About The "kwamis As Mentors" Angle: Interesting To Read And Analyse, Yet I Can't Help But Feel They

Thoughts on "The Ron Factor"

So, obviously, this is an episode I have a lot of thoughts on.

I will acknowledge that Kim does have some cool moves in this episode.

But, it also seems fair to acknowledge that, despite those cool moves, Kim didn't defeat the bad guy.

That was done by Ron, with a little help from Rufus.

It's also worth mentioning that, yes, Kim is dependent on Ron to succeed on missions, as shown in "Bueno Nacho".

And it's not fair to anyone, Ron especially, that, after Ron defeats the bad guy, he decides to give Kim all the credit.

Kim has impressive skills and definitely demonstrated them in this episode, but that doesn't mean Ron isn't a factor in her success.

And a role model would recognize that yes, Ron is important to her success, but that doesn't mean she's not amazing too.

She'd be supportive of Ron and happy for him, while still making Global Justice see that she's still amazing.

(And, no one said she wasn't amazing, they just said Ron was probably the key factor to her success.)

Other thoughts, in no particular order:

So, did Betty and Sheldon actually lose their eyes, or are they just being dramatic?

(I wouldn't put it past them.)

Is Sheldon's robotic hand prosthetic or some kind of glove? If prosthetic, how did he lose it?

Realistic sibling relationship: Betty and Sheldon immediately resort to childish squabbling when near each other, despite having spent the entire rest of the episode being ominous and brooding.

(The Cain Instinct is strong with these two.)

Honestly, that Chaos Theory thing might not be far off. And if Wade thinks there's some merit to it, I'm inclined to believe him.

I realize they said Ron was a "non-factor" at the end, but there is canon evidence that contradicts this.

It's probably that Ron is a factor, but not in any way that would actually show up on tests.

Thus, they assumed there was no "Ron Factor".

Sometimes it doesn't feel like Kim Possible is an actual character in her own show. And, on the surface, that makes no sense.

She has multiple personality traits, both good and bad; confidence, a desire to help others, concern over what others think of her, gets frustrated when she doesn't instantly excel at something, competitive, judgmental, kind of controlling, etc.

These are traits that should lead to well-developed character who people can relate to.

But she feels more like an icon than a character, and I think I know why.

Ron also has multiple traits, but he feels more real, and that's because they spend more time exploring Ron's thoughts and feelings. They don't just give Ron character traits, they explain them.

That doesn't happen for Kim.

A lot of Kim's traits exist in a vacuum; there's no reasoning for them. It's never explored why Kim is, say, competitive or controlling, just that she is.

Kim is confident in her abilities. This might have come from her parents constantly believing in her, but it's not really explored.

Kim gets easily frustrated if she doesn't instantly excel at something. Though it's relatable, it'd be better if the reason for this was explored more.

Kim is competitive. To the point of sabotage. To the point of considering sneaking into a game for a team she was coaching because she couldn't stand the thought of losing. There's no explanation for this, as her parents would definitely encourage sportsmanship and fun over winning.

Kim is judgmental of interests she doesn't share. But "Monkey Fist Strikes" shows that she definitely didn't pick this up from her family. And it's definitely not one they'd have encouraged.

Kim is controlling to the point that she expects Ron to always be willing to drop whatever he's doing to join her on a mission. To the point that she doesn't let other people handle tasks for her, even when she clearly can't do them on her own. Again, there doesn't seem to be a reason for this trait. It's never explored why Kim is like this.

Kim refuses to acknowledge that Ron is important to her success. Again, it's never explored why Kim refuses to recognize Ron's contributions to her success.

These are traits that could lead to an interesting character who grows and develops as a person.

But, because the show never wants to explore Kim's reasons for being this way, she doesn't get to really grow as a person.

And that's why she doesn't feel like a character in the series. She doesn't grow or change, and her underlying thoughts and feelings and reasons for being the way she is aren't explored.

And it's kind of detrimental to character development.

If part of your house randomly burst into flames at times, solving the problem wouldn't just involve acknowledging the flames and putting them out. You'd also have to figure out why it bursts into flames, even if it's uncomfortable.

In order for Kim to truly grow and develop as a character, it's not enough to just acknowledge that Kim has flaws, it's also important to explore why she's like that.

But, since that doesn't happen, Kim doesn't feel as relatable as Ron.

And this leads to Kim seeming like less of a character in her own show.

