Miraculous Ladybug / Tropes E to M

This page covers tropes in Miraculous Ladybug.

Tropes A to D | Tropes E To M | Tropes N to Z

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E-F

• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • In the earlier English dub episodes, Hawk Moth says more than once that he wants to use the power of the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses to Take Over the World. It's revealed in later episodes after his identity is revealed that his actual goal is to use them to bring back his missing wife, making the Generic Doomsday Villain talk seem out of place until the implications of using the two Miraculouses combined are revealed.
  • In Lady Wifi, Adrien's Miraculous ring comes off just from him being hit by one of the titular villain's attacks. This serves the plot of the episode by allowing him to be trapped in the freezer powerless, but for the rest of the series, deliberate effort if not human hands are shown required to remove Miraculouses, likely to avert the Weaksauce Weakness of the heroes potentially losing their source of their powers from getting hit with attacks their bodies shrug-off.
  • Marinette and Adrien are plenty more snarky and more relatable in the first season, with Adrien even giving Chloé a “Chloé, seriously?” and Marinette having less of a problem standing up for herself and others. Later seasons water this down and they’re a lot more passive.
• Eastern Zodiac: In addition to the seven main Miraculous, there is a kwami for every animal of the Eastern Zodiac. They are first explicitly seen in "Sandboy".
• Eating Lunch Alone: Adrien seems to do this every day at home. He seems quite used to it, if not happy.
• Economy Cast: Several one-shot villains like Aurore and Théo tend to show up as background characters in order to fill up crowd scenes (Aurore is a student at Marinette's school, and Théo does random jobs around Paris). Also, we have only one non-faceless cop in the entirety of Paris (Roger), a generic photographer that takes both Adrien's modelling shots as well as class photos (Vincent) and two TV reporters (Alec and Nadja). Background children, meanwhile, tend to consist of mildly-edited clones of Manon.
• Edible Bludgeon: The weapons seen in "Kung Food", which has Marinette's Supreme Chef uncle as a villain, are all made out of food. There's a mace made out of seafood, a whip made out of sausages, a crossbow made out of cheese (which fires it, too), a bow and arrow set made of desserts, and a BFS made out of pizza.
• Eiffel Tower Effect:
  • Marinette's home and school are located in the fictional 21^st Arrondissement of Paris, which is somehow both directly across the river from Notre Dame (in the 5^th) and in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower (in the 7^th). A 21^st arrondissement would border the 11^th, 12^th and 20^th, but would still be nowhere near either landmark.
  • Also in some scenes at the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower can be seen as being behind the museum towards the south-east when it's actually more or less due west.
• Election Day Episode: "Darkblade" opens with the results of the Paris mayoral elections; Chloé's father has once again won in a landslide with 97% of the votes. Meanwhile, Marinette's class is about to have their own elections for class president, with everybody being too scared to run against Chloé, except Marinette. Then there is "Revelation" where Lila convinces the class to have another clas president election. And "Representation" mentions a new election for mayor being held after Chloé's father stepped down two episodes ago.
• Emotion Eater: Akumazation affects a citizen feeling any extremely negative emotion such as anger, guilt, jealousy, etc., which turns them into the Villain of the Week.
• Empathic Shapeshifter: All of the villains, save presumably for Hawk Moth, are made to fit the feelings and desires of the people who get akumatized and the situations that caused those feelings. A jilted suitor becomes a bitter anti-Cupid, a timid actress becomes a horror movie monster, etc. Some of them are extremely context-specific as a result, like the Bubbler who is a party animal with a bubble theme because Nino wanted to throw Adrien a party at the time, and happened to be using a bubble wand when Hawk Moth noticed him.
• Enemy Mime: One of Hawk Moth's victims is a mime, who gains the power to create invisible items by miming them, such as conjuring up an invisible sword for attacking or invisible vehicles to escape. However, he can only have one item mimed at a time.
• Every Device Is a Swiss-Army Knife: Ladybug's magic yo-yo and Cat Noir's baton. Aside from being their main weapons, they also work as shields, grappling hooks, poles, phones (with internet connection!), maps, spyglasses, and basically whatever the episode requires of them.
• Everyone Can See It: Adrien is probably the only person in Paris that does not know Marinette is in love with him. Even Kagami has it figured out the first time she sees them together. This makes Ladybug singing about him as the boy she secretly loves during the Christmas Special episode humorously non-applicable unless you take it to precisely mean it's secret on Ladybug's end (which only then makes it true).
• Evil Makeover: Whenever someone becomes akumatized, they get transformed into a supervillain outfit, including possible changes in skin tone. This is especially noticeable when other Miraculous wearers get akumatized, changing from bright colours to decidedly darker ones. Hawk Moth also gets one, despite already being a villain, when Catalyste supercharges his ability so he can akumatize more than one person at a time.
• Evil Only Has to Win Once: No matter how many akumas the heroes defeat, Hawk Moth can just keep sending out more.
• Exact Words:
  • Timetagger tells Hawk Moth that he was sent by the Hawk Moth of the future to get the Miraculous, and the present Hawk Moth gladly teams up with him. But when Timetagger gets the Miraculous, he refuses to hand them over to Hawk Moth... because the present Hawk Moth and the future Hawk Moth are not the same person.
  • The finale of season 4 is titled "Shadow Moth's Final Attack." At the end, Gabriel trades the Peacock Miraculous to Félix for access to all the remaining Miraculous; while he'll still remain the Big Bad, he will no longer be Shadow Moth.
• Fake First Kiss: Ladybug gives Cat Noir their first kiss to break him out of Dark Cupid's mind control, but she still doesn't figure out that he's the guy she loves and their relationship doesn't change, as he also doesn't remember the kiss.
• Falling Chandelier of Doom: In "Kung Food", Marinette tricks the brainwashed Mayor Bourgeois in catching his whip on a chandelier, which he then brings down on himself in an effort to dislodge it. Curiously, this results in him being wrapped up in his own whip, as opposed to being knocked out.
