Scarlet Lady / Tropes P to R

"Scarlet Lady's ego is so big she needs this many trope pages!"

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P

• Painting the Medium:
  • The subtitle of Volpina's episode, "Tales of Lila the Liar," has the last word crossed out and replaced with "FOX" in all caps and a different font.
  • The following subtitle for "The Collector" has the last word covered with "[TOP SECRET]" in a different font and in red. The actual title is "Tales of Gabriel the Butterfly."
  • Sometimes the subtitles will be obscured by the picture of the featured character or their akuma object (usually when the character's first name has not been revealed in the show), most notably in "Kung Food" because Master Cheng's name hasn't been confirmed in the show itself, only online. "Vanisher" also has the "Invisible" in the title slightly hidden to make it less visible. In addition, "Despair Bear" has the second part of Jean's name hidden, since it being unknown and constantly gotten wrong is a Running Gag in canon.
  • In the novelization, when Marinette gets turned in coal in "La Befana," Chat Noir's thoughts become written in red to emphasize how enraged he is.
• Papa Wolf: André isn't aware that his daughter is Scarlet Lady, but his parental instincts still go off when Théo starts gushing to him about the young superheroine, prompting him to ask "...Théo, how old are you again?"
• Pass the Popcorn: In "Troublemaker," when Marinette is embarrassed on live TV and tries to get the camera crew out of her room, Chloé watches while gobbling up popcorn.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Despite being arguably worse here than in canon, Gabriel has a few of these moments, such as (after the events of Sandboy leave Hawkmoth completely drained of energy) when he carries a wiped-out Nooroo to his bedroom so they can both get some sleep, and when he praises Marinette for her talent as a designer.
  • Akumas, despite not wanting anyone/anything to stop their plans, will usually leave their loved ones or dearest friends alone (i.e. Horrificator didn't attack Ivan, Reflekta didn't attack Rose, etc).
  • After Caline Bustier made it clear that she doesn't share the class' view on Chloe (to the point that it ventures on I Reject Your Reality territory), Chloe gets her a birthday gift.
  • Mendeliev acknowledges to Max and Markhov that she was wrong to say the robot has no feelings and treat him the way she did, saying that the fact that Markhov can be akumatized clearly means he can experience emotions. She agrees to let Markhov attend classes alongside Max so long as he behaves himself. She even stops referring to Markhov as "it"!
  • Audrey is an awful mother and a terrible person... which is why it says a lot when she openly admires the hat Marinette designed and claims she has true talent.
• Phantom Zone: Vanisher can make people "vanish" into a parallel dimension where they can see and hear the real world but not interact with it. Vanisher can go back and forth between worlds and affect the real world while in the phantom world, moving things invisibly. She opened doors for Chloé to keep her from catching on, and "vanished" clothes for her to change into.
• Phrase Catcher:
  • Théo, throughout "Copycat," gets variations of "...How old are you again?"
  • In "The Gamer," multiple people point out to Max that he lost twice.
• Picky Eater: Basically how Tikki passive-aggressively gets back at Chloé for being such a terrible person. She refuses to eat anything other than cookies from the Dupain-Cheng bakery.
• Playing the Victim Card: Chloé attempts this after Marinette stands up to her, turning to Adrien all teary-eyed and calling her a bully. Unfortunately for her, Adrien's not having any of it.
• Plot Armor:
  • Averted with Marinette. Since she isn't always required to save the day, she has less plot armor compared to canon. For example, she’s bubbled by the Bubbler, knighted by Darkblade, turned to coal by La Befana, and brainwashed (as Marigold) by Dark Cupid.
  • Chat Noir, on the other hand, seems to be able to get away with everything, even though he’s exhausted due to Scarlet Lady. He avoids being handcuffed by Copycat and doesn't get touched by Timebreaker—it's Scarlet Lady who that happens to instead. A lot of this can be attributed to him needing to take a level in badass due to Scarlet Lady's incompetence, which puts the weight of all of Paris resting on his shoulders. The few exceptions to this include when he's transformed by Reflekta, although he detransforms and removes his Miraculous right before it happens; gets captured twice by Pixelator, once as Adrien and once as Chat Noir; gets brainwashed by Princess Fragrance; ends up stuck in Anansi's web; is eventually infected by Zombizou's zombies; gets brainwashed by Malediktator; and gets turned into a statue by Style Queen. It seems that Marinette becoming Marigold has lessened his plot armor a bit.
