Fridge / Miraculous Ladybug

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Fridge Brilliance

General

• If you think about it Chloé's Then Let Me Be Evil attitude makes sense considering she thinks she failed as a hero when in actuality she did not and was removed for her safety. When people try to do good and fail, they tend to think they can only be evil even when they are not so. As is the case with Chloé, she has convinced herself she is evil and thus has resigned to it.
• Su-Han's obstinance against Marinette's Guardianship should come as no surprise since Fu's mentoring of her flew in the face of what the Order tried to instill in him.
• Master Fu makes a couple of background appearances in Season 1 (in Gamer and Animan), both of which happen when Marinette and Adrien are together. He's literally keeping an eye on them.
  • Another of Fu's background appearances happens in a flashback in Antibug...though the two heroes aren't anywhere near there. But two people dressed as Ladybug and Cat Noir are. Most likely he wanted to keep an eye on them should they do something that could potentially ruin the real heroes' reputations.
• Gabriel and Hawk Moth's voices are distinct in order to keep their identities separate to the audience at first. Keith Silverstein distances his cadence and tone as each one almost perfectly as well as how many voice actors play multiple roles on the show like Ben Diskin. But makes sense in-universe when akumatizing acquaintances like Gorilla or Audrey as they only have his voice to go off on, especially Tomoe due to her heightened senses. But the fact Gabriel talk very differently as Hawk Moth factors that those who know Gabriel probably can't imagine him being as hammy as his alter ego. Also of "Gabriel Argeste", when Félix figured out the truth, Gabriel deepens his voice as Shadow Moth/Monarch to make it even harder to be recognized.
• The reason why Gabriel never obtains Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses: he lives under the same roof as Cat Noir who happens to be a black cat-themed hero.
  • He's also a control freak and assumed Adrien, later revealed in "Representation" to be a Sentimonster, would never hide a secret like Plagg from him, especially after he uses one episode to try and figure that out and is convinced otherwise. "Ephemeral" shows that Gabriel, as a holder of a Sentimonster's amok, would not hesitate to force Adrien, a sentimonster bond to obey whoever holds his amok, to hand the Cat Miraculous over if the former knew with certainty that the latter was Cat Noir.
    • It also figures into how "Re-Creation" played out, two Bad Futures depicted in "Cat Blanc" and "Ephemeral" are the result of Adrien first learning his father is Hawk Moth/Monarch after he and Marinette learn each other's identities. But the canon timeline shows only Marinette and Gabriel learning each other's alter egos with Adrien still in the dark, showing that any timeline where Adrien learned the truth of his father while alive ends in disaster.
• The various switches of the Loves My Alter Ego between Ladybug and Cat Noir. As their alter-egos, both Ladybug and Noir are both more confident. In Marinette's case, her added confidence makes her more attractive to Adrien, but Cat Noir's boost tends to manifest as an inability to keep his mouth shut that only makes him more obnoxious to Ladybug.
• Plagg (Plague) getting power from cheese. Cheese is, to oversimplify, milk that rots in a certain way when combined with certain bacteria. It is decay turned into something good; just like Cat Noir is Darkness and Destruction, but fully on the side of good. (Based on this, Plagg could conceivably power up on yogurt or alcohol or even mushrooms.)
  • Similarly, Tikki gains power from cookies because cookies are made by combining numerous ingredients to create something better. Theoretically, any baked good or sweet could probably work.
  • This also explains why Plagg particularly likes Camembert cheese, which is made with unpasteurized milk.
  • Given that Plagg was able to power up off part of Tikki's macaron in "Dark Owl", it's likely that they (and by extension, possibly all kwamis) could theoretically power up on any food item, but have preferences for the above-listed ones, which would explain how they operated before said items were invented.
• The sheer amount of Evil Knockoff Ladybugs using giant sword as their Lucky Charm may seem like the show’s propensity for Prop Recycling. But considering that one of them is Chloé and the other two were created by kids younger than 10, it makes sense that they assume a big weapon is all that’s necessary to win.
  • And continuing this theme by breaking from it is Sentibug. Unlike the rest, she was created by Mayura, a middle-aged woman who serves as a strategist for the Big Bad, so she has her copy generate a giant glue gun to subdue the heroes and seize their Miraculous.
• Why does Cat Noir get brainwashed relatively frequently? Simple. He might be on the side of good, but he does represent Darkness and Destruction. Neither of those is frequently associated with good.
  • Given the reveal in the second season, it could also be Gabriel's compulsion to control Adrien's life leaking through the Miraculous. Given that it's suggested Adrien and Marinette have some subconscious inkling of each others' secrets, it's possible he would as well.
  • Also, black cats are bad luck, and there are many occasions of Adrien having bad luck in general, including the above.
• Cat Noir appears perfectly happy to fade into the background while the media focuses on Ladybug. Given that Adrien's all too familiar with celebrity status as a civilian, he probably finds it a novelty.
• Adrien's experience with fame might also be another reason he was chosen: it's common for people who go from nobody to superstar overnight to develop an attitude problem. Adrien already is a superstar and he's still a Nice Guy (despite his faults), which would suggest he could handle the additional power.
• You would expect the whole classroom to fear their classmates after being turned into the Monster of the Week and would no longer talk to them. However, if you think about it, all of them have suffered the same fate and can't escape from it when suffering great emotional pain, making them able to relate to their problem and not pick on them or blaming them since they did the same thing. Which makes the one time Chloé does it to Aurore even more Kick the Dog than usual, even for her.^note She also does the same to Ivan, but it was the first time it had happened to anyone and no one understood what caused it yet.
• This gifset pretty much sums up the love square of the two heroes, Marinette/Ladybug and Adrien/Cat Noir:
  • Ladybug/Cat Noir are "The Heroic" — As The Chosen Ones of the ladybug and cat miraculous, respectively, their main responsibility is to perform heroic duties to ensure Paris's safety specifically from Hawk Moth.
  • Marinette/Adrien are "The Everyday" — They interact outside of their superhero lives as classmates and friends, but due to Adrien's reserved nature and Marinette's Gibberish of Love, they hardly make progress in this part of the "love square", and as such they are The Everyman or everyday to each other, meaning their personalities are up to the other's interpretation.
  • Ladybug/Adrien are "The Adored" — They both are with the "person" they deeply adore and are in deeply love with, to the point of being stalkers (benign ones, but still).
    • These identities are also literally adored the most by other people such as Chloé.
  • Marinette/Cat Noir are "The Natural" — Cat Noir aka Adrien acts like his true self since he doesn't have to be the "perfect Adrien" and he's talking to his close friend Marinette and not the girl he has a crush on...kind of; Marinette doesn't get nervous because it's not Adrien she's talking to...kind of. Plus, both don't have crushes on one another (kind of) and act very natural with each other.
• The show makes use of the yin-yang symbol in the opening credits and later prominently featured in the two part origins episode but it also reflects on Adrien and Marinette whether they're in superhero or civilian mode. As Ladybug and Cat Noir, they hold the powers of creation and destruction which are associated with yang and yin respectively. In the Chinese philosophy and religion, yin is usually feminine and associated with death and darkness while yang is usually masculine associated with life and the affirmative. Anyone who has seen an image of a yin-yang symbol can see the black and white portions have contrasting dots representing that each sustains the other. The symbolism of this is most obvious in their superhero abilities but it also appears in Adrien and Marinette as foils to each other. They may have different upbringings and personalities but both of them are only children with a Friendless Background, both enjoy video games, and being miraculous holders gives them each a much needed confidence boost, to name a few. It's even reflected in their day clothes and hair colors. (Marinette has darker hair and wears a dark gray jacket representing the traditionally feminine yin but the white t-shirt underneath could represent yang and hence her abilities as Ladybug. Adrien is blonde and wears a white jacket representing the traditionally masculine yang but wears a black t-shirt representing yin and his abilities as Cat Noir.)
• Ladybugs are associated with good luck, and Ladybug's powers reflect this. After all, luck is preparation (the Lucky Charm giving her exactly what she needs) meeting opportunity (her ability to see exactly how to use the charm.)
  • In other words, her powers manifest as Plot Armour.
• Despite the Two Person Love Square, it would appear that Adrien might have a subconscious inkling about Ladybug's true identity; just look at Cat's pet name for Marinette: "Princess". If you're confused, a princess would be referred to as "my lady" by her Knight in Shining Armor, which Cat wants to be for Ladybug, who is actually Marinette!
• Marinette's intense dislike over Chloé was thought to be from the latter's unpleasant personality and frequent flirting with Adrien. True, but also because she got heavily traumatized by Chloé as revealed in the flashback sequence of "Derision", which took place a year before the storyline.
• Some of the Akumatized villains (like the Bubbler) have had particularly lurid and brightly-colored designs, which could make it hard for them to be taken seriously solely on a visual level, until you watch "Origins" and find out that the Butterfly Miraculous, which Hawk Moth is misusing to turn people into supervillains, is actually supposed to be used to turn people into superheroes, who are known for costumes with bright color schemes.
  • Also, this could be deliberate on the part of Hawk Moth: elegant and tasteful designs might serve as a clue to his true identity, while garish designs would point away from it: note that Catalyst's costume, not intended for public viewing, is at base a women's business suit with a visored helmet.
  • Hawk Moth might not be one hundred percent responsible for the costume designs (though he probably has some degree of influence). The Miraculous costumes are a base design influenced by the wearer's subconscious ideas of what they should look like. It's possible that extends to the Butterfly Miraculous's abilities. Nathalie is not only a no-nonsense business woman in general, but she willingly undertook the Akumatization and had time to prepare, so her outfit would reflect that; Nino is a fun-loving teenager who was caught while he was obsessing over A. throwing a party for his friend and B. rebelling against authority, so a loud, obnoxious costume reflects his desire to not be ignored and create a fun atmosphere. Nathaniel's Evilustrator costume even matches his pre-existing superhero persona.
  • What he also influences may not just a case of throwing people off his tracts. Compare the way Hawk Moth acts to how he acts as Gabriel. The guy's letting out a lot he normally doesn't, and who is to say that it is just in his use of evil puns and being a ham. Sometimes people use lighter stuff to let off steam: an example being how Studio Gainax blew off steam after the really serious Neon Genesis Evangelion by creating the strange and wacky FLCL. Nothing affects his reputation when he makes villain outfits, so he just goes nuts.
    • Which adds yet another layer: Both Gabriel and Adrien are using their miraculous to let out the wacky sides of their personality that they can't show in public due to their reputation. Like father, like son.
• Both nice and pampered Adrien and Spoiled Brat Chloé are childhood friends, but how can they be friends but have different personalities? How they were both raised. For Adrien, his father kept him on a strict schedule to prevent any harm to his son; on the other hand, Chloé's father gave her all the freedom in the world while spoiling her rotten. It's because of Adrien's strict upbringing and limited interactions with others that kept him from being too influenced of their bad behavior (i.e. Chloé). And as for Chloé, she never learned her limits and thinks she's entitled to anything or anyone.
  • "Despair Bear" adds another level of depth to this difference. It's implied that Chloé's mother walked out when Chloé was a child, whereas "Santa Claws" states that Mrs. Agreste has been missing for less than a year, as she'd been around for the previous Christmas. While Adrien had his own mom to show him right and wrong, all Chloé had was her father spoiling her rotten.
• Cat Noir getting knocked around or messing up so often makes a ton of sense when you realize that as Adrien, his life has been incredibly controlled and structured; Adrien simply doesn't have enough experience acting on his own initiative.
• It may seem like a case of Idiot Ball that neither Marinette nor Adrien can recognize one another as Ladybug or Cat Noir, respectively. However, when Marinette transforms into Ladybug she keeps her regular hairstyle and eye shape; when Adrien becomes Cat Noir, both of them change. So, both teen superheroes may think the same rule applies to the other, as in Ladybug think Cat Noir's look is the same as his civilian while Cat Noir thinks Ladybug's look is different as a civilian.
  • On top of that, Adrien's look changing more drastically than Marinette's might be related to the fact that in his civilian identity, he's hiding more of his true self than she is. Hawk Moth's noticeable differences from Gabriel may indicate the same thing.
• The Origins episode reveals that Hercules/Heracles was one of the Destruction Ring's previous owners, and there's a few similarities between Heracles and Cat Noir, at least on how their powers work and how it would have looked In-Universe.
  • In Greek Mythology, Heracles wore the Nemean Lion's hide as an indestructible armor; according to Word of God, the Miraculous holders are Nigh-Invulnerable thanks to their outfits, and the lion hide obviously fits with the feline theme.
  • While it's never stated as having Super-Strength, Adrien certainly gains a significant stamina and strength's boost when transforming, as Cat Noir can easily carry someone while running and jumping. As Heracles surely wasn't a lean male model but a trained warrior, he was already stronger than average without transforming, so the enhancement was surely much more noticeable.
  • Heracles would have used Cataclysm to break or destroy stuff he couldn't with his strength alone; for a casual onlooker, the Cataclysm would have looked like a Megaton Punch or as Heracles casually breaking something that would otherwise be impervious to damage, so the Destruction Power would have been taken as Super-Strength.
  • Heracles' weapon in most stories is a heavy club. If he gained a Telescoping Staff like Cat Noir, then, again, a casual onlooker would take some Artistic License when retelling one of Heracles' battles, and change the apparently simple staff for a more impressive-sounding club.
• Why can Hawk Moth spread The Corruption to his butterflies, turning them into Akumas that create villains? After all, that's not exactly a power that one generally thinks of for a magic that is explicitly stated in-universe as being supposed to make heroes. The Butterfly Miraculous's ability is empowerment. Hawk Moth isn't just empowering his victims with superpowers, he's empowering the dark emotions that drew his attention in the first place as well!
  • This is also why every single victim succumbs to him the moment they're touched by the butterfly, why he seems to have little control over them and why it looks like he can take on people with positive emotions as well as negative ones. The Butterfly Miraculous was supposed to serve a heroic purpose and it might operate on empowering strong emotions in people and empowering them to act on them. Its purpose might originally be to give people who cannot act on their emotions, be it lovers separated by class division or subjects of a tyrannical ruler, a way to fight for feelings they're forced to bottle down.
• There have been at least a couple of occasions where one of Hawk Moth's Akumatized villains managed to mind-control Cat Noir and instead of having the villain remove the ring and bring it to him, Hawk Moth has the villain use Cat Noir to try and get Ladybug's earrings. While this may seem like an example of the Idiot Ball at work, there is a good reason for this. Not only is Cat Noir generally the most powerful of the villain's thralls, meaning that he has by far the best chance of defeating Ladybug, but if Ladybug does defeat the villain, her Miraculous Ladybug ability will probably restore the ring to Cat Noir when it undoes the villain's damage.
• Mayura uses the Peacock Miraculous, so of course she's a Peacock Girl and not dressed like a peahen. It's not called the Peafowl Miraculous, so it doesn't have gender variants.
• The fact that it's apparently been less than a year since Mrs. Agreste disappeared helps explain Adrien's behavior and personality. All indications are that Mrs. Agreste was a stay-at-home mom for much of Adrien's childhood, and even Mr. Agreste is implied to have been much less distant before his wife disappeared. So up until shortly before the show started, Adrien would have had a close relationship with one parent and a somewhat less distant relationship with the other, which would massively blunt the loneliness from being homeschooled and having few friends. Adrien might have still wished for more opportunities to interact with other kids but he'd have been much more content with his life. And then his mother disappears and his father becomes even more distant than before. All of a sudden, the few people Adrien is used to interacting with are gone or the next best thing to it. A few months of that, and it's no wonder Adrien is willing to go to extreme measures to get some time with people.
• The sheer number of awful puns and word plays Hawk Moth comes up with when naming his Akumatized villains is this when you consider whose father he is.
• At first glance, you might think that Gabriel Agreste's use of a moth as his brand's logo and the moth motifs present all throughout the mansion's décor are some kind of subconscious confession to his possession of the Moth Brooch. However, both the mansion and the fashion line have clearly been in place for some considerable time as of the Origins episodes, which means that Gabriel must have chosen his logo and built those motifs into the décor well before he became Hawk Moth.
• In the extended theme song, Marinette says in the daytime, she's Ladybug, and Adrien says Cat Noir is the hero of the night. Seems a bit odd, until you watch how they act when it's dark. Cat Noir is typically the more mobile one, while Ladybug sits and waits. And what time does Cat Noir do his biggest distractions? At night. Ladybug probably can't see that well in the dark, while Cat Noir not only has night vision, but a lot of other senses to compliment them. So Cat Noir is more suited to night time hero work, when he can see a lot better than anyone else, and Ladybug is best in the daytime, when she has enough light to see properly.
• Gabriel being Hawk Moth does explain why he's such a jerk. Given how many people became corrupted because of Chloé's bad attitude, it makes total sense for him to be similarly unfeeling. If your power only worked on those who are upset about something, it would make sense to upset as many people as you can without raising suspicion.
• Joan of Arc was a holder of the Ladybug Miraculous. That explains a lot (well in the Miraculous Ladybug universe at least):
  • How did an illiterate girl dismantle every single accusation and pitfall at her trial, forcing her accusers to blatantly violate ecclesiastic law and falsify everything to justify her conviction? Tikki instructed her.
  • Joan's famous voices: Tikki, and possibly other kwami. That Joan would equal to angels and saints to reconcile with her faith, assuming Tikki didn't present to her as an angel to begin with.
    • "Dearest Family" adds some credence to this theory, as the episode reveals that Tikki seems to have an angelic-looking true form.
  • Tikki is extremely protective of Ladybug's secret identity. Joan admitting she heard voices was used against her at the trial to justify her first conviction and depict her as a witch. Time may have changed, but that event is bound to have left a mark.
• Adrien's habit of throwing himself in front of attacks to protect Ladybug may not be just his love for Ladybug, but also a reasoned tactical decision. Remember, only Ladybug can purify the Akumas or cast Miraculous Ladybug to undo their damage. If Cat Noir is taken out, Ladybug can still win the day, but if Ladybug goes down, Cat Noir has no hope of ultimate victory. Moreover, even if Cat Noir is killed or erased or whatever, as long as Ladybug comes out victorious she can bring him back with her Miraculous. Combined, these two facts mean that Cat Noir is expendable in a way that Ladybug is not, and Adrien is more than smart enough to have figured that out. So he takes the bullet because he knows that he can afford to die where his Lady can't.
• While the series was in development, Alix was intended to be a friend of Chloé and Sabrina, as a reference to the Power Trio in Totally Spies! (Clover, Sam and Alex > Chloé, Sabrina and Alix). While Alix ended up becoming unaffiliated with Chloé in the show proper, the intended Shout-Out was preserved in a roundabout way - Chloé's only friend other than Sabrina is Adrien, preserving the Theme Naming even if the three do not function as a trio.
• Marinette is initially reluctant to become a heroine, while Adrien Jumped at the Call. While this works with their characters (Marinette's desire to be normal vs. Adrien's sheltered upbringing), it also works with their names. Ladybug may be a Spider-Man Send-Up, but Cat Noir (aka Adrien Agreste), unlike Ladybug, has the sort of Alliterative Name found in many Marvel characters.
• If you think about it, several of the villains' Akumatized objects relate to or symbolise the circumstances in which they were Akumatized:
  • Rogercop's object is his police whistle, representing how he was unfairly fired for being a By-the-Book Cop who was only trying to support the law. Unable to uphold the law, he proceeded to do just that with his newfound power and gave André the punishment he deserved.
  • Despair Bear's outer body, the Killer Teddy Bear, is the entire container of the Akuma. Chloé's butler knew that her teddy bear Mr. Cuddly was her last gift by the mother that left her as a child, so he could use Mr. Cuddly to encourage Chloé to be good like her younger self. However, her meaner side gets the better of her and she fires her butler, giving him the shame to be Akumatized. As the pilot of Despair Bear, his speech patterns resemble a parent scolding their naughty child, just as he sees Chloé as a naughty child who needs to be disciplined.
  • Prime Queen's object is the ratings monitor on her wrist. Nadja kept on asking Ladybug questions she was uncomfortable with answering (like if she and Cat Noir were in a relationship), both spurred by her desire to get a good scoop and her producers pressuring her into asking her those questions. After getting her show shut down, Nadja was Akumatized into Prime Queen, who had all that in her mind when desiring for Ladybug and Cat Noir to show their love so the ratings can go higher.
  • When Anarka Couffaine is Akumatized into Captain Hardrock, the Akuma is located in the compass of her houseboat. Earlier in the episode, the compass goes wild when a magnetic statue is placed near it. It's a metaphor for Anarka's moral compass, since she does many unadultlike things like speaking like a pirate, owning a houseboat and having a childlike embrace towards freedom. This moral compass is what causes her to disobey the law and getting herself in trouble with Officer Roger. As Captain Hardrock, her compass is distorted even more, only being obsessed with her own freedom while denying it for everyone else, including her son and daughter.
  • Evillustrator and Reverser have their Akuma in their pen and notebook, respectively. Nathaniel and Marc have a Commonality Connection in their shyness and love for drawing and superheroes. They both had secret crushes; Nathaniel loved Marinette/Ladybug (yet he still never knew the secret of them being one and the same) and Marc had feelings for Nath. In both cases, Nathaniel served as the pen responsible for writing their Akumatizations due to his love; his own Akumatization as Evillustrator mainly focused on his love for Marinette (until he realized that she tricked him) and he caused Marc's Akumatization by acting like a jerk when he thought Marc tricked him into believing Ladybug was who he was going to meet. He wrote all over Marc, the notebook, causing his Akumatization into Reverser. After Marc is purified, the two forgive each other at the end and become friends, putting their respective Akumatized forms into their combined comic to signify the combination of pen and paper.
  • Chloé's mother Audrey becomes Akumatized into Style Queen with the rose on her hat. Just like the motif of a rose, Audrey is beautiful on the outside but prickly on the inside, just like Chloé. It also refers to how she left Chloé for her fashion career in New York, but at the same time inadvertently turned her into a reflection of her mother.
  • Chloé was Akumatized twice as Antibug and Queen Wasp. In both cases, the Akuma was located in her Miraculous (with Antibug's case being the fake Ladybug earrings, and Queen Wasp's being the real Bee Miraculous). This represents how Chloé wants to be a famed hero, but she doesn't know what makes a good hero in the first place. She gains Miraculous-themed superpowers, but she isn't as impressive as the others who have powers unique to them.
  • Riposte's object is her sword. Based on the code of honor for Japanese samurai, Kagami's family believes that losing is dishonorable, yet they must face their losses with dignity. Her Akumatized sword may represent the samurai motif, but swords also represent conflict and violence. By getting an even sharper sword, Riposte is obsessed with violence rather than honor.
  • Malediktator's object is his sash. André was known for abusing his power as mayor in the past, like firing Roger because he didn't please his daughter and turning him into Rogercop. Because he decided to stop abusing his power, his wife and daughter leave him while calling him out for "not giving them what they want" and even telling him he can't even use his sash. While André has authority over his town, he can't control the spoiled attitude of his family.
• Adrien's relationship with Ladybug tends to be strained sometimes, but there have been occasions where he begins to distrust Ladybug when he learns that their relationship wasn't meant to be. This is seen in "Glaciator" and "Frozer", which involves villains with ice powers. In other words, he felt a bit cold-hearted.
  • He also felt this way in "Syren", but to a lesser extent. Syren has water powers, and water is ice which has been warmed up to its melting point. Adrien had that feeling of coldness, but it was warmer since he felt shame about being Locked Out of the Loop rather than taking out his coldness on Ladybug.
• Though the Akumas must move very quickly, we've seen that they do take time to reach potential champions, and that if the victim's despair and anger fade during that time they can no longer be Akumatized. That provides yet another reason why most Akumatizations happen very close to the manor and Françoise Dupont: Hawk Moth prioritizes closer sources of emotion because they are more likely to last long enough for the Akuma to reach the potential villain.
  • This is probably why Monarch later systematically uses Kaalki's portal power to send his akuma faster and closer to its potential prey.
• Kagami shows traces of hostility towards Adrien's other possible love interests (not that Chloé and Lila don't deserve it), while Luka is friendly towards Adrien, his main rival for Marinette's affection. While some see an unfair gendered Double Standard here, a big part of it might be that Luka doesn't have to do anything to undermine Adrien's chances - Adrien's sheer obliviousness does enough of that without Luka's help.
  • Luka is also older and more socially experienced than Kagami (and all of Marinette's class, really), so it makes sense that he would be more mature about rivals for his crush's affections.
• Adrien winks at Marinette A LOT. Pet cats tend to wink at people they trust, thus Adrien constantly winking at Marinette may be his inner Cat Noir subconsciously telling her that he trusts her with his life and that he feels comfortable around her.
• So, why on earth does Ladybug have a yoyo for a weapon? While it could just be Astruc's preference for Improbable Weapon User/s, yoyo's are believed to have been invented in China during 500 B.C.. China is where the Mage made the Miraculous, and some believe the original use for yoyo's were for hunting. So it makes perfect sense!
• The fact that Hawk Moth can Akumatize Miraculous holders makes perfect sense once you remember his Miraculous was supposed to be used for good - giving other heroes a power boost when their usual abilities do not cut it seems to fit perfectly with its intended portfolio.
• Adrien is allergic to feathers, which seems to be a trait shared with his mother; it is heavily implied that her mysterious illness was caused by the Peacock Miraculous.
• Fridge with a bit of WMG: Throughout the series, there have been times Marinette/Ladybug and Adrien/Cat Noir came close to figuring out the other's identity, or in some episodes it was revealed to them but they either forgot or was directed away. Notice that in each episode where they come close to discovery, one or two of the four ships (Adrinette/Lady-Noir/Mari-Chat/Ladrien) was referenced. In the two episodes where they did learn the other's identity ("Oblivio" and "Cat Blanc"), three of the four were referenced. In "Oblivio", there was no reference to Marichat and in "Cat Blanc" there was no reference to Ladrien. In order for the reveal to stick, all four ships will need to be referenced because both Adrien and Marinette will need to love both sides of the other, not just their idealized side.
• The reason both the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculous do not require a vocal command. Their powerset is rather limited in combat, merely providing a cane and Combat Hand Fan as a method of self-defence. They provide support; it's the kind of thing you would have to be strategic about, which could include being sneaky.
  • The names are also quite noticeable: which would draw your attention more? "Mirage!" or "Akumatization!"
  • Fridge Logic might come in on why the other superpowers don't function this way, but this can actually be used strategically. Distract the villain from the Akumatization and/or Amokization process (as they take up more time). Then they can power up their fellow heroes and defeat the villain.
  • Unless Hawk Moth’s monologues are him invoking his power by feeling out his target’s emotional turmoil verbally.
• Many of the Akumatized villains have bizarre designs with bright, garish colors; Hawk Moth's secret identity, Gabriel Agreste, is a fashion designer, and nobody would expect a person with that kind of career to come up with such terrible-looking designs.
  • On the other hand, it makes perfect sense that a fashion designer could make such ridiculous designs once one considers the Haute Couture style
• Hawk Moth's methods are known to be spread by his akuma butterflies, and very few people actually want to be affected by them. Notice how Aurore and Miss Bustier both freaked out upon seeing them. Also notice that the vast majority of times the akumas sneak up on a person who don't see them at all.
• The significance of the approximate locations of the other Miracle Boxes according to the Miraculous World intros? Some of the locations appear to be near capitals or major cities — perfect places for superheroes to tend to their duties, while others seem to be very remote and near indigenous populations — perfect places and candidates for hiding and guarding Miraculous.
  • Novaya Zemlya: Two remote Russian islands used for nuclear weapons testing during the Cold War — most infamously, the testing of Tsar Bomba, the biggest nuke ever made and detonated. Its indigenous population, the Nenets people, had to be resettled to the mainland to allow for this. Perhaps the Miraculous were involved in the nuke tests, and their guardian was a Nenet.
  • Indian Ocean: It is believed that beneath the Indian Ocean lies a lost continent, Lemuria. We know that Plagg was involved in the destruction of Atlantis, and it's not impossible that Miraculous Ladybug could place Atlantis where Lemuria is believed to be. The specific location seems to be either the Yemeni island of Socotra (famous for being the world's most remote continental landmass of non-volcanic origin, as well as its extremely divergent native life caused by being so remote) or the Seychelloise island of Victoria (which also serves as its capital).
  • India: Most likely, the location is Mumbai, although it may instead be Bangalore. Regardless, Mumbai is the capital of India, and it's also close to the Ellora Caves, also known as the Kailasa temple, which the Guardian temple seems to be based on.
  • Australia: It seems that the specific location is Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory and the smallest of the Australian capitals. The city is named after Charles Darwin, famous for his studies on evolution. It's also the ancestral home of the native Larrakia people.
  • Scandinavia: The location seems to be north and close to the borders of Norway, Sweden, and Finland, but not at any specific known place. The Sami people also live in that area.
• It seemed like Chloé was on the path to a redemption arc as Queen Bee, until she grew too impatient and demanded to be given what she felt was rightfully hers. While part of this is attributed to her spoiled attitude and her own fault of exposing herself to the public, being Queen Bee didn't really teach Chloé her mistake of showing off and putting the needs of others first. After she helped out Ladybug in "Malediktator", her classmates threw her a celebration, she was honored in the Heroes Day parade, and Ladybug never really disciplined her until she benched her from the team. If anything, being Queen Bee fed Chloé's ego more because she was being praised for the simplest gestures without anyone constantly lecturing her. Not exactly the best way to teach someone humility.
• Juleka being akumatized into Reflekta so many times may not make a lot of sense from a narrative point of view, because if she were to transform the heroes then she wouldn't be able to take their Miraculous unless she could undo it. However, it does make sense from a meta point of view, considering that the Reflekta's main motivation is to be seen all the time, so it's not just the citizens of Paris that this applies to, but the viewer as well.
  • Juleka is also an Emo Teen with a very embarrassing (if loving) mother, a target for bullying, social anxiety, and who knows what else. She has a lot of emotions to akumatize.
  • She also becomes a lot more chatty: Juleka might be quiet, but that doesn't mean she isn't thinking things. Being akumatized turns off all the anxieties that keep her quiet, amps up her negative emotions, and cause her to go absolutely nuts.
    • Even more noticeable in the French dub, where Juleka is The Unintelligible in normal mode from the start and stays that way even after Character Development. One of the sparse moments we get to understand her words is the hilarious one with Marinette hiding into a yellow trash can:
  Marinette: Psst, Juleka !
  Juleka: Une poubelle qui parle ? Ça déchire !
  • Which roughly translates as "A talking trash can? That rocks!", delivered with her usual subdued tone and a smile.
• Mr. Pigeon could actually be a very dangerous Akuma if played strategically. He can talk to Pigeons. While they sounds dumb, think of how many of the birds in Paris there are? Animal Eye Spy anyone, and others with this power, such as The Falcon, are able to use this power as an incredibly dangerous spy network because in cities the birds are everywhere. He could probably find out Ladybug and Cat Noir's identities, or even find Master Fu. However the very manner of akumitization neuters this threat: because Akumas are driven by negative emotions and are chaotic as a result they don't always think that straight forward. Mr. Pigeon is motivated by his pigeons, not by his potential as a super villain. This limitation, among others, is one of Hawk Moth's greatest weaknesses, and is noticeable in akuma villains who are either willing participants (like Volpina or Miracle Queen) or are genuinely motivated in the general direction of defeating heroes (like the first Puppeteer).
  • The fact that the powers he gives are nearly, if not always, based on the emotion they are feeling, is also a major limiting factor. With over seventy Mr. Pigeons he can't give him some other power because he is always upset by someone abusing his birds, and he has to work within that parameter. These two factors are Hawk Moth's major weaknesses.
• It isn't hard to notice Hawk Moth tendency to be a bit of a hypocrite in his 'I sense someone to evilize' speeches, usually about children or parents in relationship issues. However, it should also be remembered he is evilizing them, so some of these points he probably sees as negatives that he would see himself and his 'perfect' son above. Note this is not a perfect fit for all instances of this quirk and sometimes Hawk Moth is in fact just being a dramatic hypocrite.
• Mireille Caquet is important. No, seriously. She's actually a very serious cover for Marinette. If Gabriel can tell anything about Ladybug's appearance, Mireille's similar ethnicity, hair, and age to Marinette. Gabriel probably noticed Ladybug is attracted to his son and seems to have a very quick response to akumas in his son's school, but both Marinette and Mireille have crushes on him and go to the same school. The main difference is eye color, but several heroes like Cat Noir get different eyes when transformed. Its another layer of protection and disguise that Marinette doesn't even need to keep up, she just needs Mireille to not be akumatized to reveal she doesn't have the miraculous (which is of itself an additional layer of this shield).
  • A similar, though not quite the same shielding effect exists with Socqueline Wang.
• After "Gorizilla" some have noted there were plenty of chances for Hawk Moth and Mayura to put two and two together about Adrien as Cat Noir but they haven't done so. To put it simply they aren't going to look for it because neither of them wants that. Hawk Moth was happy to have Adrien 'cleared' of that suspicion and outside of a really serious incident they are not going to go back to suspecting it willingly.
• While Alya is ‘undeniably loyal and well intentioned with Marinette, she is far more prone to making her own decisions as Marinette's partner than Marinette was to Fu. While Marinette would listen to Fu even when she believed it was a bad idea until she could convince him to change his mind (see, Cat and Syren), Alya is willing to make her own calls and, depending on how Rocketear turns out, even disobey her. The simple fact is that Fu and Marinette were master and student and Marinette and Alya are friends, meaning that while Alya probably loves and trusts Marinette more than Marinette would with Master Fu, she also is much more concious of Marinette's flaws and faults. Alya processes Marinette's decisions and words differently than Marinette would Fu's, and only time will tell if these differences go for the better, the worse, or both.
• Ladybug's dislike of being called Bugaboo makes sense when one remembers that in many cultures, a bugaboo is another name for a scary monster or Boogeyman.
• The Lucky Charm's use is very rarely obvious (which is Lampshaded frequently). Sometimes, it even includes extraneous items (e.g. "The Pharaoh", when it gave her an entire Ladybug costume when all she needed was the earrings, or "Volpina", when all she needed was a reflective surface and it gave her an ice cream bar in a foil wrapper). Why do it this way instead of giving her something direct? To avoid tipping off her enemies! If Pharaoh had seen Ladybug receive just a pair of duplicate earrings, he would have known to be suspicious of her ploy. Likewise, in "Reflekdoll," when Adrien wears the Ladybug earrings and gets to use the Lucky Charm, he explicitly requests a mirror so that he can reflect the attack, so he gets a giant mirror, only he can't use it that way; what better way to mislead the villain than to let her think she knows exactly how they're going to attack?
• Why did Gabriel allow Nathalie to use the Peacock Miraculous throughout season 3, despite knowing the damage it could cause her? Because he recognized that if not for her timely intervention after Ladybug and her allies nearly defeated him in “Mayura”, he would’ve lost his Miraculous and had his identity exposed, and with Ladybug’s number of allies she can call upon to aid her increasing, he’d have to rely on an ally of his own to even the playing field, despite his reluctance in letting her use it, knowing the risks he’d be putting Nathalie through, even though she chooses to go through with it to support him. However, outside of “Mayura” and “Ladybug”, where Nathalie uses the Peacock Miraculous without his consent, all the other times she’s shown using it are under Gabriel’s supervision when he has another scheme in place, most of which are when they're together, allowing him to keep an eye on her should she start to feel ill and if necessary, get her to safety.
  • With Nathalie’s aid, Gabriel was able to accomplish more with her help than he’d be able to on his own, including planting the seeds that would spark Chloé’s eventual betrayal, indirectly exposing Master Fu as the guardian by reawakening the sentimonster that would become Feast, serving as a decoy to follow Ladybug when she needed to get a Miraculous from Master Fu, letting down her guard when she loses her, allowing Hawk Moth to follow undetected and be led straight to him, and steal his tablet that contains deciphered notes from the grimoire, how to repair the Peacock Miraculous, granting him full use of it in season 4.
• Marinette builds a "net", socially connecting different teammates and purviews, like in her name.
• The public's dismissal of Cat Noir is completely unfair, but it makes more sense when you consider that his heroism is clearly more motivated by fun than their welfare.
• Ever wondered why Marinette seems to not trust Cat Noir much in the later Seasons? Well, there have been several times where he found himself useless, annoying and entitled to her. It's not until "Glaciator 2" that he actually tries to tone it down. And then remember Cat Blanc. Mix all this and you get one bad case of paranoia.
• In a strange and indirect way, Gabriel actually helps his fellow Parisans as a villian. With the exception of his inner circle, Lila, and Chloé, he mostly targets those who are upset from mistreated by those too much power and not enough sympathy, like Chloé, those she intimidates (her father the mayor, who uses his authority on the principal, a cop), a random boss, or even an official with a racist outlook. In basic terms, the Akumatized victims are people who were unjustly treated badly. With that in mind, are you going to be the boss that yells at an employee for a tiny mistake, knowing they might come back in 5 minutes with deadly superpowers to try and kill you? Bullying, shouting, threats, needless aggression... it'll all drop over time as people become more aware of how easy it is for Hawk Moth to prey on people who have been treated so unfairly. In a strangest and twisted way possible, Hawk Moth's actions are actually doing some good for Paris, encouraging people to be nicer to each other in order to avoid turning someone into a supervillain because they yelled at them for delivering their pizza late.
• Ladybug's fighting style reflects one of the core messages of the series - "people should slow down and work with others to find realistic solutions to their problems instead of chasing instant solutions that involve superpowers and hurting others". Though Ladybug has many powers, the power that always wins her the fight is her Lucky Charm - which always manifests as some mundane object that can't directly solve the problem. Instead, she looks around at the people and objects around her, and thinks of a way to set a chain reaction in motion that will ultimately defeat the villain no matter how powerful they are.
• The mind and feelings of a Miraculous user affect their costume. Marinette explicitly calls herself "a normal girl" in every season, as such her costume is the simplest and most normal of any known Ladybug holder.
• Some of the akumatized villains' names aren't very good puns. But this could be justified by the fact that Gabriel only has a short moment to think of them.