• Family Portrait of Characterization: The Agreste family portrait shows their dynamic perfectly. Although it looks beautiful you can see both Adrien and Gabriel aren't looking at each other or interacting at all, Adrien doesn't even seem to be happy but is just doing what his dad told him too. We later see another, happier portrait of the family this time with Missing Mom Emilie.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: In "Catalyst", we have the misfortune of witnessing Ladybug hit Cat Noir with his own Cataclysm, causing him to be petrified and reduced to ash in the wind. Sure, it's all an illusion caused by Volpina, but damn. Not to mention, in "Cat Blanc", it is implied that everyone else died a moment after Cat Noir was akumatized, either by drowning or by petrification. Later in the episode, after her time-travelling, Ladybug finds herself face-to-face with her petrified self, and tried touching it; the result was that, after touching it, the statue was dismantled and reduced to ashes in the underwater.
• Fighting Back Is Wrong: Lila Rossi is the new kid and starts spouting tall tales of knowing celebrities and having several illnesses to ingratiate herself with her new class. She fools everyone except Marinette, whom she threatens and starts bullying. She sets up several gambits to discredit Marinette and isolate her from their peers. When Marinette tries to expose her lies, what does she get from her classmates and friends? Skepticism and accusations of jealousy (Lila pursues Marinette's crush). And, what does she get from Adrien, the only other person to know Lila is a liar? A plea to stay silent and play along so Lila doesn't get distressed enough to be turned into the next Monster of the Week.
• First-Episode Twist: The first season keeps Hawk Moth's identity a mystery. However, most fans figured early on that it was Gabriel Agreste. The show drops the mystery and reveals his identity in the premiere of season 2.
• Foil:
  • Tikki and Plagg. While Tikki is more responsible and serves as The Conscience for Marinette, Plagg is content to let Adrien neglect his duties as Cat Noir and enjoy being normal.
  • Adrien's father and Marinette's parents. Gabriel practices Parental Neglect on a regular basis and denies his son pleasures like a birthday party, while Tom and Sabine are loving authority figures who gently nudge Marinette to do her chores.
  • Adrien and Marinette come from radically different backgrounds — Marinette is from a loving middle-class family while Adrien is from a wealthy broken one. Marinette has a bold personality (except around Adrien) while Adrien often has trouble verbalizing his feelings. Their reactions to getting their Miraculous show this. Neurotic, insecure Marinette refuses the call, while sheltered, lonely Adrien jumps at it.
• Foregone Conclusion: Bunnyx is tight-lipped about the future in "Timetagger" and "Cat Blanc", but a few comments by her and Timetagger hint at future developments:
  • Ladybug and Cat Noir will still be active heroes as adults, and they will have settled comfortably in their roles as The Leader and The Lancer, co-leading a team of Miraculous-wielding superheroes.
    • Seeing as present-day Cat Noir is treated more like an assistant than an equal partner, even by Ladybug herself, this seems like a tall order... until the Season 4 finale rolls and Ladybug realizes how poorly she's been treating Cat Noir and that her mistrust of him along with her stubborn refusal to accept his help whenever he offered it played a key role in Shadow Moth's triumph.
    • The fact that there is a Miraculous team by the time of "Timetagger" means that Ladybug and Cat Noir will succeed in reclaiming some of the Miraculouses that Shadow Moth stole, with the Rabbit being the only confirmed recovered one.
  • Gabriel will no longer be Hawk Moth/Monarch when Ladybug and Cat Noir are adults, but there will still be a Hawk Moth terrorizing Paris. As Nathalie points out, this could mean that Gabriel won and passed on his Miraculous to someone else. But the fifth season shows the transition was not a peaceful one as Gabriel died getting his wish granted after being stripped of the Butterfly Miraculous, which falls into the hands of Lila.
• Foreshadowing:
  • In "Stormy Weather", Manon complains to Alya that "you always win" about their hand-clapping game. The same complaint contributes to her becoming The Puppeteer later.
  • In the second season opening, one photo with Alya next to a fox emoticon, hinting at her using the Fox Miraculous to become Rena Rouge.
  • In "Syren", Marinette tells Tikki that the blue macaron she made is supposed to have ice powers. This is exactly what she uses in "Frozer".
  • In "Timetagger", events in the present affect the future, unintentionally caused by the lead characters. Marinette forbids a child she is babysitting from playing a tablet game results in him growing up to become an Akumatized protege of a future Hawk Moth.
    • Gabriel is distressed to learn from Timetagger that he loses his Butterfly Miraculous to another with Nathalie assuring him that he might had suceeded and had no more need to Hawk Moth. The scene then transitions to Lila bonding with the child that gets akumatized to Timetagger.Then in "Re-Creation", Gabriel dies after losing the Butterfly Miraculous and it ends up with Lila.
  • In "Emotion", Félix sadly destroyed a Sentimonster he created while calling it "sister". "Representation" would reveal that Félix is a Sentimonster himself.
  • In many episodes, Gabriel is shown to twist his ring on his hand when he tries to control Adrien such as when he wanted to kiss Marinette (in Adoration) or wanted to do something with his friends. "Representation" shows that Adrien/Cat Noir is also a Sentimonster.
• "Freaky Friday" Flip: While no one switched bodies, a mix up with their Miraculouses in "Reflekdoll" causes Marinette and Adrien to end up with each other's Miraculous and so they become Lady Noir and Mister Bug, respectively.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: The names on some of the movie posters that appear in the background are all Punny Names (in French).
• Funny Background Event:
  • Nathanael can occasionally be seen faceplanting into his desk in some shots of the classroom.
  • In "Despair Bear", one girl at the party can be seen to have - quite sensibly, given the context! - scrambled halfway up a column to avoid the akuma of the week.
• "Friends" Rent Control: Living in Paris may not be as expensive as in other capital cities, but it is the most expensive city to live with in France. Yet most of the families of the main cast seem to live near the centre of Paris in large flats while holding overall modest jobs (baker, police officer, zoo guard...) - to the exception of the Bourgeois and the Agrestes, of course. For instance, there is no easy way for a baker, no matter how renowned he is, to live in a building as large as the Dupain-Cheng home (even if they inherited it, the housing taxes alone would probably eat up a significant amount of their profit).
• Fusion Dance: What the heroes' Transformation Sequences amount to. Their respective kwamis fuse with the Miraculous during it and are nowhere to be seen until the transformations revert. This gives them not only their powers but also a notable change in personality, which becomes a mix of the civilian self and the kwami.
• Fusion Dissonance:
  • Oblivio is actually two people fused together (Alya and Nino). As a purple humanoid mist with no facial features and has overlapping deep voices, it was hard to tell who they were originally. Even the akumatized item was changed from a computer tablet to a hand cannon.
  • Heart Hunter's two faces do not resemble both André and Audrey Bourgeois but unlike Oblivio, there are people around to see them transform.

