Someone Ought To Tell Harry…

Miraculous s6 Trailers Breakdown

Before I get into it, if it calms anyone’s nerves, I think this poster is a case of questionable graphic design. The weird official render style makes the characters look different from normal, plus Chat, Carapace, and Rena are all squished to match Ladybug’s proportions on the poster. This is an interesting choice from the designer: making the smallest character in the group take up the entire height and corresponding width of the poster and then awkwardly smushing the others in next to her. That’s why Carapace looks more short and stout than usual, and why Chat and Rena are kinda elongated. It doesn’t help that they shrunk Rena to accommodate her fox ears.

I’m liking the little updates to the hero suits. I honestly wasn’t expecting to see change for anyone but Ladybug and Chat, so now I’m excited to see everyone else. I love the changes on Carapace. They took his old, pretty simple suit and added a lot of new textures like the chest plate and wrist guards, and they gave him fingerless gloves and neck speakers. This gives me hope that they’ll update other designs that get criticized for just being a bodysuit with a decal on it like Ryuko and Viperion’s into something more interesting.

Rena is very similar, but her ears are bigger and pointier, the flute has been redesigned, her palms are white now, she has big poppin’ eyeliner, and her tail seems to be dark. Some people noted that they seem to be making Alya’s skin look darker after accusations of whitewashing her, so I hope they’ll finally give Pegasus the same treatment.

I’ve seen people say LB and CN must’ve taken influence from their reverse selves for their current designs, and CN seems to have some PV nods like his new shirt collar. Ladybug’s design feels more mature and is probably a response to criticism of her looking too simple as a character with a fashion interest among other superheroes with more detailed designs.

I didn’t include the poster of Marinette’s outfit, but overall I like it. I agree with people saying the bow on her shirt feels extra, but I like her emonette jacket. Her tights under jorts remind me of Mylene’s outfit, making me wonder if there’s some character influence there, or if they’ll be changing Mylene’s clothes so they don’t look too similar.

First look at Alya! Yay! I love her new haircut. It reminds me of Haru from persona 5. She seems to be wearing the same shirt, which is lame. Maybe the rest of her outfit has changed, or maybe they’re not fixing what isn’t broke. It’s disappointing, though, that Adrien’s outfit looks the same. I can only dream that they’re leading up to a makeover scene where he realizes he’s allowed to pick out his own clothes now, but alas.

Here Adrien is jogging with a new character (?) who has a prosthetic leg. There’s no good look at their face and even this screenshot sucks. If this is the same scene as Marinette with binoculars, then we might be getting a rare moment of a new character being introduced through Adrien rather than Marinette, perhaps someone he knows from rich people stuff or whatever nebulous and dubiously canon sports he participates in.

This frame appears after a camera pan right from a modernized remodel of the school. Before, there were average city blocks around the school, so whatever this is might be part of an expanded campus built for Bustier’s utopian academy.

I think I’ve written in a post before that I hope ML does something to commemorate the Paris 2024 Olympics, so I’m thrilled to see an Olympian akuma in the trailer! Perhaps this character is a celebrity cameo, but idk anything about Team France and its stars. It’s possible this scenario will be a special episode as well, but maybe more like the plastic special than the world specials. I hope they have to beat her by competing in games like Penalteam but with less cheating. It’d be awesome if the other heroes helped represent events that fit their characters. An episode like that would be a fun and light way to introduce the new animation and hero designs without diving into deep overarching drama and lore.

Perhaps the character jogging with Adrien is connected to this episode since they have a prosthetic running leg and seem athletic.

Here’s our first look at Lila’s akumatization. Her mask thing is very pretty and soft looking compared to Gabriel’s sharp, geometric, simple one. It reminds me of a masquerade mask with all the swirls. Maybe there’s some visual symbolism here of Lila being a more complex butterfly user than Hawkmoth. We also see her shooting some sort of beam at CN from the mask, maybe separate from the akuma’s power. I hope they’ll revisit the somewhat-retconned bloodbending power we saw Hawkmoth use on Evillustrator and Pixelator and explore the full extent of the butterfly’s power over their akumas.

Tomoe? Astruc said he wants Kagami to fight her and take her down further down the road, and I believe she may be a bigger villain than they’re making her out to be now. Lila is great and all, but an adult threat who owns a tech megacorp and is one of the only surviving members of Gabriel’s creepy billionaire sentibaby cult seems like a scarier enemy than the pathological liar from class. We don’t know Lila’s deal yet, but I imagine her villain motives are probably something deeply personal. Meanwhile, Tomoe might be trying to reach some greater goal that Gabriel failed to achieve. Both she and Lila practically had all the fruits of his evil labor fall into their laps without lifting a finger, so they might have an interesting dynamic as rival villains or fake allies.

