Line #51 Recap/MiraculousLadybugS01E15TheGamer


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tg_lq_appearance.jpeg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Well, well, Marinette. Let's see who's victorious this time.]]
3
4	->''"Gamer, I am Hawk Moth. I'll help you win the tournament of your life, but in return, you must help me achieve ''my'' high score."''
5	-->--'''Hawk Moth'''
6
7	Adrien is competing in a game competition, and Marinette wants to be his partner. She defeats the current champion, Max, without breaking a sweat. Hawk Moth proceeds to corrupt him to become the Gamer and enact revenge on Marinette.
8	----
9	!!Tropes:
10
11	* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: Marinette thinks that her parents are invasive of her privacy, when they offer snacks and mention to Adrien that Marinette talks of him constantly. Adrien, whose own father is neglectful, appreciates these gestures.
12	* BorrowedCatchphrase: Cat Noir uses the Dupains' "(Insert Name) style! Booyah!" gaming catchphrase after destroying Gamer's robot. No, Ladybug doesn't notice.
13	* CallingYourAttacks: Done by both sides during mecha fight.
14	* ColossusClimb: Ladybug runs over the giant robots' arms to reach the head of The Gamer's and spray paint over its single eye.
15	* TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong: Subverted; although Marinette has selfish reasons to want to compete, as Alya and Tikki point out to her, both Adrien and Max acknowledge that she is the best gamer the school has and thus should compete to represent their school’s team.
16	* ContinuityNod:
17	** Adrien pulls Marinette away from The Gamer's shots [[LiterallyFallingInLove the way Cat Noir did]] in "Stormy Weather". Marinette doesn't register this in the heat of the moment.
18	** The diary and matching case Marinette made in "Darkblade" makes an appearance.
19	* CreatorCameo: Thomas Astruc provided additional background voices in the original French dub of the episode.
20	* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: In-universe, Marinette comes off as this, since the viewers already know she is a badass. Alya is convinced she'll lose on the spot with Max, but Marinette reveals that she not only knows how the game works, but also how to play as an expert.
21	* CurbStompBattle: Marinette versus Max when she competes for his spot.
22	* CyberCyclops: The Gamer's mecha has a single round eye on its pyramid-shaped head.
23	* DeflectorShields: Both mechas use a variation to protect themselves at the beginning of the fight: Marinette and Cat Noir's is a forearm-monted energy shield, and The Gamer's mecha is surrounded by a full bubble.
24	* DramaticIrony: "Just imagine—teaming with Adrien!"
25	* FictionalVideoGame: ''Ultimate Mecha Strike III''. Looks like a typical FightingGame with mechas.
26	* FreezeFrameBonus: If you pause the episode while Marinette and Adrien are choosing their ''Ultimate Mecha Strike III'' fighters, you can see that the game's roster includes PaletteSwaps of [[Franchise/StarWars R2D2]], [[{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}} Bender]], [[Anime/UFORoboGrendizer Grendizer]] and WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant.
27	* GenreSavvy: Marinette and Adrien since they know the game that the Gamer uses against them and how to retaliate.
28	* GoForTheEye: When her Lucky Charm produces a can of spray paint, Marinette climbs onto the Gamer's robot and covers the eyepiece. When he retracts the lens to look outside, she grabs his glasses to purify the akuma.
29	* GoodBadBugs: InUniverse example, Games uses a "spawn point glitch" to recreate his robot.
30	* GoodLuckCharm: Marinette gives one to Adrien.
31	* GracefulLoser: Max tries to be one when both Marinette and Adrien defeat him. In private he breaks down, and Hawk Moth corrupts him.
32	* HardWorkHardlyWorks: Max spent a year preparing for the gaming competition. Marinette, who plays with her dad as a hobby, defeats him in a few minutes.
33	* HiddenDepths:
34	** Marinette and her dad are skilled gamers.
35	** Adrien admits to Marinette that he doesn't think he's as good as she is, dropping his StepfordSmiler demeanor. Marinette is shocked and tells him YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre before her parents interrupt.
36	* HypocriticalHumor: Chloé derides her classmates for devoting all their attention to a TV screen... then she and Sabrina immediately become engrossed in their smartphones.
37	* InstantlyProvenWrong: When Marinette is panicking about the amount of Adrien-related stuff she needs to get off her walls before the boy himself shows up for practice, Tikki tries to calm her down by reminding her that she has time, since it's not like Adrien is coming over ''right away''. Naturally, the doorbell rings immediately after Tikki finishes her sentence.
38	* KamehameHadoken: Or rather Catoken, in obvious ShoutOut to TropeNamer.
39	* LaserBlade: The heroes' mecha is equipped with one, activated by pulling out its cat-like tail.