G-H

• Gay Paree: Paris is as picturesque as you'd expect and the Eiffel Tower is frequently in the background (even if it's geographically impossible).
• Generic Cop Badges: Lieutenant Roger Raincomprix wears for a badge a patch with France's flag on his right arm and that's about it. If it wasn't for his cap having "POLICE" emblazoned on it, you'd never know he's an officer from looks alone. The background cops don't share that privilege, seeing that they don't sport any badges.
• Genki Girl: Rose is always super happy and bubbly...unless Chloé talks to her, but she ruins everyone else's day by doing that too.
• Genre Savvy: In "Horrificator", all of the students are trapped in school, and Chloé decides to call for help. Meanwhile, Nino opts to continue filming his movie, his choice words being, "Dude, you know cell phones never work in horror movies." And he's right, when the rest of the students fail to get reception on their phones.
• Gibberish of Love:
  • Marinette in early episodes is like this around Adrien. She even doesn't talk like this to him during the Origins episodes and immediately finds her stammering around the end of them because she's only then fallen in love with him. She slowly gets better as their friendship grows.
  • Nino gets this during "Animan" when he suddenly develops a crush on Marinette.
• Gilded Cage: Adrien's life. On the surface he's a rich kid with a steady modeling job, good looks, nice friends and decent grades. Beneath the Mask, however, he has to deal with Parental Neglect from both his father and his father's assistant, and not being able to enjoy the normal things that most other boys his age have. He originally didn't even have friends, being homeschooled and wanting to attend school.
• Glamour:
  • The Miraculous change color and occasionally shape when they are activated and given to wielders. The Ladybug earrings, for example, lose their spotted pattern and appear to be simple black studs, while the Cat ring goes from black to silver. The Moth brooch changes more dramatically, losing its wings and appearing as a simple oval pin. The Miraculous revert back to their true appearance when their wearers transform.
  • As shown in "Reflekdoll", the Miraculous jewelry appears slightly different depending on who's holding it — when Marinette gets the Cat ring, it gets colored pink and becomes less bulky, and when Adrien gets the Ladybug earrings, they go from black studs to silver studs.
  • The season 3 finale shows this also applies to the Miracle Box — after Master Fu renounces his guardianship and passes the box to Ladybug, it goes from a wooden Chinese-style box to a rounder, plastic-appearing Ladybug-themed container.
• Godzilla Threshold: Kwamis are able to use their powers at will without a holder, and in fact, having a holder weakens their abilities and requires a recharge period. The reason they even have holders is because their magic is too powerful and always leads to disasters (or at least unintended consequences). Plagg is personally responsible for the destruction of Atlantis, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the extinction of dinosaurs and dragons.
  • In "Style Queen," with Adrien turned into a golden statue and Hawk Moth on the edge of victory, Plagg unleashes an unrestrained Cataclysm that threatens to destroy Paris.
  • In "Ephemeral," Marinette has to reveal her identity to Luka so that he can tell Sass to reset the timeline, which winds up nearly breaking time itself.
• The Good Guys Always Win: Deconstructed in an episode featuring a preadolescent girl—definitely a Spoiled Brat in several ways—whose villainous motive is that she appears to identify with the villains who Ladybug fights, and feel that these villains should defeat Ladybug sometimes. Or maybe she will be fine with it as long as she can own a Ladybug doll which (she believes) will allow her to win every time.
• Good Parents: Marinette's parents are this — they're kind, loving, and supportive; in contrast to Adrien's distant and aloof "parent". The other most prominent parent, the Mayor, is implied to be a doormat when it comes to his daughter, resulting in her spoiled attitude.
• Go to Your Room!: This trope often happens with Adrien and his father, Gabriel.
  • In "Simons Says," Gabriel orders Adrien to go up to his room, claiming he's had enough excitement for today, despite the latter telling the former his life was in danger by the episode's villain.
  • In "Mega Leech," Gabriel orders Adrien to go to his room for siding with the protesters against his allegedly "environmentally-friendly" project, claiming it was a stand against him.
  • In "Illusion," Gabriel orders Adrien to go to his room after his disastrous experience at the parent-teacher conference.
  • In "Pretension," Gabriel orders Adrien to go to his room while he talks to Marinette alone in the kitchen.
• Gotta Catch 'Em All: Cat Noir namedrops this trope when Ladybug explains how they have to take out the Sapotis.
• Gray Rain of Depression: In the episode "Cat Blanc", when Marinette is forced to to break up with Adrien in front of his mansion.
  • In the special Miraculous World New York, it's raining when Adrien is leaving for France. He doesn't want to and Marinette neither. She tries to call him to make him stay but her phone battery is dead. She then decides to catch his car with a bike she just found, but the rain water makes the poor girl slip. The car disappears and Adrien doesn't hear Marinette saying "I love you".
• Green-Eyed Monster:
  • It's what makes Copycat vulnerable to Hawk Moth. However, it's prompted by Cat Noir's jealousy, after he lies that he and Ladybug are together when he gets annoyed by Théo talking too much about his crush on Ladybug.
    Adrien: How did I not see that jealousy coming a mile away?
    Plagg: Yours or his?
    Adrien: Ha ha. So funny.
  • It also motivates Marinette into exposing Lila, and setting off Volpina.
• Groin Attack: In "Dark Cupid", Cat Noir gets affected by the titular villain's power as he and Ladybug stand on his baton, which is wedged into a wall. Cat Noir starts squeezing Ladybug, until she steps on his foot to set free and uses Cat Noir's stick as a springboard, flinging herself into the air, which causes Cat Noir to loose balance and land straddling his stick and letting out a high-pitched moan.