Season 1

Stormy Weather

• In a series this focused on good and bad luck, is it really that surprising that Aurore lost the competition and was turned into a supervillain? She had her umbrella open inside a building!

Copycat

• Many fans have noted Adrien acting quite out-of-character in this episode — From smugly lying to Théo about the nature of his relationship with Ladybug, not owning up to his mistake like he did in "The Bubbler", and even redirecting the blame to Ladybug for not knowing about the Akumatization, even though it wasn't her fault at all. So, why? Well, here are a few explanations, but they're not an excuse for his actions and behavior.
  • Unlike Marinette, who has most likely seen the the consequences of lying due to having a relatively normal childhood and being raised by emotionally attuned parents, Adrien probably never has given his limited social interaction and his father just ordering him on what to and to not do.
  • From a meta-standpoint, we've mostly seen Adrien's character through Marinette's eyes and his good if silly qualities as Cat Noir again through her eyes as Ladybug. So, we never see his more negative qualities.
  • Also, it's subtly implied that Ladybug is his Living Emotional Crutch. The "Origins" episode show that she was technically his very first friend. Sure he had Chloé and Nino, but the former was a bad influence while the latter was initially skeptical that Adrien was a good person because of his ties to Chloé.
  • Arguably crossing into Fridge Horror, but where would a Nice Guy like Adrien develop such cruel behavior? It seems at odds with his character...until you remember that two of his biggest influences for most of his life would have been Chloé and Gabriel. While his friendships with Nino and Marinette (among others) may be tempering this streak, they can't magically override a decade of toxic influence.
• Why does Copycat's version of Cataclysm merely break the chains when Cat Noir's has been repeatedly shown to cause metal to rust severely? Because Copycat isn't as powerful as Cat Noir. He's imitating the power of destruction rather than actually possessing it.
  • To be more specific, the Cat Miraculous acts as a Power Limiter for Plagg. Since Copycat doesn't have Plagg's full range of powers, he can only copy Cat Noir's limited abilities.

Mr. Pigeon

• Whoever Chloé got to make Marinette's design for her left Marinette's signature instead of, say, omitting the signature or changing it to match either their own or Chloé's. Why would they do this? Well, consider that Chloé is a consummate Alpha Bitch who throws her father's money and political position around to get her way from people not otherwise inclined to put up with her juvenile bitchery. The designer she press-ganged into helping her cheat may very well have decided that leaving in such an obvious indicator that the design was stolen from someone else was exactly what Chloé deserved and thus did exactly what she ordered.

Lady Wifi

• Marinette doesn't consider that Adrien could be Cat Noir when Alya points out the similarities because Adrien is sane and Cat is a "goofball" in her words. This comes from the fact that she knows Cat better than she knows Adrien: Cat during battle makes a Hurricane of Puns, flirts with her, and maintains a Cheshire-like grin while fighting Akumatized people that have destroyed Paris. Adrien in contrast is calm, polite and considerate, even without Marinette putting him on a pedestal. Mixing her dream image of Adrien with the reality of Cat Noir would undo Marinette's crush.
  • Likewise, Marinette wants to keep up the Mutual Masquerade because as a hero she feels it's her job to be serious and save the city, thus her relationship with Cat has to be professional. Knowing who Cat Noir is would undermine the professionalism, especially since he is a goofball. Not to mention that Cat had been Brainwashed and Crazy more than once, and in that state he'd easily reveal her identity just by calling Ladybug by her real name.
• Why did Cat Noir decide not to peek in on Ladybug and find out her secret identity after they defeated Lady Wifi? It may have something to do with him losing his ring while he was locked in the freezer earlier, putting him at risk of being exposed in a very similar way.
  • It could also be a sign of just how much he loves her. His desire to know who she really is comes into conflict with her desire to uphold the Mutual Masquerade, and he decides to respect her desires over his own.
• For once, Chloé's actions are actually justified: as the daughter of the mayor of Paris she's a recurring target for paparazzi, having her privacy invaded by journalists (or similar) is clearly a Berserk Button for her.
• Lady Wifi has much more resemblance to Alya than most of the other villains (at least ones that aren't based off Miraculous users like Antibug and Volpina), who usually either have different colored hair and/or skin, have costumes that cover their hair, or are given a completely different look. But the fact that it's so easy to tell her identity might have something to do with her motivation to uncover Ladybug's.

The Pharaoh

• Jalil's insistence at performing the ritual would seem strange in the regular world, but considering that he lives in a Paris where a Magical Girl routinely fixes large swathes of destruction with her yo-yo... his belief becomes a little more understandable since Ladybug has confirmed in-universe that her and Cat Noir's powers are magic in nature.
  • Actually, this is Jossed. Other countries have their own superheroes and stuff like that, so it's clear that everyone is aware of the supernatural. This fact, only justifies his beliefs.
• The Sadly Mythtaken nature of the gods the Pharaoh summons, as well as the liberties taken with history, make a bit more sense in hindsight considering Jalil's later characterization as a straight-up Conspiracy Theorist. One has to wonder if his facts were meant to be inaccurate — and if his knowledge on the sacrificial ritual comes from a less-than-accurate conspiracy website rather than an actual historical text.

Timebreaker

• Why doesn't Alya ever guess that Marinette is Ladybug? Because during this episode Ladybug and Marinette were in the same place at the same time, due to Time Travel.
• Why does the titular villainess receive so much more time from Cat Noir than the other people she erases from time? She says it's because of his "nine lives", but the real reason is because in the process of taking his time she also took time from Plagg, an ageless being who has been alive for many centuries.
• This episode sets up a lot of events for future Bunnyx stories, not only by showing off what will be the Bunnyx Miraculous but also by giving an earlier demonstration of the rules of time traveling Akumatized villains (albeit with the two Timebreakers being more on ball with Hawk Moth than Time Tagger was) and giving Alix a history with time manipulation to boot. Her father's approach and expressions after giving her said Miraculous in disguise also becomes quite telling after the events of Evolution where he knew he'd be giving his daughter the keys to being a superhero.

Evillustrator

• The reason why Adrien seem so upset at the end and why he flirted with Marinette despite being in love with Ladybug. Since Adrien knows who Marinette is, he figured to try to be his real self, as he stated in his web video that he feels like his real self whenever he is Cat Noir. Since Ladybug take her job seriously, she couldn't date or share what kind of guy she likes so he figured to be the real him in front of Marinette and later ask her in his Adrien persona if Cat Noir is cool and woo her. It crushed him when she said Adrien is cooler than Cat Noir. To him, Adrien was his superhero alias while Cat Noir is his real self, figuring deep down that no one would never love his real goofy self.
  • Adding on to this: why does Cat Noir go out of his way to be bombastic and hammy towards Marinette when he first "meet"s her, and why does Adrien bother asking Marinette what she thought of Cat Noir? If you watch the second Origins Episode, you'll know that their first meeting went horribly because she jumped to the conclusion that Adrien was like Chloé. Now that he's meeting her for the second time as the "self" he's more comfortable in, he wants to make a good first impression this time even if she doesn't know it.
• Chloé commenting that she is Sabrina's Only Friend may hold some truth — unlike most of their classmates, Sabrina is Chloé's main ally/lackey and does just as much mean things as her "best friend" and even revels in Chloé's cruelty to others. So, if Chloé were to decide not to be Sabrina's friend anymore, realistically, who else would be? No one wants to be friendly with someone who laughed at your or someone else's pain.

Horrificator

• The Smelly Wolf song depowering Horrificator and apparently causing her to revert to Mylène's personality makes even more sense when you remember that it's the song Mylène sings to make herself feel better when she is afraid. Hearing it probably calmed her down even in her Horrificator form, disrupting the negative emotions that made her vulnerable to the Akuma in the first place.
• Why did Mylène want to be the star of the show, even when she was terrified? Because her dad is an actor, and she wanted to be like him.

Darkblade

• Sabrina breaks into Marinette's room to look for something that could be used against the latter during the election for Student Council President and ignore the several pictures of Adrien. It makes sense because Adrien is a celebrity and already was even before his classmates (other than Chloé) met him. As far as Chloé and Sabrina know, there's nothing wrong with Adrien's fans loving him to that point.
  • In addition, if this takes place after "Mr. Pigeon," then Chloé and Sabrina have seen firsthand that Marinette aspires to be a fashion designer. Sabrina may have assumed the pictures of Adrien were there because Marinette was interested in what he was wearing, not in Adrien himself.

Kung Food

• In the finale, Adrien delivers a pretty harsh verbal beatdown to Chloé for the way she's been acting to Marinette's uncle. Doesn't sound like something mild-mannered Adrien would do, right? Well, that's because it's Cat Noir who's talking to Chloé at this point. Watch Adrien's facial expressions: they're pure Cat Noir. It's a wonder Marinette didn't recognize him then and there (although you can see her looking confused in the background).
• Hawk Moth acumatizing Wang Cheng into a Goku expy has two explanations. One: Hawk Moth is just as racist as Chloé. Two: While a Japanese anime, the character was based on the Chinese legend of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King.
  • It could also be that, as some villains are more based on what the affected sees as evil, Wang Cheng may also see the Japanese as evil, as China and Japan have poor relationships for a multitude of reasons.

Antibug

• Sabrina becomes Vanisher when Akumatized. Prior to that, we see her being unpersoned by Chloé. She (at one point) looked at Sabrina, then said she didn't see anyone.
• Why was Antibug given a BFS by her Lucky Charm counterpart? It wasn't just a weapon. The Anti Charm is supposed to be a counterpart to the Lucky Charm, so the Antibug received something she could stick in the ground (or roof) to maintain her balance despite the marbles.

The Puppeteer

• The three Akumatized villain dolls Marinette made in "The Puppeteer" along with Ladybug and Cat Noir are Rogercop, Evillustrator, and Lady Wifi. They sound pretty random, but all three are connected to Marinette (and their reasons for being an Akumatized villain are even indirectly related to her and to Chloé).
  • Agent Roger was fired by the mayor for refusing to arrest Marinette for stealing Chloé's bracelet without evidence.
  • Nathaniel was humiliated by Chloé in front of the class for his drawings he did of Marinette because he had a crush on her.
  • Alya was suspended unfairly for trying to find proof of Chloé being Ladybug in her locker (whom is really Marinette), not to mention being her best friend.

Reflekta

• Juleka's funny looking Akumatized form makes sense because she wants to be seen and that form is not easy to miss.

Guitar Villain

• Compared to his initial appearance where he seemed entitled and self-absorbed, Jagged is shown being more friendly and appreciative, particularly towards Marinette and Penny. He appeared as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who was not Nice to the Waiter until Ladybug saved his life, and he returned the favor by performing a Heroic Sacrifice.
• In the Italian dub, Guitar Villain is renamed "Chitarrik", with "chitarra" being Italian for "guitar"... And the suffix "-ik" being found at the end of the name of villains or otherwise morally dubious characters in Italian comics ever since Diabolik (see Satanik, Cattivik, and even the earliest stories of Paperinik the Devilish Avenger for the three most notable examples). Guitar Hero pun aside, "Chitarrik" is the Cultural Translation of "Guitar Villain" for Italians.
• Possibly long-shot foreshadowing or an incredible coincidence: what does Guitar Villain threaten to do? Make XY walk the plank. Not really in theme for a rocker supervillain... but certainly fitting once it's revealed three seasons later that he was in a couple with Anarka before. And considering, as shown in season 5, that Anarka had a tendency to throw unwanted visitors overboard, odds are that Jagged took inspiration from her, whether he had any similar tendencies or not before they broke up.

Pixelator

• Why wasn't the Lucky Charm sent to the pocket dimension when it was hit? Because it's mirror is made to reflect light. Pixelator's attacks are basically just pixels of light. That, or it's magic.
• Cat Noir can invoke Taking the Bullet for Ladybug, but Adrien fails at it in this episode when trying to save Chloé, leading to them both getting zapped into a White Void Room. Why? Because he can't summon his powers detransformed, or the agility he has as Cat Noir. It also serves as a Call-Back in "Guitar Villain" where instead of repeating his mistake he sends Chloé out of danger through the elevator while staying to transform and fight.
• Cataclysm suddenly seems much more powerful in this episode. Rather than rusting metal, breaking stone, or several of the other acts of destruction he's used it for in the series, Cat Noir uses it to outright shatter an entire pocket dimension, freeing everyone inside. This is several orders of magnitude above and beyond every other use of the power in the first season. Why? Because he's never needed to destroy something that big before. Cataclysm is in reality potentially as powerful as Ladybug's World-Healing Wave, just in the opposite direction. If it is physically, or maybe even metaphysically, possible to break, Cataclysm can break it.
• Ladybug's defeat of Pixelator involved having a compact mirror fly in front of Pixelator's camera at the right moment. Considering how small the mirror was and the fact that the plan working depended on a variable outside of Ladybug's control (the moment Jagged Stone opens his eyes and therefore the moment Pixelator fired his camera) it can be stated that Ladybug (who is based on an animal symbolizing luck and whose superpower is also based on luck) got lucky.

Princess Fragrance

• Princess Fragrance not making Cat Noir give her his ring even when he's under control may seem idiotic, but there's actually a good reason for it. She still needs to get Ladybug's Miraculous and, aside from Cat, the people with her are Chloé, Mayor Bourgeois, Prince Ali, and the schedule assistant. Not exactly people you would expect to do well in a fight against a superhero. Cat Noir's the only one among them who can fight Ladybug on an (almost) equal level.

Simon Says

• A Flashback reveals that Marinette was once late for class because she was rescuing a Cat Up a Tree. At first, this feels like a ridiculously trivial use of Ladybug's time and power, but the cat's owner appears to be a little girl of Manon's age. Ladybug may be acting to curtail a second Puppeteer situation.
• At the end of the episode, Marinette's parents say she is grounded no more, because she wasn't late to school or missing classes. Why? Well, the episode does imply heavily that Adrien's father is Hawk Moth, and if so, it would make sense he wanted to take a break after the events, temporarily cutting down the need for Ladybug.

Princess Fragrence

• Miss Mendeliev's comment about quizzing the kids on lab safety, again is a decidely uncomfortable implication that the class has a history of ignoring the lab's safety instructions.

Volpina

• Plagg likely missed Duusu’s Miraculous even in plain sight due to it being over a century since Master Fu last used it. He’s often flighty and unconcerned like the cat he is. It doesn’t help that it’s damaged and likely hard to sense even in close proximity. He might take it as a replica made by Adrien’s fashion designer inspired by the Grimoire.
  • The producers explicitly confirmed that the jewel in the safe at the time was merely a replica created by Gabriel, not the actual Peacock Miraculous. Given how it was in front of Emilie's picture, it's entirely possible that the design was based off of her camoflauged mode for the jewel.
  • Why did Gabriel have a fake Peacock Miraculous safe to begin with? Well, as theorized by one of the commentators on the show's Wiki, it's very likely he was trying to create a new Peacock Miraculous to give himself an edge over Ladybug and Cat Noir without having to suffer from the devastating side-effects of the real jewel's damaged state, only for the attempt to end in failure.
• Master Fu living up to his 180s makes sense as he possesses the Turtle Miraculous. Turtles and tortoises are known for their long lifespans.
  • If that's the case, it'd lead to some major Fridge Horror. Most animals have much shorter lifespans than humans, so the other holders have the life expectancy of a ladybug or cat.
    • Let's hope it's just due to him being a Miraculous holder in general, rather than which Miraculous.
    • Or that it's just due to the Turtle Miraculous being the keeper and protector of the Miraculous, so it's an effect purely limited to that particular Miraculous. This works out, since turtles and tortoises can be seen as symbols of protection, thanks to their hard, shield-like shells, which is perfect for someone known as the Great Guardian.
    • According to Word of God, Fu's longevity is because of his healthy lifestyle, not his Miraculous.
• In Alya's video, Lila claims that she and Ladybug are "like this" while crossing her fingers, basically doing double Lying Finger Cross in front of everyone and getting away with it.
• Before Volpina was actually introduced, fans suspected she would be a cool, heroic character. She got hundreds of fans, fanarts, shipping ideas... all while doing nothing to deserve it. Even when people learned she would be an Akuma villain, some people still hoped for her to be the strongest or the noblest one yet. So many people felt betrayed once they found out that Lila was a character who lied to people to convince them she's amazing to get attention and popularity she doesn't deserve, including pretending to be an awesome superhero. In other words, the fandom was another victim of her lies, even before she made an appearance.
  • The fact she's impersonating the Fox Miraculous holder is even more fitting considering her true character. While fox spirits in east Asian cultures can be benevolent, they can also be malicious and stories about malicious fox spirits result in ruin for everyone involved. Exactly what Volpina invokes herself.
  • Even more, she connects with both Italian fables and folk tales, where the fox tends to be a self-interested jerk, and the old French belief the animal was such a bad news they preferred to use the name of a fable character as an euphemism until they ended up renaming the species after him.
  • Lila's design invokes heavy fox-motifs to make her seem like the real Fox Miraculous user, but in reality, she's not only a fake, but the one who uses the real Fox Miraculous is someone else entirely. Knowing Lila is an Attention Whore who will lie to keep that attention, she also on an even more meta scale diverted attention away from the real Fox Miraculous holder by not making the audience think that the Fox Miraculous holder was someone the viewers already knew about.
• Adrien calling Ladybug out on exposing Lila so openly makes sense not only because it was pretty tactless on Ladybug's part, but because unbeknownst to both her and Lila, he is Cat Noir, whom could easily ask Ladybug herself for the truth about Lila if needed (and thus prevent the entire episode from happening).
• Volpina's illusion powers, considering her civilian self and lampshaded by Marinette herself. Volpina's illusions were usually big and flashy (such a meteor coming down on Paris) but broke apart at a single touch, much like the lies Lila told. Big and grandiose, but fell apart immediately when someone bothered to point out their wrongness.
  • It also ties into Lila's character. While she may be a liar, she lacks the skill or subtlety expected of an illusionist or trickster and goes for simple and straightforward, like saying that her powers make her a Flying Brick, one of the most straightforward superpower sets in fiction.
• Both Lila and Chloé have a lot in common — An Alpha Bitch with a lying, jerkass personality (though Lila takes it up to eleven with the lying part), have a huge crush on Adrien (though it proves futile on their part), and their Akumatization came from Ladybug doing an unnecessarily harsh action towards them. So, the question is: Why does Chloé forgive Ladybug for her actions, but Lila doesn't? Because, unlike the New Transfer Student Lila, Chloé has been rescued by Ladybug before and is aware of her goodness, while Lila's very first interaction with Ladybug was the superheroine yelling at her. So, Chloé was able to forgive her idol for one mistake, but Lila couldn't.

Origins Part 1 & 2

• Ladybug's initial transformation is rushed and snappy as opposed to Cat Noir's sequence being full length right off the bat. However, Part Two debuts the full version. It symbolized how much they have embrace their heroics by that point. In Part One, she was far more Marinette than Ladybug as she prode herself to "trust herself." She pretty much said, "Tikki, Spots On" by accident as opposed to Adrien hastily declaring, "Plagg, Claws Out" like a cat taking to tuna. Part Two shows her embracing her new heroic identity after seeing Alya in danger, transforming with far more conviction and being granted the full sequence we know by heart.
• Alya's amusement about Marinette's Gibberish of Love makes sense when you realize that she and Marinette had a rather different first impression about Adrien, and how Marinette disliked him for appearing to be like Chloé.
• If the French airing of the episodes, discounting the Origins episode, is the true chronology of the show, then by the time of The Bubbler, only Ivan had been Akumatized in Marinette and Adrien's class at this point. Ivan also was the one to refused to party at Adrien's party set up by the Bubbler. It would make sense other kids might not be so afraid of a harmless-looking Akumatized villain, while Ivan, who has been Akumatized himself, would not take any Akumatized villain lightly. Almost counts as a Rewatch Bonus.
• The French have an expression, coup de foudre, which literally translates to "a clap of thunder" but it's more commonly used as an expression when people instantly fall in love. Looking back on the now famous umbrella scene, Adrien and Marinette are standing in front of the school in the rain, but the moment Adrien extended his umbrella, there's an audible clap of thunder the minute Marinette's crush begins.
• And the moment that Adrien realises he doesn’t just like and admire Ladybug, but is in love with her? It's as she faces down his father after he manifests as the low-resolution image of Hawk Moth formed by the cloud of Akumatized butterflies - you can see it happen when Cat Noir blinks as Ladybug gets into her stride with her Shut Up, Hannibal! speech. After Ladybug releases the de-evilized butterflies, he explicitly says out loud (to himself) that “whoever she is beneath that mask, I love that girl”. Watching the whole sequence with freeze-frames after seeing “The Collector” is hugely revealing: when the butterflies coalesce into the shape of Hawk Moth’s head and it begins to speak, Roger Raincomprix, Chloé and Mayor Bourgeois look stricken, Ladybug looks shocked, but Cat Noir looks puzzled. His subconscious is standing up and screaming here!
• The possible reason why Adrien is in love with Ladybug because Adrien usually meets girls who fawn over him because of his good looks or wealth, while Ladybug treated him like himself. Even it isn't positive most of time, Adrien was happy and in love for some girl who is treating him as a normal guy and not a model that you try to woo him.
  • Also, the possible reason why Marinette is in love with Adrien — The Origins episodes revealed that Marinette had no friends and was constantly bullied by Chloé. Then, she met Alya who defended her and Adrien later opened up that he wasn't a part of the mean trick Chloé was going to do and showed his vulnerability of not being in school before. In other words, Adrien was one of the first two people who treated her with kindness. Another added reason was that she understands him in a sense — she knows what it's like to grow up with little to no friends.
• This post explains the reason for Master Fu choosing Marinette and Adrien to become the new miraculous ladybug and cat holders, respectively.
  • Marinette — Unlike Adrien's test, there are many candidates for the ladybug miraculous. It isn't just about being kind, but if someone will notice an old man in trouble and act to help him. To take in your surroundings, notice what you need, make a plan, and act on that plan. Just like what Marinette does as Ladybug.
  • Adrien: There are three candidates including Adrien and Master Fu doesn't fall until Adrien is about to go to school, which is what he wants most in the world. Realization hits when you think about Adrien's power as Cat Noir — the power of destruction, a power that can't be given in the wrong hands. Adrien could've just went into school no problem, but decided to help out Master Fu when he noticed he was in trouble. Fu fell to give Adrien a choice — Go inside the place Adrien has always wanted to go or help out an elderly man he hardly knows. Adrien, of course, chooses the latter...and is promptly taken home by Nathalie and the Gorilla. However, while Adrien is sad, he doesn't take out his anger on Master Fu. Like Marinette, Adrien's choice wasn't just to see if he was kind, but also to see if Adrien came down to the choice of being selfish or selfless, which would he choose. It’s a test to make sure if the hero of destruction ever breaks, instead of destroying the world, he’d destroy himself first. Just like what Adrien has done for Ladybug and others as Cat Noir.
    • Becomes Ascended Fridge Brilliance in "Cat Blanc". When pushed beyond the Despair Event Horizon, Akumatized and forced to make a Sadistic Choice between his father and the girl he loves, Adrien/Cat Noir turns the already charged Cataclysm at himself rather than harm either of them. Unfortunately it doesn't work, but Adrien's intent was clear.
• It's noted on the Heartwarming page that the episode reveals Marinette's crush on Adrien was more than just a schoolgirl crush on an attractive boy, but was caused when she saw how kind he was, but the episode also does the same thing for Cat Noir's crush on Ladybug. Throughout season 1 it's easy to assume that Cat's crush comes from the fact that Ladybug is a pretty girl in a skintight suit, however the episode reveals it goes deeper than that; when we first see Ladybug and Cat meet, they get wrapped together by Ladybug's yoyo. In any other episode Cat would make a flirty comment, noise or just expression. Here? He doesn't really react, at the time he only cares about Ladybug as his superhero partner. It isn't until the next episode, where Ladybug confronts Hawk Moth that Cat falls in love because he sees the strong, confident person she is and feels attracted to her.

The Christmas Special

• Why is Gabriel willing to allow Nino into the mansion, despite calling him a "bad influence" on Adrien in "The Bubbler"? Given The Reveal in "The Collector", it's possible that Gabriel didn't actually hate Nino, and was just trying to upset him enough to Akumatize him.

Season 2

The Collector

• The Reveal in this episode also provides another possible reason as to why Adrien hasn't been Akumatized yet: Gabriel doesn't have the heart to do so and/or doesn't want to put Adrien in danger as a direct result of his actions.
  • People thinking that might then be confused by Gabriel as The Collector entering his son's room with the intent of sealing him in his book. But really it wouldn't be so odd considering that most akumatized villains' rage cause them to hurt people they care about. And considering that a great deal of his rage was directed to Adrien, it would make even more sense for him to go after the (supposed) source of his akumization.
• The Reveal is seen as underwhelming by fans as the show just up and presents Hawk Moth's true identity. However, it makes sense considering the show clearly knew that we knew given all the hints and clues even with all the doubts like in "Simon Says" they try to throw at us. If anything, it's adding to the Dramatic Irony with Ladybug and Cat now fighting Hawk Moth who's the latter's father as Adrien who's being crushed on by Marinette who's secretly his crush, Ladybug.
• The Reveal that Nathalie Sancoeur, literally Nathalie Without a Heart or Nathalie Heartless, has been in on Gabriel's Hawk Moth-y ways all along.
  • It also makes sense why she would know about this: since he runs a large business, Gabriel would need her to help establish alibis for him while he's busy creating Akumatized villains so no one would be the wiser.
• Gabriel throwing such a colossal tantrum before his transformation into the Collector may seem a bit odd, since he knows perfectly well what's going on, but there may be a reason for it. Gabriel had to renounce the Moth Brooch before he could become the Collector, which means that he had no direct control over the Akumatization process and couldn't be sure how much of his personality and goals would carry over to the Collector. Therefore, he first stoked his fury over the loss of his book, to help ensure his Akumatized self would stick to the "cover story".
  • In addition, the trail of destruction provides corroborating evidence to that same cover story. Surely Gabriel Agreste would only lose composure like that when in the grip of exactly the sort of towering rage that makes people vulnerable to Akumatization.
• Something else also makes sense with The Reveal — namely, the designs of some of the Akumatized villains. A number of them (the Bubbler and Reflekta in particular) are fashion victim villains, despite Gabriel's career. This makes sense when you realize that Gabriel doesn't want people to find out he's Hawk Moth...and what better way to keep people from making connections between a supervillain and a famous fashion mogul than to have your minions dressed as gaudily as possible?
• Gabriel removing Adrien from school might seem greatly unfair, but it's not actually that unjustified. Gabriel trusted Adrien enough to let him go to school despite the danger of the akuma he would create. Then he goes behind his back and snoop around his stuff, steal an extremely important thing for him and then carelessly lose it. For how much overportective and absent from his son's life he is, Gabriel wouldn't stoop so low as to actually snoop and steal things from Adrien. It would be stranger for him to let him go to school after having his trust so utterly shattered.

