a stranger who has been getting in his way.

"oH, BuT sHe HeLpEd HiM!" BS. Their partnership would be tenuous at most, brittle at best.

If anything, the ones who would've had even a CENTIMETER of convincing Felix would be Adrien and Kagami, because:

1. They can relate to him as senti-kids who were dealt a bad hand.

2. The 2 have a relationship/history with him, so their words would have more weight.

Hell, even CHLOE would have a better shot than Marinette! At least SHE knows him and knows what it's like to be dealt a horrible hand.

Apparently someone asked Astruc why is Felix in the team at the end of Season 5, and Astruc responded that is because Ladybug made him trust humans now. Any thoughts?

Mostly just total confusion. When and how did Ladybug make him trust humans? This is up there with Lila learning Gabriel's secret by reading Nathalie's lips in the season four final. Just an absolutely wild statement that no one is going to get from the actual text. I honestly thought Felix changed sides because of Kagami.

I mean, Thomas Astruc admitted it himself that Adrien was made FOR Marinette, and that he was like a prize at the end of a race, so....

The thing with Miraculous Ladybug is that it doesn't even play with classic fairytale tropes in any meaningful way other than 'Oh, the girl's the knight, while the prince is the one who needs saving from their evil parental figure,' which isn't bad on its own, but it does leave much to be desired if they're trying to say something in regards to those tropes.

Honestly, the best version I can think of in terms of a similar setup is this anime called 'Revolutionary Girl Utena' since that anime points out how harmful the objectification and abuse toward the princess, Anthy, really are, which is something they flat-out refuse to show with Adrien whose in a similar princess role. In fact, he's actually treated worse than fairy tale princesses since at least they're allowed some agency in their own stories and are the heroes or at least main characters when truly analyzed. Meanwhile, Adrien's prevented from having any amount of agency or desires of his own until he becomes nothing more than the prize for Marinette and is not even allowed the decency of being able to think about his father the way he wants, and as to content himself with thinking of horribly controlling and neglectful father as a hero who saved Paris.

I swear, one of these days, I might make an analysis comparing the fairy tale allusions in this show to Go! Princess Precure because that show actually put thought into making the main character's arc parallel the adventures of her favorite book's main character. It's also an anime that portrays princess as being capable of kicking ass and taking names instead of being damsels in distress.

Interestingly, I thought about Ladybug's power too! My idea is actually kind of similar to yours, with the whole "pure creation" idea.

For me, I thought it would be a good idea to condense "Lucky Charm", "Purification", and "Miraculous Ladybug" into one ability. Ladybug can create anything she wants, which seems OP at first glance, but in reality, the special power is limited by the user's own mind and its biases. Also thought it would be good that the 5-minute time limit also doubles as the timeframe in which she has full freedom to use her power.

Now let me break down each aspect and how it works:

"Lucky Charm" is essentially creating what you want. However, you need to have a clear, definite image of the thing you want to create (such as Mister Bug's ask for a mirror), Marinette's ideas are usually vague (think like "I need something to solve this") which is why she gets random stuff. It's TECHNICALLY something she needs, but it wasn't defined enough to make something specific.

"Purification" is basically equal to overwriting the akuma. Marinette thinks she's de-evilizing, but what she's actually doing is re-creating the akuma into what she presumed it to be initially (subconsciously), which is a butterfly.

"Miraculous Ladybug" is basically like the purification part. Marinette doesn't reverse the damage, her power responds to the idea she had, which is basically "Bring Paris back to what it used to be before" and re-creates everything back to how it used to look. Kind of like overwriting a previous document.

So basically, Marinette thinks she has 3 separate powers, but in actuality, she's just using 1 power in 3 different ways. Also, she has a limited number of uses for hers.

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Now for Cat Noir... no arguments. I actually think his Cataclysm is fine as is. No need for more than a one-time use. The only thing I would change is the function.

Rather than a one-time use, Adrien has a limited amount of power. Think of it like a reservoir, and when he uses Cataclysm, he essentially just condenses all that power into a single, devastating blow. Maybe at some point, he could learn to portion out the power into smaller, not-as-big but also powerful attacks.

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Sorry if this is a little on the longer side, but I put a lot of thought into the powers, mainly for my own AU. It's a thing I like to do. I will retcon, but if I can find a way to alter certain aspects that wouldn't contradict the original formula, I'll do that.