• Hair Color Dissonance: Several female characters of East Asian descent are given blue hair as a reference to comic book highlights, namely Marinette and Kagami, that are viewed in-universe as a natural black.
• Hair-Contrast Duo:
  • Played with. Marinette and Adrien have contrasting hair colors and behaviors, as civilians and as their alter egos. Dark-haired Marinette has a strong, outgoing personality, while blond Adrien is shyer and more reserved. Ladybug, meanwhile, tends to be cooler and more level-headed (although not without her own Not So Above It All moments) versus Cat Noir's hammier tendencies.
  • Best friends Rose and Juleka play this trope straight. Short, cheerful, idealistic, all-pink-wearing caring Rose has short blond hair, while tall, quiet, shy, goth-dressing Juleka has long dark hair and bangs.
• Handshake Substitute: Ladybug and Cat Noir almost always do a fist bump to celebrate having vanquished the Villain of the Week.
• Has a Type: Throughout the show, Adrien Agreste shows romantic interest in three people: Marinette, Ladybug, and Kagami. All three are raven-haired girls with some amount of Asian ancestry. Never mind he doesn't know that two of them are actually the same person...
• Hates My Secret Identity:
  • Played straight in "Evillustrator" and "Antibug" where Chloé gets to meet Ladybug personally and keeps hugging her. Ladybug's response every time is to push her away with a disgusted expression and some light slapping, because of her personal experiences as Marinette. But then averted in the season three finale where Chloé denounces Ladybug as her hero.
  • Subverted in "Lady Wifi" where Alya leads Cat Noir to believe Chloé may be Ladybug (he is watching Chloé cosplaying) and he's horrified at the possibility he may be crushing on her. Naturally, he is tremendously relieved when the actual Ladybug shows up to meet him.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: While Chloé became a nicer person after becoming Queen Bee, she let being a hero go to her head and being ignored by Ladybug for most of the third season led to her willingly helping Hawk Moth/Shadow Moth/Monarch.
• Held Gaze: "The Mime", containing the first time in the series the Loves My Alter Ego gets sorted out straight for Adrien and Marinette in the strictly-visual sense, has Adrien and Ladybug do this when Adrien's car window drops...until the titular Mime shoots at Ladybug for a real Moment Killer, anyway.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: Cat Noir typically wears a black catsuit made of a material that looks like leather.
• Henshin Hero: The Miraculous wielders all definitely qualify. This series also show a rare case of a Henshin Villain due to the Big Bad also having at least two Miraculouses, one of which he uses.
• Hero Stole My Bike:
  • In "Oni-Chan", Marinette borrows Juleka's bike a bit abruptly, not waiting for her to say if she agrees.
  • In the special "Miraculous world: New York", Marinette pick up an apparently left without supervision bike, and tries to catch Adrien's car. But she doesn't go far with it and slips on the road.
• Hidden Depths:
  • As it turns out, the episode "Oblivio" shows that Marinette's "Lucky Vision" isn't a superpower at all. Marinette is just naturally clever and creative enough to MacGyver her way out of a dangerous situation with what anyone else would see as something completely useless. In fact, it's not even something only Marinette can do. It's just a creative visual metaphor used to (probably) replace Inner Monologues, as there are pretty much none in this show. Max and Adrien have been shown to be able to do the same.
  • It is revealed in the Miraculous Movie that Gorilla listens to relaxation meditation tapes. With his stressful job it's easy to understand why.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: When not in use, the Miraculous change color and occasionally shape to conceal their true nature. Ladybug's earrings and Cat Noir's rings become featureless and change color, Hawk Moth's moth brooch loses the defining wings (and is hidden behind his tie in any case), and Carapace's bracelet trades the shell pattern for a light jade color.
• High-Tech Hexagons: Close-ups on Ladybug and Cat Noir's superheroes costumes show they are composed of a fine mesh of hexagons.
• Hoist by Their Own Petard: Ladybug gets two Brainwashed and Crazy chefs to turn their weapons against each other — dessert arrows and cheese crossbows respectively.
• Homage: The Season 2 episode, "Dark Owl", is one towards the Adam West Batman show.
• The Host: TV1's Alec, who seems to be the go-to host for all televised competitions seen in-series. He's appropriately bubbly and excitable during each one, although he's notably more down-to-earth when off camera. Unfortunately for him, all three of the competitions we've seen him host have had someone turn into an akuma.
• Hour of Power: Whenever Ladybug or Cat Noir use their special abilities (Lucky Charm and Cataclysm, respectively), they (allegedly) only have five minutes before their transformation ends. The symbols on their Miraculous have five lights that will count down after the power is activated. However, this is implied to be due to inexperience with them by Hawk Moth, who lacks this weakness as does Master Fu, rather than an innate weakness.
• Hurricane of Puns: Cat Noir loves delivering these as Casual Danger Dialogue, much to Ladybug's exasperation.
• Hypocritical Humor
  • In "Kung Food", the villain snickers about Ladybug's Lucky Charm being a piece of paper; Cat Noir points out that Kung Food has been attacking them with "cheese and sausages".
  • From "The Gamer":
    Chloé: How can someone spend so much time in front of a screen?
    Sabrina: Yeah, totally. It's crazy.
    [both girls return to their cell phones]
  • In "Robostus", when Marinette sees Max talking to his satchel and mentioning his best friend, she thinks it's weird that his friend is inside his bag. Says the girl talking to her Kwami who is being carried inside her purse.