  • Aside from what happened to her in "Timebreaker," Chloé/Scarlet Lady doesn't have as much plot armor; she still gets tied up by Kung Food as she does in canon, and in "Vanisher" she ends up unable to be seen or heard by anyone or to interact with anything unless the villain allows it. Scarlet Lady also falls victim to Zombizou when an infected Chat Noir kisses her while she's distracted trying to get Marinette kissed, and as Chloé, she gets turned into a statue by Frightningale before she can even transform. Both times, this is undone by Marigold's Bee Balm.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: In "The Gamer," while Max is a jerk to everybody as he boasts of his superiority as a player, he really takes it to heart that Marinette, a girl, beat him, even not caring that he was also beat by Adrien.
• The Poorly Chosen One: Even without taking into account that Chloé is Scarlet Lady because she stole the Ladybug Miraculous, this trope is her all over. She only jumps at the call whenever she thinks she can get something good out of it, she is completely useless in a fight, and she is consistently wearing down everybody who knows what kind of person she really is with her unmitigated Alpha Bitch act. Master Fu goes as far as to try to pretend this is not happening because it would involve admitting his part in this fiasco.
• Poor Communication Kills:
  • The events of "Lady Wifi" kick off when Alya sees Marinette putting something red and black-spotted in her locker and decides to investigate rather than ask her about it. It's followed by a Sustained Misunderstanding where Lady Wifi refuses to accept Marinette's insistence that no, she really isn't Scarlet Lady, insisting that she's just being too modest.
  • When Scarlet Lady gushes to Théo about her crush, he mistakes her description of Adrien as being about her partner Chat Noir instead, leading to him becoming Copycat.
  • Gina becomes La Befana because she falsely assumes that she was intentionally left out of Marinette's birthday party. She also misinterpreted Marinette lying about liking the candy she bought her, refusing to see that her granddaughter was just trying to spare her feelings.
  • Ondine is akumatized into Syren because Kim skips out on their swimming hang-out to go to the movies with the rest of the class, and him specifically mentioning Chloé convinces her that he has a crush on her. He failed to mention that he seriously hopes Chloé won't come.
  • Marigold comes up with the idea of using the Lucky Charm compact to reflect Pixelator's beam right back at him. However, rather than explain this to Scarlet Lady, she instead tells the Ladybug heroine to use the "Chat Noir method"; since Chat Noir typically just throws the Lucky Charm object at the akuma's head, Scarlet Lady attempts to do the same. It's only through dumb luck and Scarlet's Accidental Aiming Skills that Marigold's plan ends up working.
  • Had Jagged and Anarka sat down and properly talked about their breakup, they likely would've realized it was a huge misunderstanding that Bob Roth orchestrated and resolved their feud much earlier.
• Popularity Cycle
  • Marigold gets a head start in "Vanisher" with a chance to have a debut presentation to the media without Scarlet Lady putting in her own spin due to Tikki being temporarily incapacitated.
  • In "Syren," Nadja Chamack comments that Chat Noir and Marigold are helping with the escaped zoo animals but that "Scarlet Lady is noticeably absent." This seems to be the first time the news has taken notice that Scar isn't pulling her weight.
  • Scarlet Lady gets very angry in "Animan" when Marigold gets recognition from Marinette's parents instead of her.
  • In "Intermission," Chat Noir gives Marigold a piece of merchandise based on the latter, noting that their popularity's growing.
  • Scarlet Lady severely hurts her reputation amongst her peers at school when she declares to all the party guests that she's best friends with Chloé.
  • At the end of "Troublemaker," Alya notes that Chat Noir is tied with Scarlet Lady in the popularity polls.
  • In "Prime Queen," when Nadja asks about the rumors of Chat Noir and Marigold being together, the reporter awkwardly states that no one cares about Scarlet Lady's love life. It's later strongly hinted that Scarlet Lady's popularity took a huge hit when she showed her true colors to all of Paris by openly declaring her lack of concern if Alya drowns.
• The Power of Friendship: In "Anansi," Adrien, Marinette, Alya, and Nino invoke friendship and teamwork to beat Nora in arm-wrestling.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • Chloé is usually only motivated to take action against akumas if she stands to personally benefit:
    • She was completely uninterested in being a superhero until Alya told Scarlet Lady that she was being watched by the eyes of the world.
    • She declares that Stormy Weather must be stopped for ruining her "date" with Adrien.
    • It's not until she notices that Adrien and Marinette are slow dancing at the Bubbler's party that she decides to fight the akuma.
    • In "Lady Wifi," Chloé melodramatically argues about the importance of Marinette's privacy, but only to get Alya in trouble for going through Marinette's locker
    • Chloé at first refuses to fight the titular akuma in "Mr. Pigeon" due to being disgusted by all his namesake birds. So how does Tikki get her to change her mind?
      Tikki: [snarking] Well, I guess we'll leave the akuma—and the after interview—to Chat Noir.