You’ve talked at length about Tikki and Plagg as characters in their own right as well as avatars for Creation and Desruction over multiple posts, so I’m gonna ask about your full thoughts on their weapons (yo-yo; staff) and powers (Lucky Charm, Miraculous Ladybug, De-evilization, and Magical Charms; Catyclysm).

I don't have strong thoughts on the weapons. I don't think they're really themed around Creation and Destruction, but that doesn't bother me because it makes sense for the weapon to just be a weapon and the magic powers to be what gets tied to the Kwami's Force. I will say that I think that the more powerful the magic power is, the less lethal the weapon should be. It makes sense that Destruction wouldn't have a sword when Destruction can kill you with a touch of their hand. It also make sense that Creation wouldn't give you the ability to easily destroy a life. Minor thematic elements to be sure, but good ones that I wouldn't change even if the show was allowed to have on-screen death.

Quick power rundown since I've talked about most of these before:

Lucky Charm: like the general concept, hate that it's tied to Luck and not just pure Creation. I'd change it so that Marinette has to actually come up with items, but leave the wackiness of what she comes up with as on-the-spot problem solving is just like that sometimes and it's a nice character beat

Miraculous Ladybug: Generally like this power, but I feel it's a little too OP. It doesn't just create things, it destroys them like when it removes messes. I'd personally change the power to pure creation and give Chat Noir a sister power that does the destruction half, making the miraculous reset a dual wielded ability. Maintains Ladybug being the vital "must have" power while making the two miraculous feel more balanced

De-evilization: Like the power, hate that it's Ladybug's. Cleansing is an act of Destruction, a removal of taint. This should be Chat Noir's power. Probably just an aspect of his Cataclysm

Magical Charms: I think these are weird, but Creation should be able to create anything so I guess they're fine? I personally wouldn't introduce a complication like this because it raises a lot of questions, but I think it may have been forced on the writers to sell toys so I won't nitpick too much.

Cataclysm: the one power I have no notes on. I think it's fine as-is. Destruction gets an act of pure destruction. Makes sense to me.

I ALSO saw you all over Pinterest! Found you on Tumblr and it felt like I saw a celeb!

Dear @i-am-a-fish

I've seen you over things like Pinterest and you're truly such a nice person, trying to make everyone's days a little better :D

As a thank you, I bring you hot chocolate :D

[If you don't like hot chocolate I can find you something else! ^^]

Take care of yourself :]

YOU ARE VERY KIND, thank you very much for the kind words and thank you for the cocoa!!!!!

Honestly, not doing the China route was such a waste! The concept of the yin and yang would've been perfect for Ladybug and Cat Noir! Yin and yang is all about the concept of duality in—I think, correct me if I'm wrong pls—Confucianism. Ladybug and Cat Noir, and subsequently Marinette and Adrien, would've been great subjects for duality.

Logical and emotional, loved and wanting to be loved, calm and energetic, careful and reckless, creative and destructive—there were so many contrasts and parallels that could've been played with in Miraculous Ladybug, but they never touched it. It was like the Chinese concepts were just that, concepts, and as the series went on, they just turned into aesthetics. They looked the part, but overall had no substance.

It's just sad, seeing a show with so much potential, and all of that just goes right down the drain.

The interesting part of the miracle box is that it wasn't always tied to Chinese culture. Back in the concept the other Kwami/fairies power seems to be quiet random and the power has nothing to do with Chinese culture /at all/. if anything it closely resemble the concept of Imajin from Kamen Rider Den-O, the Kwami entered an object, asked the owner of the object for a wish after the wish is made the Kwami took form as the animal that the contractor loves/fond of. That's why they have grasshopper, dragon fly, Mr pigeon etc, instead of limit it to Chinese thing which I think would be more interesting than what the show have imo.

Odd that they scrapped so many good things from the concept instead of keeping it. Maybe because it doesn't favor the toy selling plan or whatever the sponsor and the higher up thought that time.

That's really interesting! I knew that they played with a bunch of concepts for the show and that one was a girl squad, but I didn't know that the way the Kwamis worked changed so much. I wonder why they went the China route when what you described sounds like a much wiser move given how little interest the show has in exploring Chinese culture.