That is another excellent point, but it's still disturbing.

Even if it was just those three, the fact that they either didn't know what The Isle was like or didn't care is disturbing.

In Beauty and The Beast, Adam was cursed into the form of a beast because he behaved cruelly towards someone who turned out to be an enchantress (or fairy).

Only once Beast starts learning to be a kind person does someone fall in love with him and break the curse.

Cinderella got a movie where Anastasia made amends with Cinderella and found love on her own. Fairy Godmother would know about that.

So, clearly, everyone who was ever a villain or a villain's sidekick, or people who are descended from villains, should be forced to live in squalor. No one can ever grow as a person and do better, and their children are guaranteed to be as bad as them no matter what we do. /s

The whole story was about how anyone can grow past being a monster if they want to and are given the chance. To say that no one else should ever get that opportunity and that the kids of villains are damned just for being their kids is wildly out of character for all of them.

I guess most people assume all the heroes would know because they were sending their own villains there, and it'd seem weird and out of character to not ask questions.

But Beast doing a lot of lying, manipulating, and bribing would make sense.

Unfortunately, it'd mean Beast kind of sucks.

The most unbelievable thing about Disney's Descendants is that the princes and princesses, people who are known for being kind and compassionate, would be okay with literal children living on The Isle, despite knowing what things are like on The Isle, just because their parents are villains.

Like, I'll believe they decided to put their dangerous villains there to protect everyone.

(Not villains like LeFou and Smee though, because they're just not worth the trouble.)

But you expect me to believe that no one thought it wouldn't be fair to punish the kids for their parents' crimes? That people who are known for being kind thought this was fair?

Sorry, not buying it.

And it's not that they didn't know, because everyone knew the villains had kids, so they just, somehow, honestly thought this was a good idea.

But I don't believe it.

I understand that it has to be that way for plot reasons. My proposed change would be a very simple one:

They didn't know there were kids on The Isle.

They only found out shortly before Ben was going to be coronated, because Belle and Adam wanted to check on The Isle one more time before it became Ben's responsibility.

Thus, Ben immediately decides to invite some VKs to Auradon for a better life, but Belle and Adam are concerned that the VKs might be a lot like their parents. He agrees to only invite a few at first, but he's confident that they're not evil, just in terrible conditions.

Bonnie Deserved to Walk at Graduation

Okay, I'm going to say it: as horrible as Bonnie was throughout the series, she didn't deserve that kind of humiliation at graduation.

First of all, Barkin should know how to contact Bonnie, or her mother, to let them know before the ceremony that Bonnie wouldn't be graduating.

Second of all, the one test that Bonnie missed should not be weighted enough to cause Bonnie to not graduate. Especially when she was apparently a Salutatorian. (Second highest GPA in the class, she tied with Kim for the title.) At worst, she loses the Salutatorian title, but not flunk completely.

Third of all, the reason nothing happens in the last week of school is because the grade books are closed, and no assignment given after that point is actually counted towards their grade. So even though Bonnie missed that pop quiz, it shouldn't have mattered anyways.

Unless Barkin was breaking the rules, which wouldn't surprise me.

So, it seems the only reason Bonnie was told at the ceremony that she wouldn't be graduating is because Barkin decided he wanted to publicly humiliate Bonnie.

And a 40+ year old adult wanting to humiliate a barely legal former student of his seems wrong.

(Note: I don't think there was anything sexual behind his motivation for humiliating Bonnie, but it still seems wrong.)

Especially when the humiliation seems disproportionate to any slight she might have done to "deserve" it.

For all Bonnie's done to embarrass and antagonize Kim and Ron, she never goes public with it.

The closest we get is in "Hidden Talent" when she shows a video of Kim failing to hit the high notes while singing to hurt Kim's confidence, but Kim and Ron are the only ones around at the time to see the video. It doesn't count as "public humiliation".

So it doesn't seem right to humiliate her in such a way when she never stooped to that level herself.

Yeah, the show fumbled this, big time.

It's like the exact opposite of all my Ron Stoppable posts.

In those, I point out how Ron is shown to be extremely competent and important to the success of the team, but even the narrative refuses to recognize it.

In Miraculous, Chat Noir is important, narratively, but is rarely, if ever, given a role that can't be fulfilled by anyone else.

Anyone else can distract the villain. Arguably, other miraculouses would be better for the job. Like pig, rooster, mouse, or monkey.