Okay this is from the London special. The synopsis says someone found Ladybug’s identity to take her down, and she and Bunnyx have to solve the mystery and reverse the events. This masked person looks like they may be the enemy, and their design is themed after the rabbit miraculous. People have been kinda assuming that it’s just Lila, but everyone in the audience knows she’s the next big villain right now, so it feels like a cop-out to frame this special as a mystery. It could still be her, and it’s just a mystery to the heroes, but what if the enemy is someone else? If they’re using the rabbit miraculous, Lila wouldn’t have access to it during season 5 unless she stole it somehow and gave it back unnoticed.

My theory is that the villain is Tomoe who got the miraculous from Gabriel. The trailer shows catbug looking in on Adrien and Kagami in their white rooms, so maybe during that time, Gabriel sent rabbit!Tomoe after Ladybug to ensure his victory in the upcoming finale, and maybe she has her own motives as well.

I recall Zag releasing concepts of some hero or spy characters from London a long time ago, and I thought they’d be for the London world special like Eagle and Lady Dragon, but maybe they’re for a different show or got scrapped in favor of focusing on the main miraculous plot (which honestly, good. Please focus on the existing characters)

Finally, poor Nooroo in Lila’s creepy catacomb bunker. I hope her jumpscare reaction at the end of s5 wasn’t just the sight of him. It would feel odd after the latest of Marinette’s hero friends were totally chill seeing kwamis for the first time. He’s in some bubble here. Maybe it’s stopping him from sharing things he’s not allowed to say, or maybe Lila is forcing him to stay put? I’m also curious about the angle and what that metal bar is a part of. Is Lila sitting under a table?

Anyway! TLDR I like the new designs overall and I’m excited to see everyone else. I’m also excited at the prospect of an Olympics episode and I think Tomoe may be the next big villain next to or even surpassing Lila.

So it seems that not only did Harry shift blame away from Draco in book 6 in the immediate aftermath of Dumbledore's death (x) but apparently based on this bit from book 7 it looks like when Ministry officials arrived he didn't implicate Draco at all and instead only gave evidence about Snape's guilt despite the fact that he heard Draco confess to a number of crimes.

The lengths he goes to to shield Draco are actually wild. Guess all our headcanons where he testifies on Draco's behalf don't go far enough lol.

Fanon Harry: Yes Draco made terrible mistakes but he shouldn't go to Azkaban because if you look at the whole context it's clear he was coerced and didn't want to do it and subsequently changed his mind and even risked his life to save mine so he deserves a second chance.

Canon Harry: Idk what you all are talking about. I was on the Astronomy Tower the night Dumbledore died and I only saw Snape. And sure someone Imperiused Rosmerta and made her pass on poisoned mead and a cursed necklace but anyone could've done that. If we had a witness who overheard the perpetrator confess their guilt then we'd know. But. Sadly. We don't. :)

Draco sitting in his own trial listening to Harry's version of events:

Rewatching Timebreaker, in hindsight to knowing what the watch is, this intro to it makes it so weird.

Specifically the watch's ability to make a hologram.

Assuming this watch was always planned to be the Rabbit Miraculous, does that mean that all Miraculous can make holograms? Or have some unique minor ability they can do and this is what the Rabbit can do?

Which, for something related to time travel, it's kinda random.

Unless Rabbit wasn't planned to have time traveling powers, but potentially, originally was the illusionist instead of Fox.

Which wouldn't be too much of a stretch for Rabbit.

White rabbits are an iconic animal that's tied to magicians, who are expert illusionists.

To add to it, the rabbit is tied the trickster archetype. Europe has tied rabbits to other-worldliness and the fae. And there is an Indian fable of the Clever Rabbit and the Foolish/Hungry Lion. Where the Lion decreed all animals were to sacrifice themselves so he can eat, and when it was the Rabbit's turn, the Rabbit told the Lion that there was another lion nearby, and led the Lion to a well/watering hole and pointed to the reflection in the water. The Lion drowned trying to fight his reflection, saving the Rabbit and other animals from being devoured.

Which a reflection can count as another illusion.

This can even work off Alice in Wonderland as illusions can be tied to dreams, and they can be creative and surreal and strange.