      Chloé: [dead serious] The hell we are.
    • Chloé agrees to Tikki's demands about her maintaining her secret identity as Scarlet Lady, if for no other reason than she enjoys the idea of having a big secret all to herself.
    • Scarlet Lady doesn't want Hawkmoth gone, as she knows she'll be forgotten if he and his akumas are no longer around to wreak havoc. But when told that Gabriel Agreste might be Hawkmoth, she decides to help take him down so that she can comfort Adrien over it afterwards.
    • Chloé thoroughly enjoys watching La Befana attack everyone at Marinette's party and turn them into coal or angels. She only transforms into Scarlet Lady after discovering that her driver has also been turned into coal, meaning until the akuma's defeated, she won't have a ride home.
    • She jumps into action in "Puppeteer" due to seeing Lady Wifi entering Marinette's room, as she wrongly thinks that Lady Wifi is trying to prove Marinette is Scarlet Lady again and the idea of someone else being the Ladybug heroine is a huge Berserk Button for Chloé.
    • Chloé reluctantly agrees to transform in "Desperada" because she needs to "avenge [her] shoes" (which Fang had eaten in the previous episode) and the titular akuma had just zapped Jagged Stone before Chloé could get him to reimburse her for them.
    • Similar to Tikki in "Mr. Pigeon," Chat Noir gets Scarlet Lady to jump into action in "Prime Queen" by appealing to her love of attention:
      Prime Queen: Will you dare to go through the screen to save your dear little Lila?
      Scarlet Lady: As if I'd get my nails dirty for the superliar.
      Chat Noir: It's being broadcasted live.
      Scarlet Lady: Out of my way!
    • Scarlet Lady actually sticks close to the class and offers helpful advice during Zombizou's attack. However, it's only because she wants a front row seat for when the akuma finally gets to Marinette.
  • Can apply to Sabrina's actions as Chloé's Beta Bitch:
    • She's relieved that she won't have to touch chewed gum due to Chloé forgetting about her latest plan to bully Marinette.
    • Sabrina protests when Chloé tells her to get a photo of the design Marinette plans to use for the contest, but only because she thinks it'd be easier to just use one of the sketches she's balled up and thrown away.
    • She refuses to help Chloé carry out her schemes in "Reflekta," citing how badly things turned out for her when Chloé made her steal Marinette's diary. Played with, as it's also strongly implied that Sabrina no longer wants to torment the class due to increasingly finding them kinder and more welcoming than Chloé is.
  • Gabriel sometimes does the right thing, though it's almost always for selfish reasons:
    • After learning about Scarlet Lady's blatant crush on his son and that Adrien doesn't feel the same, Gabriel internally mourns the loss of a potential bargaining chip but is nevertheless glad that Adrien isn't attracted to her.
    • When he declares he's pulling Adrien out of school for stealing and losing his book, the latter immediately reminds his father that, if that happens, he'll tell all his friends, one of whom has Nadja Chamack, a well-known reporter, as a family friend. Faced with a PR nightmare, Gabriel downscales Adrien's punishment to being grounded for a month.
    • Hawkmoth tells Kung Food not to hurt Marinette, as he knows from experience that it won't end well due to it being Chat Noir's Berserk Button. He's later similarly relieved that he can akumatize Penny instead of Marinette in "Troublemaker," and in "Zombizou," he sends an akuma after her while acknowledging the risks but quickly decides that it would be better (albeit still risky) to akumatize Mme. Bustier instead after Marinette gives her teacher a "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
    • He reasons there are benefits to giving Adrien more freedom: the alternative is keeping him inside the house, where he'll be more likely to discover Gabriel and Nathalie's plans.
    • Adrien invokes this when he learns about Bob Roth, one of Gabriel's business partners, copying Kitty Section, informing Nathalie that as a designer, it's in his father's best interest not to associate with a plagiarist.
    • Hawkmoth permits Marigold to save Adrien from becoming a smear of "runny Camembert" on the pavement, not because he's worried for his son, but because he can't force Adrien to continue modeling and promoting his brand's products if Adrien's dead.
    • As much as he dislikes the heroes of Paris constantly foiling his plans, Gabriel has his son participate in a music video featuring Chat Noir and Marigold because it'll be good for his business.
  • Evillustrator doesn't go after Chat Noir or Scarlet Lady's Miraculous due to being preoccupied with romancing Marinette and getting revenge on Chloé.
  • Style Queen decides not to turn Zoé into a statue when the latter offers to be the akuma's assistant.
• Precision F-Strike:
  • Adrien's response to Nathalie at the start of "Origins: Part 2".
    Nathalie: Adrien! Don't do this! Your father will be furious!