Despair Bear

• With The Reveal that Chloé's mom left her at a young age, André's spoiling of her could be attributed to him trying to fill the void of a mother figure in her life.
• The titular villain controls others the way that the Butler manipulated Chloé, with a teddy bear. One was just well intentioned while the other was in service of Hawk Moth.

Befana

• Marinette having an Italian grandmother explains her occasional bouts of enormous hamminess and exaggerated gesticulation: she picked it up from her.
• Nostalgia isn't the only reason that Marinette's grandmother accidentally guessed her maturity and interests too low: being a superhero lends a person to maturity faster. Marinette is growing up faster. Add to the filter of being away often and its no wonder mistakes were made.
• Why introducing such a giovial Italian character? They didn't want to put Italy in a bad light...with Lila.

Riposte

• In production order, this episode comes after "Troublemaker". That episode ends with it being implied that Adrien knows about Marinette's crush on him. With this in mind, Adrien telling Kagami that Marinette is just a friend isn't just his usual obliviousness, it's him not wanting to discuss the topic, especially not with another girl he's attracted to, and trying to deflect.
  • Also, when Adrien says the line, he glances slightly to his right, a common tell of dishonesty. Some fans interpreted this as him being in denial about his feelings for Marinette, especially since Kagami looks skeptical after he says it. It's not that (or maybe not just that), however: if he does know about Marinette's crush, he's deliberately leaving out information, albeit for a good reason.
• Riposte is called after the fencing move. In the Italian version, though, the titular villain is called Risposta, which is the translation for riposte. However, 'risposta' also means 'answer'. Kagami is searching for a real answer to her duel with Adrien.

Robustus

• It's been hinted before that Hawk Moth doesn't have perfect control over the villains he Akumatizes, but this episode drives home just how little control Hawk Moth really has: i.e. none. His big trump card to keep his Akumatized minions in line is basically using telepathy to sell a bargain in exchange for the powers they already have and threatening to painfully revoke the powers he's given them if they try to refuse their end of it, and Robustus puts that on hold by hijacking Hawk Moth's own security system to try and kill him. And it's so appropriate, because the ability of the Butterfly Miraculous isn't control, it's empowerment.
  • This explains why Hawk Moth can reel his Corrupted Champions back in. As demonstrated in "Startrain", Startrain's plans only get more and more extravagant. Her emotions, thus plans are being enhanced. Hawk Moth can reel his victims back in because of their obedience, thus their loyalty is being enhanced as well.
  • Although...that has a bit of Fridge Logic. As shown in The Evillustrator and Pixelator, Hawk Moth does have some control over his champions. Maybe not on their mind per se, but he can control their body parts (Evillustrator) or cause them a migraine until they listen to him (Pixelator), although the extent of this is not known.

Gigantitan

• On the heels of the previous episode showing how little control Hawk Moth has over his Akumatized villains, this one shows he doesn't have that much control over the actual Akumas he sends out if their initial target suddenly becomes unviable (i.e. gets over the angst that made them a target in the first place), whereupon the Akuma seems to simply switch (a capacity hinted at in "Despair Bear") to whoever happens to be closest and feeling miserable, even if they aren't that great a choice.
• Why exactly Hawk Moth makes various pauses and looks pensive during his deal with August? He's making everything up. Since he doesn't know why exactly August was throwing a tantrum, since he sensed only the Gorilla's negative emotions, Hawk Moth has to rely on vague informations and promises rather than the straighforward ones he usually make.

Dark Owl

• In this episode, we learn that Gabriel Agreste specifically wants the power to erase the past, presumably to prevent whatever chain of events lead to his wife's death. This actually helps explain why he's fine with neglecting Adrien and hitting Paris with supervillain after supervillain: If he wins, then his wish will not only erase whatever event caused Emilie to become comatose, it will erase everything he has done or not done in the meantime. He will never have neglected Adrien or unleashed supervillains against Paris.

Glaciator

• This episode brings the Loves My Alter Ego cum Two-Person Love Triangle to light with the ice cream:
  • Marinette has ice cream with colors to match Adrien's lips and eyes. Cat Noir might have both, but unless she looks past all the false bravado(and terrible cat puns) she'll be oblivious to it.
  • Adrien's has flavors to match Ladybug's suit, hair and eyes. Marinette has the latter two, but he's in love with Ladybug, not Marinette. He sees Marinette as just a friend, just as Ladybug sees Cat Noir as just a friend.
• There is also how they view their love life that's drawn into perspective:
  • Marinette is a Stalker with a Crush (thankfully with no Yandere qualities unless someone hits on him). She admires Adrien from afar but is too shy, she might even view him as so above her she's lucky he notices her. That kind of blind affection that can lead you to think he can do no wrong(though it's somewhat justified by his personality)is also the one that might confine you to thinking you have no chance with someone.
  • Although Adrien is also shy, he is courageous enough to try. He has grown up alone for just about his entire life, but he held on to a hope that he would one day make friends. He's now living that dream, and he probably thought since he had successfully made friends that he would work up the courage to get with the girl of his dreams. She might be a super hero, but he always believes and he said it himself: "I think you have to believe."
    • And as Cat Noir, he puts on a tough act that while typical Casanova Wannabe is a common technique in TV-land to get the girl. And as someone previously homeschooled he probably had lots of time to watch these kinds of shows. This episode was the first time he let down his act and opened up to Ladybug about how he felt.

Sapotis

• As we see the real Fox Miraculous in action, something comes to mind in comparison to Volpina. While Volpina is able to create many illusions without tiring, it's made clear she's so reliant on them once she's finally cornered, she's easily defeated. Rena Rouge, while only being able to create one illusion however, appears to be able to handle hand to hand combat just fine despite the fact it's the first time she's used said Miraculous. It's a testimony to the real Fox Miraculous still being stronger than the fake because of not having to rely on the illusions.
• Beyond an easter egg, of course Alya would the animated Ladybug movie. She's a huge fan and runs a blog about it. She'd probably want to review the thing for the site.
• Remember Lila lying about being Ladybug's best friend and a Fox superhero? What better way to counter that than having Ladybug's real best friend becoming the holder of the Fox Miraculous.

Gorizilla

• Hawk Moth seems to be learning from his previous mistakes with uncontrollable minions. This time he Akumatizes (even pushes him to the breaking point in his civilian persona) Adrien's bodyguard likely to specifically exploit the fact that the man is easy to boss around, enormous blue ape or not.
• Why is Adrien so calm even when he's falling from the top of a skyscraper? It's not just that he trusts Ladybug to catch him, he also knows that even if he hits the ground, Ladybug's Miraculous can bring him Back from the Dead.

Captain Hardrock

• The name of this week's Akumatized victim is a Shout-Out to Tintin, with the two most prominent cops in that series repeatedly showing up from nowhere to try and fail at arresting the protagonist. What does officer Roger do in this episode with the title character?
• The entire premise of the villain. Captain Hardrock is a pirate who's motivated by a love of music. In other words, she's a literal music pirate.
• Given their history and relationship, it isn't that surprising that upon being turned into a destructive villain, Anarka's first target is Jagged Stone.

Frightningale

• In the end when the music video features all those characters, including extras, Chloé is nowhere to be seen. Most likely, Chloé was banned from participating in that music video after what she did earlier. Alternatively, Chloé also may have been too embarrassed by her actions and chose not to stick around.

Troublemaker

• It makes sense that Jagged Stone would be the first person among those near the recently de-Akumatized Penny because he's the only one who knows what it's like being Akumatized.

Reverser

• It's a common joke in how art often predicts the future. So it's a funny thing that Marc's written stories about Ladybug would feature her recruiting a former akumatized villain (in story involving Evillustrator, and in later seasons her entire class and a few others all of whom had been akumatized at least once) and how Cat would become jealous.

Anansi

• If you're familiar with the legends surrounding Anansi, an African Trickster god, than you know he's famous for outwitting far stronger enemies. Anansi the villain, by contrast, is a brute-force user, and an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy, but nonetheless far stronger than Ladybug and Cat Noir. How does Ladybug defeat her? By tricking her into beating herself, just like Anansi himself would've.
  • Alya has in the past mentoned familiarity with Creole folktales that seems to run in her family. As Anansi is a trickster, it may be something in the back of Alya's mind whenever she's Rena Rogue.
• When she has her arm wrestling match with Nino, Nora puts herself in the position prescribed by the rules of the World Armwrestling Federation, and stays in it up until she realizes how much weaker Nino is and gets bored. As an athlete, and a rather strong one, it would be normal for her to know the official rules - and that they actually help her use all her body muscle for the competition rather than just the arm.
  • Nino initially puts himself in the same position as Nora, but quickly ends up out of it. He's initially imitating Nora, figuring out that if she went and assumed a certain position it would help... And immediately fell out because he's not actually used and had no idea he was only making things worse for himself.
  • In contrast to Nino, Nora mostly kept to the best position, just moving her non-competing arm to yawn and better assume a taunting position. As much as she was taunting Nino and didn't consider him competition, her muscle memory kept her in a mostly correct position.
• Of course Alya will be quick to recognize Nino as the new hero; Ladybug already gave her the Fox Miraculous twice, so Alya knows that Ladybug can grant powers to people she trusts whenever Cat alone can't help her to defeat an Akumatized villain. So, when Carapace appears, Alya already knows the origin of his powers, and she's already thinking about his possible secret identity, confirmed via his Verbal Tic.
  • The fact Marinette and Adrien act differently then their superhero identities may be why she wouldn't be able to connect them back to Ladybug and Cat Noir among other reasons, unlike Nino, whose Verbal Tic is distinctive for her to recognize.
• Nora's insistence in being called "Anansi" actually has a good reason: her armbands identify her as a Muay Thai practitioners, and it's traditional for them to adopt the name of their gym or sponsor as their own and replace their forename with a nickname based on their abilities. She may not be able to legally change her name, but it would make sense for her to adopt a nickname and insist on it.
  • Muay Thai also explains why Nora has a trickster's god nickname in spite of being a brute force fighter: Muay Thai fighter names are given, and her trainer must not have been familiar with Anansi's tale beyond it being an African spider deity.

Sandboy

• In this season, Plagg has become much more open at showing his affection for Adrien. This episode shows one of the reasons; now that Plagg is aware of Ladybug's identity, and he has seen her and Tikki's interactions, Plagg realizes that he and Tikki both have very nice, caring heroes, which is even more evident when comparing it with Nooroo's situation. So Plagg is no longer taking Adrien for granted and is more willing to show it.
• Why did Master Fu's nightmare manifest itself as bedsheets ghosts instead of, say, actual people? Well, consider that the villain bringing his nightmare to life is a literal child. Bedsheet ghosts are probably what come to his mind first when he thinks "ghosts".
  • It made more sense after the full story was revealed in "Feast". The disaster happened when Master Fu was still a child. Moreover, more than a century has passed since then, it's logical that Master Fu couldn't remember the face of other Guardians, thus the nightmare manifested itself as faceless bedsheets ghosts.

Queen Wasp

• Some people think Queen Wasp was easily beaten by Ladybug and Cat Noir, but wasps can be drowned with a garden hose - so Ladybug and Cat Noir used Queen Wasp's Logical Weakness against her by bringing her underwater.
• Prior to this episode there was speculation that the miraculous would protect against Akumatization, only to be proven wrong here as Hawk Moth sends one to possess the Bee Miraculous. And why not? The Butterfly Miraculous is meant to work with the others normally and one of its best moves would of course be powering up a fellow Miraculous user. The only miraculous the Butterfly can't affect is itself.

Frozer

• This YouTube comment perfectly captures Kagami's actions towards Marinette in this episode:
  "i came here after checking instagram and WOWWWWW there’s huge kagami hate everywhere. before everyone gets all mad because apparently kagami is ruining adrienette, think for a second. her tone came off as rude, but she’s a person who won’t sugarcoat anything for anyone. Yeah, even I think she could have been nicer, but I think she knows Marinette likes Adrien, and she’s telling her what she needs to fix if she ever wants to even be good friends with him. She’s telling her the truth. Her hesitation for everything makes it unable for them to get closer. Marinette knows it, even before Kagami told her. I don’t get it, what do people want? Do they want Adrien to chase after ladybug and get rejected and hurt again and again? For Marinette to quietly admire Adrien from a distance and never get anywhere? Why can’t they see other people? Adrienette will be endgame. Luka and Kagami are just there to help the story."
  • Further, it's not much of a stretch to assume Kagami was pretty hurt by the end of this episode, and just didn't show it outright. Her glance at the end towards Marinette while Adrien rejects her and talks about not switching targets implies that while Adrien's talking about Ladybug, she might think he's talking about Marinette. Think about it: she went out with a guy and the guy invited a female "friend" that he acts way more emotionally invested in, but doesn't even admit it when she asks. Adrien ditched her in the middle of their date, and the only reason he gave was concern for the other girl that he brought with him, even though said girl had her own date to look after her. Kagami knows Adrien's in emotional turmoil over feeling "stuck" and unable to change targets, and by the end of the episode, he's given her plenty of reasons to guess that it's because of romance issues and the "target" is a girl. Kagami doesn't know about Adrien being Cat Noir, so the most prominent girl she knows of in his life is Marinette, the girl he invited to accompany him on his date and didn't tell Kagami he invited. You have to admit—his decisions, and the situation with Marinette, look really bad from her perspective; considering she knows this is an attempt at a rebound relationship, I wouldn't blame her if she suspected Adrien did this partially to get Marinette's attention. When you put her advice to Marinette in this context, it sounds less snotty and more like genuine advice tinged with hurt pride.
• Adrien's decision to ask out Kagami and not Marinette, while painful, also makes sense. Just before fencing class, he had once again been turned down by Ladybug. And then Kagami gives him a sort of encouragement. Given how stunted Adrien's social development is due to his isolated upbringing, it's understandable that he'd start leaning towards the first girl who'd offer him a hand. And given how shy Marinette acts around him, he'd decide that there was nothing between them and go for the new girl.

Malediktator

• Pollen is a case of Bad Powers, Good People, arguably to an even greater degree than Plagg (Cat Noir's Cataclysm can be used on inanimate objects, but Venom has no use other than as a weapon against another living being). Given that, it's not surprising that she ends up paired with an Alpha Bitch-turned-occasional-hero like Chloé.
• Chloé learned several lessons in this episode; namely, that Good Feels Good, that being a hero is more than fighting bad guys, and that one needs to take responsibility for their actions and fix their own messes. She puts these lessons to use when she tells her butler that she'll dismantle her lair all by herself. Then, Marinette, who's still feeling guilty about her earlier treatment of Chloé, shows up and takes her to a party in Queen Bee's honor, feeding her selfishness and glory seeker tendencies. The very same episode that shows Chloé could be a decent person and a true hero also lays the groundwork for her eventual fall from grace!

Heroes' Day Part 1: Catalyst

• Volpina's re-Akumatization has her using her power much more judiciously, and to much greater effect to smear Ladybug's reputation. Why didn't she do something like this the first time? The first time she'd had no experience and no time. This time she'd had months to think about how best to ruin Ladybug.
• It's been made clear that Hawk Moth can grant practically any superpower under the sun (and possibly a few that have never before seen daylight), so why is it only now that he's thought to make an Akumatized villain that can empower him right back? There are many possible reasons he might have wanted to wait, but a big one can be gleaned from his previous Akumatized villains. Each one gained powers related to one or more of the following: The item that was possessed (such as with Bubbler or Lady Wifi), the event that upset them enough to be Akumatized (such as Sandboy or Copycat), or their own personality/self-image (such as Anansi or Volpina). Hawk Moth needed to wait for a target that would be compatible with such powers before he could grant them, such as his all-too-willing assistant.
• Markov is absent in both this episode and part 2. Granted, he doesn't appear very often anyway, but there may be another reason in this particular case: Last time he was Robostus, he turned against and nearly killed Hawk Moth. Hawk Moth could've remembered what happened last time and specifically told his akumas to leave Markov alone.
• Scarlet Moth's victims seems to be only his past victims in order to keep from creating all new one-off villains just for the sake of a few episodes. However, it also makes sense that he's largely stick to the villains he had previously created since he'd know what precisely to weaponize against his enemies. It parallels Ladybug gathering allies from whom she'd trusted with powers she already worked with rather than emptying the entire Miracle Box for a whole army.

Heroes' Day Part 2: Mayura

• The heroes are shown swiftly defeating several villains, including several that gave them a really hard time originally. Part of this is of course because the heroes now have a great deal more experience under their belt and already know the powers of their opponents. However, it must also be noted that Scarlet Hawk Moth seems to have more control over his Akumatized villains than he did as regular Hawk Moth, and because he has greater control over them, his minions have less autonomy to use their powers creatively or effectively. Not to mention that none of the villains have ever needed to work as a team before.
• There's a bit of Fridge Awesome and Heartwarming in Adrien's role in the episode. Firstly, though it's never overt, usually the heroics are planned by Marinette, with Adrien following her instructions. He doesn't complain but Ladybug is clearly the commander of the two. Also, he's usually fodder to be whammied by Akumatized villains. In this episode, not only is he the only one other than Ladybug not to be Akumatized on the heroes side, but (considering that Hawk Moth and Mayura escape) he claims the heroes biggest win in the episode. The heartwarming comes when you realize that usually, Cat Noir can't help the Akumatized victims, all he does is incapacitate them so that Ladybug can cure them. In this episode he gets to save all of them. This episode is certainly Adrien's CMOA and CMOH.
• Rena Rouge, Carapace, and Queen Bee's rather disastrous 2nd time out (3rd in Rena's case) shows their lack of experience, not just in fighting but emotionally handing the situation. Nino completely loses it when Rena gets Akumatized, and Chloé loses focus when her family shows up. Mistakes that Ladybug and Cat Noir wouldn't make because they're far used to things like that. Cat Noir's been brainwashed so often at this point it's probably just a minor annoyance to Marinette now, she'll just add him to the list of people to save without missing a beat, and considering how many friends and family have been Akumatized now both are probably emotionally dead to it as well. Meanwhile Chloé might have been able to fight Malediktator before but that was after having spent the whole episode getting used to it first, not a sudden shock. Alya meanwhile probably would have a better handle on her emotions given that she's also had all her sisters Akumatized before and dealt with it rather well, but her lack of experience in fighting with Carapace and knowing who he is ended up having her take a hit for him. If they want to be able to tap extra heroes frequently, they'd best get some more practice, as calling in a rookie in a major disaster like this can backfire as they all found out.
• When Hawk Moth Akumatizes Rena Rouge and Carapace, they don't become Akumatized into evil versions of their Miraculous forms like Queen Wasp, nor their civilian forms' counterparts Lady Wifi and Bubbler respectively. Instead, they become red Palette Swaps of their Miraculous forms. It's reasonable that Hawk Moth would do something like that since his plan would be delayed if he were to think of new powers for Rena Rage and Carapire/Shellshock on the fly. However, Queen Bee was Akumatized into Queen Wasp because Hawk Moth had plenty of time to think of a villain form for her when he sensed her negative emotions back in "Queen Wasp", so he could enhance her Miraculous powers so she could efficiently fight Ladybug and Cat Noir. Though Fridge Logic sets in when Hawk Moth has even more "important" priorities in his plan than brainstorming new villain forms like getting Prime Queen to record his every move (informing the citizens that the heroes are still alive and giving them hope) and making Guitar Villain and Frightningale play music rather than using their dangerous powers.
  • Actually, there's a bit of fridge brilliance over why Hawk Moth would want those two specifically by his side. Their powers involve playing music which allows them to force people to dance against their will (Guitar Villain) or turn them into statues if they can't sing or dance on the spot (Frightningale). And with Hawk Moth being the primary target for the heroes, it would make sense that these music themed villains with such dangerous powers would serve as his bodyguards during the battle.
  • There's another reason as to why he didn't turn Alya and Nino back into Lady Wifi and Bubbler despite their very useful powers. Unlike Chloé, Hawk Moth doesn't actually know who they are under the mask, so he wasn't prepared to change them into their former Akumatized selves. He likely assumed Ayla and Nino were hiding away somewhere or part of the mob resisting him.
• Given that Hawk Moth generally has a lot of trouble keeping his Akumatized villains on track, and has to wait until people are in a position where they're prepared to accept his Deal with the Devil, it may seem odd that he has such close control over his minions in this and the previous episode, despite the fact that only two of them (Nathalie and Lila) have any particular reason to follow his orders. But way back in Origins, Nooroo mentioned that part of the Moth Brooch's power is the ability to inspire loyalty to its Bearer in the champions it creates. Presumably Catalyst enhanced that part of the Moth Brooch's powerset as well.
• Hawk Moth seems more than a match in hand to hand combat for Ladybug and Cat Noir combined. Since all Miraculous holders get enhanced physical abilities, it makes sense than an adult would be able to overpower two teenagers now that they all received a proportional upgrade.

Season 3

Chameleon

• Why are Marinette and Adrien the only ones to see through Lila's nonsense? Because they're the only ones who know the full circumstances behind her Akumatization (Marinette through calling her out as Ladybug, Adrien through witnessing said callout) - while Alya (and possibly others) knows Lila was Volpina, they didn't witness the incident that led to her being Akumatized. Even then, it would make sense that they wouldn't immediately jump to "illusionist Akumatized villain = lying normal person" - the Akumas don't necessarily work that way (e.g. Bubbler).
  • Furthermore, since most of the class knows about Marinette's crush on Adrien, they'd likely assume it was a factor in her paranoia about Lila (not helping matters is that she actually was ridiculously paranoid about Kagami). Of course Adrien wouldn't be tripped up by that.
    • Related to the above. A lot of fans are tipped off by the class believing Lila over Marinette. It's really not that strange. Marinette made herself unlovable several times because of her crush and blatant favoritism on Adrien (e.g. Copycat, Rogercop, Gamer, Glaciator, Riposte...). The class scolding her is one of the most justified events of the show.
• It's no wonder Adrien would talk Marinette out of calling Lila out. He knows that's what caused Lila to be Akumatized in the first place.
  • Exactly, more to the point he is concerned that Lila would be Akumatized and sent after Marinette, while it may not seem like a good idea to let her get away with what she does Adrien is one of the few (as well as Mari and Hawk Moth) who is aware of just how dangerous Lila can become and is in his own, albeit misguided way, trying to protect Marinette from Lila.
• Lila getting the whole class minus Marinette and Adrien wrapped around her finger seems kind of a stretch, but Lila tells Marinette she tells people exactly what they want to hear after offering her a hand in friendship and offering to help pair her with Adrien. She doesn't buy it because she's already seen Lila at her worst and knows she's a constant liar but if she didn't (like if she didn't immediately know the Ladybug thing was false) that's a pretty spot on analysis of what friendly lovestruck Marinette would need to hear to warm up to her. Especially if Lila showed up a few months earlier when Marinette was still mostly friendless, picked on by Chloé, and couldn't get a word in around Adrien. She could have just as easily figured out what to say to everyone else to get them on her side (like for example helping Juleka with her "photo curse"), opening with the Ladybug lie which would gain points with everyone because the class loves Ladybug. Marinette is just unaffected because she knew the Ladybug friendship line was a lie, and because she's changed drastically in the last few months so Lila's thinking is slightly out of date.
• Lila's Akumatized objects. First is her necklace, then her bracelet, then her earring. Referencing three heroes whose Miraculous charms are those objects... and said three also serve as Foils to Lila.
• Adrien's advice to Marinette may seem flawed on the surface, but for a lot of people who have been in or grown up with mentally/emotionally abusive relationships, there's something to what he is saying. You never want to tip your hand to someone you know is abusive, because it can give them fodder for later, or, like Lila, cause them to lash out. (Something Adrien could have easily picked up on watching his father interact with Audrey.)
  • That, and Adrien doesn't have all the details. The viewers know that the akuma was already there because Hawk Moth was targeting Marinette, but Adrien doesn't know that - all he knows is that he tried to tell Lila to be honest, and then she got akumatized again. He's connecting the dots as best he can.
  • Similarly, Adrien has grown up very famous, and has probably been a subject of paparazzi lies and distortions of the truth all his life. He may well be repeating advice he himself received about how to respond to gossip blogs and other such media depictions of himself, that responding to them will only add fuel to the fire.
• Alix, Ivan, Nathaniel, and Chloé are all absent from the lunchroom scene. Given that the first three are shown to be pretty introverted in their own ways, (Alix and Ivan being fairly ambivalent to anything not in their interests and Nathaniel as having his head in the clouds when he's not painfully shy) and Chloé is, well, Chloé, Lila would have to pursue them all individually instead of using one of her blanket lies.

Bakerix

• Roland disowning Tom over a bread recipe puts Tom's fear (Bread coming to life) in "Sandboy" into a new light; Does he have suppressed guilt over the thing that caused a rift between him and his father?
• Bakerix taking a "drink" from his bottle and Hulking Out is of course a Shout-Out to the magic potion from Asterix. But remember what Roland had originally said was in the flask: yeast. And what is yeast used for? To make bread rise and become more voluminous.
• Many suspect that lines about Roland disowning Tom for 'using rice' in the family recipe was coded racism, so why didn't Roland act on anything of the matter when Marinette was around at all, seeing as the show has done so in Kung Food. Couple of reasons, but perhaps the nicest of them is that even Roland can't remain completely unchanged and may have come to regret his estrangement and loneliness over time, especially with his seeming divorce. Marinette coming to get him to see his son again might have been just what he needed to get past his stubbornness and see Tom again.

Weredad

• Aside from Lila, the first villain to be Akumatized this season is a Control Freak who imprisons their own offspring under the belief that he is only doing it for their benefit, no matter what lengths he must take to achieve his believed goal. Doesn't that sound familiar to a certain someone?
• How come Weredad was able to break Cat Noir's staff, which is strong enough to withstand Cataclysm and so far has been shown to be pretty much indestructible? Because his Akumatization was because he felt that Cat Noir had strung along his daughter and hurt her on a romantic level, and many parents in that situation would want to tear the bastard to pieces until nothing remained. He has a very personal, powerful but altogether not unreasonable (from his perspective, anyway) reason to hurt Cat Noir which would give him the strength and resolve to break Cat's staff.

Backwarder

• This episode actually partially justifies why even close friends like Alya might brush of Marinette's accusations and dislike of Lila as just Adrien jealousy because it shows that Marinette is just as against Kagami as she is Chloé or Lila. Calling "emergency meetings", which the girls look like they're just about fed up with, for the sake of keeping her away from Adrien. However, unlike Chloé or Lila, Kagami has done nothing to deserve this, being polite and civil to her, a little cold at worst. So them thinking her problems with Lila is just irrational dislike isn't as out of character and plot mandated as one might think, because Marinette does show irrational dislike for any girl with interest in Adrien even if they aren't also hostile to Marinette.

Reflekdoll

• Why do Marinette and Adrien know how to activate the other's Miraculous so quickly? Because during "The Dark Owl", They had to call out their transformation phrase in front of each other.
  • This is also an artifact of the original French script, where all transformations are "insert Kwamii name here, transform me!"
• It may seem weird that Adrien got exactly what he wanted when using the Lucky Charm, but when you consider the fact that Ladybug has never tried to get what she wanted before and only relies on luck, it all makes sense. Tikki is the kwami of creation and luck, after all. Plus, Marinette still used the mirror like any old Lucky Charm (or at least, how she uses them).
• The Doylist explanation for why Reflekta returned as the Villain of the Week for the episode where the heroes swap Miraculous? Adrien would have needed pierced ears to wear the Ladybug Miraculous, and being Reflektarised before transforming makes that possible. (We don’t unequivocally see earrings on the Reflekta form, but the concealing ear flaps on the headdress make it possible for them to be there, and they would be an appropriate component of Reflekta’s psychedelic courtesan look).
• When Tikki and Plagg touch their Miraculous, these return to their charged form. If Marinette and Adrien had seen the kwamis with the Miraculous in camouflaged form, they would have recognized them as the jewels that the other always wears.

Stormy Weather 2

• It seems weird for Chloé to Kick the Dog in regards to Aurore's bad grades after all of her Character Development in season 2, but two things; one, people don't just change overnight, it takes time and effort. And two, Adrien had been stated to be absent from school for a week due to an extended photo shoot. Without her Morality Pet present, it's no wonder for Chloé to slip back into her bad habits again.
• It seems unusual from one little remark from Chloé to set off Aurore. But listen - this episode canonically takes place after The Queen Bee Trilogy, where Chloé was lauded as a hero and a savior in front of everyone. Now imagine Aurore being humiliated and laughed at by this girl who was supposed to be a superheroine and worked with Ladybug to stop Malediktator.

Animaestro

• Adrien voicing Cat Noir in the movie is an example of Meta Fridge Brilliance. The animated Cat Noir is voiced by the person who is secretly the actual Cat Noir, reflecting how the Villain of the Week is a fictionalized version of the show's creator Thomas Astruc, voiced by himself. In both cases, the characters star in a fiction within their world played by the actual person themself.
• During casual conversation with Kagami, Adrien mentions that he's 'more of a dog person', which is initially very odd, until you consider that he's likely trying to distance himself from his role as Cat Noir, which has now been linked to him in real life through him effectively voice acting himself, without other's awareness.
• Why is Animaestro normally so large? To make sure there is always someone to watch him.

Oblivio

• Despite being amnesiac and untransformed, both Marinette and Adrien were able to use Awesomeness by Analysis (Or what the episode recap page calls "Action Man Vision"), Ladybug-style. While it could be a way to illustrate how much they've grown, even mind-wiped, it's possible that both kids were always able to do that, but their ability was stunted by the abuse they've grown up with. (Chloé's bullying and Gabriel's micromanaging, respectively.) With their memories gone, both kids have forgotten that "You'll never be more than what I say you are" stuff and have nothing to hold them back.
  • The "Ladybug Vision" was said to just be a visual representation of her thought process when looking for stuff to form a plan with rather than any kind of special ability. Anyone can do that. Adrien just typically never needs it because aside from having a partner that does most of their planning, with something far more suited as a weapon in his staff and the power of destruction he's got plenty of offense by default and typically wouldn't need to improvise a weapon.
    • Actually, it's more that Adrien uses it as much as Marinette does (such as picking which objects to destroy). We just almost never see him use it because the show focuses more on Marinette's POV than his.

Oni-Chan

• Kagami's reactions to her various romantic rivals get harsher in proportion to their actual maliciousness. Marinette, a genuine Nice Girl, gets some blunt but much-needed advice on pursuing Adrien. Chloé a clingy jerkass gets a brief but ruthless Shut Up, Hannibal!. And finally, Lila, a Consummate Liar gets Kagami enraged/upset enough to be Akumatized and want to kill her (although she refrains from actually doing so since she's just that damn honorable). Despite her relative isolation, Kagami seems to have a knack for reading people.
• Oni-Chan is the first villain that uses Ladybug's Lucky Charm against the heroine. Kagami, being a sword fighter, is trained to block and counter an opponent's moves. Plus, since she already faced the heroes previously, she knows how they fight and move, which makes her a more dangerous villain.
• Lila lies to Nino that she doesn’t have a crush on Adrien. Why? People think Marinette hates Lila because Lila has a crush on Adrien, so claiming that she does not like Adrien makes Marinette look paranoid to her friends.
  • Or, she's a genuine compulsive liar.
  • Or, she wasn't lying at all - she doesn't have a crush on Adrien. He just has the connections and the power she wants, and if she can get him on her side then her whole scheme becomes much easier.
    • Lila declared her love to Adrien while having the horn on her head and it didn't react, proving that it was not a lie.
    • Lila is Loving a Shadow. The fact that she was willing to give Adrien up only proves that her hatred for Ladybug is stronger.