As for the time motif, it can play off time is an illusion.

So IF that watch was always planned to be the Rabbit Miraculous, I wonder if it was originally the illusionist instead of the time traveler; as the ability for the watch to make a hologram is just so random.

As for Fox, given that Volpina "the False Fox" was an illusionist, there was a possibility that the actual Fox wasn't. And Thomas Astruc had confirmed that Pied Piper was a Fox (hence the flute).

Potentially, Fox originally had a power of hypnosis or subconscious manipulation through music, also working off how music can influence you.

Which this ability is what I associate Pied Piper with more than illusions, and it would work better off Fox playing the flute to use the power, as playing it to make illusions is a weird choice. Anyone hearing that music would know an illusion is coming, but not so if the music could enthrall you and influence how you perceive the world, what you register.

To add to it, this can work off the 9 tailed foxes too, I have read that some did have the ability to hypnotize; this can also work off that infamous ability to possess a target, taking over another.

A lot of this is just speculation though.

It's hard to say if the watch even was always planned to be a Miraculous, if the Zodiac were even always planned. Some things just feel like they rolled out and there were definite changes that had been made, some of which I'm sure were done to keep to the status quo easier and not drastically change up the story (like Mayura was built up to be a bigger bad and bigger threat, actually be HM's boss, but nah, that'd change up too much, can't have that).

charming, but unsure

So today I’m going to tackle this commonly held notion that Chat Noir is somehow Adrien’s true self, as well as the fandom binary that likes to treat them as separate characters, when they’re the same person. Adrien is not separate from Chat; Chat is not separate from Adrien.

I feel like a huge part of the confusion has to do with the fact that Chat Noir presents himself as confident and sure-footed while Adrien is polite and understated, and a lot of folks have trouble reconciling the two.

This is because in the current media environment, nuanced characters who show any sort of duality in their personalities are rare (especially in children’s shows). But there’s also something else going on here. One of the reasons that people have such a tough time accepting that Adrien and Chat are the same person is because Adrien Agreste is a trope breaker. 

How? Well, there is the fact that other people have already mentioned; how he’s the Yin to Marinette’s Yang, the dark, reserved, and passive energy to her outgoing positive energy. But that’s not the only trope convention that he breaks.

Adrien is the actual embodiment of all the YA/shoujo stereotypes that people like to project onto Marinette.  Actually, together, the two of them subvert and reverse the typical male/female dynamic in this genre, and that’s what makes them such compelling characters. 

Of course, he doesn’t fit the mold entirely—and neither does Marinette—but it’s true! Adrien is both utterly charming and utterly unsure about himself.

I think on some level, most people recognize this. In fact, I’m almost positive that it’s one of the reasons that Ladrien is less popular than the other sides of the love square dynamics.

Because people aren’t used to having the boy be the one who’s the daydreaming shy one, and with no actual canon interaction to work from to see how interesting it can be, people are filling in the blanks with their own interpretations, and some people love it, and some people hate it.

It also explains why he seems to be so different when he’s Chat Noir. Let me deconstruct how this works.

Adrien Agreste is sweet, charming, encouraging and friendly.

And he’s also shy as hell. 

The way it manifests in his behavior could easily be mistaken for politeness if you don’t look closely, but it’s everywhere if you’re searching for it.

We can clearly see it in the littlest things. Like when Adrien comes over to Marinette’s house to practice for the video game tournament and her father comes up multiple times with offers of food, Adrien looks very pleased and eager, but Marinette, focused only on being alone with Adrien, immediately shuts her father down and sends him back downstairs.

She’s not looking at Adrien’s face, and so our shy kitten, who definitely wants the cookies but isn’t used to speaking up for himself, doesn’t get his food. This happens twice before Adrien finally feels confident and comfortable enough to speak up for himself and say that he’d like to take a break and try Madame Cheng’s quiche. 

You can see it in the way he deals with Chloe too. Note the difference between Adrien and Mari’s respective reactions to Chloe trying to barge into Juleka’s space to stand beside him for the school picture: while Marinette basically tells her to fuck off, Adrien makes a comment about how it’s not gym class, but that’s about it. Once she’s there, he sighs and suffers in silence. Because that’s how he always deals with Chloe, as she walks all over him, invading his personal space and getting in his face.

It’s clear to anyone paying attention to Adrien’s expression that he isn’t happy about any of it, but again, that’s the key: you have to be paying attention. Because Adrien rarely actually verbalizes his displeasure, and even if he does, he does so in a very subtle manner compared to how Marinette expresses anger.