Anyone else can throw themselves in front of a villain to protect ladybug. Arguably, the turtle and ox miraculouses would be better for that.

And let's not forget that Adrien is shown to goof off as Chat Noir a lot. Desperada happened because he decided to tell Ladybug his identity instead of focusing on fighting the villain.

I can understand that Chat Noir is freedom for Adrien, but it's also a responsibility that he's not taking seriously.

Luckily, there's a Miraculous Cure, that Chat Noir isn't needed for, to fix things, including bringing Chat Noir back from the dead at least once.

On the one hand, it does seem unfair to expect teenagers to behave perfectly in every situation.

On the other hand, Marinette/Ladybug is shouldering most of the responsibility herself because Chat Noir/Adrien refuses to take the job seriously.

And it's extremely unfair to her.

And that's not even getting into how the romance was handled.

Ladybug: Chat Noir is most important member of The Miraculous Team.

Chat Noir's "important role":

"Distraction Grot: Once per battle, in your opponent’s Shooting phase, before making a saving throw for a model in this unit, it can deploy the distraction grot. If it does, until the end of the phase, models in this unit have a 5+ invulnerable save.Designer’s Note: Place a Distraction Grot token next to the unit, removing it when this unit uses this ability."

Does Ladybug ever say that Chat Noir was the most important member of the team? I honestly don't remember that. Either way, I fully agree that the show failed to make him feel like a pivotal member of the team. That's extra true after the season five final. It's really hard to get excited about Chat Noir when he didn't even try to get to his Lady's side in the final fight. Super weird choice for both a romantic lead and one of your main heroes. What is his arc even supposed to be if he's never going to have a meaningful confrontation with his father? And what's the point of his place as Ladybugs main partner if he's allowed to sit out the show's most important fight? He really is just one of the team now.

I have a post somewhere that I don't feel like digging up, but my stance is that - at the very least - they should have let Adrien fight his way to Paris where he could hand off the ring to Luka since Luka knows both identities, but heaven forbid that plot point lead to anything interesting or that Adrien be allowed to do anything more than motivational speeches. I think season five was the first season to not have the famous "you and me against the world" line, which is really funny when you remember that Ladybug was literally up against the world.

Speaking of not appearing again it’s weird that for all the focus put on Adrenna Lynn being Kim’s foil, she only had one episode dedicated to her and then nothing for the rest of the series until the finale episode when she had her seconds long cameo. But I guess that’s how popular Shego was. They didn’t know what else to do with this character and Shego being Kim’s foil instead just made more sense.

Yeah, Adrena Lynn was featured in promotional artwork, so they had bigger plans for her.

Unfortunately, her debut episode revealed that she didn't actually have any skills.

And it's kind of hard to make a villain that can't actually do anything.

I'm sure the fans could come up with a few plots that include her, but I guess the creators couldn't.

I don't blame them, I'm just disappointed we didn't get more.

One thing about Rainbow High that drives me crazy is that River Kendall is supposed to be the teal colored character, my favorite color, but he doesn't actually wear teal.

So, to make myself a little less mad about it, I made an edit where he's actually wearing teal. I left his letterman jacket as is.

And, just for fun, River in teal with his hair the same color as his eyebrows.

Obviously, I know they're not perfect, but I still think they're pretty good.

Thoughts on "Larry's Birthday"

First Thought: Who the fuck let an old lady own a puma?! How did this happen?! Just...what?!

And she owns an alligator too?!

And briefly owned a grizzly?!

Who is this woman?!

Second Thought: Wade should have told them it was a puma before they even went on that mission.

Kim might have had a battle suit to protect her, but Ron didn't, and should have been told ahead of time the kind of danger it really was so he could better prepare himself, even if it meant not going.

Third Thought: Since when does Kim have a Cuddle Buddy collection? I know it's been mentioned before, but her Pandaroo is the only one that's ever seen. I'd hardly call that a collection.

Not trying to be insulting, I'm saying it'd be nice to see Kim with other Cuddle Buddies. One Cuddle Buddy does not a collection make, so show us the other ones she has.

Fourth Thought: Ron needs to work on not telling other people about Kim's secrets. Not just about the battle suit, but her Cuddle Buddy collection was also meant to be a secret and he shouldn't have told Larry about that either.

Fifth Thought: Not really role model behavior from Kim here:

Says she and Larry don't share the same planet.