Miraculer

• Miraculer's weapon is a tonfa. It isn´t strange if we consider that Sabrina's father is a policeman, who frequently use the weapon on the line of duty.
• How does Cat Noir survive being Cataclysmed? Twice? Well, there's a few possibilities:
  • One is that as the holder of the Black Cat Miraculous, his power of destruction doesn't work properly on himself much like Hawk Moth can't Akumatize himself.
  • Another is that Miraculer wasn't unleashing the full power of Cataclysm on him given that her use of it on the hotel roof later is markedly less destructive than would normally be expected of Cat's use and she showed the ability to tone down other stolen powers like Carapace's Shell-ter being made smaller.
  • A third is that Sabrina's powers "hijack" the actual ability to make it only do what she wants it to, also explaining why when she uses Ladybug's ability it just makes a BFS instead of a complex plan from a mundane object.
• So, how is it Chloé can resist being Akumatized, while it's later shown that Marinette can't? Well, for one, there's clearly some measure of Heroic Willpower involved, and Chloé is way more stubborn than Marinette (typically for the worse, but it comes in handy here). On the other hand, there's also the matter of experience; at this point in the series, Chloé's been Akumatized no less than three times (once as Antibug, twice as Queen Wasp), making her tied for the most frequently Akumatized person in the show. She knows what's happening, knows how it feels, and has the will and knowledge to resist it.
  • Also, despite how Hawk Moth uses it the intended function of the Moth Brooch is to empower heroes to right wrongs. It's entirely possible that Chloé is, ironically, not a good enough person to get easily akumatized.
• Though out of order on Netflix and certain channels, this episode actually would introduce Mayura in a logical way if you think of why Hawk Moth would risk things on a damaged Miraculous that took his wife from him. Gabriel would be hesitant to give Nathalie another chance in the field but would reconsider if it was largely for observation and reconnaissance, especially since Chloé was making enough of a fuss to make them take notice. She wouldn't exacerbate the Peacock Miraculous's damage if it was largely limited to being a disguise and for hand-to-hand combat. Amoks would come in handy but only if absolutely necessary since that would cause a relapse for her.

Timetagger

• The Rabbit Miraculous has the power of time travel, and the Transformation Trinket is a pocket watch. In other words, it's a reference to the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. It could also be a reference to Alice herself, as the colors are white and blue, which she is known to wear, and it's used by Alix, who has a similar name to her.
  • Also, Bunnyx is pretty much a more refined, efficient version of Timebreaker, Alix's Akumatized form.
• What exactly did Chris get akumatized about? While we don't get told we can infer a few things from his clothes when normal, which seem very modern day and would probably be rather out of style by the future. It's probable he was having a serious 'everything was better in my day' moment when he was akumatized.
• Adult Cat Noir damaging Bunnix's Miraculous... Was that really an accident or was it part of Adult Ladybug's plan?
• Alix's father works at a museum and is a historian, while his daughter would gain the power to travel through time.

Party Crasher

• A couple people noted that Kim’s superhero outfit almost looks like a track suit. "Frightningale" confirmed that a Miraculous wielder's appearance is based on their personalities and desires, so of course it’d be a track suit; Kim’s a major athlete!
• Someone who starts the series chronologically as a bully and as part of the bully group who got a Miraculous not because Ladybug choose them for it. Their name is monarch + animal and their powers seems to be only meant for fighting and not for other uses. Kim and Chloé are very similar, with one major difference. Kim got over the worst of his vices on his own as the series went on, while Chloé's doubled down on them. Kim is what Chloé should have been.
• Master Fu deciding to give Kim the Monkey Miraculous may have been partially motivated by Kim catching him when he fell from his ice box earlier on in the episode. Not only did this demonstrate Kim's good reflexes, but it also showed the same kind of helpful nature Fu tested Marinette and Adrien for before giving them their Miraculous.
• The Butterfly Miraculous was always meant to be used to create heroes. In this episode, Hawk Moth uses his powers to create someone who will restore power to his house and save his wife's life, and he gets one of the strongest akuma he has ever produced.

The Puppeteer 2

• Why didn't Hawk Moth give Manon the same kind of power as in The Puppeteer? While the statue of Ladybug and Cat Noir is right there, defenseless? Because the statue of Hawk Moth himself is there too! He has learned a lesson from Robostus.
  • It's also possible the power was just slightly changed because the wax statues were dangerous on their own while the original dolls were no threat, it was the fact that they puppeted the originals. Not to mention that puppetting the statues to control the originals would have been very cumbersome to work with unlike the dolls which were small and light enough to be levitated. And a whole museum of statues were immediate weapons where as controlling the originals would have wasted time with most of them having to travel the city to get to her. Granted she could cut out the battle entirely and just control the Ladybug and Cat Noir statues, but Puppeteer wanted to "play" with them because Manon felt neglected so she wouldn't want to instantly win anyway. Much like how in her first appearance she didn't just have Evillustrator make a new Ladybug doll for her to control and immediately win that way, because she specifically wanted Marinette's Ladybug doll she was denied earlier, she's a kid throwing a tantrum. She's doesn't want to be tactically efficient she wants to lash out at what made her mad.

Ikari Gozen

• Marinette's hostility towards Kagami is in full swing this episode, but subsides when she discovers that Kagami has no friends outside of Adrien, who isn't even in her contacts list. At the end, Marinette decides to reach out to Kagami. In other words, a reserved Lonely Rich Kid is initially met with hostility by a more extraverted person of the same gender as themselves, only for the other person to reach out when they realize the truth about the rich kid's Friendless Background. Is that last sentence about Marinette and Kagami, or Nino and Adrien?
  • That also makes Marinette's hostility toward Kagami highly ironic, as a large part of said hostility is fueled by her crush on Adrien. However, in terms of personality, Kagami essentially is Adrien pre-series, before his Character Development started kicking in and without Cat Noir as a release. Note that Kagami starts acting much more bombastic as Ryuko, and transformed without hearing Longg out all the way - much like Adrien did his first time as Cat.
  • This also essentially means that Adrien is for Kagami what Chloé was to him. As mentioned above in "Copycat", Adrien's occasional Entitled to Have You outbursts toward Ladybug may be partially caused by Chloé's toxic influence on him. Meanwhile, Kagami is fairly civil towards Marinette, if a bit prickly. She's not getting the same toxic influence Adrien had - or at worst, she's getting a highly diluted form of it, courtesy of Nino and Marinette (among others).

Desperada

• Adrien's outfit as Aspik may look strange to most viewers, mainly because of the fact that it covers his hair, but the real reason his hair is hidden is because if it wasn't, Ladybug might realize how suspiciously similar he looks to Cat Noir and Mister Bug.
• Desperada's power is similar to that of Party Crasher. Since this episode chronologically takes place before the latter, it explains Cat Noir's reaction to Ladybug being captured first, since he's relived that moment with Desperada over and over thousands of times.
  • It also explains why Cat was so eager to sacrifice himself during "Gamer 2.0" (which also takes place after this episode) besides the fact that Ladybug is needed, and casts a sad light on his words to her regarding how he's willing to sacrifice everything to be with her.
• Ladybug and Aspik's inabilities to focus on fighting Desperada and getting too distracted with each other continues to prove that Marinette and Adrien still can't work as a healthy and happy couple if they continue to hold all of each other's identities to their unrealistic standards. This is a good follow-up to "Oblivio", where it showed that they'd be a great couple if they didn't have expectations of each other already.
• If any additional proof is needed that Adrien is not the right person to wear the Snake Miraculous, his Aspik form is the only Miraculous form so far that does not get a magical weapon.
• Aspik's name ends in -ik, a suffix that in European comics is used for villains and antiheroes. Even the name wasn't right for Adrien to be the Snake hero. For bonus points an aspic is a savory version of jello used in the early 20th century as a way to preserve cooked meat. Making for a very roundabout Stealth Pun where Adrien is stuck in stasis getting his goose cooked.
  • Another, likely intentional pun, is that it sounds like the french idiom, "être habillé comme l'as de pique" (being dressed like the ace of spades), which usually means "wearing ridiculous/unfitting clothing". Aspik was unfit to be a superhero from the get-go.
• When the kwamis get together for Nooroo's birthday, Sass is the one keeping time. The snake Miraculous essentially gives the owner infinite rehearsal time. Its weapon is a Lyre. Luka is the only logical wielder.
• While Jagged Stone leaves the choice up to Marinette, he seems particularly interested in having her select Luka. Season 4 episode "Truth" reveals that Jagged is Luka's father (unknown to Luka himself), and the episode ends with them bonding over playing music together. True, Luka was holding a guitar at the time, so at a glance he was still the obvious choice over Adrien, but it's possible that Jagged wanted an excuse to spend time with and get to know his son. Anarka clearly didn't want him around, so he couldn't very well ask her for permission. Letting Marinette be the one to choose Luka would give him an alibi.

Startrain

• It comes as no surprise that Chloé takes on a leadership role when the Akuma shows up; "bossy Alpha Bitch" has been part of her characterization from day one. However, the fact that she does such a good job at it that she nearly stops the Akuma on her own makes even more sense when you consider that her father is the mayor of Paris, and that the city has been through crisis after crisis since Hawk Moth showed up, so it's entirely conceivable that she picked up a few techniques for handling emergencies.
• So the Horse Miraculous is a pair of... Shades??? Sure, this looks random, but keep in mind that the Rabbit Miraculous gives the holder the power of Time Travel. It's entirely possible that the Mage saw the future one way or another.
  • It's more likely that it's supposed to be similar to horse blinders, which are designed to block part of their vision to keep them calm.
    • Which is ironic and intentional, since Max is basically Blind Without 'Em.
• Since horses are one of the earliest forms of transport, it makes sense that the Horse Miraculous's power would be related to that.
• Max's hairstyle as Pegasus is a ponytail.

Gamer 2.0

• Why have Anti-Bug and Copycat in the akumatized version, and possibly the regular one, if two of the final bosses are Ladybug and Cat Noir. Simple, moveset clones.
• Gamer 2.0 might still have had some moments, but he took his defeat surprisingly well. Unlike the first time, where Max was akumatized while struggling with losing, Gamer 2.0 felt lonely as everyone was too busy to play with him. While he still gets into the fight and did not like losing, in the end he did get what he wanted.

Cat Blanc

• Cat Blanc flicking his bell after telling Present Ladybug that he's not Cat Noir anymore. Right after, she immediately goes after it. Perhaps Cat Noir wasn't as gone as he claimed and that flick was his way of giving Ladybug a clue as to where his Akuma was.
• That the Akuma was in Cat Noir's bell makes total sense. According to Word of God, the bell represents Adrien's desire to be loved, which he had been denied all of his life by his family. Corrupting it mirrors how twisted Gabriel is to abuse his son's longing for affection.
• Lila seems to not have been Akumatized over Marinette and Adrien's relationship in the Bad Future. Back in "Chameleon" she claimed it would have been ridiculous to fight Marinette over a boy-and apparently she meant it.
  • Alternatively, she avoided being Akumatized because she thinks Marinette and Adrien will break up and it would make her look bad.
  • Possibly Gabriel ordered Lila to keep an eye on Adrien and Marinette and report back to him about the progress of their relationship, but she was not allowed to intervene. In this way, Gabriel gave them the opportunity to be together with no one trying to separate them, so that their love was stronger and he made sure that their breakup was even more painful.
• Bunnyx is the one who suggests that Adrien must have told someone about Ladybug's true identity and that someone told someone else and so on. Why? Because she needs to make sure that Ladybug doesn't make the connection between her crush's civilian and hero identities (much like Adrien did earlier) lest it leads to another Bad Future. Her smile when Ladybug swallows that story hook, line and sinker says, "crisis averted".
• The way Marinette and Adrien discover each other's hero identity and their reactions:
  • Adrien deduces it because of the note written on the gift. Remembering what Ladybug told him in "Glaciator", he realizes that he is the boy she is in love with. Also he has previously suspected that Marinette and Ladybug could be the same person, and although she has managed to fool him with her wit, Adrien still believes in that possibility. He needed only one piece of evidence to confirm it.
  • His reaction is absolutely happy when he realizes that the girl he loves has been in front of him all the time. He was completely sincere when he said: Whoever she is beneath that mask, I love that girl.
  • Marinette discover it when Adrien transforms front to her. During the series, Marinette has repeatedly refused to believe that Adrien and Cat Noir could be the same person. In other words, she wouldn't believe it unless she saw it with her own eyes.
  • Her reaction is hug Cat Noir tearfully once she gets over the shock. She has realized that all this time she has hurt the boy she loves with her constant rejections. Not to mention the times he has sacrificed himself for her.

Félix

• When Félix pretending to be Adrien and sends a hateful message to his friends, Marinette is sure that he is an impostor when he trash-talks Chloé. She knows that Chloé was the only friend Adrien had when he wasn't allowed out home, and he greatly values his friendship with her.
• The class is surprisingly quick to turn on "Adrien" after he sends them an insulting message, with several of them pointing out that they don't actually know him all that well. With that in mind, Adrien's reluctance to take direct action against Lila back in "Chameleon" makes a lot more sense - he probably reasons that, since they're so willing to distrust Marinette, why would they trust him?
• With his motives revealed in later seasons aside, by the time of this episode, Adrien would've had two occasions to visit his aunt and cousin in London, once in "Startrain" (with Alya likely reporting on her class' presence on the Ladyblog, which Félix is shown to follow to learn more about Hawk Moth) and another in "Backwarder" for an event. Considering how rough Félix had it with the circumstances surrounding his father's death, is it any wonder he's resentful against Adrien for not showing up in his life until this episode's events, where Félix had to be the one visiting him? From where he stood, it'd be as if Adrien didn't even bother checking in on him, instead living life with friends who care about him, a girl who confesses his love to him, being rescued by a superhero he has a crush on, even his annoying Alpha Bitch of a childhood friend has become a superhero comforting him about his mom being gone... It seems less as if Félix's nastiness towards Adrien is random and more like he's getting "payback" for Adrien getting all that support and warmth but never bothering to do the same for him while Félix had it rough the whole time.

Ladybug

• For some reason, Mayura seems to really be hamming it up in her televised fight against the Sentimonster Ladybug, even including a fake-sounding laugh. What if she did that on purpose, knowing that appearing as the villain would spur Cat Noir into believing the Sentimonster?
  • She also admires Gabriel, who hams it up as Hawk Moth compared to his usual self. She might be trying to emulate that approach.
• Adrien convincing Lila to make up a good lie to get Marinette back in school, as opposed to just telling her she has to tell the truth, is actually quite brilliant. While Lila of course hams it up as an illness she can't control to gain sympathy, she ends up admitting to the principal and the teacher that she's a pathological liar, which would make it a lot harder to pull off schemes in future since everything she says is suspect now. Adrien essentially got Lila to confess the truth by making her think she was lying.
• Other than already knowing that she can fight off an Akumatized villain, it makes sense that Chloé isn't afraid of the Akumas. With the exception of Lila, she was probably the only one in the locker room who didn't feel negative emotions. She was probably happy that it looked like Marinette would get expelled.

Heart Hunter

• Chloé's feeling of betrayal was more justified than she realized; not only did Ladybug continue to give her the cold shoulder after it had become blatantly obvious that doing so wasn't stopping Hawk Moth from targeting her family; the person she selected instead was the only other hero whose identity Hawk Moth knew at that point. And, given what we see in season four, the identity rule apparently just doesn't apply to people Marinette actually likes.

Miracle Queen

• All the new heroes from the past two seasons are mind-controlled and have their identities revealed, except for Bunnyx. This is because Bunnyx is from the future, and Alix hasn't used the Rabbit Miraculous in the present yet, so even if she was affected by Miracle Queen's wasps, she wouldn't go to her with the others.
• Adrien being able to use the Snake Miraculous better than he did in "Desperada" might have something to do with him starting to move on from his feelings for Ladybug.
• Only Hawk Moth and Mayura (and possibly Chloé) find out the new heroes' identities. Their ally Lila, who's implied to be the future Hawk Moth in "Timetagger" (or anyone else for that matter) is notably not present even though she'd be useful to give one of the non-used Miraculous to. Which means after his defeat mentioned in Timetagger their identities might become a secret again, allowing for the future Miraculous Superhero team Bunnyx mentioned. And assuming these are different characters, then it also explains why Bunnyx, the one character we definitely know is part of it, wasn't exposed.
• Hawk Moth rejecting and ditching Chloé as a disappointing failure is questionable when she was seconds from total victory with Dragon Bug under control and later dumping Snake Noir into the sun. But thanks to Snake Noir's Second Chance usage he doesn't actually remember any of that. From his perspective her army went down in seconds and she was immediately defeated afterwards.
• The whole result with Chloé is yet another example of why Hawk Moth knowing someone's identity can be be so dangerous. Not even just stalking them at home, not even just using their loved ones against them, but just knowing who Chloé was and knowing what she was like meant he was able to exploit her character flaws to get her to do exactly what he wanted.
• In the line-up of couples at the end, Marinette and Adrien are at the complete opposite ends of the line, symbolizing the complete breakdown of the romantic aspect of their relationship. Additionally, Alix and Max are seen siting together, which is very interesting given that their Miraculous give them powers over time and space respectively.
• Season 4 reveals that Marinette isn't going to keep the exposed heroes at a distance like people expected, since they're all still in the new intro (and most were even added for the first time), and Rena Rouge features in the main trailer for the early season. But given how she did bench Chloé after season 2, with Hawk Moth continuing to target her anyway, with this very two-parter having him target her family to get at her and then exploit her regardless, it makes sense. If Hawk Moth is going to target and be a danger to them regardless, why lose them as an asset?
• Viperion's Second Chance fails after three times because of how he barely had enough mental autonomy to properly think of different moves to make with each reset. Thus he was worn down by the third loop where they got to his Miraculous before he could with only a split-second difference.
  • In fact, Miracle Queen's lack of proper coordination of her Miraculous guards comes back to bite her. Particularly in how the four of them skip straight to their Special Abilities with no regard for specific moments of when to use them. "Party Crasher" shows this with Cat Noir losing along with Carapace, Pegasus and Viperion. However, Ladybug manages to coordinate them in order to win the day with her leadership skills.

Season 4

Truth

• It's all but stated that the reason Anarka gave up on a promising music career alongside Jagged Stone is that she wanted to raise Luka and Juleka outside the hectic life of a rockstar.
• Luka is hurt when Marinette breaks up with him, but not surprised. After all, thanks to the kwamis messing with Marinette's stuff, he received a photo showing that Marinette still has pictures of Adrien plastered all over her wall.
• Why is Hawk Moth's fused form called Shadow Moth, as it is very different from names like 'Multi-Fox', 'Dragon Bug', 'Cat Viper', and the ones we see later in the season? Simple: Try combining the names like Ladybug and Cat Noir do. Hawk Moth would be calling himself something like Hawk Cock (Hawk Moth + Peacock) or Pea Moth and such a name is not dignified.
• At first glance, Luk-a and Julek-a Couffeine are meant to be part of a punny family theme name (for "acouphène," the French word for "tinnitus"). However, a closer look reveals that Luka means "light" and Juleka means "jewel." With this episode confirming that Anarka gave up her musical career with Jagged Stone to raise her kids, their names now have more heartwarming significance: Luka and Juleka are the "light" and "jewel" of their mom's life.
• New York showed that, despite Miracle Queen suggesting otherwise, Gabriel did not immediately fix the Peacock Miraculous. Since Master Fu couldn't fully translate the Grimoire, Gabriel and Nathalie likely couldn't either.
  • Also, despite his vast fortune and having Tomoe provide technical support (as Season 5 showed), it would still take a while for Gabriel to acquire the materials necessary to fix the jewel.
  • There's also the fact that Gabriel would obviously be reluctant to use the Miraculous that took his wife from him. And considering how similar the Peacock's are to the Butterfly's, he might've considered Amokization a redundant power.

Lies

• Kagami might have seemed like a good match who liked Adrien for who he was, but hints at her Loving a Shadow were seen back in "Oni-Chan". When she was akumatized, she screamed that he was "perfection incarnate", and she wouldn't love anyone else. Except Adrien doesn't want to be perfect. That side of him is something he forced himself into for his father's sake, and ultimately the personality Kagami thought was real. Their relationship wouldn't have worked even if they tried.
  • This is basically confirmed and all but stated when Adrien "implied" that Cat Noir's side was his real side, and Kagami reacted negatively to it.
• Adrien is uncharacteristically aloof with Kagami after the concert on the Liberty, hardly paying any attention to what she's saying, because she dragged him off when he really wanted to stay and spend some more time with the rest of their friends. Kagami just wants to spend some time alone with her boyfriend, but her method of doing so is eerily similar to how Gabriel micromanages Adrien's life, including how much time he can spend with his friends. Kagami's intentions may be good, but she unknowingly hit a sore spot of Adrien's.
• The fact that Jagged Stone has been lying about his age explains why Luka was skeptical about his paternity; he assumed his father would be roughly the same age as his mother.
• Plagg supports Adrien's feelings for Ladybug because the kwami now knows that she loves him too. In "New York - United Heroez", Plagg overheard Marinette confessing her love for Adrien.

Gang of Secrets

• The fact that Marinette wasn´t akumatized after breaking up with Luka isn´t so strange. She's been trying to distract herself from her sadness, probably to avoid attracting Shadow Moth's attention.
• Ladybug allows Alya to return as Rena Rogue even though Hawk Moth knows the latter's identity. After everything that went down with Chloé, Marinette likely wants to avoid a repeat incident of one of her allies resenting her to the point they turn over to Shadow Moth to become Miraculous holders again. While she knows that Alya is far more responsible than Chloé, she doesn't want to take a chance at losing her best friend.
• In a bit of irony, Alya rejecting Shadow Moth's power ends up leading to her learning Marinette's secret which not only was her desire for this episode but the secret being Ladybug's identity was what she'd wanted all along way back when she was first turned into Lady Wifi in season 1. Which goes with the frequent theme that making a deal with Shadow Moth to go on an Akuma fueled rampage will never actually get someone what they want nor is it right forcing someone to give it to you. By choosing to reject him, Alya managed to get the info from Marinette of her own will. An Akuma is never an actual solution.
• This episode shows that akumas can be persuaded to rebel if given the right motivation...which, in hindsight, was foreshadowed in "Cat Blanc", when Ladybug convinced Adrien to stop fighting her, however briefly. (If she had waited longer, would he have changed back on his own?) The method used each time is also the same.
  Ladybug: You will always be Cat Noir to me. [...] You know Rena Rouge, right?
  • Given later episodes showing that Cat Blanc is still on her mind, it is a subtle set up for how that is still causing Marinette stress.
• Many things in "Sapotis" are payed off here. There, Alya claimed that she's be Ladybug's confidant if trusted with her true identity when discussing it with Marinette. To say nothing of how she was the first hero Ladybug choose. She nearly would've been Rena Rouge full time then before "Optygami" if her conscious didn't get to her. The signs were practically all there.

Mr. Pigeon 72

• Marinette managing to find new ways to use the Ladybug Miraculous isn't without precedence. Throughout season 2 Hawk Moth demonstrated a lot of novel ways to use the Butterfly Miraculous that threw Master Fu for a loop at both the start and the end of the season. The protective charms are simply Marinette doing the same right back, and he'd repeat the process at her with Dearest Family.
• Why did Marinette have a swimsuit for Kagami? While it is not entirely impossible that Marinette and Kagami may be similar sizes in universe, it is also possible Marinette's style projects did extend to custom swimwear at some point. As Kagami is a friend she'd get a swimsuit. Or, again, the two are just similar sizes in universe. One of the two.
• Most of the Mr. Pigeon appearances that added up to 72 were for petty things, it was only when the issue was compounded with personal shame and defeat that Shadow Moth had more to play with and create a more powerful Mr. Pigeon.
• Pigeons are actually doves. The pigeons in cities are officially called Rock Doves. Of course if this was a mistake on the writers assuming otherwise or Ross being a bit more intelligent than he actually is is hard to say.
• Shadow Moth seems to initially believe that the alter egos seen when the illusion Ladybug and Cat Noir relinquish their Miraculous are the real deal, despite looking nothing like their hero counterparts. A possible reason for this can be seen with a handful of Akumatized villains. While most of them resemble their civilian forms, this is not a hard and fast rule. One that specifically comes to mind is Copycat, who was physically identical to Cat Noir, despite Théo looking nothing like Adrien. If this effect can be achieved by an Akumatized villain, it theoretically stands to reason that the Miraculous can achieve it as well.

Psycomedian

• This episode actually answer a critical question. What would happen if Cat Noir has to take the lead against the akumatized villain? Having Ladybug's mind influenced by the villain's power is bad enough, so Cat Noir has to show that he can be as open-minded as her if push come to shove.
• There's a good reason as to why Adrien didn't understand Marinette's gags. In the shelltered place with no-nonsense people he grew up with, surely gags must have been something akin to taboo. Then he goes with his obliviousness to love and suddenly you don't feel so surprised.

Furious Fu

• The confusion Su-Han has at the Yo-Yo being used to call actually feeds to the earlier point Alya made about how the potential of the Miraculous, especially the Ladybug, is limitless and the guardian book is only a suggestion list. Ladybug, Cat Noir, and the others managed to bring up potential in their arsenal that even a master guardian was stumped by, even with the technological gap in mind.
  • The technological gap explains why Ladybug, Cat Noir, et al took no notice of this, despite knowing the Miraculous are truly ancient, even once they knew they were the first holders in almost 200 yeas. Cell phone use is second hand to them, so of course their superpowered forms have cell phone service that can take messages when they are not transformed, and even let them track each other when transformed (but not Hawk Moth, who would not want his location made available to them). To them, that is just how things work.
• The fact that Guardians not being allowed to wear Miraculous under any circumstance. A rebellious Miraculous holder trained in Mirakung Fu could easily subjugate another holder to steal their Miraculous or they could prevent another Guardian from taking away their Miraculous.

Sole Crusher

• Chloé acts especially unpleasant to Zoé and everyone else in this episode, bullying her half-sister for being nice, locking Sabrina in a closet to do her homework and pushing everyone else in the titular villain's way to save her own hide. While this can attributed to her nasty personality, she's likely still reeling from the Humiliation Conga of being expelled from the Miraculous Team and her parents no longer doting on her every whim like before. The positive influence of being a hero has evaporated, and there's no one stopping her from getting worse.
  • On top of that, there's the fact that said Humiliation Conga was a direct result of her efforts to save her parents, after she found out Ladybug had been lying to her about the whole "you can't keep being a hero if your identity is compromised" thing. At this point, Then Let Me Be Evil is a perfectly understandable response.
• Zoé is never mentioned before her introduction and no one knows she's Chloé's half-sister, even though it's clear she's met her maternal family before. Mayor Bourgeois and Audrey both have high-profile jobs that require a good PR record and giving the impression that they're a (somewhat) happy couple. It's also implied that Zoé's father is someone rich and important in NYC (enough to get Audrey's attention at least). If news broke that Audrey Bourgeois cheated on her husband and had a daughter out of wedlock, it would have caused a huge scandal that could have destroyed all the parents' careers. Everyone likely kept quiet about it to avoid controversy.
• André Bourgeois gave up his dream of becoming a director and pursued a political career^note The mayor of Paris serves a six-year term, and André had been elected three times prior to "Darkblade", meaning he's been mayor for 18 years in order to be with Audrey, yet she still ended up leaving him and their daughter —a daughter who, through a combination of André's overindulgence and the need to please her absent mother, turned into a carbon copy of Audrey. On top of that, said wife had no problem cheating on her husband during their marriage, to the point it produced an illegitimate child. Suddenly, it's not so surprising that Mayor Bourgeois was a bitter, unpleasant Corrupt Politician during the first few episodes, before getting some much-needed Character Development.
• How does Chloé know where Marinette is in her home? Because Sabrina's snuck around in there before at the very least. She may have also just been running and found her by chance.
• Zoé's Akumatized form, Sole Crusher, looks notably like a fusion of Chloé and her mother's Style Queen form. As she earlier noted her family is more sour than sweet, and she'd be most familiar with Audrey before getting a full showing that Chloé is indeed sour, it is possible that Zoé, deep down, sees both of them as so nasty that her akumatized form is a reflection of that. It also serves as a nasty echo to Zoé being encouraged to fit in with Chloé for most of the episode; now she really is like her half-sister.
• While brainstorming ideas on how to make Marinette's life miserable, Chloé considers framing her for something she didn't do but decides against it believing it to be "too easy". In Season 3's "Ladybug", Lila did the same thing and could have gotten away with it if she wasn't forced to confess herself. Not wanting to do something that a lesser bully was able to pull off, Chloé would want to do something more original and potentially better.
• With a world of heroes and New York City being filled with them, why would Zoé have them pointed out to her. Just like the aquarium she was pointed too, many cities may have them but each is unique and interesting in their own way.
• André doesn't indulge one of Chloé's rantings for the first time in the show, which seems very out of character for him. Well, he might love his daughter, but it doesn't mean he doesn't love his other daughter. And why exactly would he send off the one person in his family that actually treated him nicely?

Queen Banana

• Zoé's heroine name, "Vesperia", is derived from "vespa", which is the Italian word for "wasp". In nature, wasps are natural enemies of bees and they are natural pest control, just like ladybugs.
  • A "vespa" is also a type of scooter, exactly like the one Ladybug's Lucky Charm gives her.
  • Wasps also can lay their eggs in other bugs to grow out of and consume. By being the new Bee heroine, Vesperia was born from the 'death' of Queen Bee, and one could find some snark about Zoé's birth by affair in that comparison if one wanted to.
• Gabriel is hiding in his lair when he's speaking with Chloé on the tablet, but the background of his screen shows him in his atelier. It's likely he's using a background filter to hide where he actually is to avoid suspicion.
  • Crosses over with Fridge Horror. Aside from Heart Hunter, Mr. Pigeon 72, and Mega Leech, has Gabriel actually been in his lair the whole time?
• It seems odd that Marinette would trust Zoé, a girl she's only met a short while ago, with one of the five Elements Miraculous when she knows several others who could take up the title. But there are number of reasons it makes the most sense:
  • On the practical side, everyone Ladybug could have chosen were turned into bananas by the titular supervillain. Zoé was the only one who Marinette knew that she could rely on in a pinch.
  • Master Fu chose Marinette, Adrien, and even Kim to be Miraculous holders after they showed a simple, kind gesture. Marinette would do the same to Kagami; while she knew the latter for a while, she never saw her as a Miraculous candidate until she learned about Kagami's true self. Marinette learned more about Zoé's true nature in "Sole Crusher".
  • Zoé puts her safety on the line to talk Chloé/Queen Banana down without any superpowers. Compared to the others who Marinette knew personally, none of them faced immediate life-or-death situations when they proved themselves worthy. Zoé faced a sister who hated her guts and could One-Hit Kill her on the spot, in order to save the others without hesitation. She was more than worthy of becoming Vesperia then and there.
• There's a noticeable difference between the yellow colors of the Queen Bee and Vesperia costumes. While Chloé's yellow is more of a neon, bright color, Zoé's yellow is golden and looks more natural, like Pollen's color scheme. Chloé, as a Miraculous holder, was a show off and started off as a fake who just wanted attention. The sickly yellow color also shows that despite her genuine heroics, she was still in it for glory and dropped heroics after Ladybug denied her one too many times. Zoé on the other hand is more down-to-earth as a heroine and focused on the heroics, even overcoming her fear of Chloé's anger to help Ladybug out. The golden color matches her heart of gold compared to her sister's rotten one.
• Why did Marinette only get confirmation that the charms worked, and Shadow Moth that something was stopping him, in this episode? Because of the candidates that had been Akumatized between 72 and now, one was not in the city long (Fu), one was new to the city and has a more stable support network (Zoé) and one is someone who Shadow Moth does not look for to Akumatize (Ramier).
  • We don't usually, if ever, see a follow up Akumamatization like Shadow Moth intended, however most of the time being freed usually removes the negative emotions that got them like that in the first place. Chloé just got angrier afterwards, making her a rarity. The only other scenario like this was with Volpina's first appearance, but unlike Chloé, Lila’s anger with Ladybug wasn’t enough to reakumatize her back into Volpina.
• Being from the hero capitol of the world, Zoé's quick jumping into posing and the swing of things is likely due to sheer osmosis.

Mega Leech

• A hero's garb under a Miraculous is based on what they see as heroic. The hooded costume of Polymouse may have been inspired by the Hoodie, which is a symbol of protest against racial inequality in the west. Mylène has mentioned an interest in politics, and it is likely she would be familiar with the idea behind what such a thing represents.
• Given how often Sabrina gets involved in Chloé's schemes, it makes a somewhat troubling sort of sense that Bustier is a listed contact for Officer Roger. He probably gets a lot of calls about Sabrina.
  • It may also be a means of getting police support quickly in the (quite frequent) Akumatizations that occur at the school as well as in general reporting Sabrina doing something on Chloé's behalf.