I-K

• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming:
  • In the French and English dubs, the episodes are named after the villains, with the exception of the Origins episodes. This is not always the case in the Korean dub; the Korean title for "The Bubbler"/"Le Bulleur" is "Bring Back the Adults", for example.
  • Season 5 changes this convention, with each episode instead being titled after various concepts ending in "-ion", including those represented by the Miraculous.
• Idiot Ball:
  • The entire plot of "Timebreaker" could have been avoided if Alya or Marinette remembered they have pockets. Instead, they just hold Alix's antique watch in their hands while trying to juggle other tasks and it ends up being broken.
  • Chloé complaining about soup in "Kung Food" and being a racist Jerkass in front of her crush Adrien. Unsurprisingly, by the end of the episode, she is kicked out of the jury for tampering with Master Cheng's soup.
  • In season one, both Reflekta (Juleka) and Timebreaker (Alix) have powers that render the Miraculous inaccessible when used on their wielders—Cat Noir's ring disappears when Reflekta turns him into a copy of her, while Timebreaker makes him and his Miraculous fade from existence when she touches him. Other villains, such as Horrificator and Animan, have forms that would make it difficult to retrieve the Miraculous even if they did succeed in defeating the heroes. By season 2, Hawk Moth seems to have started making an effort to avoid these pitfalls; every akuma in the second season has opposable thumbs or some equivalent appendage, although some are still too big to retrieve them. The third season also has a villain with no limbs at all, but Hawk Moth didn't intend for them to get the Miraculous because he had a bigger plan.
  • Heartbreaking though it is, and marginally justified by the akumatized villain Risk explicitly making everyone more impulsive, the season 4 finale involves Marinette concurrently using three miraculous—Ladybug, Rabbit, and Horse—in order to recruit Adrien (actually Félix in disguise) to wield the Dog miraculous. There was absolutely nothing stopping her from replacing the Horse miraculous with the Dog miraculous and executing her plan herself.
  • Why, oh why, Nathalie waits for so long before choosing to show to Gabriel Émilie's last message? Probably because of Rule of Drama, but internally that doesn't make much sense. She tries multiple times to convince Gabriel to let go of his plan for the sake of Adrien's well-being. Émilie's last message would have given a powerful leverage to her pleas, since Émilie says practically the same. Notably in their calmer shared moments when Gabriel is more vulnerable after a defeat. Maybe she believed Gabriel would be able to realize by himself the errors of his ways, or unconsciously she wanted Émilie's resurrection too.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Generally averted with the akuma-possessed villains. Attempts to appeal to who they were might briefly give them pause, but even if the villain is calm enough to listen instead of just shouting That Man Is Dead, Hawk Moth will interrupt and tell them it's just a trick. It doesn't work out until "Gang of Secrets", where Ladybug manages to get through to Alya as Lady Wifi, reminding her of her hero identity as Rena Rouge and the fact that she trusts Ladybug. This results in Alya becoming the first person to resist akumatization after being transformed.
• Imagination-Based Superpower: It eventually comes to light that the Miraculous are directed by the imagination and willpower of their users. Ladybug and Hawk Moth use this to come up with powers not in the grimoire (Ladybug makes magic charms to block Hawk Moth's power; Hawk Moth comes up with megakumas to overcome said charms).
• Imagine Spot: Marinette has a few when she thinks about Adrien, often used as a pretext for Art Shift. One of them takes the form of manga panels!
• I'm a Humanitarian: The villain Kung Food tries to cook Chloé in retaliation for her sabotaging his soup.
• In a Single Bound:
  • Ladybug and Cat Noir can jump higher and further than most normal humans, though not to the extent of leaping over entire buildings. They combine this with their yo-yo and staff, respectively, to bounce around the Parisian rooftops with ease.
  • Rena Rouge, on the other hand, jumps much higher and can, in fact, leap from the street to the rooftops under her own power. It's her primary way of getting around, while the other heroes use their weapons to propel or pull them.
• In Medias Res: Some episodes skip the villain getting akumatized and go directly to the action, usually in order to leave more room for further plot development after the villain has been defeated. This becomes increasingly common in later seasons.
• Incapable of Disobeying: Kwamis are bound to follow the rules set by whoever bears their corresponding miraculous. When Nooroo tries to get a few feet away from Gabriel, a physical barrier stops him, and when Gabriel threatens to forbid him from communicating at all, his mouth seals shut.
• Inconsistent Coloring: Due to different character models and shading setups, the characters' hair and skin colours frequently change from episode to episode. Marinette is the most obvious, with her blue hair going from a lighter pale blue to a black with blue highlights.
