Miraculous Rewrite - Blog Posts

Simply Miraculous REWRITE

That's right, y'all, I rewrote (the first two episodes of) my old Simply Miraculous fic. As I explain in the note, I noticed a lot of inconsistencies and aspects I simply was not satisfied with. So, I just did it again. The format will be largely changed, I'll be doing important episodes as individual works and others as shorts, and I'll be throwing in some original episode ideas as well.

I managed to write 7 chapters out of the first two episodes, so I hope everyone likes it.

Okay so the reason Simply Miraculous is taking so long to update is because I’m having trouble deciding which episode I should do next because I have a lot of ideas for each episode but I have to line them up right so there’s no confusion so out of curiosity,

What do you guy think the next episode I tackle should be? I’m leaning towards Princess Fragrance

Simply Miraculous Anecdote #2

I can't think of any jokes for Episode 6, this one might be the least funny one so far

New chapter of Simply Miraculous, bitches!

Simply Miraculous anecdote: I’m giving the pigeon man lore

SIMPLY MIRACULOUS CHAPTER 4 JUST DROPPED RAAAAGH

Still coping from the direct lightning strike he took in the last episode, Adrien has to try to go about everyday life. However, it seems that even as Chat Noir, he and those he loves can't escape the judgement and obsession from others. The price of stardom is one he's not willing to let his lady pay.

Guys, Chapter 4 is 30 pages and it’s not even done yet😭

Simply Miraculous, my new fanfiction, it's a half-parody half-rewrite and I'd really like if you'd check it out and give feedback.

Marinette, Adrien, Gabriel, and the Miraculous (Miraculous: Zen Master Style)

Everyone else has tried their hand at rewriting the disappointment that is Miraculous Ladybug, each with their own ups and downs, so I’ve decided to throw my hat in the ring. I’m going to rewrite this series from the ground up, episode by episode, season by season, special by special.. I don’t really have the motivation to write a full fanfiction, so I’m going to do the next best thing and do this bullet-point style. But before I hop into that, I want to talk about one of the most important parts of any rewrite or reboot: the characters. 

Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Harmonia 

The first and most obvious change is that I’ve changed Marinette’s hero name. Ladybug, while very iconic, is in my opinion, a pretty basic and uninspired name. So, I’m changing it to Harmonia, based on the species of Ladybug with the exact same name. It still gives off peaceful and inspiring vibes whilst also being creative.

As for her personality, Marinette wouldn’t change that much in my rewrite. Except for, which is to be expected in every rewrite, her stalker-ish and obsessive tendencies.

Of course I’m keeping her massive crush on Adrien, but instead of having her stalk him, I’d just have her write down any information about him that naturally came across her path. Like, if she was scrolling on Instagram and she came across an interview where he said his favorite flavor is passionfruit, she’d just jot it down somewhere.

Also, she wouldn’t try to sabotage any other woman that shows even the slightest interest in Adrien. I’ve always felt that to be so cringe. Instead, I’d have her maybe show a twinge of jealousy and envy, but she pushes it down quickly.

She’d be shown being creative much more in my version, perhaps scenes of her designing in her room before an akuma attack or solving everyday problems with her resourcefulness. 

I’d also show her progressively becoming less clumsy and confident over the course of Season 1 and 2, really focusing on her first character arc.

Now, appearance. Marinette’s main outfit would be much more stylish in my version because, well, she’s an aspiring fashion designer and her canon outfit is unfathomably bland. I’d probably go with a pink shirt under denim overalls and jorts, along with some nice pink sneakers and black ankle socks.  

Her superhero outfit is getting a MASSIVE overhaul. Like her superhero name, it’s iconic but basic. I’d give it some more solid black accents, and I’d add some padded and armored bits, especially around the torso and the lower limbs, to make it look more like an actual beetle. And her hair would be tied up into space buns, like in her Multimouse outfit, along with a pair of thin bangs that would be structured to look like antennas. 

Finally, her backstory. I’m not changing much about her backstory, however, I am changing her past with Chloe.

See, Chloe and Marinette used to be best friends when they were, like, 10. Chloe was actually pretty chill back then, but something happened one day and Chloe just changed. She became a demanding and cruel bully. She tried to drag Marinette along for her schemes, but Marinette refused and Chloe disowned her. Marinette continued to try and talk Chloe out of her phase until Chloe pulled a prank on her so heinous that Marinette began believing that Chloe could never change. Chloe perceived Marinette’s refusal to help her bully people as a betrayal, so she replaced her with Sabrina and made it her mission to make Marinette’s life a living hell. She bullied Marinette for years, which shattered Marinette’s confidence. 

In this rewrite, she’s 15 instead of 14. I’ve always found it weird that she’s currently 14. Like, why would Fu even believe that a 14 year old is the right person to carry the burden of not only saving all of Paris, but being the Guardian of the Miraculous. And technically, she only turned 14 in Befana, so she was 13 when she got her Miraculous so she probably got all this responsibility dumped on her fresh out of puberty-oh my god, I’m getting off track.

And that’s it for Marinette, now, let’s move on to Adrien.

Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir

I considered changing Chat Noir’s name for the same reason I did Ladybug’s, it’s just Black Cat in French. But I decided that Chat Noir actually flows pretty well, in fact, too well to change. 

For his personality, I decided to make him more like he was in the movie, but with some of the PV mixed in. Sheltered, a loner, kind of cold, closed off his emotions to the rest of the world, doesn’t have a lot of real friends but is still really popular because of his status and profession. He’s nice enough, but he doesn’t allow himself to get close to anyone, or for anyone to get close to him. That is until he meets Harmonia and falls head over heels for her. 