Like when he does confront Chloe, in Kung Food—he backs up Marinette and then again, makes a snide comment at the end when Chloe tries to assert herself. But he’s never openly confrontational, and he’s rarely the aggressor.

Compare this to Marinette, who often rushes in and says things without thinking, and you can see the difference. 

Once again, to accurately read Adrien, you have to be paying attention to him. And if you pay attention to him, you can see that he is often replete with uncertainty, and he’s constantly seeking some sort of validation. Because the thing is, for most of his life, Adrien has been a sheltered homeschooled boy with essentially no interaction with peers of his own age, let alone girls.

Unlike Marinette, who has spent her life surrounded by people who care about her and encourage her bold personality, Adrien has had to repress and present the perfect facade. He’s still figuring out how to interact with regular people, and he takes his cues from the way people react to him. Which is why Marinette’s awkwardness confuses him—it’s not quite friendly and yet it’s not quite unfriendly, but in this strange middle space, and he’s clueless as to how to deal with it.

So what does this have to do with how Adrien matches up with typical shoujo tropes?

Well, it’s because of this: if anyone needs a boost of confidence from a magical suit, it’s Adrien. If Ladybug is the sun, Adrien is the sunflower, looking up at her to catch a ray of light. He’s dazzled by her, and he wants desperately to be worthy of her love.

The thing is, as Chat Noir, Adrien finally gets a chance to explore saying whatever he wants to say and being whoever he wants to be, without being repressed by his family or Nathalie or the Gorilla. Finally, he has freedom- and powers- and he gets to save the world with a really amazing partner who he’s in love with! That’s great, right?

Well, sort of. Thing is, Adrien still needs validation from someone, to check if this new style he’s trying on, this new personality as Chat Noir, actually works. And who gives him that feedback? Ladybug. And he craves it endlessly.

Chat’s over the top personality is an overcompensation designed to get a reaction from Ladybug. The puns, the jokes, the flirting, it’s all for her. No matter what he does, she’s going to respond in some way, and Chat Noir is addicted to it, and he’s fallen for her in the process.

So if you’re still with me, that’s the point, you guys. Even though he’s sweet and charming and can hold his own, at his core, Adrien is still very unsure about a lot of things. Including where he stands with Ladybug.

And the way he acts as Chat Noir is a way to build a sense of self-worth, through positive feedback from Ladybug and by being a hero for the city of Paris. The reason he’s so over the top- and why he’s so head over heels for Ladybug, is because she justifies the choices he makes when he’s with her, and responds positively to the way he acts! Again, it all comes down to the way she reacts to him.

I guarantee you that if Ladybug stopped responding and flirting back, he would stop immediately, and shift course. He’d still be her partner and a good friend, but I have no doubt that if she truly responded negatively to his flirtatious overtures or puns, he’d be a lot more serious with her.

So don’t be fooled by Chat’s bravado; the extremes of his behavior stem directly from Adrien’s craving for validation; therefore, the two are inextricably intertwined. They’re the same person, driven by the same internal desire.

Anyways, that’s my piece on my little kitten son. I don’t know if I actually articulated anything useful to anyone, but I tried, haha- Adrien’s a complex character! Thanks for reading :)

We've reached it! The taking of the Hawthorne wand. One of the best moments in the book. And also one of the darryest.

Harry doesn't disarm Draco with magic. He physically takes the wands from him. But Draco never even tries to shoot a spell at Harry which he could easily have done since he's literally holding the wands while Harry is trying to pull them out of his grip. I think in that moment Draco doesn't lose; he surrenders.

At first he puts up a fight because it's his instinct and he because he knows that it's what he's supposed to do and because Voldemort's punishment for letting Harry escape will be so awful and Draco's so, so scared of what will happen to him and to his family. So he tries to fight back but he just can't. He can't hurt Harry. He can't be the one to stop him from escaping.

Because he loves him. Yes Draco wants Voldemort to fail. But I think that alone isn't enough to motivate him to risk so much and to offer so completely his loyalty and his power. It's love that makes him do it.

And so he gives in. He lets Harry take everything - lets him go, lets him escape, lets him take Draco's own wand. And that's why the wand feels so friendly. Not just because Harry won it. Not just because since Draco and Harry are so compatible, Draco's wand is compatible with Harry. (Though there's some hella drarry implications there already). But ALSO because Draco WANTED Harry to have the wand and felt loyalty for him and cared for him. And so the wand reflected that.