Runs out of the comic shop exclaiming "real world" as though spending time around geeks is physically harmful.

She apologizes for putting down Larry's interests at the end, but then makes a condescending comment about real life being cooler than science fiction.

(Kim's real life might be cooler than made-up scenarios, but the average person's real life isn't.)

Sixth Thought: Gotta agree with June here: a guy who willingly stands around during a fight, comments on how it's like a video game, ignores the suggestion to get to safety because "it's just getting good", and gets into a helicopter with strange people assuming it's a LARP for his birthday, is not someone who should be left alone.

Seventh Thought: Why is Larry's birthday party being thrown at Kim's house? Shouldn't it be thrown at Larry's house?

Kim's kind of condescending, but I feel bad that she has to either attend a party she, no doubt, doesn't want to go to, or spend the whole day out of her own house to avoid it.

Also, I feel bad for Kim, with her closet getting blown up. I know it probably gets fixed quickly, but I still feel bad for her.

Eighth Thought: Does June not have any pictures of Larry dressed in normal clothing to use for the posters? Is the wizard costume the only outfit he ever took a picture in?

Ninth Thought: Kim doesn't care about Ron or Hana. Okay, that's probably not true, but she should never have suggested that Ron bring his baby sister on a mission when he's supposed to be watching her.

(Would you be okay if your SO told you to bring your baby sister on a potentially life-threatening adventure?)

She called it "recon" and said it wouldn't be dangerous, but she was clearly expecting to run into Dementor and his henchman while doing it, and thus expecting a fight. And Ron would have had to protect himself and Hana while fighting. This is not the behavior of someone who cares about Ron or his loved ones.

(Especially when she will adamantly deny needing Ron on missions, so, if she had truly believed it wouldn't be dangerous, there was no reason to bring him along anyways. And if she had believed it would be dangerous, she should never have suggested bringing the baby.)

Also, it's not really fair of Kim to not believe Ron when he said he didn't blow up the lair. Ron is canonically a terrible liar, and he wouldn't lie in the first place. He'd own up to his mistake, like he's done every other time he accidentally destroyed something.

Final Thought: Regardless of Larry thinking the whole thing was a LARP, he was pretty badass at the end. He needs a reality check and his own battle suit. He would make great backup on a mission.

(Ron also needs his own battle suit, but that's a discussion for another time.)

Kim Possible: Great Hero, Not So Great Person (Redux)

I've rewatched the show more recently and noticed some new details, so I've decided to redo my first post on this blog.

Kim is known for saving the world and helping people with things like park cleanups and cats stuck in trees.

But she is also known to put her own desires before her friends, even if it causes them harm.

And that is not something a good person does.

These are not "mistakes" because Kim is doing them intentionally.

And it's not a one-time thing:

"Bueno Nacho"

Kim forges an application in Ron’s name before she even brings up the idea of working there to him.

When he's upset with her for doing that, she uses the puppy dog pout, which he explicitly states she knows he can't resist, to get him to take the job.

She refuses to be supportive of him or happy for him when he turns out to be good at it, to the point of refusing to do the job at all.

I will give Kim credit for apologizing for her jealousy, but she never apologizes for manipulating him to take the job in the first place.

"The New Ron"

She forces Ron into a haircut, despite the fact that even her own mother had reservations about it.

When Ron tells her he hates it and why, she feigns sympathy, steals his hat, and runs through the halls yelling that he got a new haircut.

When Ron starts to embrace the new haircut and becomes popular, she hates it. But despite his popularity, he's not a jerk.

He didn't abandon Rufus, Rufus wandered off and Ron gently chastised him for it.

She was only upset because Ron was starting to change into someone who cared about hair care and appearances.

(Which, if that wasn't her goal with the new haircut, then what was her goal?)

She apologizes for saying Ron needed a new haircut, but not for the lengths she went to to force him into one, nor for her contempt for him after he started to embrace the haircut.

At the end, she tries to tell him that it's what's on the inside that counts, but it's very hypocritical since she was the one who wanted him to change in the first place.

"Crush"

Kim locks Ron in the janitor closet, though semi-unintentionally; she wasn't intending to lock him in there, but she did shove him back in when he was trying to leave.

She ignores Wade’s attempts at reaching her, even though Wade never contacts her unless it’s important.

(I will give Kim some leeway here, as a teenage girl deserves one night to herself.)