He still takes a bunch of extracurriculars and has heaps of pressure put onto him. His father’s still cold, distant, and controlling, but as Chat Noir, he feels free, his shoulders are lighter than ever, nobody can control him. It’s a nice parallel between him and Harmonia, transforming adds pressure for her while it relieves pressure for him. 

Regarding his love for Harmonia, being raised by Gabriel “Chief of Child Neglect” Agreste, Adrien doesn’t really know the best way to express complex emotions like love, more specifically, romantic love. 

You know that scene from Glaciator 2 where Kagami reveals that she was getting her relationship advice from a manga? Yeah, Adrien’s gonna do that. With guidance from the manga, Chat Noir’s gonna flirt heavily with Harmonia. He’s gonna be unloading all the rizz he can muster onto Harmonia, but it’s so bad that Harmonia thinks it’s all one big joke since Chat’s always making puns and jokes. 

Now for his design, like Marinette’s, it’s basic as hell. And it’s even more illogical for him because Marinette’s just a normal girl with a normal life but Adrien’s dad is literally one of the world’s most famous fashion designers. Almost every Adrien redesign gives him a coat so I’m gonna do that too. I’d probably give him a maroon knee-length victorian coat with the shirt he wears in canon underneath, along with some black dress pants and jodhpur boots. 

Honestly, I don’t have any problems with his superhero outfit, but I’ll still be changing it quite a bit. I want to give it more of a wild look since, in this version at least, it’ll symbolize Adrien letting go of his expectations. I'll be adding some gray accents along the suit, as well as giving him an unzipped, waist-length jacket, with some gray accents of its own. I’m gonna add some sharp points at the end of his gloves. His hair will be significantly messier and spikier. He’s still gonna have his belt tail, in fact, I’m gonna give him another one. Well to be more specific, he’ll have two belts. They’ll overlap with each other to form a sort of wide x-shape at his waist with a green belt buckle that has his insignia on it. He’ll still only have one belt tail though. 

Like Marinette, he’ll be 15 in this one, but he’ll turn 16 in Bubbler (or the episode that’s replacing it).

And now, let’s move on to our main antagonist, Gabriel Agreste.

Gabriel Agreste | Atlas

Okay, so I changed Hawk Moth’s name too, but only because while I was searching up other types of butterflies for reasons I can’t tell you because spoilers, I came across one literally called Atlas and that sounds so much cooler than Hawk Moth. 

Personality-wise, I’m just gonna do what the movie did because the movie did Gabriel so much better than the series did.

Before the identity reveal in Season 2, I’m going to have some scenes with Atlas that make it clear that his goal isn’t World Domination, but to make sure that the viewers know that he’s doing this to bring someone back to life.

And his costume, just Callimara’s redesign of him. She did it better than I could even dream of doing it. Her version is simply peak.

His backstory is where things change a bunch.

So basically, he and Emilie met when they were around Adrien and Marinette’s age, only a year or two younger. Emelie fell first but Gabriel fell harder, and eventually, they started dating. Things were all nice and stuff for a few years until Paris was overtaken by crime, gang bosses and stuff. Gabriel and Emilie didn’t know what to do until they met an old man. Somehow, they proved to this old man that they were pure of heart, so the old man gave them two magic jewels, the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculous, and trained them to become heroes. It only took them half a year to bring the crime rate down significantly. After crime was rarer than you getting some bitches, the old man let them keep the Miraculouses, even after they retired from the hero positions. However, unbeknownst to them, in their last scuffle, the Peacock Miraculous was hit head-on with some kind of magic bullet and was damaged. Emelie got increasingly sick as she continued to wear the Miraculous, unaware that it was the source of the sickness until it was too late. So, only seven years after their son, Adrien, was born, Emilie tragically passed. The effect this had on Gabriel was tremendous. He blamed the old man and the Miraculouses for Emilie’s death, so he renounced Nooroo. He was so grief-stricken that he slipped into a depressive state, inadvertently becoming neglectful and emotionally abusive towards Adrien. He felt like he lost his other half. It all came to a head after years, he couldn’t take it anymore. He needed Emelie back. Then, he remembered something the old man had told him all those years, that the power of the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous when unified could warp reality and grant any wish. He knew the old man still had it, so he spent months trying to track him down to no avail. However, one night, he was struck with a genius idea. He came to the conclusion that the old man must’ve either given them to someone else or is planning to. So he decided that there was no better way to draw out superheroes than creating supervillains. He reclaimed the Butterfly Miraculous and started his crusade as Atlas.

I was so damn dramatic with that one lmao. 

Anyway, onto the Miraculous themself. 

The Miraculous

For the base concept of the Miraculouses, they’re pretty much the same. Mystical jewelry inhabited by deities that each embody a unique concept. What changes for the most part, is the power system linked to these Miraculous.

One of the bigger changes is that a Kwami can choose their holder. When someone becomes a Miraculous holder, it’s kind of like signing a contract. If the Kwami chooses you, you have a choice between accepting or denying them. The Kwami bonds with your soul and mind, making it so that taking someone’s Miraculous isn’t as easy as just taking off the jewel. If a holder doesn’t want the Miraculous anymore, they can renounce it, but it only works once. If you reclaim it after that, it’s bonded to you until death. However, the guardians do know a technique that can forcefully sever the bond between a Kwami and Holder.