    Adrien: [thinking] I let myself be bossed around yesterday, but no more! Tell them what you really think!
    Adrien: [out loud] Tell him F@$% YOU!
    Nathalie: ?!
    Adrien: ...Please? [thinking] Maybe I've been holding in more than I thought.
  • Alix cheering on Chat Noir while he fights Pharaoh.
    Alix: Chat, f**k him up!
  • When Pharaoh throws Alya at Scarlet Lady, she drops a "S**t!".
  • Alya has been captured by Pharaoh and realizes he intends to sacrifice her.
    Alya: Yo, Ladybloggers, I'm straight f**ked!
  • As Horrificator begins to seal the school.
    Someone: S**t, we're being sealed in!
    Nathaniel: I've got no signal, we're f**ked!
  • Simultaneous thought as Horrificator shows up.
    Nino, Scarlet Lady, Chat Noir and Marinette: Oh s**t.
  • Adrien is admonishing his father for not showing up to Career Day.
    Adrien: Oh look! Free croissants! Sure hope I don't ruin my diet, bye!
    Hawkmoth: Oh, I'm akumatizing the s**t out of someone now.
  • Hawkmoth's reaction to Marigold taking the field for the first time is a shocked and enraged "What the f**k is this?!"
    Nathalie: Gabriel! Language!
  • Penny Rolling lets one loose in "Troublemaker" when she is overwhelmed. "Everybody, shut the $#%& up!"
  • Purple Tigress gets two for the price of one when she hits her Rage Breaking Point with her (akumatized) parents.
    Purple Tigress: You two are always so damn loud. No one can get a word in edgewise! How is anyone supposed to settle things when you won't listen?! It's time for you two to shut the hell up!
• Protagonist Title: The webcomic shares its name with the superhero alter ego of its main protagonist (even if she is a Villain Protagonist).
• Pull the Thread:
  • Master Fu comes close to working out Scarlet Lady's identity when he wonders why she wasn't there early enough to save Chloé, her supposed best friend, from Kung Food. Adrien deflects him. The author notes, "Fu's trying to have valid points Adrien stop shutting them down!"
  • Adrien is implied to be close to this when he realises Marigold wasn't acting jealous after he confessed to be in love with Marinette.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: In "Reflekta," Sabrina refuses to go along with Chloé's plan to lock Juleka in the bathroom with four words:
  Sabrina: I. Don't. Want to.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: Mme. Bustier has big, shiny eyes as she reluctantly asks Chloé if the latter had tried to bribe her classmates into voting for her.
• Pushed at the Monster: Happens in "Dark Cupid" when Chat Noir and Marigold show up to protect Chloé. Chloé thinks Dark Cupid is after her because of her Adrien poster, so she pushes Marigold at Dark Cupid while demanding the Bee heroine protect it. This gets Marigold hit by one of Dark Cupid's arrows in the process.

R

• Rage Breaking Point:
  • Adrien crosses it multiple times due to having to be a Hypercompetent Sidekick to Scarlet Lady:
    • In "Origins," he finally gets a taste of freedom after having to deal with being sheltered all his life and his mother vanishing and being presumed dead, only to have it come with the baggage of a completely obnoxious and incompetent partner and the weight of all of Paris riding on his shoulders. By the end of the first half, he's been pushed so far that he outright snaps at Nathalie and tells her to tell his father to fuck off.
    • In "Reflekta," when Chloé locks Juleka in the bathroom and shoves her way next to him during the class photo, he roughly pushes her away with a look of anger, just as the photo is being taken.
    • Gets annoyed by Chloé's attempts to butt in on the class's plans for Marinette's surprise birthday party. Later, he has to deal with protecting Marinette when La Befana starts attacking the party and turning his friends into coal and fairies. He then attempts to hide Marinette keep her safe, only for Scarlet Lady to lead the akuma right to them. Seeing Marinette get turned into coal (thus pressing his biggest Berserk Button) is what finally makes him explode, which intimidates even Scarlet Lady into listening to him for once.
    • Adrien flies into a rage in "Vanisher" after learning from Tikki that Scarlet Lady is going to be a late/no-show for the third time in a row. This, along with the fact that Tikki can't just help him from now on without her partner, results in him curling up in a Troubled Fetal Position.
    • Reaches this with Chloé after her fire alarm stunt in "Despair Bear". He gives her a "The Reason You Suck" Speech and breaks off their friendship then and there.
  • Marinette is a Nice Girl, but she has her limits:
    • She hits hers when Hawkmoth begins Playing the Victim Card in "Origins" and gives the villain a "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
      Marinette: Don't reverse the roles! We know who the bad guy is! You transformed the innocents into villains! And you took advantage of Ivan's heart! If there's one thing I hate, it's a bully playing the victim!