She also expressed no concern at Ron being missing, nor does she seem to even notice he's missing.

We also have no idea how long Ron spent in that closet, but even just an hour is too long.

(Also, that is a really big janitor's closet. The ones at my high school were closet sized, not room sized.)

"October 31st"

When Kim's told the bracelet is armor that grows when she lies, she keeps lying, even though it was probably unnecessary. Her parents and Ron would have been understanding about her wanting to go to a party with her crush.

Her actions led to her destroying Monique's garage door, which probably landed Monique in trouble.

And though Kim does get grounded for lying, she doesn't get in trouble for putting others in danger.

(Probably because Wade's the only one who could confirm that she knew she was putting others in danger.)

"The Twin Factor"

She uses the Neural-Compliance Chips on her brothers, after saying that just making them would be unethical.

After an entire episode about how bad they are.

After being a victim of them herself.

It’s meant to be a joke.

This is not the kind of thing anyone should joke about.

"Grudge Match"

Kim thinks telling Ron that he might stand a chance with a girl is "fudging".

At this point, they know so little about Zita that they think her name is Annie.

There's no reason to believe Ron wouldn't stand a chance except for having a low opinion of Ron in general.

They also had their conversation about it while sitting across the table from Ron at Bueno Nacho, so there's a good chance he heard them.

And despite this belief that he doesn't stand a chance, she spends the rest of the episode angrily telling him that there are no rules to try to encourage him to ask her out.

"Adventures in Rufus-Sitting"

Ron's steps of taking care of Rufus aren't just long because he's an exotic animal, those are also things Ron learned about taking care of Rufus from experience.

He also refers to Rufus as his son in "Mind Games", so Kim's disregard for how to take care of Rufus is extra mean given that Rufus clearly means a lot to Ron.

Not only does Rufus accidentally eat the chip due to Kim's negligence, she doesn't even notice it's missing until Wade tells her it's broadcasting a signal from inside Rufus.

And she lies to Ron about all of it on multiple occasions. I can understand some of them, since she was dealing with an emergency, but this is the kind of thing pet owners like to know about.

"Exchange"

Kim and Monique were both arranging “accidental” run-ins with Hirotaka to ask him out, but Kim’s the only one who had Wade track Hirotaka’s movements to do it.

I know Monique couldn’t do that, but the point is, Kim took it to creepy stalker levels for a guy she’s known for less than a week.

(I'm also interested in the fact that Monique was confident she could take Kim in a fight.)

"Return to Wannaweep"

Though Kim and Bonnie both sabotage each other, Kim started it.

She unplugged Bonnie’s alarm clock, supposedly to charge the Kimmunicator, but there was another available outlet that she could’ve used.

She also uses all the hot water in the showers so Bonnie can’t have any, which wouldn’t harm just Bonnie but anyone else who may need to use the showers after Bonnie.

And she refuses to take any of Ron's feelings seriously.

Even if Gil hadn't actually been up to something, Ron was still stuck sharing a cabin with a guy who used to bully him and had attacked him and the squad at some point. He has every right to be uncomfortable with it, but Kim keeps dismissing his feelings because she's too focused on sabotaging Bonnie so she could win a plastic stick that's been painted gold.

Dr. Lurkin apologizes to Ron for not taking him seriously, but Kim doesn't.

"Go Team Go"

Despite getting on Ron's case for cheating in "Naked Genius", which is completely fair, Kim had no problems using her newfound super strength for gym class or cheerleading, which is unfair and hypocritical of her.

"The Big Job"

Though I agree the "doofy" and "stupido" thing was embarrassing, coupons shouldn't be embarrassing, especially since Kim isn't offering to pay for it herself.

I can understand how the kids' menu thing was embarrassing, especially since Kim wouldn't want to order a kids' meal. However, she should just let Ron order of the kids' menu if he wants to.

The whole plot around getting jobs would have been better if Kim was getting one to pay for dates herself, not to "encourage" Ron to get one to pay for dates.

And then Ron decides Kim deserves better and starts looking for a job himself anyways.

"Fashion Victim"

I could understand being upset about not getting to see the designs, but Monique signed an NDA and would be risking not just her job but her future career in the fashion industry if she told Kim. And having Wade check the contract for loopholes is obsessive and could’ve landed them all in legal trouble.

Hassling Monique to break an NDA and trying to get Wade to find a loophole so Monique can tell her is the kind of thing Kim would've gotten fired for.