Instead of one power, each Miraculous has a variety of powers. A wielder can unlock a new power by overcoming a treacherous mental burden or limit, strengthening the metaphorical bond (relationship) between them and their Kwami, or both. This power system does have its limit. There are two types of powers, Primary Power and Auxiliary Powers. The Primary Power is the main power of the Miraculous, for example, Lucky Charm, Cataclysm, Mirage, Shellter, etc. The Auxiliary Powers are smaller powers that aren’t as energy-consuming as the Primary Powers. 

When the user is young like Marinette and Adrien, you can think of their energy as an MP bar in an RPG. It’s full when they transform but very slowly goes down the longer they’re transformed. Auxiliary Powers chip off small percents off of the MP bar, and the Primary Power immediately brings it down to like, 20%.  

Most Primary Powers are toned down versions of the Kwami’s true power, as the Miraculouses were made to contain, sustain, and repress them so that a user can’t access the true power and wreak fucking havoc. 

There are two types of Auxiliary Powers a MIraculous can give you, Primal Powers, powers based on the animal the Kwami presents as, and Conceptual Powers, powers based on the concept the Kwami represents. Primal Powers are much easier to unlock than Conceptual Powers. 

Unification in this version merges the Primary Powers and Weapons of both Miraculouses being unified. However, because of the physical strain of having your soul and mind bonded to two other beings, Unification isn’t preferred and is pretty much banned for the good of anyone involved. But it is going to be in my version, but it’s going to be super rare. Maybe 1 or 2 every season.  

Weapons are the same in this version, except, like the suits, they can have slightly altered appearances based on who’s using the MIraculous. 

Quantum Masking is real in this version as well. It’s an invisible magical aura that coats the user and blocks any familiarity of the holder from the mind of any non-Miraculous holder. Basically, it allows them to know the holder when they’re transformed but keeps them from coming to the conclusion of “Ayo, is that Marinette!?”.

And that’s it for now. If you’re interested in hearing more of this hypothetical rewrite/reboot, stay tuned for Season 1 and pray that I don’t lose motivation in between this post and the next. I know I am. Alright, Zen Master, out.

LIKE LITERALLY

@glitterpensupremacy This joke will never die

ITS HIMMMMMMMMMM

(Man this guy SUCKED hard in canon—this is justice. I probably won’t characterize him like this, but it’s more than warranted.)

This is Robert. Rob for short he's the former Agreste Mansion chef. Why was he fired because he had beef with a literal child. He was then promptly hired by Bob Roth. Where he's the cook and "babysitter" of XY who he hates even more than Adrien. @glitterpensupremacy I'm not sorry

Woo, Bubbler!!! (I love this episode sm) I wonder what Gabriel meant by “being disrespected”, as Nino didn’t really say anything rude; then again, it makes sense that he’s so defensive against anything that might even slightly resemble a critique of his (let’s be real) rather flawed parenting style.

💖💖💖💖💖

lolllllllllllllll

@glitterpensupremacy she's the one who made the other two memes I only made the first one

Character Dynamics

Okay so let's begin this post we'll talk about the more important characters of the rewrite but I probably will need to split into two posts.

Adrien Agreste

Chloe is Adrien's closest friend from his childhood. He's constantly trying to get her to hang out with his new friends but the issue is he wasn't prepared for how she acts. As a child he knew that his mom and Audrey didn't get along but it wasn't until style queen and queen wasp that he understood what kind of person Audrey was. He sees how Audrey's behavior has shaped and changed Chloe which is why he stops Chloe from leaving with her mom. Episodes like Despair Bear is Adrien trying to convince Chloe that she might have more in common with his friends than she thinks. Adrien isn't a total pushover with Chloe when Adrien sees Chloe being mean to Ivan he calls her behavior out. We will see them growing closer again as Adrien starts fixing their fractured friendship.

Juliet is Adrien's second friend he made at school. Adrien and her have a lot in common since both of them were homeschooled and currently live with one parent. They also share a love for superheros. They often feel like siblings with the way they act and joke around. Juliet is able to understand what Adrien's going through better than some of the others. That's not to say she can completely understand what Adrien's going through because she doesn't know what it's like to lose a parent both of her parents are alive and just divorced. Their similarities make her easy to approach when Adrien is having issues with his dad.

Marinette well we have the love square but Mari isn't as obsessed yes she has a crush on him but not stalking level like in the show. Mari has a crush on him and does some awkward things for example the voicemail thing still happens most of the other stuff like breaking into his house doesn't happen. Her and Adrien are friends with her crush on him sometimes getting the better of like Volpina. She does try to get over Adrien when she thinks he's not into her but failed. Adrien for his part actually started developing feelings for her in season 3 but pushed them aside since he already was dating someone and so was she. As Chat Noir and Ladybug their dynamic is mostly the same though they're on more equal footing.

Allegra is Adrien's other childhood friend she's a bit older than him already being in Lycées when we meet her. She is a student teacher in fencing. Adrien and Allegra are super happy to see each other again as Allegra had to move after her parents found out her grandmother was sick. The two reconnect as if it hadn't been years since they'd seen each other. She often acts like an older sister to Adrien. He normally brings out her more jokey side which her friend group is shocked by.

Nino is the first friend Adrien made at school. Nino quite fittingly since he has the turtle miraculous acts as a protective figure to Adrien especially considering Adrien is so new to public School. And honestly, I don't have too much to say just because it's much easier to watch it play out.

Valérie is an interesting one because she's the granddaughter of Wang Fu who's not only Adrien's mentor but his Mandarin tutor as well. Val is one of the few people who knows the identity of the original 3 early on. She can be a bit critical of all of them Chat Noir especially considering how destructive his miraculous is. She does relate to Adrien a bit with having an overprotective parental figure aka her Grandpa.