Guiltrip

• In "Princess Fragrance", the biggest reason Rose is smitten with Prince Ali is because of his humanitarian work towards sick children around the world. This episode reveals that Rose herself suffers from an illness, giving a lot more credence and justification to her crush on Ali.
• The reveal about Rose's undescribed illness makes her a Good Counterpart to Lila — Lila pretends to be a Nice Girl afflicted with terrible medical conditions, but she's really a manipulative jerk pretending to have illnesses only when it benefits her. Rose has a legitimate condition that she could use to guilt trip people, but she instead keeps it secret and is always cheerful and kind, to the degree that she can be manipulated.
• At first, Adrien is the only one who treats Rose with normally after learning about her illness. He has had to deal with his father's overprotection, so he understands that Rose doesn't want to be overprotected by her friends.
• The rose-colored tint in the image shown by Pigella's "Gift" is most likely an allusion to the phrase "see through rose-colored glasses", or to look at a scenario in a positive or optimistic way.
  • It's a literal direct allusion to Rose herself. Rose's last name is Lavillant. Put with her first name, it makes the French expression "La vie en rose" ("life in pink"), which usually alludes to having a positive, optimistic outlook on life, seeing things in a happy and joyous manner. Which is exactly what she does, whether as Pigella or Rose.
• When Rose questions Juleka about what was going on and Juleka confirmed she told everyone Rose was only briefly shocked/upset before calming down. Beyond Rose just being nice, she and Juleka have known each other for years. They've had time to understand each other and have a more stable relationship than the others, who probably have known each other for less than a year so this is not going to turn into a blowup, especially if Rose can guess that it happened because Juleka got really upset.
• Being an ill girl gives Princess Fragrance a few more reasons for being as she is. Rose may not like being treated differently from being sick, but there is likely some part of her deep down, possibly even beneath subconciously, that does want to be pampered. Her dark side makes people pamper her (also serve her). She also has green skin and her eyes turn a reddish color: red eyes are a symptom of inperfect health and her green skin is an unhealthy palor akin to certain extreme ailments or even puss. Rose's villain form looks sick and acts out her darkest impulses that being sick may generate in the back of Rose's mind.

Crocoduel

• Juleka's hero form, like her akuma form, is a lot brighter than her normal get up. However Rose's is not darker looking like her akuma, but just as bright as normal. Both an Akuma and a Miraculous bring out an inner look for a hero and a villain, and both girls do admire the other.
• The Tiger Miraculous's ability to tap into a person's inner feelings for strength makes it a rather solid fit for Juleka: she has a lot of feelings that make her a very optimal candidate for Akumatization and being able to use them for good is a blessing.
• Juleka's stripes as Purple Tigress are a similar texture to her mesh sleeves. As she's notably better at saying what she means in her hero form, she's 'wearing her heart on her sleeves'.
• Shadow Moth's learned from previous episodes like 'Despair Bear' and 'Party Crasher' that teenage parties are an excellent source of emotions to seek out a potential target to akumatize.
• Why Crocoduel? Because when Jagged and Anarka were a duo they were called Crocoduo. But now that they are against each other, it would make sense that the duo would engage in a duel.

Optigami

• Shadow Moth choosing Nino/Carapace as the one to impersonate makes a lot of sense. As Adrien's friend, he's over their place constantly so he'd be overly familiar with his attitude and how to convincingly act like him. And in "Heart Hunter", he battled Fu as Jade Turtle who transformed in front of him and used his power so he remembered Wayzz's name (and depending on the language version the words to transform) and how to use Shelter properly so he could even convincingly impersonate Carapace. He only gives himself away by not reciprocating Alya's handshake properly, something that Gabriel would have never seen.
• Ladybug plants the Magical Charm on Audrey's hat instead of giving it to her directly. Along with knowing how cattily the diva would react to the piece of jewelry, Ladybug is also aware that she and Zoé tricked Chloé into taking her Magical Charm in "Queen Banana". If Audrey learned of its existence or what it represents, then she would no doubt mention it to her daughter(s) which would lead Chloé to getting rid of hers out of spite thus exposing herself to Shadow Moth's influence. Also the protective charms are something that Audrey would likely consider tacky and unfashionable, and she'd probably not keep it on her like others do.
• Nino, Marinette, and Alya were the only ones who seemed to notice something being off about Sentialec. Marinette is fairly perceptive, but you also have someone who specializes in illusions and one who is big into television and been on stage with Alec in Nino. No one wonder she'd pick it up.

Sentibubbler

• Cat Blanc appearing in Marinette's nightmare at the start of the episode further plays on her insecurities and doubt. She honestly believes that everyone will betray her, even her beloved partner - of their own accord. This paranoia wasn't present until Marinette gave Alya the Fox Miraculous on a permanent basis, as she had no qualms about revealing her identity to Alya. But after the Sentinino incident in Optigami, she is having severe paranoia on people turning on her, and the worst case is indeed Cat Blanc, who in another timeline destroyed Paris!
  • To be fair, she doesn't know what happened in the alternate timeline or the exact cause of Cat Noir's akumatization. So from her perspective, the fact that he discovered her secret identity was the 'only cause' of him becoming Cat Blanc. Now she thinks that entrusting her secret identity to him isn't only risky, but very dangerous. She's not too far off the mark about why it's such a risk, even if her assumption isn't completely correct.
  • When Chloé appears in Marinette's nightmare, she is sitting on the opposite side of the table facing Alya, almost like a "reflection".
  • As for why Chloé is in the dream, it’s likely Marinette recognizes her hypocrisy in letting Alya keep the Fox Miraculous even though Shadow Moth knows her true identity while she benched Chloé for the exact same reason.
• Ladybug's Lucky Charm of a frying pan didn't really play a part in stopping Sentibubbler, just being a connecting bit to the start of the episode with the missing spider, but it might have been Tikki or the universe telling her to focus on the coffee cup controlling him and not the miraculous of Shadow Moth. It was an extra jolt to her Friend-or-Idol Decision on her grabbing choice.

Hack-San

• The only people we see get declared 'the most important thing' were Nathaniel and Marinette. We see couples like Ivan and Mylène, Sabine and Tom, and Juleka and Rose, together under Robustus's control. It's likely that, instead of say, Juleka valuing her guitar more than Rose, that Robustus had his thralls set to not scan their fellow thralls. He'd only lose tools without that safeguard.
• Why did Alya get so flustered at being the temp Ladybug when she's the most veteran recruited heroine and has been cool under pressure since her second mission in Syren? Because before she was a supporting player to Ladybug and Cat Noir, now she's the one who has to shoulder the most responsibilities. Combined with the shock of being given them and her own great respect for Ladybug, she had a lot on her shoulders and felt the pressure more than usual.
• Unlike the train trip in Startrain, Marinette couldn't bring the Horse Miraculous to zip back because her parents were watching her too closely. They were sure she would try to avoid Sabine's sister (Tom was under just as much watch), so Marinette would not have the ability to slip away like on a school trip.

Rocketear

• Nino is one of three characters whose akumatized form is constantly different, alongside Chloé and Kagami; and this tends to be a result of each of them getting akumatized in widely different situations each time and for different reasons, with Nino and Chloé having some interest in performance and the roles taken within (Nino is interested in being a director or a musician while Chloé often has performer interests). Kagami, while very much not an actor, instead has a lot of internal conflict.
• While Alya's decision to tell Nino the truth behind Marinette's back may seem somewhat selfish, in "Hack-San" she has already seen the consequences of the miscommunication that Ladybug has with Cat Noir. The fact that Nino has been akumatized due to her attempt to keep him in the dark only further convinced her that lying to him would be counterproductive.
  • Also, from Alya's perspective, being honest has been an advantage. Since Marinette decided to entrust her secret identity to her best friend, things have gotten better for her. Marinette feels less overwhelmed by the responsibility of being Guardian, Alya has helped her discover a new power and has even protected her secret identity with the Fox Miraculous.

Wishmaker

• A lot of the childhood dreams we see seem to have been matured into more reasonable forms. The guy who turned into Santa was a toymaker, Jagged has a crocodile as a pet/best friend instead of being one himself, and the fireman wanted to be one as a child (just also a cowboy).
• How did Alec avoid being akumatized for so long? As shown in the episode it took several blows to make his feelings bubble up to a point they got Shadow Moth's attention, while most people take a single blow to start cracking. His inner demons were repressed.
  • Additionally, Alec's whole career as a celebrity involves tearing down and humiliating others to boost ratings for whatever TV show he stars in. His victims (such as Aurore, Mr. Damocles, Ms. Mendeleiev and technically Audrey) would make perfect targets for Hawk Moth to akumatize leaving the host untouched afterwards. In a sense, Alec can be considered his "back-up" Chloé.

Simpleman

• Why would Shadow Moth finally settle for "Simpleman" as Rolland's super villain name? Because like the villain's powers, it's a very simplified name!
• Kids aren't affected by Simpleman's powers for a very good reason. Their minds and mentalities are already simple.
  • Also, if the wave was directional as the visuals imply, the kids were behind Simpleman each time, and thus outside the area of effect.

Qilin

• Lila attending Sabine's classes would help her to stay in her good graces after "Ladybug".

Dearest Family

• Throughout the series, Plagg's gluttony is largely Played for Laughs (although it did get him in trouble a few times), while Tikki is much more moderate when it comes to food. If one were to think about it, however, Plagg regularly gorging himself on cheese keeps him from going into an eating binge like Tikki did.
• People found it strange that Tikki being usually so easy to work with and level headed went on such a destructive eating rampage to be far worse than anything Plagg has ever done (while he has a weakness for cheese and is a glutton, he's never blown off saving the day or tried to abuse his powers to eat more like Tikki did). But all the other Kwamis are shown to be childish and impulsive and difficult to control at various levels. Why would Tikki be any different? Sure, she's usually controlled but she has the potential to be just as uncontrollable as Plagg. As the Grand Master warned, Kwamis are dangerous cosmically powered creatures and not just funny animal buddy hero sidekicks. This includes Tikki.
  • Tikki's sweets rampage might even be because she's normally so level-headed. It's a running theme in fiction that the more controlled people are, the more chaotic (and sometimes scary) they will get when they reach a point where they can't take it anymore and lose control.
• Tikki going on a sweets rampage now could be related to the intense amount of stress she and her wielder have been undergoing lately. What do people often do when stressed? They binge on Comfort Food.
  • Access could also be an issue. Modern solid chocolate was invented in the mid-to-late 19th century, which would have been after Master Fu created Feast and fled the temple with Tikki et al in his care. If that is what is referred to as "the invention of chocolate" (which is likely: before then, chocolate was a - usually bitter, not sweet tooth material - drink that dates back to prehistoric times in Central America, not so much "invented" as refined over a long period of time), Tikki could only have had access to chocolate from Master Fu (perhaps taking pity on her). If that resulted in a rampage, Tikki's subsequent access to sweets would have been limited until Master Fu eventually entrusted her to Marinette, which would set this up to be her next exposure to something supremely sweet.
    • If this is what happened, then for Master Fu, it was over half his lifetime ago, not something he would bring up without reason. Thus, he would likely have never mentioned it to Marinette before giving up being the Guardian, leaving her open to be blindsided.
    • Given the timing, one of the people who made chocolate smoother and more evenly mixed could have been inspired by Tikki making it rain chocolate. It is the kind of incident one would not mention, as no one would believe it (especially if Fu was keeping the kwamis on a farm, in a cabin in the woods, or somewhere else remote enough that there would usually be no witnesses, though the chocolatier may have personally delivered the chocolate that Tikki wound up sampling), thus its non-appearance in history books.
• Why does Sass choose Wayzz and Barkk to go out and monitor Tikki? In a pinch when Tikki decides to invoke Lucky Charm on her own and create more galette, Barkk can use Fetch to prevent it from falling down and causing more damage, while Wayzz’s Shellter can prevent damage to property.

Ephemeral

• Why does the wish granted by the Ladybug/Cat combination destroy the current universe and build a new one based around the wish made by the person? Because it’s a wish granted by combining the powers of the CREATION and DESTRUCTION miraculous.
• Moolak wasn't just hard to defeat because Cat was absent, he was hard to defeat because if anyone has a similar level of wickedness to match or even surpass Audrey as 'a masterpiece' it's Bob Roth.
• King Monkey and Pigella don’t do much in the first scene, mostly because their powers require needing to see their intended target, but do establish that Ladybug over prepared for an Akuma as Su-Han chastises her for it.
• This episode is the 22nd in production order. Hmm...which was the 22nd episode in Season 3?

Kuro Neko

• Of all names why Cat Walker? Because Adrien is using his civilian persona as Cat Walker. His model persona. And a very current thing to do for models is walking the catwalk. As Cat Walker, Adrien was a literal catwalker.
• Why did Plagg need Tikki’s help in convincing Marinette to let him bring the Cat Miraculous to a potential “new owner”? Because she trusts Tikki’s judgment over his’, otherwise she’d get suspicious and wouldn’t allow him to go off.
• Why did Kuro Neko act on his own will rather than actually listening to Rythm despite her having the amokized object? Because Rythm was inside Kuro Neko. And if a sentimonster is in possession of the amokized object it can act however it wants. Rythm might have had the maneki-neko with her, but as a matter of fact Kuro Neko had it as well. By the time Rythm was out of the sentimonster, it was out of control because of Cat Walker's Cataclysm, so Kuro Neko wouldn't have listened to her in any case.
  • But Reflekdoll's amokized object was not only inside it but plugged into it, and yet Reflekta was still able to control it (until Lady Noir Cataclysmed it). Also, Rythm only begun complaining about Kuro Neko's disobedience after it got Cataclysmed, implying that she was actually in control of it prior to that.
    • Although it can be explained by the fact that, Reflekdoll might have acted on her own. Considering it's just a bigger version of Reflekta, it's possible they had the same objective. In another case, it's possible that Kuro Neko was just ordered to act like a cat. Because his behaviour is that of a cat's. Just with bigger consequences considering his size.
• According to the reporter, “Ladybug saved Paris without Cat Noir quite a few times”. It's hard to believe that in all those times there hasn't been a single mission that required to Cat Noir. Considering what happened in "Ephemeral" and how Marinette always tries to avoid complicated or awkward conversations, it seems that Ladybug has avoided contacting Cat Noir even when he was necessary, fearing that he will ask her again why she wanted to talk to him at the Eiffel Tower.
  • Similar to when Ladybug postponed her conversation with Chloé about how she couldn't be Queen Bee anymore and when Marinette was avoiding Luka after their breakup.
    • In "Strikeback", Ladybug admits that she was keeping Cat Noir at a distance.
• Once again, "perfection" is an obstacle for Marinette. Similar to how she has a hard time declaring her love for Adrien, being blinded by her crush and her idealization of him, Ladybug has a hard time concentrating on the mission due to Cat Walker's "perfection".
  • As seen in “Ephemeral”, for Marinette and Adrien to truly be together, in addition to defeating Gabriel, Marinette must let go of her perfect idealization of Adrien and see him for what he really is; in the middle between Adrien and Cat Noir.
• Ladybug summoning Pegasus, Carapace, Vesperia and Pigella to defeat Gigatitan feels like overkill considering how easy he is as a supervillain. But perhaps that was the point. To better train her Miraculous Heroes to not only get use to their powers but also to practice teamwork without her, Ladybug would call on them to practice on a Level 1 supervillain that she knows they could handle.
• There was a pretty simple solution to Marinette's dilemma about choosing a new holder for the Cat Miraculous: give the Miraculous to Grandmaster Su-Han and have him choose a new Cat Noir, just as he threatened to do in "Ephemeral". The fact that this never occurred to Marinette showcases both her Complexity Addiction and her need to control every aspect of a situation.

Penalteam

• Ladybug's overconfidence in her and Cat Noir, going as far as to say that they alone are enough, is strange right? Remember what happened in the previous episode though. The events of "Kuro Neko" are still fresh in her mind.
• Ladybug trying to defeat Penalteam alone without the help of the others seems out of character. Perhaps she was getting impatient. After Xavier, Chloé is the most akumatized person (she was akumatized a total of eight times with two of them being off-screen).
• Sabrina is shown to be a very loyal person and in this episode it's revealed she really likes soccer. A perfect fit for the Dog Miraculous.
• Strange that Penalty would argue with the copies of herself. Is that just Chloé's ego or she's actually internally conflicted? Wouldn't be surprising considering that she's losing everything.
• As noted by Shadow Moth, Chloé's hatred is never ending, making her the perfect target for akumatization. And she's willing to be akumatized as well. So for her to not be targeted by Shadow Moth, she has to grow tired of the akumatization. Like in this episode. Surely, Shadow Moth would be more reluctant to target her considering she started to hate her akumatized form.
• Chloé opts to wait to be akumatized rather than try to get her father to ruin the game. A show of just how much crueler she is now? Possibly but given how her father has grown a spine this season thanks to Zoé and being less likely to let her abuse his authority, she might have decided that's no longer a reliable option anymore.
• Rooster Bold’s power still has limits since he has to know what the situation calls for to decide on a power. Call the wrong one and he then has to run the clock as a minor hero.
• Lila finally gets a couple of spoken lines after spending the entire season in the background. Considering that her actions in "Onichan" and especially "Ladybug" made Adrien, the boy whose affections she's after, wary of her, it makes sense that she'd play nice and bide her time until an opportunity presented itself —in this case, an alliance with an Alpha Bitch with a known hatred for both Marinette and Ladybug, both of whom Lila wants to hurt.
• It would not be unreasonable to assume that despite her Face–Heel Turn, Chloé would continue to care about Miss Bustier, who we remember is the only person with she apologized. What could Miss Bustier have done to become a target of Chloé's wrath? It is simple, Miss Bustier is pregnant. Let's remember that this season has been a constant Break the Haughty for Chloé. Her father doesn't let her get away with it anymore when her sister Zoé is involved and Ladybug replaced her with Vesperia. So from Chloé's point of view, she too has been replaced by the person whom she probably came to think of as a mother figure.

Risk

• Shadow Moth doesn't ask Risk to bring him the two Miraculous. That's because Risk isn't supposed to retrieve them, but to handicap the heroes. Strikeback actually has to fight the heroes and obtain the Miraculous.
• Literally nobody seem to even notice that Risk is an akumatized villain. Well, a singing kid wearing a frog hoodie and riding a frog-themed bicycle doesn't exactly scream "Akuma" after all...
  • And that's exactly what Shadow Moth wants. Considering his role is not fighting, but going around undetected and use his powers to make people take risks, the less people realize Risk is an Akumatized villain the better.
• Adrien and Lila's newest fashion ensemble is just their regular outfits drenched in white. Was it a cheap method for the animators to avoid drawing new outfits again? Or most likely to show how Gabriel wasn't going to commit to the world tour fashion shoot as he just needed it as an excuse to get Adrien out of Paris before summoning Strikeback. This is solidified as Gabriel orders Nathalie to cancel the shoot immediately after the sentimonter's incineration.
• The fact that Lila has teamed up with Chloé against Marinette. Lila continues to act like a nice girl in front of her classmates, so she resorts to sabotaging Marinette as discreetly as possible. Chloé is already known for coming between Adrien and Marinette, so none of her classmates would suspect that she is now doing it at Lila's request.
  • As for Chloé, who is normally very possessive of Adrien, she would certainly accept Lila getting close to him if it means Marinette will be miserable.
• Alya's argument for not helping Marinette stop Adrien from going on a trip. Alya has seen Marinette try to control everything throughout the season, including to Alya herself, and make decisions without considering suggestions from others. In other words, Alya thinks Marinette is just trying to control Adrien too.
  Alya: Marinette. You can't decide what Adrien does with his life, Lila or no Lila.
• Why did Gabriel hide decoy Miraculous in his safe? Not only to provide an alibi for wearing both pieces of jewelry on his person (having multiples of the same jewelry is not uncommon for wealthy people) but also to discredit him should he attempt to 'reveal' Gabriel as Shadow Moth, as the best way to debunk it is ask him to produce the kwamis from them, which he can't.
• Why did Félix bring spy equipment with him when he came to rescue Adrien from his predicament? Félix is an opportunist, and it gives him an excuse to loiter around the mansion looking for Gabriel's dirty secrets.
• Why did Félix react with sheer horror when he saw Emilie in the atrium? For all he knew, Emilie was dead and buried. He just discovered a secret far bigger than anything he expected, and it is not something he can try to benefit from.
• Kagami's call to Adrien seems completely out of the blue. But remember what the titular villain can do.
  • Her chastising Adrien for being his father's puppet can also be stemmed from her own relationship with her Tiger Mom Tomoe. It wasn't until Kagami confronted her mother about her strict upbringing did Kagami begin to have more control and freedom of her life. From her mindset, she believes that Adrien is on a similar boat and wants him to take the initiative and be free like her.

Strikeback

• There is a reason why Ladybug didn't call on the whole squad to deal with the huge sentimonster tearing up Paris:
  • Pigella's power wouldn't be useful in this instance.
  • Likewise, Caprikid's power doesn't seem like it'd be of use this time, which is ironic considering that the final plan required replicating an object, for which Genesis would have been ideal.
  • Ladybug was wearing Pegasus' Miraculous herself.
  • King Monkey, whose power is almost always a game-breaker, is notably absent. Remember that back in "Risk", Kim and Max impulsively went for a swim down the Seine, so Ladybug couldn't have tracked them down.
  • Another notable absence from the Miracu-team's roster is Viperion. In her Risk-ified state, Ladybug might have thought that she didn't need the insurance.
  • Miss Hound gets replaced by Flairmidable.
• The fact that Ladybug encourages "Adrien" to try to be the new holder of the Dog Miraculous, and that she praises him so much for a job well done. She's taking into account how bad Adrien (the real one) felt in "Desperada" when he failed as holder of the Snake Miraculous.
  • Interestingly, in the same episode, Ladybug said in front of Adrien that "They were ok without Cat Noir." Event that was erased by the Second Chance, but that Adrien didn´t forget. And seeing Ladybug with Flairmidable, it's like he once again confirms Ladybug's words that "he isn't necessary".
• When compared to other season finales, it's apparent how wrong Ladybug was to exclude Cat Noir. In each and every one, Cat Noir's involvement was key to avoiding defeat:
  • At the end of season 1, Cat Noir stopped Ladybug from giving Volpina her Miraculous, using his staff to disperse her illusion that she was holding Adrien hostage.
  • At the end of season 2, Cat Noir's power is essential to destroy Scarlet Moth’s cane, which de-akumatizes everyone, purifies all of the red akumas, and causes Scarlet Moth to turn back into Hawk Moth.
  • At the end of season 3, Snake Noir saves DragonBug with the power of the Second Chance, and he gets the idea to use King Monkey’s power against Miracle Queen.
• In a way, what happened with Ladybug and Alya during the season finale was very similar to what happened in "Kuro Neko". Ladybug wanted a partner who fulfilled her expectations: someone who was efficient and with whom she could get along. She even mentions the advantage of knowing the identity of her partner so she can call them when she needs them. Who matches that description? Her best friend Alya. And just like with Cat Walker, the partner Ladybug wants isn't who she needed:
  • Throughout the season, Alya has been willing to go behind Marinette's back and even ignore her warnings.
  • But above all, in "Risk", Alya minimizes Marinette's concerns and refuses to help her.

Season 5

Evolution

• When Flairmidable detransformed in "Strikeback" after giving Gabriel all the other Miraculous, a closer look at Barkk shows that she's not outraged or horrified, but instead quite somber and even stoic. In hindsight, her expression was one of realization; as this episode shows, she's known since WWII that one day all the Miraculous save for the Ladybug, the Black Cat, and the Rabbit would fall into the hands of a supervillain. For her, it wasn't a matter of if Hawk Moth would get his hands on the Miraculous, but of when and how.
• While Ladybug and Rabbit Noir were chasing Monarch through time, they met a past Master Fu, and even borrowed the Dog Miraculous from him. So in "Origins", it wasn't just Marinette and Adrien's kindness towards him that led Fu to give them the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses, but also that their hair, eye color, and other distinctive features matched those of the superheroes he saw back during WWII.

Multiplication

• The revelation that the Graham de Vanily family is part of the British aristocracy, explains some things:
  • Flairmidable's outfit bears a resemblance to a corgi, a dog breed associated with royalty in England, reflecting Félix's pride in his family's high status.
  • The mutual contempt between Gabriel and Amelie. Apparently, Gabriel became a famous and rich designer by his own means, so he would despise Amelie for getting high status effortlessly, as well as a possible feeling that he isn't good enough for Emilie. While for someone like Amelie, Gabriel remains a nobody.
• Why is Gabriel obsessed with everything about Adrien being perfect? Gabriel wants Adrien to surpass Félix, a triple medalist in kung fu and horsemanship, a chess prodigy and the youngest to graduate high school in England.
• The reveal that Tomoe has been working with Gabriel and is aware of his identity as Monarch shows why we never saw them conversing during her previous Akumatizations: doing so would’ve given away their partnership.

Destruction

• In the third episode of Season 4, Marinette's secrets were left vulnerable due to her stress and her friends concerned, but she overcame them by trusting her best friend and the help of the Kwamis and gained a right-hand woman in the form of Alya. In the third episode of Season 5, Gabriel goes after Marinette's secrets while belittling the Kwami and having wrecked his own relationship with his right-hand woman and Gabriel takes severe damage in his own arm from a Cataclysm.
• Aside from an Obvious Rule Patch, Orikko not being able to interfere with another Kwami’s power also falls under the “can’t copy another Kwami’s powers” rule, as Xuppu already has that ability in the form of Uproar.

Jubilation

• Why doesn't Ladybug freak out when she sees Cat Noir in a white suit during their dream wedding? Because 1) they continue without knowing the identity of the other; Marinette being Marinette, for her it would be an excellent solution for them to remain heroes all the time, and 2) at least in their dream, Hawk Moth was defeated and couldn't akumatize Cat Noir anymore and 3) she's under the influence of Jubilation. It wouldn't be an ideal wedding if Marinette were having a trauma attack from seeing her beloved in white, so the power was smoothing over any emotional scars so that it would go the way she wanted.

Illusion

• Alya finds the idea of intentionally causing an akumatization for experimentation horrifying. While she had previously assured Marinette that the worst case scenario for her upsetting Luka again during the events of 'Crocoduel' was just him getting akumatized and then given a protective charm and didn't see that as a problem, the simple fact is that Marinette would not have been going out of her way to do it and she was just, to Alya, needlessly avoiding her problems and causing new ones in addition. Luka being akumatized wasn't a good thing, but it would not be the end of the world. However going out of your way to get someone akumatized just to get the outcome of 'protective charm' is an entirely different matter altogether.
• Nino's nickname for Alya is "Comrade Beurre Maître d'Hôtel", literally "Comrade Hotel Master Butter". Knowing Alya's mother is a chef at the Grand Paris, picking a fancily-named sauce with 'hotel' in it is quite fitting.

Determination

• Why has the love square completely reversed course? Well Adrien has fallen in love with Marinette because she is the only one who cared about his feelings back in "Risk", causing him to share how bad his model life has become and vent to one of his closest friends. He realized that she was more than a friend to him. Likewise, Marinette has fell in love with Cat Noir because he was completely and totally loyal to her through thick and thin, and after all the other heroes were lost to her, the Black Cat remained. She also keeps on being reminded of how much of a kindhearted soul he is, and that he is more than a partner to him. Only now, Cat Noir has gotten over his crush of Ladybug for Marinette, while Marinette is actively avoiding falling in love with Adrien, only to requite Cat Noir's prior feelings.
• Cat Noir misunderstanding Ladybug's talk about feelings as friendship/partnership instead of romantic ones isn't just him being Oblivious to Love. Up to this point Ladybug has insisted, quite forcefully at times, that: a.) she likes him as a friend but isn't in love with him, b.) she's in love with someone else, and c.) she doesn't appreciate it when he oversteps the bounds of their friendship. Cat Noir came to terms with all that back in "Glaciator 2". Unless Ladybug comes out and says it, is it any wonder he wouldn't realize that her feelings for him have changed?
• The Grévin museum is shown to have a wax sculpture of young Bunnyx, despite Alix only getting her Miraculous in the Burrow and not returning to the present afterwards. How is this possible? Well, the public has known of Bunnyx since "Timetagger", it is revealed in "Evolution" that Alix has been sending messages to her father documenting her adventures through time, and Bunnyx's identity is no longer a secret as of "Multiplication". It is possible that the museum reached out to Alim for reference material to make the sculpture and complete the set of superheroes without resorting to using an out-of-place adult Bunnyx.
• Adrien says that what Marinette did in "Puppeteer 2" made him feel a surprising way. This adds context to why his Almost Kiss with Kagami in "Miracle Queen" didn't feel right to him: because he didn't feel the same way as he did that time with Marinette.

Reunion

• Jalil's Alliance ring had Lila as the AI, rather than Adrien. This is fitting, as the AI version of Lila reads negative comments to Jalil about Ladybug, convincing him that Ladybug is not as good as she seems. Lila both hates Ladybug and wants to convince people that Marinette, who she doesn't know is Ladybug, is the bad guy.
• Why didn't the Guardians take away Dark Grimalkin's Miraculous? Because he was participating in the war under orders from his regent, so he couldn't be considered a rebellious holder.
  • Apparently, the Cat Miraculous holders are chosen for their kindness and refusal to use their powers to hurt innocent people. And as seen in Jeanne's story, Dark Grimalkin was unwilling to hurt the children of the enemy kingdom.
  • Why are Plagg's chosen selected for kindness and peaceful nature? Well, you wouldn't want the power of destruction in the paws of someone who was less than a Nice Guy, would you?

Elation

• While the way she went about it can certainly be seen as controlling, Alya is allowed to feel exasperated by Marinette's new crush on Cat Noir, considering how often she and their friends have tried setting the latter girl up with Adrien. After months of going along with zany schemes, as well as taking time out of her own day to do so, Alya may feel like all of her efforts are going to waste, as well as worry that she's going to be dragged into more wacky romance plots all over again. And given that (as she points out) Marinette starts crushing on another unavailable guy right when Adrien finally seems interested in her, Alya isn't wrong to question if Marinette's feelings for Cat Noir are actually valid.
• In contrast to how he usually acted around Ladybug, Cat Noir is a lot less hammy in expressing his affection for Marinette (even if he's still being very flirty), opting for a sweeter and more gentle approach. After seeing just how much his overt behavior turned Ladybug away, it makes sense why he'd change his technique. That, and seeing Marinette interact with Luka in the past (and knowing how shy she generally is) might have given him a better sense of how best to charm her.

Derision

• Kim being chosen by Master Fu and not Marinette takes on a different context with what he did in this flashback. Fu saw him for who he grew into while Marinette merely kept her distance. Most likely, she took his endorsement as a sign of his change.

Emotion

• Félix refers to Red Moon as "sister" while destroying the Sentimonster, the first hint that he is a Sentimonster himself.
• A common criticism about Félix's characterization starting from this episode is that he seems to "suddenly" care about Kagami and Adrien in his own twisted way, when he was aloof to the former in "Gabriel Agreste" and manipulative to the latter. Back in "Feast", while Nathalie still had the Peacock Miraculous, she was able to sense the Sentimonster's hunger as well as that its amok was within it, even while detransformed. Odds are, since Félix's Miraculous represents emotion, not only was he able to sense something off about Kagami's family ring, but he was also likely more receptive to everyone's feelings around him. Also becomes Fridge Heartwarming once you realize that Marinette's confession to "Adrien" during the dance meant that Félix could tell she genuinely loved Adrien every step of the way, and that Adrien and Kagami's affections for her were just as genuine, hence why he made it a priority to make her feel at ease at the dance then sparing her from his plan.