40	* LostAesop: The episode seems to start off with the lesson that winners of competitions should be selected based on who wants it the most, rather than who actually earned and deserves it, with Marinette getting called out by multiple people for taking a spot in a video game tournament that would've gone to Max, who had practiced all year for the tournament and wanted to compete much more than Marinette did. This get further highlighted when she's accused multiple times of entering for the wrong reasons (she just wanted to spend more time with Adrien, whom she was paired up with due to him having the second highest score after her), with the fact that she earned her spot fair and square and that Adrien is also responsible for beating Max in the try-outs ignored. It's not until the end that someone, namely Adrien, states that Marinette should represent their school in the tournament due to being the best player, and he's portrayed as being in the right. However, he uses this as a reason for him to drop out so that Marinette and Max can both compete in the tournament, as Marinette was originally going to drop out so Max could take her place. No one ever brings up Adrien's hypocrisy in justifying letting a worse player take his place in the tournament so that Marinette won't have to do the same. Meanwhile, Max never apologizes for or gets called out on feeling entitled to a spot in the tournament despite losing to others fair and square.
41	* MacrossMissileMassacre: Both mecha can deploy barrages of missiles.
42	* MagicFeather: Marinette reveals to Adrien that she has a lucky bracelet that she wears while gaming, ''not'' related to her actual powers.
43	* MixAndMatchCritters: Ladybug and Cat Noir's mecha predictably looks like a ladybug spliced with a cat. It's also human-shaped and walks on two legs.
44	* MostGamersAreMale: Marinette is the only female gamer in the episode compared to Max, Adrien, Tom, Kim and Nino (last two are visible on scoreboard). Downplayed however, since most of Marinette's classmates show interest in the Tournament, with Alya even stressing to her that it's SeriousBusiness. When Marinette volunteers, others are mostly surprised due to her very last second interest.
45	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Marinette creates the akuma of the week out of her selfish desire to spend time with Adrien. She takes it to heart by the end and gives up her spot to Max, as he wants it far more than she does. Adrien in turn allows her to compete with Max, which nets them the win.
46	* OutOfGenreExperience: The episode turns into a hybrid video game/giant mecha battle near the end, complete with CallingYourAttacks.
47	* PullingThemselvesTogether: The villain's mecha can split into separate blocks to avoid an attack before reconstituting itself. That makes it rather frustrating to fight for the heroes.
48	* RocketPunch: During the giant mecha battle at the climax, Ladybug and Cat Noir's robot pulls this off.
49	* SaveScumming: After Cat Noir uses his Cataclysm to destroy the Gamer's robot, he reveals that he had "saved his game" by this point, and thus simply recreates the robot by reloading. At least the heroes gain their own mecha through this fleeting victory.
50	* SeriousBusiness: Alya drops the trope name when Marinette expresses a desire to compete in the video game tournament.
51	* ShipperOnDeck: Marinette's parents for Adrien and Marinette.
52	* {{Shotoclone}}: The HumongousMecha Ladybug and Catnoir use to fight against Gamer uses plenty of Hadouken, Shoryuken, and Tatsumaki Senpukyaku.
53	* ShoutOut:
54	** Besides the obvious ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' moves they pull off during the giant robot battle, Ladybug and Cat Noir's mecha also trades a MacrossMissileMassacre with the Gamer, launches its shoulder-mounted propellers like Combattler V, fires off a Mazinger Z-like double RocketPunch and goes into ''[[Anime/UFORoboGrendizer Grendizer]]'''s Space Thunder pose when firing lightning from its ears.
55	** We also get [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros "Here comes a new challenger!"]] and [[VideoGame/StarFox "Do a barrel roll!"]] from Cat Noir.
56	** See also FreezeFrameBonus above.
57	* ShownTheirWork: Look closely at how Max and Adrien hold their controllers compared to Marinette. How one holds a controller can have a pretty big impact on button mashing and reaction time, meaning she already was starting out with a competitive edge.
58	* SpinToDeflectStuff: One of Gamer's many moves.
59	* StealthPun: Ladybug and Cat Noir using [[Franchise/StreetFighter Ryu and Ken's]] moveset is quite appropriate, considering they're fighting an '''Akuma'''.
60	* SweetAndSourGrapes: Inverted. Guilty about Max becoming the Gamer, Marinette insists on Max taking her spot in the competition since he wants it as much as she wants time alone with Adrien. Just as he's about to take her controller, Adrien gives up his spot so that Max can compete, because he knows that Marinette's skill should be recognized and will win the tournament for the school.
61	* TemptingFate: Tikki tries to calm down Marinette by saying she has time to clean her room, because "it's not like Adrien is going to show up this very minute". Cue doorbell.
62	* ThisIsADrill: One of Gamer's mecha attacks to to use a giant pyramid as a drill. It manages to break the shield on Ladybug and Cat's mecha.
63	* UnsportsmanlikeGloating: She probably didn't mean to, but Marinette rubs her victory over Max in a bit too much.
64	* WhatTheHellHero: Tikki and Alya separately call out Marinette for competing for Max's spot after hearing how badly he wanted it, though Alya acknowledges that Marinette won by skill alone.
65	* YouCantThwartStageOne: The Gamer needs to accumulate points and "level up" before his mecha can gain its ultimate form. Ladybug could have stopped him before he'd reach this step but they fail, forcing them into a full-blown mecha fight.

Context Recap / MiraculousLadybugS01E15TheGamer