Gabriel is much different than his Canon counterpart. He doesn't threaten to pull Adrien out of school and actually does care about him. He just has a hard time expressing himself especially after his wife Emilie died. Again, he's another one that's difficult to explain without showing it.

Felix is Adrien's cousin the two of them used to be really close when they were kids but Gabriel and Colt had a falling out. Which led to Felix not seeing Adrien anymore. When we meet Felix in season 2, he is rather distant. He does love his cousin but he has a lot of trust issues thanks to Colt. And he is jealous of all the friends Adrien has how people seem to love him so much. As the series goes on, we see their relationship gradually improve and Felix make friends with some of Adrien's friends.

Luka is in all honestly probably going to be the last one I explain because in all honesty this is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Luka is good friends with Adrien they first became friends through having a couple mutuals then Luka was looking for a keyboardist for the Kitty section. Luka often is the person Adrien will vent to because he doesn't want to bother the others. Luka tries to always be there when Adrien needs him. He also listens to Chat Noir vent when they're on patrol.

Casually drops this with no explanation

I don’t usually draw larger drawings, but since someone I know irl suggested it, here’s these two!

Individual drawings (and a bit of extra text) under the cut:

Basically these are actually remasters, as I had originally drawn close ups on Night Light and Greyhound two years ago. Hopefully my art development is evident through the compare and contrast!

MTS Volpina, my beloved…

(A major driving force behind her design was to ensure that it looked significantly different from Rena Rouge, while also making it clear that she’s Rena’s villainous foil.)

Lil MTS-inspired (might end up being in the final cut, but idk yet) blurb:

(Explanation below the cut)

Okay, we’re nowhere NEAR writing MTS Animaestro (especially when it’s in the last season and I haven’t even finished writing the first episode of the show), but I’ve been thinking about it lately anyway.

The episode will be both pretty similar and pretty different from the Miracubug one, but one of the (super minor) is that it’ll be different is the casting for Movie LB and CN . (Since Zoé’s dreams of being an actor get more focus, she ends up being the one to voice Ladybug, but we still need a Chat Noir. Yes we technically COULD still do Adrien, but for reasons related to the episode plans, we’re gonna go with someone else instead. It might not actually be Félix but this scene kept popping into my head so I had to write it out.)

Look, another weirdo duo!

(Oh and by the way we changed hero Max’s name from Pegasus to Sir Steed. Why? Because vibes I guess; that, and he doesn’t have actual wings so Pegasus feels inaccurate.)

In a lot of rewrites I’ve looked at tend to water down the romance aspect of Miraculous by either not making Adrien and Marinette like each other, removing secret identities, or otherwise not really focusing on the love angle. And that can be a good thing, (especially if you actually fill the space with more focus on the different interpersonal relationships of the show). At the same time, I… kinda feel like it’s missing the appeal of ML in the first place? It’s an action romance show (a act-rom? Rom-act? Idk) which is actually pretty rare in the general media (usually it’s either mostly romance with a bit of action or vice versa with a shoehorned love interest), not to mention that the love square focuses on one of the core ideas of the show (relationships and they affect both your perception and trust).

So yeah, not only are we keeping the love square, but we’ve actually planned out how it progresses through the show (which I think is the main challenge with the concept: creating proper pacing). Therefore, I (finally) give you…

MTS Love Square:

To start, Adrien and Marinette will behave very differently with their crushes than in the original.

- Chat Noir is a lot more hesitant about being open with his feelings initially (due to various events before and in the first season) and prefers to hide behind ironic declarations. When he eventually does confess and is rejected, he is a bit disappointed but takes it well (if anything he’s more worried about LB not wanting to be his friend anymore). It’s actually because of CN that the secret identities are a factor in MTS (the identities are never a concrete rule, but he doesn’t trust himself enough to learn who LB actually is, and LB wants to wait until he is ready before she learns who CN is).

- Marinette gets more time to know Adrien before falling in love with him (and becomes aware of how over-the-top antics from admirers make Adrien uncomfortable due to his celebrity status), therefore, she tries to be a lot more subtle with any approaches she makes. Marinette still might stammer (as she does in most stressful situations) around Adrien when getting used to her crush on him, but doesn’t really make complex plans or usually swap words around. When she confesses to Adrien and is rejected, she also handles things fairly well despite her disappointment.

As for the general timeline for the square, we have:

- S1 (first half): Adrinette meets each other and becomes casual friends. Marinette initially just thinks Adrien is okayish (not super interested in supermodels), which actually makes Adrien more determined to be her friend (as she’s one of the few people who treats him like a normal person). Ladynoir meet and DO NOT GET ALONG, both due to representing opposite concepts, and then reminding each other of certain people in their lives who they have issues with (and Tikki and Plagg egging on their rivalry). They prefer to handle things on their own.

- S1 (second half): Adrienette become even closer as they have a few silly interactions (chiefly in Befana, Stormy Weather, and Guitar Villain). Ladynoir learn to work together and start seeing the other person for who they truly are (Timetagger, Puppeteer). They develop a strong bond due to their mutually stressful situation (Copycat also happens, which increases their concern for each other and CN’s fear of hurting LB). In Glaciator, the ACTUAL love square begins (Marinette falls in love with Adrien, Chat Noir falls in love with Ladybug). We get a handful of Marichat interactions (briefly in Timetagger, Befana, Puppeteer, and especially Weredad). Ladrien makes a minor appearance in Style Queen.