• I Never Said It Was Poison: How Chloé is caught stealing Marinette's diary, when she hadn't revealed what was inside her "magic box".
• Incompetent Guard Animal: Fang, Jagged Stone's pet crocodile, behaves less like the swamp predator that he is and more like a pet dog, wagging his tail, panting with his tongue hanging out, having his belly scratched and so on. In "Pixelator", he consistently acts like a lovable pet, so when the titular villain Pixelator breaks into Jagged's hotel room with the intent of kidnapping him, Jagged tries to have Fang attack him, only for the crocodile to roll over, wanting a belly-rub.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Fred Haprèle's boss Josiane looks like a younger Josiane Balasko, her French voice actress.
• Insecure Protagonist, Arrogant Antagonist: Downplayed in the contrast between heroine Marinette and Alpha Bitch Chloé. While she is much more confident and self-assured in her superhero persona, Marinette is self-deprecating and insecure as a civilian, often unsure in her skills and flustered around other people. She even tried to refuse the call when it was first offered to her because she wasn't sure she was up to snuff. On the other hand, Chloé is a wealthy and haughty mean girl who looks down on Marinette and constantly makes her school life difficult. However, Marinette proves to be a better superhero on the whole, as Chloé's overconfidence and pettiness proves to be her undoing.
• Instrument of Murder:
  • Guitar Villain wields a guitar that fires devastating sonic blasts.
  • The Fox Miraculous wielder gets a flute that can cast illusions. Volpina, an akumatized villain based on the Fox Miraculous, also has a flute.
• Insult Backfire: Cat Noir receives one in the episode "The Pharaoh", after hearing that the titular akumatized villain was stopped by a Ladybug before.
  Cat Noir: Well, you don't look a day over three thousand.
  Ladybug: Now you know why I am so much wiser than you.
• Interrupted Declaration of Love: Cat Noir attempts to finally confess his love for Ladybug in the Valentine's Day episode, only for this to happen when they are attacked by Dark Cupid. Cue screams of frustration.
  Cat Noir: Ladybug, I lov- loathe you.
• The Irredeemable Exception: Almost all of the Akumatized villains show themselves to be nice (or not nice, but not in the "set Paris ablaze" way) people who were pushed over the edge and subsequently Brainwashed and Crazy...the sole exceptions being Lila Rossi and Chloé Bourgeois, (who's also often the cause of said akumatizations in the first place), who expose themselves as Jerks with a Heart of Jerk by willingly accepting being akumatized. The chief difference between them is that Lila is revealed to be just one of many identities of someone who was already a supervillain prior to ever being akumatized, whereas Chloé is a regular person who just stubbornly refuses to change her ways.
• It's All My Fault:
  • When "The Bubbler" turns on the teens at Adrien's forced birthday party and begins imprisoning them in bubbles like he did all the adults, both Adrien and Marinette recognize they're to blame (Adrien for playing along due to his desperate desire to have a party with his friends, Marinette for spending more time trying to make sure Adrien knows she left him a present than actually stopping the Bubbler).
  • Marinette blames herself for provoking Chloé, who then sabotaged her uncle's soup, making him a victim for Hawk Moth.
  • Marinette similarly takes the blame for embarrassing Lila and turning her into Volpina.
• It's Always Spring: Unless there's a specific reason to do otherwise, the weather is perpetually warm and sunny, and school's always in session. Exceptions include "Stormy Weather" (the akuma victim pointedly makes the weather wintery as a method of revenge), the rain at the beginning of "Princess Fragrance" (a plot point as it makes Tikki ill), at the end of "Stoneheart" (because rain is rarely shown in the series, Marinette and Adrien's reconciliation stands out more and becomes much more heartwarming), and obviously in the Christmas episode (it's snowing).
• Jerkass: Chloé Bourgeois. She is snobby, entitled, vain, and petty, and Season 2 gives her the "honor" of being the first person to reach an akumatization count in the double digits. It's so bad that in "Despair Bear", Hawk Moth actually sends the akuma off early, knowing that someone was going to get hurt during a party for everyone held by Chloé.
• Keep It Foreign: Adrien takes Mandarin Chinese lessons, but in the Mandarin Chinese dub, he knows Cantonese, which is a Chinese dialect that is mutually unintelligible with Mandarin. Hence, in "Kung Food", when Adrien and Wang Cheng would alternate between the dub language and Mandarin Chinese, they instead translate between Mandarin and Cantonese.
• Kent Brockman News: The news captions in Nadja Chammak's newscast are usually very silly and rarely informative. For example, when she's covering Mr. Pigeon's attacks, the caption reads "Rrooo Roloooo!"
• Killer Yo-Yo: Ladybug's weapon of choice.
• Kissed Keepsake: After Adrien briefly touches Marinette's shoulder, she swoons that she's never going to wash her jacket again.
• Kubrick Stare: A character often glares straight into the camera with their head slightly lowered when they fall under the thrall of an Akuma, indicating that their already negative emotions are getting amplified.