Pretension

• With the Peacock, similarly to the Butterfly, being able to sense the feelings of potential targets, Félix's infatuation with Kagami might not be so out of the blue. As he says his father was "a thousand times worse" than Kagami's mother, he might've actually literally felt what Kagami was feeling, and likening her emotions to his own made him realize how awfully similar their backgrounds are. He knows exactly what it's like to have her problems, and might've spent who knows how long offscreen drawing similarities until his feelings for her became personal.
  • His detransforming in front of her isn't just a way to show he doesn't intend to harm her, it's telling that he's familiar enough with what she feels that he starts talking about the purpose of giving life such as to Sentimonsters in the sewers. He actually feels comfortable enough to be open and let himself be vulnerable around her to show his honesty, letting Kagami know that for all his mischief and lack of thinking about consequences, he's just as much of a victim of their common problems as she is. Is it any wonder she jumps to his defense afterward once she realizes she misjudged what kind of person he is?

Revelation

• It may seem strange that Monarch didn't notice Hoaxer hypnotize Nathalie when he can see out of his villains' eyes, but consider that Hoaxer can be in multiple places at once. This is why she waited until the fight with Cat Noir to hypnotize Nathalie: she knew Monarch would be too focused on that to notice her doing anything else.
  • Additionally, he was only able to communicate with her when Hoaxer took physical form. As she was circulating the Alliance Ring network, anyone she comes into contact with would fall victim to her fake news. If he tried to communicate with Hoaxer while she was in the network system, then Monarch would easily fall prey to her hypnosis, hence him removing his own Alliance Ring in the beginning.
• With the revelation that Gabriel was a Former Teen Rebel, a lot of his previous behaviors begin to make sense.

Confrontation

• Chloé and Lila's scheme had a massive flaw that could have been used against them if not for Sabrina. Adrien handed in his career the day of the Teacher-Rep meeting, and gave it directly to Lila and Chloé instead of Marinette. Chloé also threw out the love note he wrote to Marinette, and Lila coerces Sabrina to rewrite his fake form even worse than before. This would presented a myriad of threads that could have been pulled at any time: Marinette never once touched Adrien's form as she was seen physically handing off the rest to Lila and Chloé the day before, she would never try to sabatoge her own boyfriend's future, and Adrien is able to support what was in his form that suspiciously never made it the meeting. Goes to show that Lila and Chloé are both short-sighted in their revenge plans beyond underestimating those they abuse/manipulate.
  • On the flipside, even if Adrien were to vouch for Marinette, it would still provide Lila with the excuse that he's covering up for Marinette by trying to make Lila look bad and lying about what was in the paper he turned in out of love, just like how she spins Sabrina's words around to make Marinette look worse. Of course, that'd still rely on their friends' willingness to believe Lila over them, but as Adrien's only started talking about what Lila's been doing up until recently after he and Marinette began dating, he might lose credibility because "if she was so bad this whole time, why didn't you say so?" as more or less seen in the previous episode. No amount of truth on the matter would've been believable unless it came straight out of Lila's mouth.
• Lila wearing a wig explains why she never participates in the sports during PE classes. If she participated, she would risk her wig falling off.
  • When Lila adopts her identity as "Cerise", her skin tone is different. In "Oni-Chan", a large amount of makeup can be seen on Lila's dressing table, and it consists mostly of skin tones. One more reason to avoid physical activity. If she were to sweat, her makeup would be ruined.
  • Changing her appearance would prevent someone from getting suspicious of the fact that there are "two girls" with a different name but the same physical description enroll in two different schools at the same time.
• The fact that Lila didn't go to school for the whole of Season 2 now makes sense. She was attending a second school as "Cerise".
  • Why did Lila enroll in a second school? Because in "Volpina", Ladybug exposed her in front of Adrien. Although Adrien was more disappointed than angry that she lied to him, to Lila it meant that the whole school would know she was a liar. At the end of season 2, Lila realized that Adrien hadn't ratted her out, as Ms. Bustier's class continued to believe her lies, and she decided it was safe to return in "Chameleon".
    • In fact, it makes sense that she continued to flirt with Adrien despite what happened in "Volpina", she assumed that he was willing to trust her again or at least that he was willing to cover for her.

Collusion

• Monarch gives Ms. Bustier a revolutionary themed akumatization is not ironic but fits well with his endgame goal of having the Parisian public be more open to accepting Chloé as their new mayor. After living through a recent Akuma attack where the villain forces everyone to overthrow their government in the name of revolution, everyone would have a bad taste for a people's freedom fighter and instead opt for a governing figure that doesn't use magic to force everyone to obey their will.
  • Not to mention, many dictators and tyrants often seize power after a revolution in the name of the greater good, portraying themselves as freedom fighters only to eventually create an equally if not much more oppressive regime. Essentially, a Full-Circle Revolution.

Revolution

• The Lucky Charm of the Week being a pair of underwear hints towards the key to defeating Queen Mayor. In French, underwear can often be translated as "sans-culottes" which is another term that relates to middle class revolutionaries. In this case, Ladybug was told that she and Cat Noir would need to rely on the Parisian public, which included an actual Resistance, to rise up and end Chloé's mayhem. The underwear also references Miss Bustier, who was Akumatized to Ms. Sans-Culotte in the previous episode, foreshadowing that she would be the one to take Queen Mayor down and become the new mayor in the following episodes.
• Chloé being sent to London. Audrey’s mad at Chloé, so of course she’s not going to take her to New York like she wanted. Plus Adrien and Félix are Foils, so it makes sense for Chloé to move to Félix's city after leaving Adrien’s city.
• All of Chloé's previous Akumatized form have her being a costumed villian. But as Queen Mayor, she resembles herself and sports a similar fashion style. While Monarch intended this so no one would be the wiser of his deal with her, it is clear that Chloé is no different from an actual supervillain at this point and time.
• It is possible that André having Chloé deported as his final mayoral act could be seen as a mercy for his disowned daughter, considering that Chloé is old enough per French law dictating that the Age of Criminal Responsibility begins at age 13. Taking that ruling to account, Chloé could have been outright trialed as an adult for taking over Paris with her hypocritical conduct as Queen Mayor making her an accomplace to a known criminal.

Representation

• Kagami reveals to Félix that she knew Ladybug's identity since the events "Perfection". How was she able to keep Monarch from learning her secret while Akumatized into Riposte Prime in "Protection" while he managed to deduce the same realization from Luka in "Migration"? Besides not resisting being akumatized, Kagami kept her emotions mostly under control and was thus unreadable to an empath like Monarch while Luka's panic made him an openbook.
  • Which is an amazing callback to episodes such as "Truth" and "Lies". Luka is a very honest and open person, while Kagami developed a tendency to conceal or deceive in order to make a deal where she gets what she wants, such as in front of her mother or other adults. Even if he could tell that she wouldn't be happy to make a deal with him willingly, Monarch couldn't anticipate that Kagami's reflexes would kick in and that she'd be content getting what she wants (peace from everyone as Ryukomori, revenge as Riposte Prime) without letting everyone know her full intentions. In short, Luka's way too used to wearing his heart on his sleeve which led to his panic, while Kagami, unlike what her mother says, actually managed to remain master of her own emotions, even if she ends up succumbing to the Megakuma.
• Back in his debut episode, Félix declared to Hawk Moth that he wanted to make a deal with him for "a piece of jewelry". It first seemed that he was after one or both of his aunt's wedding rings, which his mother Amelie wanted back, and manages to steal one at the end of the episode. The fourth season finale reveals that Félix's target was the Peacock Miraculous the whole time and he only took the wedding ring as a bargaining chip. But while it first seemed to be a means to get rid of Gabriel in the long run, but this episode indicates and confirms that Félix was actually taking away an object that his uncle could have destroyed him with if the chance presented itself.
  • It's also implied that Félix was born from Colt's jealousy towards Emilie and Gabriel conceiving Adrien. Not only does it explain how both boys are identical to impossible levels (Colt wanting his child just like his in-laws), but it also recontextualizes his behavior and random acts of jerkassery in his debut: Adrien gets sent a message of comfort, love and unconditional suppport from all his friends, a kindness Félix never experienced and seems to resent outright. Him being simply a literal Green-Eyed Monster at Adrien getting all this love and support while still doing what Gabriel tells him to (when in contrast, Félix was abused in spite of his complete obedience) is a whole lot more understandable when you know he was made to embody envy. And what's more infuriating than someone getting everything you've ever wanted, by doing exactly as you did, and yet being treated completely differently? Riling Adrien's friends against him was a good way to give him a taste of being resented for no apparent reason, though Hawk Moth sending said friends after him became a whole other story...
  • The fact Adrien still forgives him afterward and behaves in a friendly way regardless also explains why Félix kept calling him his "favorite cousin" in "Emotion". Sentimonsters aside, Adrien is likely the only person aside from his his aunt and mother who he had any positive relationship with. And still being forgiven not only cements how cruelly naive Adrien is, but also how innocent and helpless he has to be in general. Félix's manipulations from season 4 and beyond were a twisted act of family love to save both of their skins, even if it involves hurting Adrien alongside the way. It's not until this season that he finally realizes how awful he's been and gets out of his way to become a better person thanks to Kagami.
• The Sentimonster reveal explains Félix's cryptic answer to Duusu during their first meeting. He wasn't just his new holder, he was Duusu's family.
• The confirmation that Adrien was created before Félix explains Gabriel's disdain for his nephew and Colt:
  • Why would Colt create a son exactly like his nephew? What would a fashion designer like Gabriel hate the most? An imitation.
  • For Gabriel, Félix is nothing more than an "imitation" of Adrien. And this gives new meaning to the fact that Gabriel always referred to Adrien as "perfect" and that he always pushed him to be the best at everything. Gabriel wanted his son, an "original creation of Emilie" to surpass the imitation created by Colt.

Re-creation

• To fight off the Miraculized, Luka use Shéquán-style (Snake-fist style). Its a perfect style for a Snake Miraculous holder like him.
  • Him returning as Viperion even with the Moth Miraculous unaccounted for makes sense since, under Su-Han tutelage, he would be able to ward off Akumas and keep the future Hawk Moth (as Timetagger established) from learning what he knows. Additionally, it would compensate for his lack of weaponry.
• Ladybug's decision not to tell Paris that Gabriel was Monarch might partly in order to protect Nathalie; if the truth was revealed, Gabriel's personal assistant would likely be investigated, and it might be discovered that she was Mayura, among other things. Keeping this secret would allow Adrien to at least keep one parental figure.
• Why does Plagg's true form have three eyes? Well, in real-life, there is a God of Destruction with a third eye, the Hindu god Shiva!
• Argos seems easily forgiven but Ladybug knowing of Félix's turbulant upbringing and true origins would convince her that he's on the level or at least can be given proper guidance with his powers since he opened up to her.

Specials

"Miraculous World: New York – United Heroez"

• Lila is the only student of her class who misses the trip to New York. Considering that Mr. Damocles spoke directly to Chloé's parents about her authorization for the trip, Lila is probably still preventing Mr. Damocles from communicating with her mother.
• With so many heroes in New York, no wonder Audrey wasn't impressed by her daughter being Queen Bee. Being a hero is nothing special to her or anyone in New York and she's callous enough to not see them as paragons or noble figures worthy of respect.

"Miraculous World: Shanghai"

• Why does Marinette (a French native) ask and was relieved that Fei speaks English after she had tried to communicate in said language to everyone she met prior instead of her first language French? Well, the chances of someone speaking English would be much higher than French.
  • Or it’s simply the same Cultural Translation the show always applies. After all, it would end up being Narm if the characters were said to be speaking French, when the dialogue is clearly English.
• Fei Wu as looks rather clean for a girl who is effectively homeless. It’s likely she tries to keep herself looking presentable because being properly dressed would make her work as a thief easier since most people wouldn’t pay her much mind otherwise.
• If Bastille the parrot has always been named after the French fortress, then it might explain Sabine's choice to emigrate to France because of her family's interest in the country.

"Miraculous World: Paris - Shadybug and Claw Noir"

• How did Monarch find Shadybug and Claw Noir in Marinette's apartment? By detecting Shadybug's emotions of anguish and despair after she failed to make her wish while reflecting on her miserable state.
• Kwamis exist in all universes simultaneously, and there is already a universe with Scarabella and Kitty Noire as heroes. So in "Transmission", Plagg didn't choose Zoé just because he saw her do one good thing, he already knew she had potential from her alternate self.
• Celesticat's appearance recontextualizes Ladybug's dream in "Jubilation". Celesticat and Cat Noir's dream wedding outfit are both awfully similar to Cat Blanc, save for the fact the former two are good-willed and have green eyes. Whether or not Ladybug had that much of a chance to get a good look at him, it might be that Cat Noir being Kamikotized gave Ladybug the little push she needed to start appreciating Cat Noir a little more without fearing for Cat Blanc, and later even romance him, now that she has something else to associate him in a white suit with than an akumatized villain. Betterfly unknowingly allowed her to heal from the very thing his main world counterpart has caused.
• The fact that if a minor using a Miraculous for evil slowly kills them might be another reason why the Guardians only allowed the jewels to be used by adults and not children. It wasn't simply because minors were less able to wield them, but because if the power went to their heads and they decided used their powers for evil, they'd be unnecessarily putting their lives at risk.
  • It kind of ties into Fridge Horror: Have minors gotten their hands on the Miraculous and used their powers for evil centuries before the show in the main universe?

Fridge Horror

General

• Consider how many Akumas there have been and how destructive many of them have been (for example, Syren). How many times has each person in Paris experienced death before they were brought back by Ladybug's Cure? And do they remember each of their deaths?!
• Why does Hawk Moth's Miraculous control minds if it was meant to be used by superheroes? This gets especially disturbing when you consider the theory that using a kwami changes your personality.
  • On another note, if said theory is true, are the kwamis unaware of this, or are they committing Brainwashing for the Greater Good?
  • Perhaps the Mage wasn't right in his head when inventing the Butterfly Miraculous...
  • The Moth Miraculous rather explicitly does not include mind control. It allows its wielder to grant superpowers and enhance a person's emotional state. Hawk Moth intentionally targets people who are in a bad place emotionally and traps them there. He has to keep them on task by making them a deal ("You get your revenge if I get the Miraculous") and threatening to take away their powers if they step out of line. Best highlighted in "Robustus" where he very much cannot stop the titular supervillain from attacking him and has to fight for his life.
    • Despite this, Hawk Moth CAN force his victims to do what he wants if he really wants to. The best examples of this are in "Pixelator", when Pixelator's obsession with taking Jagged Stone's photograph outclasses Hawk Moth's order to get the Miraculous, he causes Pixelator pain until the villain agrees to focus on the Miraculous and "Evillustrator", when he takes control of Evillustrator's hand for wanting Marinette to fall in love with him.
• If you happen to be in Miraculous's version of Paris, all it takes is one bad day to attract Hawk Moth's attention, and to send an Akuma after you. You don't even have to speak French to understand him or his corruption.
  • You probably have to accept Hawk Moth's "deal" in order to become fully Akumatized, so presumably if you can't understand him, you're safe. But an internationally famous fashion designer can probably speak multiple languages.
  • After being de-akumatized, you'll lose your memories of what you did. You could wake up anywhere not knowing how you got there, and that's not even getting into missing out on several hours of your life. For example, Marc was de-akumatized while falling from a great height, as was Ivan in "Origins Part 2", and Nathaniel and Miss Bustier missed a good portion of their own birthdays (Alix also missed part of hers). And then there's Heroes' Day...
  • You don't even have to be Akumatized to suffer from this. Many of the villains can brainwash people, or even put them into a state that's as good as killing them. And it's shown that most of the brainwashed people don't remember what happened once it's undone.
  • One for the police: more than once an Akumatization has come as a result of them doing their jobs. They are perhaps second to Chloé in their ability to get people Akumatized, but unlike Chloé they aren't doing it to be malicious. That cannot be good for police officer morale, especially if people notice it and use it to give them flak. "Leave that person alone before you make a supervillain" or something like that.
  • Hawk Moth can use any emotion, no matter how moral or genuine, to turn you into a villain. We've seen frustration, heartbreak, a childish tantrum, hissy fits, positive emotions, stress, humilation...just think of what Hawk Moth could akumatize someone with? Think every dark feeling or cruel intention possible. There is a reason that many fanfics try to give Hawk Moth standards that he wouldn't target.
  • Because the butterfly Miraculous explicitly is not mind control, you have to live with the knowledge that you were in such a emotionally bad places that you were willing to hurt people. That guilt is going to stay with you, even if you don't know what you did, you did something that was harming or controling others. To this troper, that is terrifying.
• Ladybug and Cat Noir have secret identities, but the Akuma victims often don't. People like Alya, Kim, Sabrina, Chloé and Nathaniel, who are minors, have been caught on video doing evil shenanigans. Although they have Alternate Identity Amnesia of what they were doing while corrupted, those identities are attached to them, as noted when Alya remarks on "Antibug" and "Vanisher" coming to school.
  • More than a few villains have also come close to killing people - heck, Nathaniel as the Evillustrator attacked Chloé with a buzzsaw at one point. Imagine if any of them had managed to get Ladybug and Cat's Miraculous. What reason would Hawk Moth have for keeping them transformed after that? Assuming Ladybug's purifying of the Akuma or breaking of their object is what gives them said amnesia, an ordinary person would be released from their brainwashing only to find that they'd committed murder.
    • Possibly not, as it's later implied that only those who are Not Brainwashed retain their memories. Still, it would still be terrible to wake up and find that you are responsible for Hawk Moth's victory.
• On that note, it wouldn't take a genius to link half the Akumatized villain attacks to Chloé, and by extension her father the mayor. If a candidate for the mayoral election wanted to play dirty, he or she could point out that the mayor's daughter is a huge moral hazard to Paris and thus the mayor is not fit for governance. Hawk Moth in Season Two has confirmed that he likes to keep an eye on Chloé for this reason.
• Given how Chloé worships Ladybug, it's quite horrifying that she's caused half the Akumatized villains that appear in the first season. Even worse is that given her It's All About Me, Never My Fault and Selective Obliviousness nature, in which she believes that everyone loves her despite all evidence to the contrary, including a case where Ladybug chews her out for going Leeroy Jenkins in a fight, Chloé will likely never realize. Though it would make for delicious irony if Hawk Moth ever thanked her for giving him a lot of people to corrupt.
  • Also, Chloé is Too Dumb to Live because of how her father indulges her and believing that she is invincible. How exactly would he have reacted if an Akumatized villain had actually killed her? And even without that, she's well on her way to becoming like most Spoiled Brats in real life who have done reckless things, like "the affluenza teen" or various drug addicts.
• Ladybug's death would mean two things for Cat Noir. He'd be running on massive amounts of grief, and his Cataclysm would be the only thing that could stop Akuma victims. Sweet dreams.
  • Some Nightmare Retardant for that latter point is that A) they could just get a new Ladybug and B) Cat Noir might be able to use his Cataclysm on the tainted butterfly/moth. She's the only one who can purify the Akuma, but that's not necessary for bringing a person back from Akumatization, just removing the tainted Akuma is.
  • A fanfic, You Don't Know Me, deals with this very idea, it's not pretty.
  • Cat Blanc confirms B.
• Alya dedicates all of her free time on her Ladyblog, where she does her own investigative journalism into the activities of her favorite superhero Ladybug. Alya herself has collected footage and clues around Ladybug and her identity, like how her textbook narrowed the search to their school. It is clear that the Ladyblog is public and has a sizable following, as Adrien - given his crush on Ladybug - watches it frequently. However, this also means that Hawk Moth and his various Akumatized villains have access to it too.
• Adrien is point blank emotionally abused by his father (though this is clearly unintentional on Gabriel's part as he loves his son but chooses to show it by micromanaging every aspect of Adrien's life; losing his wife probably didn't help either) and this has apparently turned him into a Horrible Judge of Character. He's reluctant to even call out Chloé in the slightest because of their Childhood Friends relationship despite the fact that this makes his life difficult and she regularly tramples all over him emotionally and apparently Season 2 will have Lila managing to wrap him around her finger so thoroughly that Chloé is forced to pull an Enemy Mine with Marinette and Alya (though presumably while they're all masked up as their hero IDs) to save him from her. It's... probably best not to speculate what might have happened if Marinette and Nino weren't willing to give him a second chance...
• With The Reveal that Gabriel is Hawk Moth, it means that he has willingly endangered his son's life on many occasions and even caused misery to others while he's in civilian identity. Namely he corrupted Nino by banning him from the mansion when Nino wanted to throw Adrien a birthday party, and refused to let Jack/Simon try to hypnotize him and was waiting for someone to corrupt on both occasions. Does this mean he's sometimes made Adrien feel miserable on purpose, to take advantage of the backlash?
• The Ring of the Black Cat and the Earrings of the Ladybug can be used together to grant any wish, but to do so will cost the wisher something of equal value to what he gained from the wish. As of "Queen Wasp", it's now confirmed that Hawk Moth wants to bring his comatose wife back. Which means if he succeeds, someone else is going to have to become comatose. There's a few ways this can play out:
  • Hawk Moth doesn't know that the wish comes with a cost. Imagine how he'll feel if he succeeds in bringing his wife back, only to lose Adrien instead.
  • Hawk Moth plans to sacrifice Adrien. Though this is highly unlikely, since he's unwilling to let Adrien get hurt, and in "Gorizilla" he even abandons an assured victory in order to save him. Also his wife would probably be really pissed, and that kind of ruins the point of bringing her back.
  • Hawk Moth plans to sacrifice himself.
    • At the end of "Queen Wasp", Gabriel says, "We'll finally be together once again," meaning it's unlikely he would do that.
  • As of "Queen Wasp", Nathalie has been all but confirmed to be an Ignored Enamored Underling to Gabriel. She might be entirely willing to sacrifice herself for Gabriel's happiness.
  • As of "Félix", we know that Emilie has a twin sister (who is a total bitch). Gabriel might be aiming to exchange her for his wife!
• Adrien is annoyed and uncomfortable whenever girls hit on him, or drape themselves all over him. He's also not surprised by this, due to being a teenage model and The Ace at school. The show has this Played for Laughs, but it's actually not that fun for Adrien. Considering how children in media industries are abused by authority figures, often with the authority figures being a Karma Houdini, how much danger is he in just when doing his day job?
  • Probably not much - Gabriel may be a weapons-grade Jerkass, but there's no evidence that he'd willingly let anyone harm Adrien. In fact, Gabe's main problem (aside from being Hawk Moth) is his overprotective nature.
  • That's assuming Adrien told his father. Considering Gabriel apparently has no problem with Chloé being around Adrien, it's entirely possible that he doesn't consider her Gold Digger behavior to be worth bothering about and Adrien is definitely fragile enough to have someone abuse him while convincing him that his father wouldn't care.
  • "Oni-Chan" hints that the problem may be worse than was previously thought - Gabriel indicates that he's willing to let someone as toxic as Lila be around his son in order to pursue his ends.
  • The only girl he doesn't mind giving him affection is Kagami, as she regularly clings on him and he seems happy about it. Let's hope nothing changes that.
• Throughout the show, the only characters we've seen be Akumatized are usually nice people, and at worst just petty jerks. Now imagine if an already evil and depraved individual (e. g. a poacher or a terrorist) was hit with the Akuma....
  • As of the New York special, no speculation is required.
• Adrien's mental state overall crosses into Fridge Horror territory. He's so used to disappointment that it's difficult to Akumatize him. Gabriel can tell there's something wrong in his house because the only emotion he feels is happiness. This is bad, but it's when he already has school and his identity as Cat Noir to give him a break. What would happen to him if he was stuck in his Gilded Cage 24/7? His greatest nightmare is being locked up.
  • This can be even worse when you consider Cat's tendency to take the bullet for Ladybug. With how bad his mental health actually is, some of that tendency could very easily be him acting as a Death Seeker.
• Similar to what Adrien has going on, Marinette has shown multiple, repeated symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Even if it isn't that, its clear Marinette's level of Anxiety needs professional help. But the worse part? She wouldn't be able until Hawk Moth is defeated, and given some of the later episodes...
• If Emilie naturally recovered from her coma, she would wake up in a glass box with no one around.
  • Unless Gabriel installed an emergency button/lever to open up the box from the inside, or if it opens up automatically when she wakes up.
• Hawk Moth's Miraculous grants him empathy so vast he can watch an entire city with it, and we have no reason to think he can turn that off if he wants to. Even if he could, his obsession with finding new victims means he probably wouldn't. So how much sadness, anger, and fear is being piped into his soul every day? No wonder he's so depressed.
• Alya is constantly trying to find out Ladybug and Cat Noir's secret identities for her Ladyblog, even though she, as someone who is Genre Savvy about superheroes, likely knows that having their identities exposed would put their families in danger. Even if she would reconsider exposing their identities if she knew they're her classmates, this still means that she is willing to knowingly put the families of two people who, as far as she knows, are complete strangers to her, in danger just for the sake of social media popularity.
• If the Miraculous didn't exist, would Gabriel have killed himself? He doesn't love Adrien or Nathalie enough to go on living for them, and his desperate quest to resurrect Emilie is the main thing driving him. If he didn't even have that...
  • The Peacock Miraculous is what put his wife in a coma.
• In "Zombizou", Hawk Moth first attempts to akumatize Marinette over her mistakenly believing she's being punished over Chloé for the latter's actions. In "Chameleon", Hawk Moth attempts it again, but it's because of Marinette's frustration with Lila's lies. Third time happens in the "Cat Blanc" alternate timeline, and it's because of Marinette lamenting over how having to end her relationship with Adrien by order of his father. And he near succeeds in "Ladybug", feeding from Marinette's distress over everyone taking Lila as a victim and her as a perpetrator. A common theme in all these situations is they all have to do with Marinette being unfairly punished. Hawk Moth has been trying to turn her into Princess Justice no matter what.
• Think for a second of Marinette's emotional state, with all the horrible things that happened to her. Unfortunately, she must bottle up her emotions. Then there's the fact that Hawk Moth realized that with how much emotional turmoil she has, Marinette would be a very strong villain. Unless Hawk Moth is defeated, it can end in two ways. Marinette finally succumbs to her emotions and gets akumatized...or she gives up on feeling them and becomes emotionless. And considering everything, it's not a matter of "if" but of "when".
• What does the Ultimate Power's wish imply for those existing outside of space and time? What would happen to Bunnyx if the wish was done while she was inside Burrow, to Fluff who would be able to remember the universe being redone? What would happen to the other superheroes outside of Paris, like the Renlings who might or might not even realize they'd be losing their Renren, possibly not for the first or last time? And this is without delving into implications for the show's Shared Universe...
  • What would happen to those living in pocket dimensions like Zak and the 7 C's? Would they be unaffected? But what would that mean if they're missing from the universe as it's being remade? Would their history remain the same? Or would they be Ret-Gone from history? Would they be erased from the Bermuda Triangle to avoid a Paradox or would they be remade regardless? How would Zak take to going back home, likely after saying goodbye to all his friends, only to find a world where he never left (with the Eye of Beru on him and Calabrass instead of at his father's) and thus would have no place in? And considering the vortex back home should send them back to their respective eras, could they even return to said eras if the universe they came from doesn't exist anymore? If not, they've effectively been risking their lives to go home All for Nothing if Ladybug and Cat Noir don't win.
  • And what does that mean for humans who became supernatural beings like Kwamis, such as Clovis and Miss Jones? Would their humanity be restored by the universe's recreation, would they be able to recall what happened? What about artificial lifeforms or those who can turn into some such as Markov, ADA, Glowboo or even Action Axel and his toys? If the universe is meant remain in balance, what does it mean for wildcards like these other superheroes who required to be invented/created for specific situations?
• From a certain point of view, while the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses are the most powerful, the Peacock Miraculous could be considered the most dangerous one.
  • For example, if a criminal got their hands on the Peacock Miraculous, they could create Sentimonsters based on people that don't even exist to commit crimes, such as murder, robbing banks, etc. And after the deed is done, all the Peacock holder would have to do is recall the Amok. And since it's unlikely the police would know about the Miraculous, they couldn't do anything about it because there's no greater criminal than criminals that don't exist at all. Even worse, the Peacock holder could create Sentimonsters based on real people to frame them for crimes they didn't even commit.
  • Even worse, in the hands of a terrorist, the Peacock Miraculous could be used to assassinate political figures and subsequently create Sentimonster copies of them, allowing the Peacock holder to use them as puppets to take over the world. As Ladybug observed, the powers of the Peacock are so cruel when misused.

Season 1

Stormy Weather

• Take a look at Aurore's behavior in the elevator scene: She's the only victim we know of who saw the butterfly coming for them, and she actively tried to fight it off. Assuming that she was in Paris during the Stoneheart incident (and possibly others depending on the timeline), it's safe to say that she had some idea of what the butterfly was going to do to her. Meaning that regardless of her bitterness about losing the weather girl contest, she still didn't want to be turned into a monster over it. As such, the fact that she gets corrupted anyway says quite a bit about Hawk Moth's influence, or that of the Butterfly Miraculous in general.

The Bubbler

• The Bubbler demonstrates his power by trapping people inside of bubbles. When he shows off more of his powers, he makes fireworks. Keep in mind that adults were put in there. What if some of them were inside of the fireworks when they went off?

Copycat

• Adrien's behavior throughout the episode highlights a number of things:
  • One, the difference between him and Marinette when they are jealous of another person possibly getting close to the other. Marinette's response is to abuse her powers while Adrien's is to lie, something that Marinette has stated to repeatedly hate. The big difference is that Marinette has learned the error of her ways (mostly thanks to Tikki) and while Plagg did give Adrien a What the Hell, Hero? moment, the boy just shrugged it off, even at the end. So, the question remains: Will Adrien pull this stunt again?
  • Two, many fans thought Adrien was acting out-of-character, but in actuality...he wasn't. For most of the series, we only see Adrien through Marinette's POV, so we mainly see the "lonely, Nice Guy with the occasional hiccup" or the "rambunctious, but lovable Cat Noir". This is the first time we see Adrien do a truly cruel act to someone else because we finally get the episode through his POV. Therefore, what other negative traits does he have besides this?
  • Three and the biggest one, Adrien's attitude toward Ladybug when trying to keep his lie a secret is reminiscent of emotional abuse. To explain, when she asks what happened, he blames her for Copycat's Akumatization despite being fully aware that it was his fault. And even in the end, he laments only that his crush on Ladybug isn't returned. In other words, if the two become a couple and Adrien gets jealous, what's going to happen to their relationship if he does this again?

The Pharaoh

• The textbook Alya found could easily have been used to narrow down Hawk Moth's search for Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous to the school, hence the sizable number of kids in Akumatized students. Even more so, for every Akumatized student, Hawk Moth is able to take each student out of suspicion for being Ladybug and Cat Noir. Through deductive reasoning, Hawk Moth will eventually find out who they are and their secret will not protect them and their family.
  • Hawk Moth could have discovered the Ladyblog when he turned Alya into Lady Wifi.
  • What's more, if Alya were to find out their identities while livestreaming, she'll have to live with the knowledge that she had unwittingly exposed and endangered two of her closest friends and their families. She doesn't seem to realize the potential long-term consequences for her pursuit of their identities.

Evillustrator

• Think this episode was already an episode that made Nathaniel a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds? Here's more Fridge Sadness: in his civilian guise he couldn't even muster up the nerve to ask Marinette out on a birthday date and drew out a Rescue Romance fantasy. Think about what he'll realize when hearing what he did as an Akumatized villain: he coerced his crush into going on a date with him, since Marinette wasn't in a position to refuse to a guy that can draw chainsaws out of mid-air, trapped her in a box on realizing that she was working with Cat Noir to get him back to normal, and tried to kill Chloé after promising Marinette that he wouldn't. Chloé the next day uses her trauma as an excuse to skive off physics homework, so Nathaniel must have heard or realized after awakening in her apartment. No wonder he hasn't approached Marinette or asked her out in civilian guise; he acted out the way Gideon did in Gravity Falls, deconstructing the Nice Guy myth.
• It really says something about how horrible this particular Akumatization is that Hawk Moth hurt Nathaniel when he's displeased with his progress, something he had never done before and is either unable to do again or he doesn't do it because he feels it's unnecessary. Let me repeat that; the most likely reason that Hawk Moth didn't try to use pain on future victims Nathaniel's age or younger is because he doesn't think it's necessary.