- S2 (first half): Both CN and Marinette work up the courage to confess their feelings to their counterparts. CN doesn’t want to become obsessive and harm LB with his feelings, while Marinette worries about potentially losing one of the few friends she has. Various romance related occurrences happen in their class that affect how they think about their crushes (Stoneheart, Evillustrator, Dark Cupid). When they finally do admit their feelings, a mutual friendzoning occurs (whether they have no romantic interest in their other selves or simply do not know how to process having a second crush is up to interpretation) and they try to figure out how to interact with each other post rejection. (Oh yeah, and we get a bit of Marichat in Evillustrator.)

- S2 (second half): Kind of a continuation of the last plot thread for S2’s first half. Adrien and Marinette navigate their friendship after Marinette is rejected, and Ladybug and Chat Noir try to ensure that their bond remains unshakable as ever. However, extreme circumstances (especially on the hero side) keeps them from fully processing their feelings.

- S3: Pretty light on love square content. Lots of interactions between sides (Even some Marichat with Gamer and some Ladrien with Gorizilla), but they’re trying to move on from each other. Adrien and Kagami (who was introduced in S2) fall in love, as do Marinette and Luka (also introduced in S2). We get the occasional hint that there is still some lingering feelings between the protagonists, but not much aside from that.

- S4: Lukanette and Adrigami play out over the course of S4 (and eventually break up near the end of the season). While there are other reasons why the couples don’t end up working together, the fact that Marinette never 100% moved on from Adrien, and vice versa with the hero identities, may be a factor in why they weren’t able to make things work with the alt ships.

- S5 (first half): Marinette and Adrien process and recover from their break ups. Eventually they discover their feelings for each other (Marinette learns that Adrien is in love with Ladybug and CN learns that LB is in love with Adrien). This leads to Ladrien dating (controversial, I know) but issues continuously crop up in their relationship.

- S5 (second half): The various issues with Ladrien are explored (mutual guilt over feeling like they’re lying to the other one by dating them after being friendzoned in another identity, trying to hide why they know so much about each other despite barely interacting as Ladrien, Ladybug worries about endangering the civilian Adrien, Adrien worries about not being able to help Ladybug as CN because she’s trying to protect him as Adrien). They manage to (indirectly) share some other problems as Marichat, but then they begin to realize that they’ve also developed crushes on each other as Marichat, which causes EVEN more problems! Things seem to be getting better when CN is finally ready to learn who LB is (after confronting a nightmare of a LB who thinks he’s a monster in Sandboy), and reveals himself as Adrien, inviting LB to do the same. Unfortunately, this shakes LB pretty badly (as she had a Sandboy nightmare of Ephemeral, a potential Adrien Akuma), and she isn’t ready for her half of the reveal yet.

- S5 (finale): When LB is able to put the pieces together on who HM is, she attempts to fight him on her own (due to knowing CN is Adrien and not wanting him to deal with that), unfortunately, this does not go well for her when (big spoiler I probably shouldn’t reveal yet), causing (even bigger spoiler I DEFINITELY shouldn’t reveal yet). When they two reunite (and Adrien finds out who LB is), they need some time to deal with everything, but finally get together completely at the end of the show.

Conclusion

For anyone disappointed about not getting post reveal dating, I don’t blame you (we have vagueeee plans for a sequel show where there is post reveal dating, but the plans are a lot hazier so I can’t say as much about it).

So yeah, that’s the brief rundown of the MTS love square. If you want more information about a specific side, feel free to send me an ask!

After this I’ll probably write my character notes on Felix MTS, but we’ll see.

One of the neat things about traditional art is that if you use the right pens, natural light can make certain colors look more dramatic.

Also here’s him in more normal light:

Since Alya and Chloe are done, I can get into some of the other potential topics of discussion from the last poll, namely

Tikki & Plagg MTS

And why we decided to ruin them (we’re sorry y’all)

Tikki and Plagg kinda start out the story as morally grey (if not downright sinister) characters who antagonize their holders. (Well, at first the two try to get on their holders good side so they’ll do what they want, but when that falls through…) This was partially done to drive the plot (as I’ll explain later) and partially to further characterization (experimenting with the Kwami as complex characters who aren’t “the good guys” in every case. Also less to “fix” their canon selves, as Plagg especially had a strong personality in the OG, and more to take them in a different, MTS suited, direction.)

Tikki has the power of creation, but she also represents order. She believes herself to be a perfect, virtuous being who always knows what’s best (she also genuinely thinks she’s helping, but is pretty deluded in this front). This causes her to be arrogant and controlling, and primarily manifests in her relationship with Marinette through their interactions and the Miracle Cure.

Much like the original story, Tikki frequently tries to teach Marinette lessons on how to be a proper person. The key difference, is that she encourages selflessness and excellence even when it isn’t necessary, and some of Marinette’s “faults” aren’t actually things that she does wrong (Tikki is the type to lecture Marinette for an extended period of time about patience and compassion just because she got slightly annoyed at someone for being rude). In many regards, this Tikki can also be quite hypocritical on this front.

For those unfamiliar, the Miracle Cure now has the consequence of sapping its users with energy in order to repair all the damage. Tikki conveniently “forgets” to mention this little detail to Marinette, and constantly stresses how everything depends on her to stay in order. When Marinette realizes what the ability has been doing to her and renounces it, Tikki frequently guilt trips her for being “selfish”. (Tikki being more obsessed with control and opposed to any sort of disarray was integral to furthering Marinette’s end of the S1 powers plot)

Eventually Tikki does come to accept that she was wrong to have such unfair expectations for Marinette, along with ignoring her own faults and wanting the world to be in a rigid, constant “perfection”. (Witnessing Chloe behave like a little brat, while noticing how she is equally demanding of Marinette, probably helps Tikki get a reality check). Character Growth Tikki will still be different from Miracubug Tikki, as her new attempts to help Marinette will be a lot more awkward than OG Tikki. She also retains a bit of sass, so she’s rarely completely nice and friendly in demeanor.