L

• Laser-Guided Amnesia: All the akumatized victims don't remember what they said or did while they were a supervillain.
• Late for School: The intro shows Marinette running late for school with a croissant in her mouth, before tripping because of a black cat. Also happens often in episodes.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Juleka ends up getting akumatized in part due to her belief in a curse preventing her from having her face photographed. The animators seem to be affected by this "curse" as well since the Season 1 theme song has her face mostly obscured by Nino's arm.
• Legacy Character: "The Pharaoh" episode reveals that Tikki and other kwamis are over 5000 years old and have been assisting multiple Miraculous holders in the past. Two of the Ladybugs that Tikki helped in the past were Tutankhamen's arch-enemy and Joan of Arc.
• Le Parkour: Quite a lot of superheroes and supervillains are fond of doing this, which is not surprising considering Parkour originated in France. In one episode, Alya and Nino are practicing during a date just before Ladybug shows up to give them their Miraculous. Both of them do a pretty damn impressive job at it though, considering that they're doing it before they've even transformed and while carrying ice cream(André's natch).
• Letting Her Hair Down: Gender-flipped with Adrien. In civilian form, his hair is neatly combed back. But when he's Cat Noir, his hair is much fluffier and wilder, and it seems he becomes a lot more expressive and daring.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Rose Lavillant is generally the kind, bubbly girl while Juleka Couffaine is more of the gloomy, spooky sort. They're also best friends.
• Light Is Not Good: Hawk Moth starts his plans by opening a window and letting sunlight into his lair, surrounded by a number of glowing butterflies who flutter around him. His powers, on the other hand, are firmly in the Dark Is Evil category, at least how he uses them.
  • Compounded by the fact that it is revealed that Hawk Moth powers come from Nooroo which is the Kwami of Generosity.
• Likes Clark Kent, Hates Superman:
  • Marinette has a massive crush on Adrien but finds his alter-ego Cat Noir to be obnoxious. On the other side of things, Adrien has a crush on Ladybug but does not realize that she is secretly Marinette.
  • Chloé hates Marinette but considered herself to be Ladybug's biggest fan before she renounces the heroine.
  • Gabriel Agreste appears to genuinely love Adrien despite being a horrible parent that would not hesitate to akumatized his son if the chance presents itself. But he is also unaware that Adrien is one of the two superheroes he sics villians on.
• Limited Wardrobe: For a show whose protagonists are an aspiring fashion designer and a model, the students pretty much stick to one outfit, even when interning at a hotel or exercising in P.E. class. In Adrien's case, we see him modeling his father's outfits and even in a fencing getup at one point, but for the most part, he sticks to one outfit like the rest of the cast. (Although in the Christmas Episode, everyone is seen with winter outfits...except Adrien, who walks around in the snow in his normal outfit like it's the middle of spring, although he might have neglected to bring a coat with him when he ran away out of frustration.)
• Lip Lock: The show was lip-synced to the English script (a standard practice for a lot of European animation nowadays), making it this trope in its own native language.
• Logical Weakness: A number of them. The heroes themselves can't transform if they can't speak the transformation words (Silencer), Lucky Charm typically requires Ladybug to actually have the thing to use it (Oni-Chan), and she can't purify akuma if her yo-yo is taken (The Collector), while defeating villains usually involves exploiting this. Likewise, Cat Noir is partnered with Ladybug because of a logical weakness: if an akumatized object can't be broken, then the akuma can't be captured, but his Cataclysm breaks anything.
• Lost Lenore: Emilie Agreste has been comatose since the series began,being kept in stasis in Gabriel's basement.
• Love Bubbles: Frequently used, the most often when Marinette looks at Adrien. But it can sometimes involve others characters. More rarely, it can be the vision of a third party seeing what he or she interprets as a couple.
• Love Makes You Evil: A few akumatizations have to do with Gabriel exploiting other people's crushes (such as Copycat and Dark Cupid). Played with in the case of the Evillustrator; his crush on Marinette actually makes him less evil.
  • This also applies to Gabriel himself, as he is willing to use the Ladybug and Cat Miraclous to destroy the world and create a new one where his wife is not comatose.
  Hawk Moth: "Ladybug, Cat Noir...If Zombizou is right, if love does always conquer; then someday, my most cherished wish will come true for sure!"
• Love Theme: Three of them, ''In The Rain'' plays during the two Umbrella of Togetherness scenes of Marinette and Adrien. The second was first played ironically when Cat noir tried to kiss Ladybug in Prime Queen. But later, it's played each time Marinette and Adrien share a Dance of Romance (in "Despair Bear", in the New York special in front of the moon, and in the Alternate Timeline of "Cat Blanc" where they are an Official Couple.) The third tends to play in scenes that involve either Ladybug/Cat Noir or Marinette/Adrien.
• Love Triangle: One developing between Adrien, Marinette and Juleka's brother, Luka. It ended at the beginning of season 4 though.
  • Love Dodecahedron: Marinette loves Adrien. Adrien (as Cat Noir) loves Ladybug (who is Marinette). Adrien is also loved by many girls including Kagami, Chloé, and Lila, (and Wayhem) although he only likes Kagami. Marinette was also in love with Luka, who she briefly dated. Adoration also reveals Zoé has a crush on Marinette.
• Loves My Alter Ego:
  • Adrien/Cat Noir loves Ladybug, but not Marinette. Marinette/Ladybug loves Adrien but not Cat Noir.
    • This is literally even in the opening: Cat Noir on the right goes over to try to kiss Ladybug on the left, who jumps over him instead. Both turn back to their civilian forms and Adrien dejectedly stares downward to the left while Marinette on the right notices him and happily stares. The backdrop matches their forms, having Ladybug on the left looking forward while Cat Noir stares at her clearly in love, and then Adrien looks forward on the left while Marinette stares at him in love.
    • As of "Determination", this has been completely reversed. Marinette/Ladybug seems to love Cat Noir, but he has finally accepted they will only be friends. Meanwhile, Marinette has resolved that she can't let herself love Adrien just as he is finally having romantic feelings for her.
  • Implied with Nathaniel at the end of "Evillustrator", who appears to get over Marinette only to be smitten with Ladybug.
  • In a nonromantic slant, Chloé bullies Marinette, but was a huge fan of Ladybug before hating her as well. Similarly to Marinette, Chloé is obsessed with Adrien, but doesn't seem to think much of Cat Noir in comparison to Ladybug.
• Loving Bully: Averted with Chloé as she's unpleasant to those around her, but truly cares about and respects Adrien.
  • Also averted with Lila as he's well aware she's willing to resort to the nastiest tactics to get to him, but she has never directly tried to hurt him.