(Also, there is no way Wade was just given a copy of that NDA, so he's definitely in trouble if Monique ever decides to snitch on him.)

"Big Bother"

We learn in "A Sitch in Time" that Kim always wanted a little sister, so it's no surprise that she took to Hana immediately.

But Ron's life was changed against his will without warning while he was at school, so a little sympathy would be expected from his girlfriend. Especially since the attic isn't as nice or comfortable as his old bedroom.

When Yori needs Ron's help on a mission, Kim refuses to let him go because she doesn't trust Ron alone with Yori, even though he's never given her any reason to think he'd be disloyal and Yori had requested help from him specifically.

"Clothes Minded"

I know they’re criminals who are behind bars, but that doesn’t make it right for Kim to use The Fashionistas’ design without their permission.

Monique didn't know it was The Fashionistas' design, and Rufus is a six-year-old rodent, so he wouldn't know any better.

But Kim did know it was their design.

I know they wanted her to bust them out, and I'm not saying she should, but it doesn't seem right for her to use their design without their permission.

(It's also kind of a disappointment that Kim is wearing a design made by The Fashionistas instead of Monique, her fashionable best friend who helped her put them behind bars in the first place. That would've been so much cooler.)

"The Cupid Effect"

At no point should Kim and Ron have been trying to get Monique to date Wade.

(A more realistic way of handling that would be to have them tease her about it for a bit, not seriously asking her to consider it.)

Also, Kim didn't actually need to hit Monique with the Cupid Ray just because she "didn't have time" to deal with Monique being upset. She was in a car, she could've driven away.

Because she did, Monique refused to leave Wade's side and ended up on a mission that she would have never gone on if she had been herself at the time.

Conclusion:

If this show handled relationships a bit more realistically, people would at least be mad at Kim for her actions, and stay mad. Kim being a hero doesn’t excuse such behavior, nor does her being a teenager.

As an action hero, Kim is great; cool, calm, collected, and always victorious.

But as a person, Kim is controlling, competitive, manipulative, insensitive, and more focused on her own wants than others around her.

And those aren't qualities someone who's meant to be a role model should have.

Pick One: Magical Girl Show or Rom-com. You cannot be both.

Early in season four we get the episode Gang of Secrets. An episode that ends with Marinette outing her secret identity to Alya. A touching moment that sparked outrage across the fandom because it meant that Marinette had made the choice to reveal her identity to her best friend while keeping her hero partner in the dark.

This choice spat in the face of the exceptions that many fans had for the series. Thousands of pre-season-four fanfics feature moments where Ladybug and Chat Noir promise each other that they'll be the first to know each other's identities. After the Alya reveal, scores of fanfics were written to salt on Marinette's choice to tell the "wrong" person.

Most of these fics feature a betrayed Chat Noir quitting or otherwise punishing Ladybug for breaking their promise to be each other's first, thereby destroying his faith in their partnership. But that promise was never made on screen. It only existed in the realms of fanfic and, when Chat Noir finally found out in canon, his reaction was largely neutral. He never once blamed Ladybug for her choice or pushed for a reveal or even asked for the right to tell one of his friends.

So what happened here? Why did the fans have such wildly unrealistic expectations of canon? Were their expectations even unrealistic or did canon betray them? The answer to that is not as straight forward as you might think because it all comes back to one of Miraculous' many, many, many writing problems: Miraculous is trying to be both a Magical Girl Show and a romantic comedy, but those are not genres that mesh. You can only be one (or you can be a third thing that we'll get to at the end as it's the easiest way to fix this mess, but I want to mostly focus on where the anger is coming from and why the writing is to blame.)

To discuss this mismatch, we're going to do something that breaks my heart and talk about some of Origins flaws. While I love that episode and unironically refer to it as the best writing the show ever gave us, it's not perfect and its flaws are all focused around trying to set up both genres. Do note that I'm going to use a lot of gender binary language here as magical girl shows have a strong focus on gender segregation and rarely if ever acknowledge gender diversity.

Let's Talk Magical Girls

Magical girl shows are shows that center on young women and their friendships. While male love interests are often present in these shows, the boys tend to take a backseat and function primarily as arm candy while the girls save the day and carry the narrative.