Plagg, being Tikki’s opposing force, represents chaos in addition to destruction. He likes to run around doing whatever he wants and shaking them up as much as possible. He cares very little about who or what gets damaged in the process, and doesn’t even try to fool himself into thinking he’s a good guy (rip Miracubug Plagg 😢).

For what it’s worth, he does like Adrien when he first meets him, seeing him as a kindred spirit looking for freedom in a world determined to tie him down. However, he doesn’t like him enough to warn him about the harmful effect the Wildcat ability has on his mind. This is mostly due to Plagg’s love for the destructive, chaotic nature of the ability (Kwami physically can’t use their powers without their holder due to the Miraculous’s inhibitive function, so this is the closed either Kwami gets to having their natural power again). That being said, Plagg’s warped affection for Adrien is an additional motivation (thinking that him losing all self control and succumbing to every instinct he has is an “improvement” to being restrained in anyway).

When Adrien renounces the power, Plagg feels very annoyed that Adrien is now rejecting that wild part of his powers and as a result is “looking down on him”. Plagg frequently taunts Adrien, telling him that without the Wildcat, he’ll just go back to being that miserable, obedient boy that he was when he first got the miraculous.

When Plagg does come to care about Adrien, as well as appreciate the existence of things other than him (and is now more reluctant to the blind destruction of everything), he is a bit more similar to his Miracubug self. The main difference being that he’s a bit more energetic (though still prone to bouts of laziness) and not as good at expressing himself verbally, preferring to physically comfort Adrien instead.

I think that’s all of the relevant details. (@dumblr-account, remind me if I missed something super important.) I know I didn’t structure this like the typical character notes post, and that’s because the Kwami, while still complex in their own right, don’t have quite as much going on as the human characters (mainly due to age and backstory differences).

Alright Nathaniel Fans, I’ll come out and say it: I legitimately did not get the hype before but now I totally understand. The experience of designing this guy (and giving him extra lore) has permanently changed me as an individual. (He’s just a lil fella trust)

Aw dang, I can’t believe I forgot to post Alix. I kinda tried to give her more of a roller derby vibe (whilst also taking a bit of inspiration from her Greenhopper concept art), but idk if I hit the mark or not. I still think she looks cool though.

(Edit: Added more purple.)

The original design had a pretty strong base, I just needed to add a bit more of Alya’s signature “practical journalist vibe”. (Like the renaming of her blog) she won’t be called Lady Wi-Fi, as she isn’t specifically motivated by just Ladybug. The new name we have is Network, but if you have any other suggestions, I’m all ears!

Alright, breaking out of my procrastination bubble to finally do:

Alya MTS!

As per usual, the four categories:

1. General Info

2. Personality

3. Key Relationships

4. Character Growth

1. General Info

I kinda feel like I should preface this with a massive “hear me out”, because her character goes in a VERY different direction from most Alyas.

Not only does she only become Marinette’s best friend at the end of season 2 (as both characters have a lot they need to do first), but “Alya the fangirl” isn’t really a part of her MTS character. She still runs a blog, but it probably won’t be titled “The Ladyblog” (which is sad, because that name is ICONIC), because she focuses on the two heroes pretty equally, and doesn’t want to seem “unprofessional”.

Basically, we took the “Alya is sometimes presented as the practical voice of reason character” and “Alya initially wants to find Ladybug’s identity”, along with the MTS LB and CN getting into some mishaps early in their career, and made her much more skeptical and critical of the heroes. She doesn’t think the safety of the city should be placed in the hands of two strange teenagers (she especially doesn’t trust Chat Noir, since his power is pretty dangerous and he’s pretty reckless with it at first) and wants to find out all of their secrets. Is she in the right? Not completely, but she isn’t 100% wrong to have criticisms of the heroes either.

She fills a pretty interesting role in the earlier portion of the show, where she is technically an (initial) antagonist to the heroes, but isn’t a bad person (in fact, she’s fairly altruistic), as a contrast to Chloe (Marinette’s initial civilian antagonist) and Felix (Adrien’s initial civilian antagonist) who are more morally grey/not concerned with doing “the right thing”.

This is also a bit more of a minor note, but while Alya’s family still moved to France from Martinique, they did so much earlier than they did in the original, (likely when Alya was around ten), so she has lived in France for a few years now.

2. Personality

As I mentioned, this iteration of Alya is a bit more grounded, and tries to be logical and mature. She cares a lot about morality, ethics, and safety, with helping people being her top priority. Her fixation on the truth extends to this, as she believes that knowledge is the only way people can take care of themselves. She’s still very passionate, but tries to direct her energy into trying to be a “legitimate journalist” and often forgets to just let herself be a kid.

Her viewpoints do lack a bit of nuance at first, as she doesn’t realize how important secrets can be, and can get a bit too caught up in her own judgments (in hindsight, MTS Marinette is a lot more understanding than her canon counterpart due to her new backstory, while MTS Alya is kind of the reverse). It’s worth noting that a lot of Alya’s more intense traits are amplified by her fear. Having your city bombarded with demon butterfly possessed supervillains with your only source of protection being mysterious animal-themed teenagers with overwhelming power isn’t very good for your mental health.