    • Upon seeing that the TV crew in "Troublemaker" is filming her bedroom, she quickly yells at them to cut it out.
    • Marinette explodes in rage in "Zombizou" when Bustier tries to get her to forgive Chloé for vandalizing Marinette's present for the teacher, venting over Bustier's complete unwillingness to discipline Chloé for all the stuff she's done over the years.
  • Sabrina also starts to hit this as she grows out of her Extreme Doormat tendencies:
    • She first crosses this when Chloé forces her to Marinette's diary, only for the box Marinette's diary is inside to snap over Sabarina's wrist when she reaches for it. Still recovering from seeing her father get fired in front of her own eyes because of her "best friend," Sabrina mouths off at Chloé for the first time and then yells at her when the latter refuses to believe Sabrina about what happened, even though the box is visibly latched to Sabrina's wrist.
    • After arguing with Chloé in "Evillustrator" over the latter dumping all her work on Sabrina again, Sabrina finally snaps when Chloé claims to be her Only Friend, goes on a tirade against her, and has to be physically restrained from starting a fistfight by Marinette.
  • Rose, of all people, reaches hers at the end of "Darkblade," angrily calling out Chloé for abandoning the class the moment the akuma showed up.
  • "Troublemaker" has Marinette's mother (who already considered the film crew to be rather rude) reach this once Marinette's room ends up on live TV; even though the Dupain-Chengs had only agreed to film in the bakery and want to stop now that their daughter's privacy has been violated, Bob Roth refuses to stop filming, enraging Sabine. Moreover, Penny becomes overwhelmed by her responsibilities around the same time, something that greatly relieves Hawkmoth since it gives him an alternative to akumatizing Marinette (Chat Noir's Berserk Button) over her Freak Out.
  • Luka has Hate at First Sight with Chloé and quickly sees her as an Abhorrent Admirer after learning about her crush on him. He finally explodes at her in "Silencer" when he learns that she helped Bob Roth and XY plagiarize Kitty Section.
  • After trying to "play nice" with her guests in "Despair Bear," Chloé hits this when she sees Adrien dancing with Marinette and gets told that she shouldn't confront them.
  • Purple Tigress eventually crosses hers out of frustration towards her akumatized parents ruining her and her brother's birthday party with their bickering, cumulating in a Precision F-Strike.
  • "Zombizou" has Caline snap when Marinette, one of her "best-behaved" students, abruptly stops listening to the teacher and points out how incredibly hollow Mme. Bustier's "everyone should love each other" philosophy is when she won't do anything about Chloé.
  • In "Gorizilla," losing Adrien, getting robbed by Adrien's adoring fans, being scolded for his illegal parking by a police officer, and then having to hear Gabriel yell at him finally pushes the Gorilla past this, making him vulnerable to akumatization.
  • Still processing her experience with her first akuma, who also happens to be her stepdad, Zoé finally hits hers when Scarlet Lady tells them that André Bourgeois's akumatization into Malediktator is because Zoé didn't defend the Ladybug heroine in front of the class earlier.
  Zoé: I couldn't defend you, I don't even know you!
  • In "Queen Wasp," Chloé gets so angry at the her mother inviting Marinette to work for her in New York after being impressed by the latter's hat that she outs herself as Scarlet Lady in an attempt to convince her mother that she is more exceptional.
• Reasonable Authority Figure:
  • Marinette's parents are usually this.
    • They reassure her she isn't to blame for Nadja interrupting their anniversary date in "Timebreaker by calling to complain about her order since Nadja was the one who arrived early without notice.
    • Subverted in "Rogercop." Tom initially sounds like this when he tells Marinette that the adults will handle the situation with the missing bracelet. However, he and the other adults end up doing absolutely nothing about it, something Marinette even calls them out on. He later tries to scold Alya for letting Chloé drag Marinette to the akuma, even though, as Alya points out, he didn't do anything about it, either.
    • Played straight in "Troublemaker." At the end of the episode, Marinette learns a lesson from Penny being "stretched too thin" and applies it to her own double life, asking her parents for notice before volunteering her for babysitting or asking her for help in the bakery. To her great surprise, they say, "Sure, no problem."
  • Zig-zagged with Roger Raincomprix. Sometimes (albeit rarely), he acts like the classic unreasonable cop (like giving Anarka two fines for petty reasons, just as he did in canon); other times, he's more comprehensive (like approving of the concert on the Liberty even if the music is a bit louder than standard because it's the music festival).
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Marinette gives one to Scarlet Lady after she starts belittling Théo again after he's been de-akumatized:
    Marinette: His sculpture was way better than you deserved, considering how you're always leeching of others' successes! You're lucky he's talented enough to work around your unfortunate face!