A great example of this is the show Winx Club. This show features a large cast of teenage girls who save the magical universe from various threats with their magical powers. Each girl has a love interest, but the boys are usually off doing their own thing and only occasionally show up for a date or to give the girls a ride on their cool bikes or magical spaceship. I don't even think that we see the guys fight or, if we do, it's a rare thing. They are not there to save the day. They are there to be shipping fodder.

Like most magical girl shows, Winx Club starts with the main character making friends with one of the girls who will eventually become part of her magical girl squad. This brings us back to Miraculous.

Did you ever find it weird that Origins implies that Marinette has no friends? She doesn't even have a backbone until new girl Alya shows up to become Marinette's First Real Friend:

Marinette: I so wish I can handle Chloé the way you do. Alya: You mean the way Majestia does it. She says all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing. (pointing at Chloé) Well, that girl over there is evil, and we are the good people. We can't let her get away with it.

This is a bizarre opening because Miraculous is not about Marinette making friends or learning to stand up for herself. If you skipped Origins and just watched the rest of the show, then you'd have no clue that Marinette wasn't close with her classmates before this year. You also wouldn't know that Alya was new in town and you definitely wouldn't know that Marinette had never stood up to Chloé before this year. So why is this here? Why waste screen time setting up elements that aren't actually important to canon?

Miraculous did it for the same reason that Winx Club did it: magical girl shows traditionally start with the main character making friends with at least one of her eventual female teammates because Magical Girl shows are all about the girls and their relationships. The boys are just arm candy.

But Miraculous isn't a magical girl show. The writers have explicitly stated that it's a rom-com and romantic comedies aren't about female friendship. They might have female friendships in them, but that's not where the focus is. The focus of a rom-com is on the romance and Origins is very clearly all about the romance.

Origins as a Rom-com

Origins has a lot on its plate. It has to establish the villain's motivation for the first time, show us how the heroes got their miraculous, show us how the heroes first met on both sides of the mask, show us how they met their respective best friends, and show us how the heroes dealt with their first akuma. It would be perfectly understandable if this 40 minute two-parter didn't do anything with the romance. They have a full show to give us that!

In spite of this, Origins has some incredibly touching moments for both Ladynoir and Adrienette because romance is the heart of Miraculous. It is the main focus of the show. The driving motivation for both of our leads and the majority of the show's episodes. To tell the story of how their journey started without at least one of them falling in love would feel wrong. That's why we see both of them fall in love!

First we get Chat Noir giving his heart to his bold and brilliant lady, then we get Marinette's heart being stolen by the shy sweet boy who never once thought to blame her for her snap judgement of his character. We even get a touching moment where Chat Noir inspires his lady to accept her role and be Ladybug, leading her to boldly face their enemy and call him out:

Roger: I have a new plan, unlike you! Move aside and let the pros do their thing. You've already failed once! Ladybug: …He's right, you know. If I'd captured Stoneheart's akuma the first time around, none of this would have happened! I knew I wasn't the right one for this job… Cat Noir: No. He's wrong, because without you, she'd no longer be here. (they look at Chloe) And because without us, they won't make it, and we'll prove that to 'em. Trust me on this. Okay? Ladybug: Okay.

I love this moment, but it does lose a little of its power when you remember that we had an Alya-driven variation of this exact same thing five minutes prior:

Alya: HELP!! (Marinette suddenly gets filled with courage. She gets the case out of Alya's bag and puts on the Miraculous. Then, Tikki appears, happy to see Marinette again.) Tikki:(raising her arms) Mmmm! Marinette: I think I need Ladybug! Tikki: I knew you'd come around! Marinette: Well, I'm still not sure I'm up for this, but Alya's in danger. I can't sit back and do nothing.

This scene initially confused me because - if Miraculous is a rom-com - then why would you make Alya the reason that Marinette became Ladybug? Why wouldn't you have Chat Noir be the one in danger so that Marinette chose to fight because of her love interest and then encourage that bond with the later scene of him encouraging her? Why split the focus like this? Why give Alya so much attention?

In case you haven't figured it out, it's because Origins is trying to establish two different genres of show. Two genres that will continue to fight for the rest of the series (or at least the first five seasons).

Magical Girls Vs Rom-com

Why is Alya the one to shake off the nightmare dust and inspire the others during the season five finale? Why is Alya the one that Marinette trusts with all of her plans while Chat Noir is kept in the dark? Why does Alya and Marinette's friendship get so much more focus than Adrien and Nino's? Why was Alya the only temp hero who got upgraded to full time hero?