Because of these fixations, she often struggles with the more “normal teenager stuff” like friendships and romance. Her blunt nature also makes it difficult to socialize, but her earnest, loyal, honest, and slightly awkward demeanor make her quite endearing once you get to know her (this might not be completely essential to one’s understanding of her character, but MTS Alya does fall somewhere on the autistic spectrum).

3. Key Relationships

Marinette: These two have occasionally crossed paths in their more recent years (Nora would frequently take Alya with her to the same gym Kim and Marinette go to together), but never really noticed each other until now. Alya mostly sees Marinette as the kind but nervous girl who sits next to her, and is especially worried about her safety after Alya realizes that her “new best friend” Lila is bad news. Marinette is still pretty nervous about Alya finding out she’s Ladybug (although she’s stopped trying to find out the heroes’ identities at this point). After the two (unknowingly on Alya’s part) take down Lila and stop her villainy, the two become proper friends. Marinette helps Alya get more accustomed to the more casual aspects of being a teenager, and Alya helps Marinette begin to recover from her friendship issues. They help each other let their guard a bit more, despite both being such high strung individuals.

Nino: Unlike the original show, Alya and Nino never have a romantic relationship (no hate on DJ-WiFi, the MTS iterations of their characters just aren’t compatible romantically; believe me, we tried!) but do form a strong bond nonetheless. They do get to a rocky start (as Nino mistakens Rena Rouge for Volpina and tries to take her down as Carapace), but after better understanding each other, they team up and build a friendship. Nino makes Alya realize that she doesn’t have to be responsible for everything 24/7, while Alya shows him the importance of putting more effort into things (besides his brother and heroing). Their differing personalities balance each other really well, and while they aren’t hero partners (Nino’s a lone turtle), they work really well as a team.

Chloe: They start off with a small rivalry (which I alluded to in my Chloe post), but quickly form a common enemy. That, alongside Chloe’s arc about caring for others as an actual hero, and Alya’s arc about being more patient with others, and they have a lot to offer each other. For these reasons (and then being the only two heroes with public identities), they are a superhero duo much like Ladybug and Chat Noir. Though Alya gradually accepts Chloe’s dramatics, she doesn’t tolerate her slacking off or making things about herself during an active threat to the city (has the energy of “she’ll fix herself if she knows what’s good for her”). That being said, she does come to enjoy Chloe’s peppy nature and (surprising) ability to be supportive. (However, Chloe’s attempts to get Alya to take “spa days” with her and “treat herself” are met with a mixed reception!)

Lila: Fox versus Fox, Lila and Alya are full-on archenemies. It starts out with Alya simply getting slightly off-putting vibes from Lila, but when she discovers she’s Volpina (after managing to obtain her miraculous that got lost in a fight), she does everything in her power to get her exposed. Likewise, Lila is doing everything she can to get her miraculous back and ruin Alya’s life while she’s at it. Lila coming off as a sweet girl with a lot of friends while Alya’s initial hostility to the heroes and accidentally jarring personality do stack the odds in Lila’s favor, often leading to severe consequences, but Alya is eventually able to team up with the other heroes to take her down. Though Lila is taken into custody, she manages to escape with a dangerous vendetta against Alya…

Other key relationships include her family (particularly Nora and her mom), the heroes (duh), and Zoe.

4. Character Growth

Her main arc is pretty apparent by now. She generally needs to learn to not jump to extreme conclusions when she doesn’t have all the information, as well as be more accepting that people have their reasons for not sharing everything. The two main sequences that help her learn this are her Alakumatization and the Lila/Volpina experience.

Alya gets akumatized when an akuma she captured (attempting to study it to find more about the source of the problem) escapes and corrupts her. She also tries to end the akumatization when Hawk Moth orders her to potentially endanger civilians, but his control over the miraculous (and her) are too strong. After being deakumatized, Alya is a bit more careful in her investigations, and a lot more willing to hear the heroes out (while Alya doesn’t remember being an akuma, just the knowledge that she was corrupted, and the video footage of her as a villain is enough to rattle her).

When dealing with Lila, Alya tries to take the direct approach, both in trying to publically confront Lila for her crimes and by telling the city that she’s the hero Rena Rouge. This inevitably backfires when Lila manages to use her manipulation to avoid being found out and getting Alya in trouble instead. Lila also teams up with Hawk Moth to target Alya’s family, even managing to get Alya akumatized into Vixen Vermillion at her lowest point. She does overcome this, and becomes a lot more tactical with her knowledge in the future. (Alya’s development into tolerating secrets is completed when she finds out that Nino is Carapace, but keeps his secret). She’ll also rename her blog to “The Miracle Blog” after forming a proper respect and camaraderie for the other Miraculous heroes, and shifts from trying to expose or criticize Ladybug and Chat Noir to simply posting any relevant information needed to keep the public safe (which she was doing in the first place but now it’s more of a focus).

Alya also gets the smaller character progression of relaxing a little more, both because she feels safer with her fellow heroes and due to her new friendships helping her appreciate the smaller things in life.

Conclusion:

And that’s a wrap! I know that she might seem a bit odd for an Alya, and her slightly more difficult tendencies may make it seem like we don’t like her very much, but not only was the shift away from her original character intentional (we realize how different we made her), it was not meant to salt on her in any way. On the contrary, we wanted to give her more of a story as her own character, not basing her entire life to revolve around someone else (heck, sometimes she feels like the deuteragonist to Ladybug and Chat Noir’s co-protagonist statuses!). This is particularly what I mean when I said that us rebooting the characters often drastically changed up their original personalities and roles (like many reboots do). Not to hate on what they were, but to tell a different story.