M

• MacGyvering: The skill that Ladybug needs to use their Lucky Charm. It gives the user exactly what they need to get out of the danger they're in. Figuring out how however, is on them. Oblivio proves that the powers of the Miraculous don't impart any special insight into how to use the Lucky Charm effectively. The wearer has to figure that out on their own.
• Made of Indestructium: Ladybug's yo-yo and Cat Noir's staff. They've used it to stop cars, buses, helicopters or even a plane (though the last one was in Marinette's Imagine Spot, thus unclear if it actually happened) without ever breaking. Ladybug explicitly states in "Animan" that the cord from her yo-yo cannot be broken. (Although it does break in "Simon Says", but that is after the yo-yo is depowered.)
• Magical Girl: Marinette, who transforms into Ladybug using the Ladybug Miraculous. There's also a Rare Male Example of a magical boy in Adrien, who transforms into Cat Noir using the Cat Miraculous.
• Magic Countdown: Though the stated time for Ladybug and Cat Noir's Hour of Power is five minutes, this tends to either be compressed or stretched out as the plot demands.
• Magitek:
  • The Miraculous tools or weapons are all inherently magical in nature; appearing when the transformation is initiated and disappearing when it's done, however all are confirmed by Word of God to function as communicators as well. Interestingly Ladybug's yo-yo is seen to access the Internet and can be used as a GPS. As confirmed in "Furious Fu", these features were not available to previous Miraculous holders.
  • In "Syren" and "Queen Wasp", the staff and yo-yo can be used as underwater breathing devices.
• Mascots Love Sugar:
  • Tikki, the cute Kwami that allows Marinette to transform into Ladybug, very much loves macarons and cookies; sugary treats are, in fact, her preferred food to recharge her magic after a transformation. It's convenient for both the plot and Tikki's sweet tooth that Marinette knows how to beak all sorts of pastries because her parents run a bakery.
  • Played for Drama in "Dearest Family", when Tikki's craving for candy gets so out of control that she uses her creation powers without her holder to create the biggest galette to satiate her hunger. This puts everyone at risk as the gigantic object threatens to crush a sizeable portion of Paris when it lands. Plagg comments that, in a similar incident far in the past, Tikki summoned an 8-week rain of chocolate mousse.
  • In contrast, Adrien's Kwami Plagg prefers chunks of pungent Camembert cheese, making him an inversion.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Ladybug, who has good luck-based powers. Ladybugs are a symbol of good luck in France.
  • Cat Noir, which is English and French for black cat, has bad luck-based powers.
  • The name Marinette is derived from Marina, referring to her blue eyes, and Dupain literally means "of the bread", fitting for a baker's daughter.
  • Agreste is the French name for the grayling butterfly, which matches up with the butterfly motif used in some of Gabriel's advertising, such as on Adrien's sneakers. Doubly fitting, since Gabriel is in fact Hawk Moth/Papillon himself.
  • Bourgeois is a French word referring to the upper/middle classes, which was used by Marx to describe those who owned the means of production. A fitting name for a rich girl like Chloé.
• Meta Origin: Every super-powered character in show gets their powers from a Miraculous, if indirectly in the case of Hawk Moth's minions.
• Mind Rape: Hawkmoth forcefully pressures akumatized victims to accept their powers, between his words and his will

More often than not he does it with extreme prejudice as the series progresses and more people become truly wary of him.

• Mineral MacGuffin: The Miraculouses are made of magic jewels, as said in the opening of the first Origins episode.
• Miniature Senior Citizens: While not tiny, Master Fu is shorter than the fairly petite middle-schooler Marinette
• Moment of Weakness:
  • In general this is how Hawk Moth finds his victims. They have a moment of sullenness or anger, and he sends a butterfly after them to feed on their negative emotions.
  • Both Marinette and Adrien suffer one in "The Bubbler". Adrien takes a few minutes to enjoy the party that the Bubbler has thrown for him, since he's never been to a party, and Marinette in Ladybug form gets him away from a Clingy Jealous Girl, while in civilian guise takes time to sign a birthday present she gave to Adrien. As both heroes realize, they gave The Bubbler an opening to start spiriting away dissenting partygoers.
• Mon Tech: Sentimonsters are all controlled via an amok, an object that has been linked to them. Whoever holds the amok can direct them. This is how Gabriel has been able to control his son Adrien for his whole life, because Adrien is a Sentimonster linked to Gabriel's wedding ring.
• Monster of the Aesop: Sometimes the Monster of the Week verges into teaching some sort of lesson. The Bubbler is about the importance of adults, Horrificator is about facing one's fears, The Gamer is about losing gracefully, etc.
• Monster of the Week: The show's format. Each episode is about Hawk Moth sending out a different villain against Ladybug and Cat Noir. Sometimes broken, like with "Antibug" who counts two villains in one episode and "Princess Fragrance", which briefly mentions another akuma in the very first few minutes.
• Monumental Damage:
  • Superhero series in Paris? Yeah, this was gonna happen. Famous landmarks suffer much abuse at the hands of supervillains, although Ladybug's World-Healing Wave always repairs them by the end of the episode.
  • Exploited when fighting the Enemy Mime. Marinette deliberately goads him into cutting down the Eiffel Tower, just so he'll be forced to protect himself and give her an opening to grab the akuma-possessed item on his person.
  • In "Origins Part 1", Stoneheart destroys the Tour Montparnasse.
  • In "Riposte", the Louvre's glass pyramid gets cut in half.
  • In the Toei PV, the Louvre gets blown up and the Arc de Triomphe is cut in half by a Pillar of Light.
  • What's the first thing the heroes do when they get to London in "Startrain"? Crash a train into Big Ben.
• The Movie: Ladybug & Cat Noir Awakening, which released on July 5, 2023 in France.
• Mundane Made Awesome: How Master Cheng cooks, which is Truth in Television. When Hawk Moth turns him into an supervillain, he turns the hotel pool into a large soup basin and plans to boil Chloé, Ladybug and Cat Noir in it.
• Musical Episode: "Santa Claws" is interspersed with the characters singing.
• Musical Theme Naming: All of Alya's family members are named after famous jazz musicians: her mother Marlena (Marlena Shaw), her father Otis (Otis Redding), and her little sisters Ella (Ella Fitzgerald) and Etta (Etta James). Alya herself is named after Aaliyah.
• Mutual Masquerade: Marinette and Adrien have no idea that the other is their crush/trusted superhero/partner.
• Mutual Pining: The two-way Loves My Alter Ego scenario means that Marinette and Adrien's relationship is functionally this, even after the two-sided Unrequited Love Switcheroo.
• Mythology Gag: "Animaestro" involves an animated movie about Ladybug and Cat Noir. A clip of the movie is shown, and it turns out to be a clip from the original 2D trailer for the show.

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