    Scarlet Lady: You DARE?!
  • In "Evillustrator," Sabrina gives one to Chloé about how bad of a person she is compared to the rest of the class.
  • Adrien states in "Despair Bear" that school has allowed him to learn what makes a good friend and compares that to Chloé, stating that she always does the opposite of what good friends do and that he won't be friends with her anymore.
  • Marinette gives a scathing one to Bustier in "Zombizou" when the latter tries to convince her to forgive Chloé for ruining her gift.
    Marinette: ARE YOU ACTUALLY KIDDING ME?!
    Bustier: Marinette-
    Marinette: No! Chloé did this maliciously and she's not even sorry! All "forgiving" her does is tell her that no matter how awful she is, she'll get away with it! Or even be praised for it!
    Bustier: That's-
    Marinette: And what about me?! Why should I ever do nice things when I'm told to suck it up when my efforts are spat on?! Why do Chloé's feelings matter more than mine, the wronged party?!
    Bustier: Now, listen here-
    Marinette: Well, I'm done! If you don't want to punish Chloé, fine, I can't make you! Just like you can't make me pretend Chloé isn't the meanest, rudest, most despicable person I've ever met!
    Bustier: Marinette Dupain-Cheng!
    Marinette: All that is necessary for evil to succeed, is for good people to do nothing. And you did nothing, Mme. Bustier.
  • An unintentional one happens in "Frightningale": Chloé shows up to Clara's audition while dressed as Scarlet Lady, only to learn that Clara isn't planning on featuring the Ladybug heroine in the music video at all. She becomes outraged and demands to know why the singer is excluding The Hero of Paris, which Lila responds to by listing various times that Scar has shown up late or left people in danger, not realizing that she and Chloé are the same person.
  • Upon hearing her mother praise Marinette's hat as being exceptional, Chloé insists that she's exceptional, too. Audrey shoots that down and points out Chloé doesn't have any notable accomplishments to back that up, then proceeds to list some of Chloé's recent failures.
  • Marinette and Zoé tag-team one against Audrey near the end of "Queen Wasp" — Marinette rejects her apprenticeship offer and brings up how much of a Bad Boss she is, while Zoé calls her out on how she neglected both of her daughters (pointing out how this was a major factor in Chloé's downward spiral) and for being a horrible person in general.
• Recurring Boss: Zoe Rapporte, the Author Avatar, has apparently been akumatized many times offscreen, with her "nth" appearance as The Enchanced Florist defeated at the start of "Princess Fragrance."
• Relationship Values: Throughout "Riposte," Marigold has a "respect meter" with Adrien/Chat Noir that increases as she proves herself to be a worthy heroine.
• Retcon: The "Syren" episode applies a now canonical retcon. It used to be that the Kwamis had to be fed the power-up formulas, so the heroes had to be detransformed to use them. But in the New York special, Ladybug and Chat Noir directly eat the empowering food items to become Cosmobug and Astrocat. Thus, in this AU, the other heroes can force Scarlet Lady to take the aqua potion. In the tags, the author comments, "I'd like to thank canon for making it CANON that the holders can also consume the powerups instead of having to feed it to their kwamis. Everyone say 'Thank you, canon.'"
• Revenge by Proxy: Chloé attempts this in "Kung Food," aiming to ruin and humiliate Cheng simply because he happens to be Marinette's great-uncle.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons:
  • When Scarlet Lady describes her crush to Théo, he assumes that she's talking about Chat Noir when she really meant Adrien. Considering Chat Noir's secret identity, though...
  • When Chloé sees the news broadcast in "Copycat" of Chat Noir having apparently turned thief and kidnapper, she declares that her partner "must've succumbed to his jealousy of [her]." Copycat, who is the actual thief and kidnapper being reported on in the news, had in fact been akumatized due to jealousy, though towards Chat Noir due to mistakenly thinking the two superheroes are a couple.
  • Sabrina is convinced that Chloé wasn't actually taken by Horrificator since no one heard her scream and that her friend must instead be hiding somewhere. Chloé in fact wasn't kidnapped, but she wasn't hiding; she had transformed into Scarlet Lady.
  • Marinette suggests in "Rogercop" that Chloé's bracelet might've just rolled out of her bag, which is more-or-less what happened: it got stuck to Plagg's head when he tumbled out after Tikki kicked him.
  • Like in canon "Rogercop," Max and Kim posit the idea that Adrien might've stolen the bracelet: he was also in Nino's video and has vanished since then. They were right in that Adrien had something to do with the disappearance of the bracelet, even if he didn't steal it and only left the room to try and get the bracelet off of Plagg's head.