It's because Alya is Marinette's second in command in a magical girl show and magical girl shows focus on female friendships while the boys are just there to be cute and support the girls.

Why do most of Marinette's talks with Alya focus on Adrien? Why is Chat Noir the only other full time holder of a Miraculous for the first three seasons and then again for the final season? Why do Marinette's friends become more and more obsessed with Adrienentte as the show goes on? Why is the love square's identity reveal given so much more narrative weight than any other identity reveal?

It's because Miraculous is a rom-com and the love square is our end game couple, so of course the story focuses on their relationship above all else!

Are you starting to see the problem?

Circling back to our original question: no, it was not unreasonable for the fans to expect that the Alya reveal would have massive negative consequences for Ladynoir. That is what should happen in a rom-com and Miraculous is mainly written like a rom-com. But the writers are also trying to write a magical girl show and, in a magical girl show, Alya and Marinette's friendship should be the most important relationship in the show, so it makes perfect sense that the show treats the Alya reveal as perfectly fine because the Alya reveal was written from the magical girl show perspective.

When it comes to Miraculous, if you ever feel like a writing choice makes no sense for genre A, re-frame it as a thing from genre B and it suddenly makes perfect sense which is fascinatingly terrible writing! It's no wonder there are people who hate the Alya reveal and people who will defend it with their life. It all depends on which genre elements you've picked up on and clung to. Neither side is right, they've both been set up to have perfectly valid expectations. Whether those expectations are valid for a given episode is entirely up to the mercurial whims of the writers!

How Do We Fix This Mess

At this point, I don't think that we can, the show is too far gone, but if someone gave me the power to change one element of Miraculous, that element would be this: scrap both the magical girl stuff and the rom-com stuff and turn Miraculous into a team show where the friendships transcend gender.

At this point, I've written over a quarter of a million words of fanfic focused on these characters (the brain rot is real) and one thing I've discovered is that it is damn near impossible to keep Adrien and Alya from becoming friends. They're both new to their school while Marinette and Nino have gone to the same school for at least a few years. Alya and Adrien are both obsessed with Ladybug plus Adrien is a natural hype man who loves to support his friends and Alya loves to talk about her blog. Alya is dating Adrien's best friend. On top of that, Alya, Adrien, Nino, and Marinette are all in the same class, meaning that they pretty much have to be spending time together five days a week unless French school don't give kids a chance to socialize or do group projects. If so, then judging them for the first issue, but super jealous of the latter.

Given all of that, why in the world is does it feel like Alya is Marinette's close friend while Adrien is just some guy who goes to Alya's school? Along similar lines, while canon Marinette barely talks to Nino, I've found that Marinette and Nino tend to get along smashingly, especially if you embrace the fact that they have to have known each other for at least a few years.

If you embrace this wider friendship dynamic and scrap the girl squad, replacing it with Alya, Adrien, Marinette, and Nino, then the fight for narrative importance quickly goes away. It's no longer a question of is this episode trying to be a magical girl show or a rom-com? Instead, the question is: which element of the friend group is getting focused on today? The romance or the friendship?

A lot of hero shows do this and do it well. I think that one of the most well known examples is Teen Titans. That show has five main characters and the focus is usually on their friendships, but there is a very clear running romantic tension between the characters Robin and Starfire with several episodes giving a good deal of focus to their romance. I'd say that this element really starts in the show's the 19th episode - Date with Destiny - and it all culminates in the movie that capstones the series: Trouble in Tokyo. The character Beast Boy also gets a romance arc and, while it's more short lived, it's further evidence that you can have strong romances and strong friendships in the same show and even the same episode. You just have to own the fact that boys and girls can be friends with each other, a very logical thing to embrace when your show has decided to have a diverse cast of heroes instead of imposing arbitrary gender limitations on its magical powers.

I couldn't figure out a way to work this into the main essay, but it's relevant so I wanted to quickly point it out and give you more to think about re Origins. Have you ever found it weird how Origins gives both Adrien AND Marinette the "I've never had friends before" backstory and yet wider canon acts like Marinette has this strong amazing friend group while Adrien doesn't seem to care about making friends and instead focuses all his energy on romance? Why give both the protagonist and the supposed deuteragonist this kind of origin if it's not going to be a major element of the show? It makes so much more sense to only give one of them this backstory and then focus that person's character arc on learning about friendship.