After this I’ll probably explain the new Tikki and Plagg personalities, roles, and development. Then maybe explain the MTS Love Square after that. Thanks for staying patient everyone!

(One more thing: I’m also releasing Alya’s akuma design shortly after this post, so if you enjoy seeing character designs, I’d recommend checking it out!)

I’ve finally started to pin down how the MTS Kwami look! Kinda gooberish, idk…

Time for the problematic Queen!

Chloe MTS

As usual:

1. General Info

2. Personality

3. Key Relationships

4. Character Growth

Edit: I’m so sorry guys I forgot the “read more” 😭

1. General Info

It’s probably pretty obvious by now, but this will be a Chloe-demption Miraculous story. I don’t blame people who don’t really like that or her in general, but that’s the story you’re gonna get here. (Granted, this Chloe will be a bit easier to make a better person than the original, for reasons I’ll go over soon.)

2. Personality

Chloe Bourgeois seems like the typical rich girl: self-centered, superficial, vain, spoiled, not very good at listening to others, melodramatic, mostly mean to other people, and used to getting what she wants.

That being said, there’s a bit more to her than that. Her lack of self control and immaturity is mainly the result of having a father who would hand her whatever she wanted to keep her busy. Similarly, her mother is only interested in the “exceptional”, so Chloe often strives to be more like her. The fact that neither parent really tried to raise her is why she’s so infantile and prone to ridiculing others to feel better about herself.

A different side of Chloe tends to come out around her loved ones. She’s somewhat overbearing and clingy, but will shower those close to her (especially family) in gifts, pet names, and affection. Compared to OG Chloe, (and most other fan made takes on her), she’s a lot softer and more naive (dare I say a little cute). Every once in a while she lets the confident facade drop, becoming quieter and being genuine about how she feels.

3. Key Relationships

Marinette: As I’ve mentioned in the Marinette MTS post, Chloe and Marinette have a friends-to-enemies storyline in the first season. Basically, Chloe’s constant need for attention and favors was too emotionally draining for Marinette, so she broke things off between them, which Chloe does not take well. At all. After spending the larger part of season two trying to antagonize her, Chloe finally understands why Marinette left and leaves her alone. Things are still pretty tense between them, but they can exist in the same room without blowing up (and if Chloe sometimes still misses her ex-best friend? Well she doesn’t! Don’t be ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!!!)

Adrien: Chloe and Adrien are also childhood friends, (only they’ve known each other practically since birth while Marinette and Chloe met in their early school years) with Chloe actually being the one to introduce the two. At first, Chloe’s glad that her precious “Mari-roon” and “Adrikins” are getting along; when he decides to keep being Marinette’s friend after she stops hanging out with Chloe, she’s a little less enthused. Adrien also plays a more active role in helping Chloe become a better person, as he’s one of the people with the most knowledge of why she is the way that she is, as well as her better qualities (that and Chloe is determined not to lose him like she lost Marinette, even if she isn’t consciously aware of this yet). It also probably goes without saying that her feelings for Adrien aren’t ever really romantic like in the OG show.

Zoe: Chloe adores her darling baby sister, and tends to bring her wherever she goes. She initially tries to help her younger sister understand how the world issupposed” to work, but when that backfires (due to that pesky traitor Dupain-Cheng and her new friends) she has to remain content with simply showing Zoe off and doing what she can to help her sister succeed in her ambitions. (Due to being more of a people and family pleaser, Zoe doesn’t really do much in Chloe’s redemption, but she is one of the characters who can occasionally get her to play nice.)

Alya: These two don’t really know each other very well at first. To Chloe, Alya’s just the blogger girl who doesn’t properly appreciate the perfect Ladybug! When they interact more often due to being in the same class, things aren’t much better, seeing as their opposite ideals and personalities clash (hardworking vs lazy, integrity vs self-indulgence, etc). They do have to team up against a common enemy though (that being Lila), as well as share the struggles of being the only two superheroes with public identities. By the end of season two, Chloe and Alya become hero partners. (Despite sometimes being annoyed at what a “goody two shoes” Rena can be, Queen Bee can admit that she’s pretty smart, and secretly considers her to be a better hero than she is.)

Other key dynamics include: her parents, Ladybug (and Chat Noir to an extent), Kim, and Sabrina.

4. Character Growth

A lot of Chloe’s development is about learning to care about others and not resort to making other people’s lives more difficult just because she’s unhappy about something. This is mainly through how she interacts with acquaintances (not being as insulting or harming the rest of the class through her schemes) and her friends (learning how to be a good friend is a major part of her character arc). Another aspect of this how she matures.

MTS Chloe’s stunted growth is generally attributed to the lack of involvement that both parents have had throughout her childhood. While she doesn’t completely grow up (which makes sense, seeing as she is still very much a child), she does learn to occasionally think things through beyond the obvious and take certain issues more seriously.

Her familial relationships also factor into this development. She both grows in relation to her family (trying to be a good big sister for Zoe and eventually realizing that Audrey is a terrible mother/person and standing up to her), and inspiring them to change as well (seeing Chloe work to improve herself is one of the motivations for Zoe wanting to be more honest with others, Andre also acknowledges that he’s been a selfish and irresponsible father and works to become a better parent for Chloe and Zoe).

Conclusion

Alright, that’s the general rundown for Chloe. The more whimsical vibes that she has might be a bit disappointing for people who prefer a tougher, sassier mean girl type of Chloe, but hopefully she’s still likable in her own regard.

Up next will be Alya (who will also have an akuma design posted around the same time I have her character notes ready, so keep your eyes peeled if that kinda thing interests you)