Dark Cupid

• Cat while Brainwashed and Crazy nearly killed Ladybug. In "The Puppeteer," he's more frantic than usual after learning that the titular villain controls her victims through plushies, and Marinette happened to make a plushie of Cat. Likely he doesn't want to be forced to fight her again and relive the scenario.
  • Cat also states that he'd always wondered what happens when he attacks a person with Cataclysm, a power that decays whatever it touches to the point of destruction. It doesn't really take much imagination to picture how exactly Ladybug almost died.
    • It gets better! Imagine if Cat had managed to kill Ladybug, and then somehow was released from Dark Cupid's Hate Plague. He'd likely wake up next to Ladybug's rotted, dessicated corpse, and even if he didn't remember what had happened while controlled (he didn't seem to), he could probably figure out that Cataclysm was what had killed her. And he would have to live with that for the rest of his life.
• Given how Dark Cupid's power works, how many people did assault or try to murder their loved ones?
  • How many relationships are now ruined because of the titular villain's actions???

The Mime

• Marinette was lucky she gave up trying to recreate that video she accidentally deleted, because if Alya noticed it was different from the video she already uploaded to her blog (different background, different people around, et cetera) she might have figured out Marinette was Ladybug.

The Gamer

• The Running Gag with Adrien and food becomes distinctly less funny when you realize that Adrien is probably on a very strict diet to keep a figure that his father approves of, meaning that combining that with the fact that he's probably starting puberty, Adrien probably spends many of his waking hours starving.
  • And if this is true, it's especially worrying considering that Adrien is a lot more physically active as Cat Noir than whoever's planning said diet can know about.
    • The kid takes fencing and another sports, as far as Marinette's knowledge of Adrien's activities lets us know. Any nutritionist that's worth their salt (specially in France, one of the countries with the best and most nutritious school lunches worldwide) knows that a child entering puberty needs to eat A LOT, being a model or not, and letting aside if Gabriel is a neglectful parent or not, for sure he wants his kid to be healthy at least for his looks (and as an inversion on his future: Adrien not eating enough will result on him not growing enough and having problems of health in future). And he needs to eat even more because of the amount of sports he does. So maybe after losing pounds because of running and climbing and basically being Cat Noir, the nutritionist maybe decided to make him eat MORE. We can say he's pretty far away from starving. So... maybe the kid was just craving for the delicious things that the Dupain-Cheng offered him?
    • Adrien lives in a Gilded Cage home where he has access to all the finest things money can buy, but that are empty of genuine warmth and affection. Baker parents that make snacks just because they care? That has to be the mother of all tempting novelties for him.

The Puppeteer

• It's sheer luck that Marinette gave a plushie of a Akumatized villain to Manon as opposed to the torn Ladybug doll or Cat Noir. If Manon's Akumatized form the Puppeteer had brought either Cat or Ladybug to life, not only would they have been Brainwashed and Crazy, with one of them taking down the other to steal their Miraculous, but either of their identities would have been outed to Alya and everyone on the train.
  • For that matter, if she'd given Manon either of the other Akumatized villain dolls, it's entirely possible that she would have been able to get to the others before Marinette or Adrien learned anything was wrong. At the very least, they certainly would have more of a head-start than Lady Wifi did.

Simon Says

• Gabriel nearly died by his own hand. He deliberately goaded Simon to corrupt him, and then calmly accepted the possibility of a home invasion that threatened his, Nino, Nathalie and Adrien's life.
• Based on some big Season Two revelations, Gabriel aka Hawk Moth saw Adrien's ring and commented on it. Hawk Moth figured out that his son is Cat Noir, aka the goofball that has been brainwashed a few times and has the power to kill people if he desired.
• After Gabriel gives Adrien a hug, which is a rare thing for a Jerkass like Gabriel, he then comments on Adrien's ring, which ruins the moment. Adrien then for the first time calls out his father for being neglectful and not noticing things about him. This doesn't bode well if Hawk Moth undergoes a redemption arc, or for their relationship to become repaired after Cat Noir finds out his father is a supervillain.

Volpina

• Hawk Moth now knows that Ladybug will give up her Miraculous for Adrien, when before she would defy Hostage for MacGuffin, and there are a lot of hints that Gabriel is Hawk Moth. That doesn't bode well for Season Two.
  • And if the above is true, Adrien might get smacked in the face with the idea that his father is perfectly willing to let him be harmed or even die if it suits his purposes. Poor kitty...
  • Even worse? It's confirmed in the first episode of Season Two that Gabriel is Hawk Moth, and as the Collector, he may or may not (depending on whether he kept his own mind) have been willing to kill his own son.
• The "General" folder notes that at least a few of the Akuma victims have been caught on camera doing evil shenanigans. While this is bad enough for most of them, remember that Lila hasn't been in Paris for very long. While Alya, Nathaniel, and most of the others have had time to develop reputations outside of what they did while Akumatized, Lila hasn't had nearly as much, so she's going to have a much harder time shaking off "threatening to throw Gabriel Agreste's kid off the Eiffel Tower" (not that she doesn't deserve it).
• Volpina is an imitation of the Fox Miraculous holder. The Pied Piper was a past holder. What would have happened had Hawk Moth or Lila known?
• While knowing that Adrien was Ladybug's weakness, Volpina opted to take hostage an illusionary double. Had she decided to go for the real deal, she would have won... Or, depending on the timing, exposed his secret identity to Hawk Moth. Who lives in the same home.

Origins Part 1 & 2

• In the first part of "Origins", a discouraged Marinette begins to take off her Miraculous. Tikki is horrified and begins to beg her to stop. Though not confirmed at this time, this gives credence to the Fanon that as long as Cat Noir and Ladybug have their Miraculous, they're immune to Akumas. Besides that, it's definitely canon that even if Adrien manages to transform and fight, he'll be caught in a losing battle until his energy runs out and be stuck in a constant loop while the Akumatized villain wreaks havoc on Paris.
  • Jossed, as Word of God confirmed the Miraculous don't make them immune to Hawk Moth's Akumatization. It's Marinette's optimism and Adrien being used to disappointment that make it hard for either one to be Akumatized.
• The first time Cat used Cataclysm, he had no idea what it did and tried to use it on Stoneheart, but he'd already used up the charge. If there was more than one use per transformation, or if he hadn't touched the goal post first, he would have accidentally murdered Ivan, and the city would most likely refuse to accept his or Ladybug's help again, and almost certainly try to arrest him, which could lead to either Adrien's identity being revealed, or serious damage being done to the police force.
  • Let's not forget that Adrien probably wouldn't take it well the moment he realizes that he murdered an innocent civilian.
  • Actually, he probably wouldn't have killed Ivan. When Ladybug breaks the note and frees the Akuma, the rocks that compose Stoneheart fall around Ivan and Cat Noir. The rocks seem to serve as an armour like Gamer's battle bot, not actually being part of his body. We see what Cataclysm does to stone in "Timebreaker"- it makes part of the stone crumble. All he would have done is probably trip up Stoneheart by destroying part of a leg, and Ivan's body is actually in the chest part of Stoneheart.
• These flashback episode reveal a worse possibility: If the item is broken but the Akuma isn't caught and purified, it clones itself and randomly corrupts innocent bystanders.
• Imagine what would've happened if Hawk Moth hadn't decided to address the heroes in part 2. Aside from both Ladybug and the police still being unsure if the heroes were necessary until that moment, no one knew where the Akumas were coming from. Imagine how much worse things could've been if they didn't know there was a specific villain out there...

Season 2

Prime Queen

• Ladybug and Cat Noir leaving Chloé tied up in the subway. Even ignoring the fact that for as heroic as these two are supposed to be this is completely out of character, considering the number of creepers that can be found in a subway, Chloé being tied up is completely defenseless and vulnerable to god only knows what they'd have planned for her. It's a good thing the Miraculous Ladybug cure brought her back home.

Despair Bear

• Cat Noir is again Brainwashed and Crazy, and yet again tries to kill Ladybug using Cataclysm, but this time he comes closer to succeeding than ever before, because Ladybug accidentally immobilised the hand that doesn't have his ring. The scene that plays out once Cataclysm is activated is slowed down, almost to imply Ladybug's in-the-moment adrenaline, but in actuality, it would have taken less than 3 seconds for Cat to kill her.

Robostus

• This episode reveals that using the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous to alter reality comes with a price. Given the most popular suspicion about Hawk Moth's motive, that he wants to bring back his wife, whose life would he be willing to sacrifice to that end? An enemy? A random innocent? Adrien? Himself?
  • Does he even know that his wish comes with a price?
• It's not apparent during the actual fight of the episode, but since the use of the Miraculous to shape reality requires an Equivalent Exchange, and Robostus would have required to sacrifice someone else's humanity to gain his own, what are the chances Max was only there in that mecha as the appropriate sacrifice for the wish? Would Max have just turned into a robot, or would "sacrificing his humanity" cost him his life?
  • Adding on to that, the Miraculous running on Equivalent Exchange poses another question: how does the universe "balance" Ladybug and Cat Noir's powers? If Lucky Charm balances Cataclysm, then what balances purifying an Akuma or the World-Healing Wave?
    • Purifying an Akuma balances the corruption done by Hawk Moth, and the World-Healing Wave balances any rampage that the Akumatized did, as is a direct result of magic involved and it is returning it "as it should be", that's why Tikki is very much against using Lucky Charm for personal gain.
    • Not to mention that the aforementioned World-Healing Wave is always triggered by the item created by Lucky Charm, heavily implying that they're basically the same power in a two-stage configuration, meaning that Cataclysm is the balance for both.
• As soon as Max rejects Robostus' friendship, he angrily declares that he's done with humanity. He already accessed one security system consisting of missiles. It's possible that Ladybug and Cat Noir may have stopped an attempt on the human race, or at least all of humankind on Paris.
• This episode gives us some horror that reaches all the way back to "Evillustrator". In this episode, we see that Hawk Moth has no control over Robostus' actions in the long run, only able to bargain futily. In contrast, when Evillustrator tries to go against Hawk Moth's wishes, Hawk Moth is able to use Electric Torture to put him back in line. This means one of two things. Either Nathaniel as an individual was able to be put under Hawk Moth's influence enough that Hawk Moth could hurt him if displeased or non-human Akumatized villains can't be under Hawk Moth's powers or threatened by him.
• It's shown that Hawk Moth can Akumatize a robot who is sapient enough to feel emotions. Now if there was someone like Sonny in the Miraculous universe...

Gigantitan

• Helping someone who's feeling down/angry/resentful/etc. feel better won't stop an Akuma that's already been sent out. It'll just find someone else nearby who fits the bill. Even babies aren't safe!
• Hawk Moth's failure in controlling Gigantitan speaks volumes of Gabriel's parenting skills. If he can't even get an Akumatized baby to listen to him even when resorting to baby talk, what chance did Adrien have for a happy childhood?

Dark Owl

• The reveal that the item an Akuma possesses does not in any way need to be on the Akumatized individual for them to keep the fullness of their powers. It just needs to be in physical contact with them at the time of possession. Several villains Ladybug and Cat Noir have fought previously would have been much harder, maybe even nigh impossible, to defeat had this been true for them.
  • Perhaps the Akumatized item has to be used "as intended", and this episode is simply the first instance where said item is not something that needs to be carried on the person.

Glaciator

• André the ice cream man gives his ice cream to couples regardless of what input they might have regarding what flavors they want, and he only focuses on the colors matching the physical features of said couples instead of the flavors. Which brings one question to mind: how many times has André given couples something they're (potentially lethally) allergic to in their ice cream? And that's without getting into anyone who's lactose-intolerant...
  • Well considering his gimmick so that you have to find him and people who have allergies and lactose intolerance definitely wouldn’t be going to an ice cream shop to begin with, likely none.

Gorizilla

• Now that Hawk Moth is convinced that Adrien isn't Cat Noir, he'll likely resume going after him with no regards for his safety. If Cat Noir is ever destroyed and only then Hawk Moth realizes he let an Identity Impersonator deceive him...
• Adrien wouldn't save himself from certain death out of blind faith Ladybug would somehow escape Gorizilla and rescue him. What if things don't work like this next time?
  • Not to mention that Ladybug's entire plan to save him from certain doom was "trust Cat Noir to show up in the nick of time." As we know but she doesn't, that wasn't a possibility. If Hawk Moth hadn't released her, Adrien would have hit the pavement.
• Had Ladybug and Cat Noir not agreed to keep their identities a secret from each other, Cat Noir wouldn't bother with an Identity Impersonator and Hawk Moth would have learned his secret.
• While Adrien is savvy enough to keep tight-lipped about using a Body Double to fool Gorizilla, Wayhem is established as very excitable and having dubious impulse control, especially where Adrien is concerned. If he accidentally blabs to the wrong person, Hawk Moth will not only figure out that he did not see Adrien and Cat in the same place, but will have even stronger evidence that they are one and the same. Adrien's short-term trick may have just set him up for long-term consequences.

Zombizou

• So, uh, simple question...what if Miss Bustier hadn't been able to protect Marinette in time?! She would've gotten Akumatized, gleefully handing her earrings off to Hawk Moth; there would've been no way to de-Akumatize her safely unless someone outright killed the butterfly; and her secret identity might have been outed to Adrien/Cat Noir, among others. Ho boy...
• Most of Hawk Moth's potential targets are so blinded by their negative emotions that they don't notice the Akuma approaching, but Miss Bustier was scared when she saw an Akuma approaching Marinette and tried to fend it off. When she was Akumatized, she tried to fight its influence before eventually succumbing to Hawk Moth, and she felt very remorseful about her actions as Zombizou after being cured. This leads to several disturbing implications: one - Hawk Moth's targets do not necessarily need to feel negative emotions in order to be Akumatized, as he was able to turn the loving and protective Caline Bustier into love-obsessed Zombizou; two - the Parisians are aware of the threat of Hawk Moth's Akumas (with some of them experiencing their friends or family becoming villains), and three - when an Akumatized civilian is cured, they are remorseful of their actions during their time as a villain.
• In the classroom, Chloé is despised by her fellow classmates. It's not hard to see why - as Alix stated, Chloé's callous actions were responsible for half of the population of Paris being Akumatized by Hawk Moth, especially her classmates. As detailed in the Fridge Horror above, those who have been de-Akumatized still remember what they did as villains, so they must be aware that Chloé was responsible for handing them over to Hawk Moth. Now, imagine what would happen if Chloé did something so horrible that it would result in a mass Akumatization. Ladybug and Cat Noir would be overwhelmed by villains and Hawk Moth would succeed in his goal, and he may even thank Chloé for causing all of this to happen.
• While "Dark Owl" showed that that an Akumatized villain doesn't necessarily need to carry their Akumatized object on them to keep their powers, this episode establishes that it doesn't even need to be in contact with them at the moment the Akuma enters it; the only requirement is that the object belongs to the person, as shown when Miss Bustier threw her lipstick tube at the Akuma to try and fend it off and it Akumatized her by entering the tube while it was flying through the air. Now imagine if the object was something already located somewhere that's nigh or even completely impossible for Ladybug and Cat Noir to access. Akumatizing someone with such an object would be an Instant-Win Condition for Hawk Moth.
• The love-zombie infection spreads through kisses. There is a reason why people seldom kiss strangers today. Hopefully Miraculous Ladybug reversed any spreading diseases caused by the kisses...
  • Also almost everyone in Paris fell victim. That includes adults and children (case-and-point, the class). At the very least Zombizou's infection thankfully isn't specifically spread by kissing on the lips...

Syren

• What if Tom insisted on tasting one of Marinette's "macaroons" to the point he actually did it? We have no clue what a power up designed for kwami consumption does to humans who eat it.
  • Considering the one recipe we have seen so far in its entirety consists of seaweed, a pearl and a tear of joy, the macaroons would probably just taste really bad. It’s most likely that since Kwamis gain energy for their powers from the food they eat, that these transformation recipes chemically alter them. There’s no reason to think that the transformation foods would have any more of an effect on humans than eating the plain ingredients would.
    • Additionally, humans are far larger than kwamis, and as such a larger dose than just an incredibly tin macaroon would be needed to have any dangerous effect.
    • And who said the macaroon Tom tried to eat wasn't one of the recipes we have not seen in its entirety?
• Syren floods the whole city and we do see people evacuating to the rooftops. But Paris is a city with a large population, and there should be much more people there. What happened to the ones who couldn't make it to safety or higher ground?
  • There's no mention of casualties from Stoneheart destroying a building, and Ladybug's status quo-yo was able to restore the people Timebreaker erased. Therefore, it's possible that the World-Healing Wave brings people killed in Akumatized villain attacks Back from the Dead. Which of course brings all the Fridge Horror inherent in worlds where Death Is Cheap to the table. Would those who died remember it?

Troublemaker

• Troublemaker actually took one of the earrings and Ladybug started detransforming. If she hadn't gotten it back in time, her identity would have been revealed.

Style Queen

• The fact Plagg is responsible for the extinction of dinosaurs and the disappearance of Atlantis. Cat Noir is a Power Limiter for Cataclysm, above all else. Without him, even a tiny tap on the floor from Plagg, implied to be holding back as much as possible, wrecked the Eiffel tower, and continued to spread without limit. And it's implied he couldn't stop it on his own, since he told Ladybug to fix everything quickly. One has to wonder what would happen if she wasn't able to do so, for whatever reason.

Queen Wasp

• Take the fridge horror from the Zombizou episode and add in the fact that being transformed by a Miraculous doesn't protect you from Akumatization.
• What happened to Pollen when her Miraculous was Akumatized? What affects could an akuma have on a kwami? Could kwamis be akumatized themselves?
• What happened to Pollen when her Miraculous was destroyed? She wasn't seen popping out of the fragments like the Akuma was. And while she returned later, she wasn't seen at all for the rest of the episode, even after the comb was restored.
  • Word of God clarifies that Pollen was fine. Miraculous just allow humans to interact with kwamis, so she was simply rendered invisible.
• It's established that only a Cataclysm can destroy a Miraculous enough to release the Akuma. So if Cat Noir himself were to be Akumatized with his ring, Ladybug had better hope there's a Miraculous that can copy his power.

Catalyst

• Here Volpina returns, and with a single illusion she convinces all of Paris that Ladybug has been Akumatized and Cat Noir is dead. Thinking about what she did in "Volpina", it means the first time she was holding back.
• As Volpina demonstrated, a single illusion at the right time and right place is sufficient to mentally weaken a person. Or even an entire crowd. This leads to the following:
  • A: The Fox Miraculous could be used to easily render virtually anyone vulnerable to Akumazation! Lila's villainous persona of Volpina had the power to use illusions simply due to the Personality Powers mechanic of the Moth Miraculous. If Hawk Moth had the Fox Miraculous, he could target nearly anyone at almost any time, resulting in much more common Akumazations. Gabriel could even have Nathalie use it!
  • B: Even if it's a complete fabrication, this tactic would still leave a window of opportunity for the Akuma. If the hoax lasts at least until the Akuma reaches its victim, that's all Hawk Moth needs.
  • C: There isn't any need for Hawk Moth to the background checks on every single person. Just frightening a person is enough. Even prior to this episode, "Zombizou" and "Sandboy" established that fear/panic is enough for the (start of) Akumazation. In some cases, just creating an illusion of an old villain returning would suffice.

Mayura

• At the end of the episode, we learn that the Peacock Miraculous is damaged, and Nathalie seems ill after using it.
  • The Miraculous are shown to be Nigh-Invulnerable, with the only thing confirmed to be able to destroy one being Cat Noir's Cataclysm ability. Since the Miraculous appears intact, it likely wasn't Cataclysm that damaged it. Therefore, if a Cat Miraculous user didn't damage the Miraculous, who - or what - did?
  • Given that Nathalie's not feeling so good after using it, and that the Agrestes are hinted to have known about the Miraculous for some time, is the Peacock Miraculous responsible for Emilie being in her current state?
    • "Feast" all but states that yes, it is. Adrien notes that Nathalie's symptoms are identical to his mother's before (what he thinks was) her death.
• While Cat Noir managed to destroy Hawk Moth's cane and dispel Catalyst's boost, there is absolutely nothing stopping Hawk Moth from simply doing it again. We see in this episode that the same person can be Akumatized with the same powerset multiple times, and since Catalyst was a willing Akumatization, Hawk Moth can presumably Akumatize her again whenever they want. One Akuma at a time was bad enough, and now Hawk Moth will be able to launch multi-Akuma attacks on a regular basis.
  • Perhaps, but on the other hand he'll probably have a harder time spreading mass panic to Paris the way he did again given that they eventually rose up against him in the end. So unless he specifically tries to get Dark Cupid first he likely won't be able to get as many Akuma as he did here barring some other complex set up. At the very least it probably won't be easy.
• While the heroes realize that Volpina was used to set up the attack, does anyone know that Lila was a willing volunteer? She actively collaborated with Hawk Moth to cause this crisis yet as far as anyone knows she was an innocent victim that was coerced.
• Hawk Moth attempts to call out the heroes for simply using their Miraculous to fix Akumas and tiny problems and little else, saying they should have bigger aims such as using them for the world beyond just small steps. While this is mostly to get them to lower their guard, and that could be all it is, it's worth noting that there's been implications Hawk Moth has greater ambitions beyond just making his wish to save his wife, then letting everything go back to normal. He wants all the kwamis and Miraculous under his control (as seen in "Sandboy") as well as the guardian and all the knowledge of the book and order. He also has his son and heir specifically take Chinese and combat lessons in addition to schoolwork, an odd choice for modeling but would be a major boon in Miraculous use. He could be planning on forming his own order to have control of all things Miraculous related, which in the hands of a man who thinks little of causing mass havoc and mind control for his own purposes, could be very dangerous.

Season 3

Chameleon

• In "Mayura", Marinette's classmates threw her a party because of her helpfulness and good deeds and even organized her to kiss Adrien, and everybody is happy by the end of the episode. Come this episode, and her reputation is put at stake when Lila easily convinces everyone with her lies and pulls Wounded Gazelle Gambits to turn the class against Marinette. Almost everyone including the nicest ones is practically hypnotized by her lies and Marinette's relationships are quite severed. But this begs the question: what if Lila could ruin another person's reputation the same way she did to Marinette? What if she targeted Chloé, who already draws lots of ire from her class for good reasons yet is starting to change for the better, and made her out to be worse than she already was? If Marinette being shot by Death Glares from her class was already harsh, imagine Chloé going through the same thing.
• In the bathroom, Lila exposes her true colors and acts absolutely relentless towards Marinette, telling her that she'll lose all of her friends and there's nothing she can do. Now why would Lila act like such a jerk towards Marinette of all people, aside from being the only one opposed to her lies? If she isn't aware of the girl right in front of her being the superhero who was responsible for turning her into a grudge-filled sociopath, then what's on Lila's mind when she's trying to bring Marinette down?
  • The fact that Marinette already tried to expose her several times before and refused her offer of friendship is surely a reason. As later episodes show, Lila seems to have an eerie psychological need to lie, even when it overcomplicates things, and so anyone threatening to take that need away from her will naturally be seen as an enemy to her.
  • An even worse question to think about: would Lila's treatment and hostility towards Marinette worsen if she found out that she was Ladybug?
• Chameleon's defeat involves her being tricked into transforming into an oyster, who is then shucked and has her pearl broken, causing the Akuma to fly out. Notice that Lila can be heard struggling in her oyster form, so imagine the agony she must have felt when that happened. And because she was Not Brainwashed, she most likely remembered it.
• The way Lila acts towards Marinette in the bathroom scene - she acts in a cold, calculated manner, as if she was used to treating people like this when they didn't comply to her. Who's to say that Marinette isn't the first victim - what if, at her old school(s), she pulled the same things with other children?
  • And what became of those students?
  • The matter becomes even worse after "Confrontation", which reveals that Lila has been going to another school with another identity (Cerise), making it entirely possible for her to have done this with someone there.
• Marinette knows that Lila is a liar and untrustworthy and all-around a terrible person, but if she had been telling the truth, or the situation had happened with another character, the class would have still turned against Marinette.
  • True, but then again if Lila was really telling the truth about being that interesting and attention worthy as a person as improbable as it would be, Marinette would either not be against her to start with, or would have been in the wrong for jumping on her case when she wasn't lying.
• When Marinette throws the napkin at Lila she reflexively catches it with what basically amounts to a boxing parry, and as Chameleon once she copies Cat Noir's powers she overwhelms Ladybug as easily as Anansi (a formidable kickboxer) had done. Apparently, Lila is a serious threat even from a purely physical point of view...
  • Her apparently being into combat sports also explains how she got away with claiming she had tinnitus when she would have had to show a medical certificate: she would have been injured in a spar and actually got tinnitus, and would have got the certificate that then she explained in another way to hide her actual fighting abilities.

Backwarder

• Ladybug's Rummage Fail when she gives Adrien's letter to Marianne. Not only is the universe conspiring against her getting anything done, but her own yoyo is trying to screw her over.
• Gabriel held up a train to England just for his Hawk Moth shenanigans. How many people had to go there for some sort of urgent business to do and were held up?

Stormy Weather 2

• Stormy Weather literally spun the Earth off its axis. How many people would have died?
• What would the rest of the world, who probably weren't aware of Ladybug and Cat Noir and their heroics in Paris, have thought about the planet suddenly being turned back to normal with no apparent explanation after? Or even being moved in the first place?

Oblivio

• Who knows how much destruction occurred as a result of Oblivio’s memory-erasing powers?
• What would have happened if Master Fu hadn't answered the phone to tell Marinette and Adrien how to transform, or if the phone's battery had ran out before he could?

Silencer

• Before it aired, people had been dreading this episode because of one simple question: exactly what would have to happen to get Luka, one of the most laid-back and relaxed characters on the show, feeling negatively enough to get Akumatized?
• This episode confirms that Miraculous user's powers are voice-activated. If Ladybug hadn't found a loophole to still be able to use Lucky Charm, she and many other people could have permanently lost their voices. She also wouldn't have been able to detransform without removing her earrings, and wouldn't have been able to transform into Ladybug after that.

Oni-Chan

• The fact that Hawk Moth sends a supervillain to get rid of a teenage girl is disturbing.

Miraculer

• If Ladybug hadn't been able to do the cure, Cat Noir could very well have slowly died from being hit with a Cataclysm. It's lucky he was able to detransform and restransform at all.

Timetagger

• The fact that there's still a Hawk Moth in the future means that the Butterfly Miraculous and Nooroo are still in the hands of an evil person years later, and that person might be treating Nooroo even worse than Gabriel does now. Tikki and Plagg still don't have their friend back.
• Since Marinette is Ladybug, she ends up being too busy to babysit for Alya, and the latter ends up calling Lila to take over the job instead. In other words, Lila is already starting to make good on her promise to steal Marinette's friends. And it will be very easy for her to manipulate the children she's babysitting.
• The episode hints that Lila is the future Hawk Moth. One would assume that her motivations are far less sympathetic than Gabriel's.

Party Crasher

• The life support system keeping Emilie alive fails because Markov redirected all of the power in the Agreste mansion to the speakers in Adrien's room, which would never have happened if Max hadn't brought him along. Thankfully, the life support system turns on again in time due to Party Crasher capturing Markov, but imagine if it had been too late, and the guilt Max and Markov would have felt if they ever found out about Emilie's condition and that they unknowingly caused her death.
  • Here is a fun question to ponder: lets say that did happen. Hawk Moth would freak out and probably go on an absolute rampage. Everything we've seen him do is, more or less, motivated by restoring his wife. Imagine him wanting revenge on someone specifically.

Startrain

• It's revealed that Hawk Moth loses control over Akumas that are too far away, but if it Akumatizes someone, he doesn't even need to communicate with them to make them Brainwashed and Crazy, they just need to be feeling enough of a negative emotion. What if this happened with an Akuma sent by someone using the Butterfly Miraculous for good?
  • Not to mention that that means that an Akumatized villain can do something crazy like drive a train into space with his son aboard and there's nothing Gabriel can do about it because he can't control them.
  • It gets worse. Not only could Hawk Moth not control Startrain, her goals continued to escalate as time went on. First she just wanted to go to space; then she wanted to explore the galaxy, then she wanted to conquer the universe. Between this and the disturbing rate at which Robostus devolved into an Omnicidal Maniac, it's very likely Hawk Moth's influence is just about the only thing that keeps Akumatized villains sane.

Feast

• While chasing after Master Fu and the Miracle Box, the titular villain knocks aside several cars with drivers and possibly passengers inside, which more than likely injured or even killed them. Of course, the World-Healing Wave would have healed/revived them in the end, but they might still retain the memories of their injuries/deaths. Not to mention the Miraculous guardians, who haven't been around for 172 years, so they would be Fish out of Temporal Water, though that might not be a problem since they're secluded from the modern world.
  • Secluded might be a stretch. Keep in mind that the French news was made instantly aware of the temples existence after it appeared. Who's to say other countries aren't keeping a close eye on it already?

Cat Blanc

• There had been complaints from Adrienette shippers on how slow their relationship is building and how it hasn't become official. But this episode demonstrates that in the timeline where they do become a couple, it goes off without hitch, until Gabriel steps in to seperate them, so he can upset Marinette and Akumatize her. Though he's desperate to save his wife, he's willing to hurt people's feelings and damage relationships at every opportunity, include his son's. Thus making Adrien's dad a roadblock in the crucial development of their relationship. Until Hawk Moth is defeated/out of the picture, that roadblock stands.
• What would have happened if Cat Blanc's akuma was in his ring, which can't be broken, and with no Hawk Moth around to de-akumatize him without the need to break it?
• Cat Blanc killed not only Marinette, but Tikki too. That's why his world is still barren despite months passing- the function of the universe that would have made flowers grow and seabirds hatch is gone.

Ladybug

• The Sentimonster of Ladybug is Forced into Evil by Mayura, and is perfectly willing to help the heroes once freed. What does this imply about the other Sentimonsters Mayura has created?
• Marinette was ready to give up her Miraculous to Hawk Moth, and only avoided being Akumatized by a lucky coincidence. It also says a lot about how easy it would be for her to give in to her desire for justice against Lila.
• Lila wasn't surprised when the Scarlet Akumas came by. She likely already suspected Gabriel of being Hawk Moth... And now, she knows.
• Lila's claims about her disease seem rather silly at first. But when you consider that there are people who commited crimes while sleepwalking it might not be so unrealistic.
• Almost the entire class gets Akumatized because Marinette, someone they loved and trusted, appeared to have been a liar and a bully. Now think about how much the class adores Lila. What's going to happen when they find out she's an actual liar and a bully?
  • As of the season 3 finale, the Peacock Miraculous has been repaired. Assuming that Nathalie can recover without help, it's possible that Hawk Moth might use this as an oppurtunity for her to be Catalyst again like he did in this episode.

Miracle Queen

• It's revealed that when a Miraculous Guardian passes on their ownership of a Miracle Box, they lose their memories of it. Since Master Fu had been a guardian for most of his life, he lost nearly all his memories. Does this mean the same thing will happen to Marinette should she give the box to someone else? Will she forget ever being Ladybug? Hopefully she won't do it until she's about to die from old age...
• Hawk Moth learns the identities of all the new Miraculous users (except Bunnyx because she's from the future), just by telling everyone affected by Miracle Queen's wasps to come and get their Miraculous if they've used one. Who's to say he won't do the same thing with any other people Ladybug gives a Miraculous to?
  • He needed the Bee Miraculous and Chloé to do that. He no longer has the former.
  • Another horrific stop on the same train of thought - of the seven heroes Hawk Moth knows, five of them are in the same class at school and the other two are both known associates of the same. It wouldn't be hard for him to connect the dots and track Ladybug to her class, and eliminating everyone who has been akumatized... He could figure out who Ladybug is.
• Now that the Peacock Miraculous is repaired, it can be used without causing the holder to become ill. Which means that Gabriel can use it for himself, or combine it with the Butterfly Miraculous.
  • This might also mean that Duusu is more mentally stable now, which means they could realize they're being used for evil, and end up being treated the same as Nooroo.
    • However, considering the fact that Duusu is the kwami of Emotion, their current state could just be their normal self. They're just very emotional and has low-impulse control.
  • The first episode of season 4 confirms that Duusu's mental state was indeed affected by the Miraculous being damaged.
• Although the Peacock Miraculous is now fixed, who's to say that the damage it's already done to Nathalie isn't permanent?
• The Miraculous cure transported the mind-controlled Miraculous users back to where they were before they got stung, meaning they likely don't even know their identities were revealed to Hawk Moth. How will Ladybug tell them they can no longer use those Miraculous to help? Would they feel upset if their Miraculous was given to someone else instead?
  • According to the new intro, nobody is being replaced after all (except for Chloé). Though that brings on a whole other issue of them being fielded despite Hawk Moth knowing who they are.
• Fortunately for all concerned, Chloé does not know the names and transformation phrases for any of the kwami but Pollen. What would have been left of her if she'd activated the lot? An optimistic appraisal would suggest she'd be left catatonic for years.