  • When Chloé claims she was calling Scarlet Lady in "Darkblade" to hide the fact she is Scarlet Lady, Nathaniel calls it a lie under the belief no hero would hang with Chloé.
  • In "Simon Says," Marinette declares that Scarlet Lady is a Stalker with a Crush when the latter proclaims that her "love radar" told her where to find Adrien, which isn't an incorrect accusation. However, Scarlet Lady knew about Adrien being at the studio due to her civilian self being friends with him.
  • In "Volpina," Scarlet Lady refuses to hand her Miraculous over to Volpina when the akuma threatens to fire multiple missiles at a building and again when Volpina holds Adrien hostage. While she made the right call in both cases (the missiles were an illusion, as was "Adrien" since the real Adrien had already transformed into Chat Noir), she didn't do it because she saw through the akuma's tricks but because she simply didn't care that people would get hurt.
  • Upon hearing that Fu chose for him to receive the Cat Miraculous, Adrien immediately figures Fu must have also chosen Scarlet Lady and is thus the reason Adrien has had to endure her as a partner. While Fu is partly responsible for Chloé becoming Scarlet Lady by placing the Miraculous Box in Marinette's purse instead of her room, he didn't actually choose Chloé, which he quickly informs Adrien of.
  • At the end of "Kung Food," Adrien declares that Scarlet Lady didn't show up to rescue Chloé due to lying about being best friends with her. He's right, but that's because the two of them are the same person.
  • Per Word of God, Chloé's biased call in favor of Adrien in "Riposte" turned out to have been correct. Even In-Universe, Marinette points out that Kagami had flagrantly broken the rules, meaning the latter didn't deserve to win. Chloé wasn't aware of any of this, though, and her call was based on nothing other than her crush on Adrien.
  • During a sleepover int the first intermission, Sabrina wonders if Chloé's supposed "friendship" with Scarlet Lady has anything to do with their estrangement, unaware that being Scarlet Lady is what led to Chloé often ditching Sabrina and treating her even worse than before. Likewise, Lila brings up how Scarlet Lady didn't humiliate Chloé like she did Lila as a reason to believe Chloé was telling the truth about being best friends. Not knowing that Chloé is Scarlet Lady, the girls at the sleepover figure out they're not best friends because Chloé would've posted pictures of them together.
  • When Marinette sees Chloé with Tikki, she assumes that it's because Scarlet Lady is irresponsible enough to lose her Kwami and let her be stolen by Chloé, later leading to Marigold deciding that she must take the Miraculous away from the Ladybug heroine. Scarlet Lady is indeed irresponsible, and Chloé did in fact steal Tikki (or rather the Ladybug Miraculous) from her rightful owner, but Marinette doesn't realize that the two are the same person.
  • When Adrien tells Kagami he cannot openly date Marinette because of "a big, tall, annoying, dumb obstacle with bad fashion sense" and who "is so selfish," Kagami thinks he's talking about Gabriel. Adrien actually means Hawkmoth, who happens to be Gabriel.
  • Scarlet Lady, Chat Noir, and Marigold leave the interview with Nadja mid-show. While the latter two are leaving because Nadja's questions are turning inappropriate and delving into personal matters, Scarlet Lady only leaves because the interview isn't centered on her.
  • Clara Nightingale proclaims that Adrien and Marinette are the perfect candidates to play Chat Noir and Marigold in her music video, citing Marinette's kindness and how the two are able to mimic the superhero duo's interactions. She doesn't realize that they are the two heroes in question, though.
• Role Swap AU: The premise of the fic is that Marinette and Chloé switch places as the Ladybug and Bee heroes, while Chat Noir ends up as the central hero.
  • Additionally, the Love Square is reversed, with Marinette being in love with Chat Noir while Adrien has a crush on Marinette. This starts to fall apart in season 5, in which the two are so certain of each other's identities that they flirt more both in and out of costume.
  • Alya and Nino also switch places as the Fox and Turtle heroes.
  • Later on, Mylène and Sabrina have their roles as the Mouse and Dog heroes swapped.
• Rousing Speech: In "Timebreaker," Chat Noir thinks things are hopeless, as without Scar's earrings they can't fix anything. Marinette encourages him to go back to the past with Timebreaker, saying "Save the past and you save the present." She also manages to lasso Timebreaker with the yo-yo Scar dropped, which makes the time trip possible.
• Rule of Symbolism:
  • The statue Théo makes in "Copycat" features Scarlet Lady leaping over a crouching Chat Noir. However, the design also makes it appear that she's standing on his back — which is driven home by the angle when Adrien first looks up at it.
    Adrien: ...Even as a statue, I'm pulling all the weight.