Also I'd like to note that at no point does Draco try to grab the wands back while Harry is distracted attacking Greyback. And in turn Harry never attacks Draco once he's got the wand.

And maybe Draco regrets what he did as he suffers Voldemort's wrath and thinks he and his whole family are going to die in agony and curses his own weakness. But it's done. And somewhere inside he's probably glad of that - glad that he can't go back on his decision now.

In a Heartbeat - Animated Short Film (2017)

A closeted boy runs the risk of being outed by his own heart after it pops out of his chest to chase down the boy of his dreams.

© Beth David and Esteban Bravo 2017

It’s here! After a year and a half of hard work, we are both so excited to finally share our film with you. Thank you all for your support and encouragement - this film means the world to us, and your kindness and enthusiasm has made this journey all the more meaningful. It is our great pleasure to share with you this labor of love, and we hope with all our hearts that you enjoy watching it as much as we did making it.

<3

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2REkk9SCRn0 Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/227690432

This is the comic I am referring to

every time i think book 6 can't get any drarryer i go back thru it and notice something else. just noticed this bit where harry is canonically able to recognize the sound of draco's footsteps.

it could've just as easily been snape walking towards the door. but harry doesn't need to wait for the door to open to know whether it's snape or draco who is walking out. just a split second of hearing draco's particular gait is enough for him to recognize it.

i miss the miraculous ig content ☹️ so many cute interactions and pictures

adrien liking marinette’s comment (now deleted) on alya’s post with lila is still the funniest sht

What is the REAL purpose behind the Miraculouses?

As we see in the show, both Miraculouses (Peacock and Butterfly) are allied and used for evil. When we dive deeper into the show, there already awaits many obvious things. Let’s take a look at Ladybug’s power.

1. Lucky Charm: This is used as the power of creation. There is nothing that’s really alarming with this power, seeing as it doesn’t always have to be focused on defeating akumas. This power can be used as so much more, like aiding in catching criminals, saving lives, etc.

The real question is her other power.

2. Capturing/Purifying Akumas and Feathers: Now as we watch the show, we may have just looked over this seeing as it made perfect sense for the plot itself. But now when we really think about it, did the miraculous always have this power? This goes to show that after the temple burned down, or even before, the Butterly and Peacock Miraculouses were most likely used for evil or else there would be no high demand of a purification power.

Before you say that they could have been used for good, think about this. If the Peacock and Butterfly Miraculouses were used for good,  there would be no need for Ladybug’s purification power.

When we look back on Heroes Day, Hawkmoth had akumatized Lila into Volpina yet again. He then removed his akuma from Lila, saying that he didn’t need her at the moment. His akuma that he took out of her then returned back to him. Later on during Heroes Day, Mayura created a sentimonster to protect Hawkmoth. When the Heroes were about to attack it, she then blew the feather out of Hawkmoth’s cane.

If the people used the Peacock and Butterfly Miraculouses for good, Ladybug would not need her purifying power, seeing as their miraculouses all have the potential to call back their akuma or feather and then de-evilize it. With the information that the show has released to us, we can only assume that the two miraculouses were used for evil ever since the Guardian Society collapsed.

This information still leaves us with many questions left unanswered.

1. How did Ladybug get the purification power? Why was Ladybug the one to receive it and not the other miraculouses?

2. What made people before the current peacock and butterfly holders use their miraculous for evil?

3. What would be the consequence of obtaining their wish with the cat and ladybug miraculous? Are they aware of the risks they would have to take? Would they still be willing to go through with it after knowing mast must be sacrificed?

4. If any other Miraculouses fell into the wrong hands, would Ladybug or Chat Noir get another power similar to the purification one? How exactly would one go about that?

5. If any other Miraculouses turned evil, would they have to hide themselves like the current evil holders or would they go out and fight physically?

6. Since we don’t know much of the other miraculouses powers, do they have the capability of being evil? How have the other miraculouses been used throughout time? Were all the miraculouses out or were they kept in seclusion?

Leave theories down in the comments below! vvv

-dog food uwu chan ♡♡

You have a point. Maybe the butterfly and peacock miraculous is really destined to be used for that purpose. Cause despite their real intention for the miraculous to not be used for evil, seeing ladybug’s power to “purify” what is there left to purify but not those akumas? What is the real purpose of the miraculous? Were the guardians fighting an evil entity which led to the creation of the miraculi or is it something more?