Season 4

Truth

• Truth uses his powers to force several people to reveal Marinette's secret, starting with Alya. Fortunately, none of them know that she is Ladybug and only say that she's in love with Adrien, but only two episodes later, Alya becomes Marinette's Secret-Keeper. Had the timing of these events been just slightly different, Shadow Moth would have discovered his archnemesis's secret identity without even trying.

Mr. Pigeon 72

• Alya helps Ladybug create the Magical Charms which can protect those who were once akumatized from being targeted again by Shadow Moth. The only problem now is that Alya herself can't receive one without allowing herself to be akumatized again as the charms are only created after a villian is purified. And considering how she's Marinette's Secret-Keeper, we can only pray that she can get by without ever needing a Magical Charm.

Queen Banana

• It's implied that like in "Miracle Queen" Chloé is once again Not Brainwashed, quickly accepting the akuma that Shadow Moth sends after her, as well as being able to remember Vesperia's appearance. If that's the case, then that means she had no problem with turning people into bananas, effectively killing them (and we don't know if she is able or willing to reverse it or not).

Gabriel Agreste

• It is heavily implied that Félix knows that Gabriel is Shadow Moth, even with his Sentimonster ploy. However, this episode implies that he knew about this prior to the party, with it only being confirmed because he saw Gabriel with the Peacock Miraculous. Now why would he know that this particular brooch is a magical trinket?
• It is massively implied in the episode that Amelie wants the twin rings not just out of sentimentality, but because they're special in some yet-unknown way. Furthermore, Félix seems to know about the twin rings' importance, while Adrien does not.
• The way Senti!Gabriel threatens Félix with "making him disappear with a snap of his fingers". A figurative way of saying you are powerful enough to ruin someone's life in an instant if you so desired? Or a way of hinting at unleashing a more metaphysical kind of threat on someone?
  • If Félix is a sentimonster as the above dialogue suggests, and if his amok is in the same ring that he was almost akumatized with, then that means that if he hadn't resisted akumatization or unless Shadow Moth recalled the akuma, then he would have been destroyed by Ladybug and Cat Noir breaking the ring.

Guiltrip

• In "Reflekta", a picture of Ms. Bustier's class showed that Rose had shoulder-length hair a year or two prior to the start of the series. While it could have originally been assumed that she simply chose to cut it, we learn from this episode that Rose has been dealing with a chronic illness since childhood that required frequent trips to the hospital. Who's to say Rose hasn't had to undergo chemotherapy for that illness, and had to cut/shave her hair because of that treatment?
• If you remember from "Cat Blanc", Bunnyx seemed panicked over losing Rose's toy unicorn that she won off her when they were kids. With the reveal of Rose's present-day disease, well... what if Alix lost a personal reminder to her dear friend?

Optigami

• The Stinger of Optigami shows that Gabriel is planning to go after Alya because of her position as a trusted ally of Ladybug. If his interactions with Chloé are anything to go by, that means going after her family, her friends, or even going after her. If that isn't horrific enough, imagine all the myriad of ways he can acquire Alya while she has absolutely no way of protecting herself.
• It's certainly a good thing Hawk Moth didn't see Multimouse's "accidental" reveal to justify Ladybug retiring "her" back in "Kwamibuster". Since he had Chloé as one of his targets here despite the very big falling out and replacing her and Ladybug had, he presumably had everyone even people Ladybug wouldn't normally use marked to be attacked just in case Ladybug was desperate enough to go to Chloé for lack of other options. Which means Marinette would have been on his list and he wouldn't have had Style Queen ignore her and with her and the Ladybug Miraculous turned to glitter, nobody would have been able to stop Style Queen or fix the damage.
• One of the side effects of Kaalki's unrestricted Voyage portals transports the Startrain underwater. The mother of Max, her usual holder, works on that train meaning she almost accidentally killed her wielder's parent.

Sentibubbler

• It is becoming very clear that Marinette's mental state is still far from healthy, even with Alya as a outlet. Shadow Moth has been assured he can win as soon as she makes a mistake, and as it was only Sentibubbler that kept her from making a huge he isn't wrong. Marinette is holding as best she can, but she's not far from a fatal mistake and really needs help.

Wishmaker

• The premise of the episode is simple enough, contemplate your future careers; but the revelation that Adrien has no ambitions and no idea what he wants to be outside of his father's fashion model is outright demoralising. This 14 year old has essentially been groomed to be exactly what his family want him to be and want him to do, with no independence of his own. When Cat Noir is affected by Wishmaker and does his Imagine Spot like the other characters in the episode, rather than show something silly or fantastical, it shows an infant Adrien looking up at Emilie and Gabriel. This wasn't a spur of the moment decision as a preteen, this was a design choice from the cradle. Hearing him say this makes Shadow Moth freeze on the spot, possibly having a revelation that he has neglected his son to the point he has robbed him of a life for 14 years. It doesn't stick due to the Second Chance manipulation, but it is still a horrific reveal.
  • Further to this, it chucks further fuel onto the fire that is the "Adrien = Sentimonster" theory.
• With Luka now knowing the secret identities of both Marinette and Adrien, and having never had received an anti-akuma charm of his own, or been able to free himself from akumaization, he's still vulnerable to akumaization and Shadow Moth learning both identities for good.

Qilin

• Marinette being held accountable for the episode's events means that the inspector neither learned his lesson nor was punished for his actions, meaning he's very likely to pull this same stunt again in the future (and possibly getting another akumatized person after him).

Ephemeral

• Somehow, Gabriel can control Adrien. Both times Gabriel orders Adrien to do something (the first is when he tells Adrien to take the press conference, and the second is when Adrien is trying to resist the akumatization), Adrien initially protests but submits when Gabriel starts holding onto his wedding ring. The "how" and "why" of this are not explained in this episode, but it lends some credence to the theory that Adrien is a Sentimonster or somehow connected to the Peackock Miraculous.
• The Ultimate Miraculous Power is revealed to work by destroying the universe that currently exists before creating a new one where the effects of the wish are implemented, but beyond that there is no control over or knowledge of what that new universe will be like; it could be exactly the same as the previous one just with the effects of the wish in place, or it could be completely different in every way and not in a good way. Imagine the new universe was one where the Nazis won the Second World War, for example. And what if people who existed in the previous universe were not born in the new one; they'd have been erased from existence, essentially murdered and quite possibly forgotten completely if Ripple-Proof Memory isn't in effect.
  • Also, the Guardians know what the wish would do and the Kwami know what it looks like. Someone had done that before. This universe is not the first of its kind, a thought that is somewhat unsettling to ponder for a while.

Penalteam

• Chloé waiting for Shadow Moth's akuma to appear means that people in-universe have realized that one way for them to deal with their problems is to nurture their negative emotions until they catch Shadow Moth's attention so he can give them the power to go on a rampage.

Risk

• How long has Risk been riding his bike and singing his song without any breaks? There's no indication that he ever grew tired of his "song and dance" and needed to stop for food, water or even sleep during his two day drive. Did the magic of his akumatization ensure that he wouldn't need those things or is his mindset stuck on a neverending loop while his body slowly fatigues over time?
• The fact that Froggy's magic encourages people to take risks no matter how big or small the actions may be. (From going to confront an abusive father to swimming in the French canals). What other extreme risks have the Parisian public taken after being influenced by Froggy's spell?

Strikeback

• Gabriel now has possession of two time-warping Miraculous and, unlike Ladybug or Bunnyx, likely has absolutely no qualms with abusing those powers despite the dangers of meddling with time. He could easily use the Snake to repeatedly undo any progress the heroes make towards tracking him down or defeating him and is not inhibited by the timer Viperion had, whilst he could use the Rabbit to go back in time to either find out Ladybug and Cat Noir's secret identities or prevent his wife from going into a coma and causing a massive time paradox.
  • In addition, having the Horse Miraculous means that he could take his campaign of terror beyond Paris or even France itself, teleporting to other cities or even different countries and wreaking havoc there (although very unlikely considering that his desire is to obtain the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous).
  • Not to mention that he also has the Pig Miraculous. While not the most flashiest of powers, just one hit and he'd be able to discover Ladybug and Cat Noir's greatest emotional weaknesses to exploit in future schemes.
• Ladybug literally had a mental breakdown when talking to Adrien (the real one). Then think of all the trauma she went through. And then remember that she's 14 years old. Regardless of everything, her psyche will be damaged. Extremely so. Luckily, the show is for kids (for some reason) otherwise her mind would be utterly broken.
  • Additionally, the whole reason Hawk Moth gained the Miraculous was because she chose to trust Adrien without realizing he was actually his sinister twin cousin in disguise. Will Marinette be comfortable enough to interact with Adrien without having to remember how her crush for the boy led to one of the worst defeats imaginable?
  • Throughout the season, the weight of being Guardian has negatively affected Marinette's mental health, becoming paranoid and even having nightmares about the theft of the Miraculous Box.
    • Basically, her nightmare in "Sentibubbler" partially came true. She lost all the Miraculouses for trusting the wrong person.
    • Who's to say Marinette won't have nightmares of Master Fu calling her a disappointment and a failure?
• Even if Ladybug convinced Alya to keep the Fox Miraculous, it would only be a matter of time before Monarch came to steal it from her given his new powers and his knowing that she's still active as a superhero.

Season 5

Evolution

• The fact Sass had to explain to Gabriel that the Kwami need to be fed to recover their power brings into question if he ever fed Nooroo during all this time.
  • He must have, because they mention even an adult that can repeatedly cast their power won't be able to last long term if the Kwami isn't fed and he's been using Nooroo for months at that point. Gabriel himself mentions he knows they need to be fed when Sass points it out.
• Related to an above Fridge Horror for "Guiltrip" about a scene in "Cat Blanc": we don't know when or if Young Alix ever returns to present time, or if she'll instead grow up as Bunnix. Her panicking over losing Rose's unicorn doll might as well be due to the fact she hasn't seen her friend group in a while aside from perhaps Ladybug/Marinette, and as she can't really return to the present, that doll might as well be her only souvenir from her early teenage years.

Multiplication

• Gabriel and Tomoe creating the Alliance Rings and selling them to the public have so many grim possibilities that can serve their nefarious schemes. For starters, there's the implication of how the rings can also transfer the powers of the Miraculous onto any potential victim which would give them a significant power boost when fighting the heroes (as shown with Ikari Gozen's return). There's also the factor of the rings being able to record and track information from its users and transfer it to Gabriel's database. This in turn can weed out which users could be the Miraculous Heroes he greatly despises.
• Alim Kubdel openly informs his daughter's class on how she won't be available because of her new duty as the Time Jumping Hero: Bunnyx. While it was "responsible" of him to inform the school faculty, casually revealing Alix's hero identity to her classmates places both of them at risk if in the event someone from the class unveils such information to Monarch (cough Chloé cough Lila cough cough) and decides to threaten the Kubdel family to lure out Bunnyx.

Destruction

• It's a good thing Ladybug and Cat Noir retrieved the Rabbit Miraculous from Monarch by the time he turned the other Miraculouses into rings. Imagine the kind of Akumatized villains Monarch could create if he could give them the power of the Rabbit Miraculous...
  • Well, actually, if you think about it, it's actually very unlikely that Monarch would do so. Had Gabriel kept and turned the Rabbit Miraculous into an Allliance Ring, he likely wouldn't trust himself to use the power of Evolution out of guilt for failing Emilie and Nathalie. Additionally, his reasoning for not giving any Akumatized villain the power of Burrow would be the same as his reasoning for not giving any of his minions the power of Second Chance. As he put it...
    Gabriel: As for using an Akumatized villain, it's too dangerous. They'd hold sole power over time and memory of the events. And if they foolishly compromised that power, we could lose everything.

Jubilation

• Monarch uses a Voyage to send his Akuma straight to his intended Akumatization target. This means that there's now no way for the heroes to prevent akumas from forming, unless Monarch simply decides not to use the power.
• Those released from Gift are left in a saddened state. What type of emotions does Monarch need to akumatize someone, again?
• While flying T-Rexes are bad enough, fridge horror sets in when you consider that they've specifically been spliced with pigeon DNA. Because it's not like the single most frequently akumatized person in Paris has anything to do with those or anything.
• Marinette and Adrien are lucky they do not wear an Alliance ring. As shown in the episode, Monarch can track down those who wear one, it also led to him briefly believing Socqueline was Ladybug. If either Marinette or Adrien wore an Alliance ring, Monarch would have discovered that they are Ladybug and Cat Noir, respectively.

Reunion

• Alya openly talks with Marinette about her Kwagatama along with her identity as Ladybug all while wearing an Alliance Ring. Let's just hope that Gabriel didn't install a recording feature that can record conversations that relate to the Miraculous or the superheroes. It's even worse since he knows how close Alya was to Ladybug.

Transmission

• In The Stinger, Gabriel learns via his alliance ring that Scarabella and Kitty Noire are Alya and Zoé respectively. Remember that in Season 4 he was aware of Alya's identity as Rena Rouge, and even attacked her family in an attempt to make her betray Ladybug after realizing she's not just any holder... Monarch is getting closer and closer to Ladybug's identity.

Perfection

• Monarch akumatized Kagami via her ring, which infuriated Tomoe as he "put her in danger". If Kagami is a sentimonster like later episodes of the season suggest, and her amok is in that very ring, Ladybug and Cat Noir would have erased her from existence if she didn't de-akumatize herself.
  • That might’ve been Gabriel’s intention. Gabriel already threatened to murder Félix, his nephew. Why wouldn’t he try to have someone else killed?
    • There's nothing that insinuates that Gabriel has any reason to do so even before we find out that he and Tomoe arranged their respective children to be a couple. The closest reason he has is her having been Ryuko, and he hasn't attacked any of the other superheroes he knows the identity of other than Alya, and that was just to lure Ladybug into a trap. Not to mention the ring turned into incorporeal clouds just like the rest of her body, meaning that it likely couldn't be broken at all, meaning there likely wasn't any risk of the Amok being released to begin with. Not to mention how bad Tomoe took it when she found out that Akuma was in Kagami's ring to begin with. Why would he risk making a (potentially mortal) enemy out of his last remaining ally even if there was a reason that he would want Kagami gone?

Migration

• Monarch learns that Luka knows the identities of Ladybug and Cat Noir when he attempts to akumatize him, but luckily Luka snaps out of it without revealing anything. What would happen if the same thing happened to Alya, who knows Marinette is Ladybug, and had been akumatized far more often than Luka?

Adoration

• Zoé revealed back in "Sole Crusher" that she was bullied in New York and she had only one friend. Now we learn that she is sapphic. What if that is why she was bullied?
  • Fridge Brilliance: The official card game reveals that Zoé's best friend in New York was Jess. Jess has two mothers, so she would be used to encountering queer relationships and therefore not bully Zoé.

Emotion

• Félix's expression of sadness as he destroys Red Moon while calling his creation "sister", becomes more painful once his true nature as a Sentimonster is revealed.
• Félix's plan with Red Moon was pretty much to kill everyone on Earth, save his closest friends, and only backs down when he's tricked into thinking he effectively killed Marinette and realizing that such a plan wouldn't be the perfect world for them. Not only is such a plan monstrous, but it's so full of Didn't Think This Through that it suggests Félix, for all his manipulative intelligence, is a couple of feathers short of a plume and has a serious Lack of Empathy. And by the end of the season, he still has superpowers. He's very much a menace to himself and others, and probably has his father's abuse to thank for that.

Confrontation

• As shown in The Stinger, Lila was just a fake identity for her. Now that her lies have been exposed, she now has another identity at another school known as Cerise. How many other identities does she have? How long and why has she had different identities like these? And what has she been doing with those identities?
  • Her last line states that she came just in time for the student-teacher meetings to discuss everyone's futures. One can only hope that she didn't have beef with any of her other classmates to the point of wanting to curse them with incompatible career paths.
  • Lila is surprisingly calm after being exposed, and just simply walks away. Considering the aforementioned identities, has this happened before?
  • As disturbing as the implication is, to be as skilled at manipulation as she is would require years of experience. With that in mind, there's a very high chance that Lila's actually an adult pretending to be a teenager. Imagine a 20-or-30-something year old woman going around town with multiple identities, conning multiple clueless women into thinking she's their daughter, playing innocent children like puppets, and trying to ruin a 14-year old girl's life and steal her boyfriend. The mere possibility that Lila's the p-word is disturbing by itself alone.
    • Considering how each of Lila's identities so far has a different mother, (unless the next season says otherwise) who's to say she didn't kill her Italian diplomat mother so she wouldn't get suspicious of her sudden disappearance and so she wouldn't find out about her lies in Dupont?
    • Assuming Ms. Rossi is still alive, imagine what she must be going through, wondering where her supposed "daughter" is.
    • It sounds extreme, yes, but considering the lengths she has proven herself to go, there actually is a very high chance that Lila's a Serial Killer.
    • There's also the theory that Lila actually steals her identities from her respective mothers' real daughters. Some believe that Lila researches multiple women to see which one of them lost a daughter 14-15 years ago, and then takes on one of her identities to present herself as that particular woman's long-lost daughter. With that in mind, there's a very high chance that Lila stalks people on the Internet.
    • Or what if she pulled a Kill and Replace...
• Does Lila (as Cerise) treat any of her other classmates like she does Marinette?
  • Considering how most teens in Paris can't seem to put two and two together, somewhat doubtful unless they started catching on to her. Though my question is whether or not she's "disposed" (a'la the Serial Killer theory above) any of them along the way.

Collusion

• Lila's String Theory board includes Ladybug, Monarch and other important figures. And out of all of Ladybug's Miraculous allies, only Rena Rouge is featured. What type of information does Lila have on the Fox Hero that can support her agenda?
  • Considering her former akumatized form Volpina, it likely has something to do with that.
  • The matter becomes more disturbing if we remember that in "Sapotis", Alya transformed into Rena Rouge at the park Place des Vosges, and in "Mayura" it was revealed that Lila has a clear view of the same park from her bedroom window.
    • Also, in "Revelation", the only photographs of the Grimoire are from the pages about the Cat Miraculous and Fox Miraculous. Heroes that, let's remember, are the closest to Ladybug.

Revolution

• Chloé's being taken to London as punishment. It doesn't sound so bad, but considering Audrey's parenting skills (or lack thereof), one can only wonder if she will be toned down to be anywhere as reasonable as Zoé is... or if she'll get even worse.
  • On a lesser note, Audrey being a fashion critic doesn't give her a lot of power over people, so Chloé might not be as big of a problem as she was back in Paris.
• Assuming that Chloé will even be allowed to leave her new house, let alone attend school, her social standing is going to be nonexistent given the likelihood of her shameful display as Queen Mayor being televised. And with her admitting to being akumatized while trying to defeat two of the world's most beloved heroes, she'll be looking at a future as a social pariah or a laughingstock who can't even pronounce "democracy" right.
  • And considering Audrey's lack of care, it wouldn't be above her to make her attend a low-level or downright delinquent school in order to teach her a lesson in humility. Whatever Chloé's future in London will be, it seems she'll end up getting a taste of her own medicine.

Representation

• As noble as it is for Ms. Bustier to run for mayor, this is also the same woman who constantly gave Chloé the benefit of the doubt and fell for Lila's lies for several seasons. One can only hope that she won't make the same mistakes and align herself with political figures who can take advantage of her.
• Colt Fathom is described as a heartless, power-hungry monster who viciously lashed out at Félix for being a sentimonster he died to create. Did he only target Félix or was Amelie another victim of his abuse as well? It didn't help that she wasn't too happy with having to marry the guy.
  • Plus unlike Gabriel with Emilie, Amelie was perfectly happy and cheerful after Colt died.
  • In "Gabriel Agreste" back in season 4, Amelie's animal mask at the party is a rabbit. What type of stuffed animal was it that Colt destroyed in Félix's performance when Félix was describing what happened "if he became fond of anyone who displeased his father"..?
• It's strongly implied that Félix was created from Amelie being impregnated by the Peacock Miraculous instead of just appearing out of thin air like other Sentimonsters we've seen, and it's likely the same thing happened with Emilie as well if Adrien was created the same way. That means it's possible to spawn Sentimonsters inside of living beings, which could potentially be used to kill someone in a rather unpleasant way.
• Because Nightormentor's Akuma was released without Ladybug getting involved in the fight against him, she can't use her World-Healing Wave to cure Adrien, Rose, and Juleka of the nightmares inflicted on them by his power, which means they will most likely be plagued by the waking Nightmare Sequences for the rest of their lives. Talk about a Fate Worse than Death!
• One of consistent games Adrien played with his cousin was to dress up as each other and see how far they can go before their parents noticed the switch. It takes a sadder turn since this must have been Félix's way of escaping the wrath of his abusive father.
  • Additionally, did Adrien ever experience any abuse from Colt when he was masquerading as his cousin?
    • Adrien was pretty confused and upset by Marinette when she was wearing the cowboy hat in "Psycomedian". He's usually pretty tolerant of her acting strange - maybe a subconscious connection to a past event was making him more anxious than usual?
• More Fridge Sadness, but this episode adds context to Félix's debut:
  • While pretending to be Adrien, he claims his father was right about doubting his decision to attend middle school. Knowing how Colt treated him, Félix might as well have actually been venting about his own failed friendships due to his father forcing and likely gaslighting him into ruining any bond he would've made at school.
  • Cat Noir taunts that Félix must not have many friends if he got Adrien's riled up like that. Instead of a retort, Félix looks to the side, seemingly uneasy. Though he likely didn't mean to, Cat Noir struck a nerve: Félix really doesn't have any friends at all, and he can't blame Colt as much as he could have with his father's death meaning he could be free to make friends, but instead chose to cause trouble.

Conformation

• Nightormentor using his powers at a global scale as part of Operation Perfect Alliance. The Nightmare Sequences range from very likely (Sabine's nightmare of Tom getting akumatized over their daughter's depression, Ivan's having Mylène leave him to help save the polar bears from extinction) to the impossible (Tom's nightmare of Marinette shrinking during a depression-fueled fasting, Mylène's having aliens abduct the planet's trees). But there are more serious cases with Alya's nightmares of helping Monarch, and Nathalie's fever dreams of Gabriel using the Miraculouses to warp reality in his image, since they both know what is at stake.
  • In Marinette's case, her nightmare ends up being a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy that occurs in the following episode: She fights Gabriel in an epic battle where she wins Adrien's freedom, but Gabriel dies in the process. This would haunt Marinette since her nightmare ends with Adrien heart-broken because of her role in Gabriel's death.
• Consider Nightormentor's nightmare dust effects. They induce a state of panic, fear, distress and general emotional turmoil. With the entire world under effect, this also means (as shown in the next episode) that New York is also under its effect. New York, who is not only a cities full of supers, good and bad, but is also full of ghosts that feed on fear itself. One can only hope the Ghostforce didn't have to fight any ghost that day, or else whatever ghost has been unleashed would've gone Booster in seconds with all the citizens plunged in fear.
  • Even worse for wear, Ghost Force's Halloween special reveals that if too much fear is present in New York, it'll release every ghost in the city, including the ones already captured. If she wasn't under enough stress already, Miss Jones must've been hard at work trying to keep all the ghosts calm, including Glups, and that's hoping the fear itself doesn't have negative effects on her ghost half.
  • It goes further beyond. If all it takes is enough fear in New York to unleash the ghosts in the city, then Nightormentor might as well have created enough fear to unleash ghosts in the entire world. Eagle and Ladybug's actions are a practical godsend at that point, because if Monarch doesn't get defeated and his actions undone, the world would be ravaged by ghosts instead, which neither Ladybug nor Cat Noir or anybody aside from three teenagers, an occasionally glitchy robot and with limited amounts of energy would be able to fight. And with the constant fear going around the planet at that point, capturing them wouldn't last long before they become back and spread more fear. Monarch would've caused the end of the world no matter what with his plans.
• Ladybug discovers Nathalie's tablet, which still has information on many of the Miraculous holders. Now remember Revelation; had Lila worded her order to Nathalie differently (not just asking for Gabriel's secrets), she could have very easily have learned their identities as well, which, as of the end of the next episode, is once again relevant knowledge.

Re-Creation

• Why was Lila so shocked and horrified? The Wish has Equivalent Exchange rules. Nathalie and possibly Emilie were saved. If Gabriel saved Emilie, it’s unclear who died in order for Nathalie to live. Did Lila see the person die?
  • Given her reaction? It may either be that she's seeing some other side effect of the wish, or that she's the second sacrifice.
  • The producers confirmed that the blonde woman we saw with Nathalie was Amelie, not Emilie, meaning that Gabriel only sacrificed himself to heal Nathalie. Still, the idea that Lila is being attacked by an aftereffect of the Wish is still open.
• Considering Gimmi's somewhat irritated reaction to Gabriel, what if this isn't the first time an evil person used the Ultimate Miraculous Power?
  • The kwamis' "Not again!" in "Ephemeral" implies that the wish has been used at least once before. Given the potentially terrible cost, it seems likely that only someone incredibly reckless or self-centered would dare.
• Following Gimmi's explaination of how their wish granting works, it adds a harsher context to "Cat Blanc" and "Ephemeral": The former if Cat Blanc got the Ladybug Miraclous and sacrificed a certain number to bring back the 2.1 million people he accidently killed with his Cataclysm. And since Gabriel did summon Gimmi offscreen in a Bad Future where he never got his Heel Realization and is not dying, he could have possibly sacrificed Marinette to revive Emilie.
  • Worse for wear, if he somehow hadn't found out about Adrien being Cat Noir, such as near-victory instances like the moment preceding one of his Second Chances in "Miracle Queen" or when he stopped Scarabella and Kitty Noire from transforming in "Deflagration", Gabriel would likely sacrifice whoever was Cat Noir as well. Imagine him, Nathalie and Emilie all being healthy and healed... only to find out Adrien is now gone from their wish, making both women's illnesses and Gabriel's constant decay All for Nothing.
• When Bug Noire threatens Gabriel, her hand is on the arm with the other Miraculous rings, but also on Gabriel's engagement rings, brought together. It's no wonder Gabriel relented in that one final moment, as he was not only cornered, but any resistance he'd put up might've ended up actually killing Adrien off.
  • Imagine Bug Noire's reaction once she'd have discovered she destroyed her boyfriend's amok. Imagine Argos' reaction, realizing Ladybug ended up doing the very thing he resented his uncle for. From that point on, either she'd have to accept what happened and live in eternal regret of what happened, knowing Argos would likely be her enemy again and try to take her Miraculous (and with no Cat Noir, she'd essentially be helpless), or she'd end up doing the very thing her nemesis had been planning for Emilie: use the wish to sacrifice her own life to let Adrien come back... which would not only leave him alone and miserable without either his lady or his girlfriend, or vulnerable to more manipulations (such as people like Lila) without Marinette in his life.
• The episode ends in a new reality created by Gabriel's wish, with his final request being that Marinette never reveals his villainous past to anybody, least of all with Adrien. This creates two very unnerving ideas:
  • First of all is that the general populace is going to be shilling the same man that spent five seasons tormenting them and turning them into monsters just to get back at two teenagers, and this is being enforced by one of those same heroes. What if they end up finding out that Ladybug lied to them?
  • Second of all is Adrien, who's essentially being lied to about his father in order to keep him happy, which would be harsh enough, but remember that both times he got akumatized-which lead to an instant game over situation-were related to him discovering his father's identity as Hawk Moth. That was bad enough when he didn't have any delusion of his father being a good person, but now that he's being fed the idea that he was a hero, learning the truth might hurt him even more than before, if not set him up to be akumatized into an even worse being than Cat Blanc or Ephemeral.
• Not only does Adrien think his father died a hero, but more specifically, that he died helping defeat Monarch while Cat Noir was locked in a room, unable to help. That can't be good for his self-esteem...
• Marinette's decision to give the Miraculous to their original holders on a permanent basis has some pretty big problems. While she makes this decision because Monarch was able to steal them all from her yo-yo in one go, that only happened because one of them ran off with a Miraculous to begin with. So she's placing the Miraculous at risk once again by giving them to her friends/classmates to be responsible for them rather than keeping them in a more secure location.
  • Considering that Lila will meet with the group again under a new identity; giving her a chance to earn everyone's trust again, that she was observant enough to deduce that Gabriel was Monarch, and how easy it is for her to steal from people without them noticing, the risk is even bigger.
• Lila will meet Marinette and her friends again under a new identity. And this time, no one will be aware of her true nature, including Marinette and Adrien.
  • If Lila tries again what she did to Kagami in "Protection" with other of Marinette's friends, most of Team Miraculous will be in danger of being Akumatized.
  • With Lila's talent for lying, she should be even more effective at manipulating and controlling her victims than Gabriel was.
• The new universe may seem very happy and hopeful, but the episode followed the rule that the old universe needed to be overwritten to create it. And judging by how this process was treated by knowledgeable characters in the past, there's no continuity of souls between iterations of the universe; until the next season suggests otherwise, it seems Ladybug and Cat Noir failed: and everyone in the universe, including them, died; replacements have just been made.

Specials

"Miraculous World: New York – United Heroez"

• This episode reveals that Ladybug's World-Healing Wave can only undo damage relating to a specific villain that the Lucky Charm was summoned for. Ladybug has used Lucky Charm after defeating villains and still been able to undo the damage before, but that was because she de-Akumatized them rather than Hawk Moth. So what would have happened if she hadn't summoned a Lucky Charm before he recalled Heart Hunter's Akuma? Would the people who got eaten be gone forever? Especially if he never created that particular villain again?
• When Uncanny is wrecked, Majestia strikes Teclonizer with enough force to send him through multiple skyscrapers required to be tough enough to withstand being hit by a three-engine airliner. Akumatized villains are very nearly invulnerable, but Techno-pirate is not. Majestia was intending his death.

"Miraculous World: Paris - Tales of Shadybug and Claw Noir"

• Given how trigger-happy Claw Noir is when it comes to using his Cataclysm on his enemies, what are the chances that he used his power of destruction on random civilians or other members of the Resistance while fighting Betterfly?
• More Fridge Sadness than anything, but Claw Noir's unhesitant willingness to take Cat Noir's Cataclysm to the chest just to gain the upper hand in a fight takes on a darker note, when it's later revealed both he and Shadybug were already slowly dying anyway by using the Miraculous without a timer, and that it seemed to him his Gabriel doesn't care about his anguish over the loss of his version of Emilie.
• The Supreme was able to cast a spell over the Kwamis that silences them along with their ability to grant a reality-changing wish to any user. If a supervillain like that was able to discover and impose those limitations, then the same thing could happen to the Kwamis of the main universe if someone obtained that information.
• Shadybug also mentioned that the Supreme never told her or Claw Noir about the consequences of overusing their powers. What other life-threatening secrets did the Supreme refuse to share with them?
• The Supreme may have given the most powerful Miraculous to children he knew it would slowly kill, without telling them that part, specifically because he only wanted to give it to pawns he considered disposable. How many other children has he used and discarded? On a similar note; did he give the Cat Miraculous to Adrien as a way of punishing Gabriel?
• A disturbing idea is that while Monarch was traveling through different universes to get Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous, he could have encountered Cat Blanc's universe.
• Considering how Alternate Marinette's attempt to summon Gimmi only accelerated her necrosis from using her powers for evil, imagine what would happen to Gabriel if he tried using the Alternate Miraculous. At best, he'd be disoriented and furious. At worst, he'd be unnecessarily accelerating his newfound Cataclysm wound.
• As Shadybug and Claw Noir demonstrated what happens if a minor uses their powers for evil, will the same thing happen to a minor if they use a damaged Miraculous?
  • For better or worse, assuming Lila isn't actually an adult (despite the Serial Killer theory above suggesting such) there's a very high chance that she'll die from using the Butterfly Miraculous.
• Shadybug mentions having been bullied by her universe's version of Chloé until the Supreme gave her the Ladybug Miraculous, and says "now no one will hurt me anymore". Did she kill her universe's version of Chloé (and presumably that of Lila and Félix too, assuming she met them)?

Fridge Logic

On the headscratchers page.

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