  • "The Gamer" has Marinette observe that Adrien doesn't have any experience fighting alongside somebody in UMS3 as he's used to playing alone. Her comment about not knowing how to work with a partner holds extra Dramatic Irony given his experiences as Chat Noir, as does the fact that Marinette has already proven herself to be a more effective teammate than Scarlet Lady against various akuma.
  • "Reflekta" ends with Chloé voluntarily opting out of the retake, symbolizing her growing exclusion from the rest of her class — and underscoring how this is due entirely to her own actions. This is coupled with Alix calling Sabrina over, ensuring her inclusion, along with emphasizing the growing rift between the pair.
• Rule of Three:
  • Near the end of "Vanisher," Tikki tells Chloé that the latter being "a late/no-show to the last 3 akumas" is the reason Marigold was needed as a backup.
  • Lila Rossi brings up three points for excluding Scarlet Lady from Clara's video:
    • "Point One: Scarlet Lady habitually arrives last minute to akumas, leaving Paris vulnerable. (See Marinette's Uncle, "Princess Fragrance," M. Haprèle, and Wayhem.)"
    • "Point Two: She constantly leaves civilians in danger, sometimes while doing something completely unrelated. "See Max, "Timebreaker," "Troublemaker," and Mme. Tsurugi.")
    • "Point Three: She was going to let Alya drown! She barely qualifies as a hero at all!"
• Running Gag:
  • Every time someone tries to tell way too big of a Blatant Lie, expect them to puke blood.
  • Chloe's penchant for I Take Offense to That Last One.
  • Gabriel is often portray as making a mad dash to his underground lair to capitalize on an opportunity for akumatizing someone and out of breath by the time he gets there.
  • People hearing about Théo's attraction to Scarlet Lady in "Copycat" quickly leads to them asking how old he is. He's the same age as the main cast.
  • A slightly more serious one: occasionally, when Chloé does something bad around someone who is usually reluctant to criticize her in the show (Adrien and Sabrina), it gets noted that "X will remember that," indicating that they'll be far less inclined to forgive her in the webcomic.
  • "The Pharaoh" has characters getting rudely shoved around as one, as well as Alix correcting her brother Jalil's various incorrect statements about Egyptology.
  • When directly threatened by a villain, both in civilian and hero form, Chloé is most concerned about her hair. For example, she says, "Not the hair!" to both Evillustrator and Riposte. Chat Noir also gets Scar to leave the scene early in "Riposte" by warning her that the security cameras will catch her with "that messed-up hair."
  • Scarlet Lady keeps getting her yo-yo taken. Might as well, given how little she uses it.
  • She's also prone to attempt to try to fall into Adrien's hug, only for it to result in an Epic Fail on her part.
  • Whenever Marinette uses a new Miraculous, Tikki will cry in jealousy that her chosen is using another Kwami. Her sobbing escalates with each instance.
  • Out of towners tend to have no idea what the deal with Hawkmoth, the Miraculous, and the Heroes is and asks for clarification at inconvenient moments from whoever brought them up:
    • Gina has no idea who Hawkmoth and the Miraculous are in "La Befana" and asks Hawmoth as she's being akumatized.
    • Cheng Shifu, too, has to ask Hawkmoth who the villain is and what the Miraculous are as he's being akumatized in "Kung Food."
    • Prince Ali in "Princess Fragrance" initially thinks the Heroes of Paris are fictional characters and only learns they are real when the titular akuma starts pursuing him.
    • Averted in "Frightningale": Clara was in Paris because she knew their deal and wanted to honor The Heroes of Paris (specifically, Chat Noir and Marigold).
    • In "Malediktator," Zoé, who's just arrived from New York, gains Chloé's affection by asking who's this Marigold who has made her shade of yellow unworthy to be worn, which Chloé views as an insult to the Bee heroine; she promptly loses it a short while later, though, when she asks Chloé who Scarlet Lady is.
  • When someone is busy talking in the middle of a confrontation, a hero or villain will usually yell, "an opening," and attack them.
  • Frequently, the temporary Miraculous heroes will be more enthusiastic about punching or hitting a relative than Marigold or Chat Noir expect: Koki Marina was giddy at the idea of punching Anansi, Ryūko was grinning like a wild woman about being able to smack her mother without consequences, and Viperion was chill about fighting both his parents, albeit not looking like he's been waiting his entire life to do so.
  • On a meta level, the creator frequently responds to questions that would spoil the plot with, "guess we'll have to wait and see."
  • There's two in the novelization:
    • If someone gets hurt all of a sudden, the word "Pain" will take one entire line.
    • Whenever Chloé/Scarlet Lady complains about something, the words, "Nobody cared," will follow.

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