They Ship In Warmies Who Think They Know War But No One Knows War Before

I feel a need to bring this back in the wake of the canonical representation of Adrien as a princess and Marinette as his knight in shining armor

Gender Roles in Miraculous Ladybug

Miraculous Ladybug is filled with excellent subversions of gender stereotypes. And no, I'm not just going to say it's feminist, because what I'm talking about is much broader than that. The show is filled with characters that refuse to fit the standard roles their gender lays out for them, both for female and male roles.

Let's start with the most obvious example, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, or Ladybug. It's pretty clear that her character and function in the story revolts against stereotypes of femininity: she is a woman—well, a girl—but she leads her team, which is a traditionally male role. She is the decision-maker, the rationalist, the realist, the one who catastrophizes before she hopes—this is stark contrast to the traditional expectation that women follow and comfort, holding the team up with optism and joy. She is the head, not the heart (that's Adrien). She is driven, strong, determined, and self-assured.

Adrien, too, subverts stereotypes—perhaps more than Marinette, although it's not something you notice immediately like Marinette's subversions. (This is because we're familiar with the patterns of feminist characters, but not the anti-sexism found in Adrien.) At heart, Adrien is arguably the most clasically "feminine" character in the show. On the surface, it's easy to see—he is a model, objectified for his beauty, something that has been done to women for all of history and is still being done today. But it runs deeper, too. He is submissive, mild, willing to bend to other's will—both his father's and Ladybug's, as well as the desires of other people in his class like Chloe and Lila (both of whom are, interestingly, women). His kindness and sensitivity, as well as his role as the heart and support when suited up, all mirror traditionally feminine traits and roles.

And yet, despite all this subversion, neither of the main characters are simply a rebellion against stereotypes. It's clear in Chat Noir's tendency to flirt and his function as a protector, but it's especially evident in Marinette, who doesn't just subvert female stereotypes—she also fulfills them.

Marinette is a leader, a thinker, a pessimist, but she's also interested in fashion and art, both of which are considered feminine. More than that, she's incredibly kind, exemplifying that women can abandon the negative feminine stereotypes of submission and obedience without sacrificing the positives like kindness and selflessness. And finally, she's clearly not a "strong independent woman who don't need no man" because she wants a man. No, she doesn't need a boyfriend, but she wants one. True feminism doesn't mean women throwing aside all romantic relationships, it means not pressuring women either way, into or away from romance. Marinette can be strong and independent while still loving someone and wanting to be loved back.

The characters in Miraculous Ladybug are not governed by stereotypes. They were written to be good, nuanced characters, not feminist characters. Marinette has both feminine and masculine traits, proving that traditional "feminine" values are just as valuable as "masculine" ones. Adrien has both, but far more feminine than masculine traits, demonstrating that masculinity is not superior, and that toxic masculinity is just as harmful as classic sexism.

Miraculous Ladybug didn't say "We need to stop forcing women to be feminine," which is a common and harmful misinterpretation of the feminist vision. It didn't say "We should let women act like men!" or "Femininity is bad! Let's leave it all behind." It said, "Stereotypes—both for men and women—are harmful, and we should let people just be people instead of defining them by their genders." It created a world where there are no traditionally feminine and masculine traits, there are just people traits, and anyone can be anyone.

Here are some Plance kisses I doodled!

(and now the last one, but with glasses:)

Septimus Heap has the ultimate found family. You start with the core seven-son family, which is already guaranteed to have at least nine members. Not to mention they have a crazy aunt and at least six uncles, as well as a tree or two.

Throw in an adopted daughter, 1.5 ducks and 0.5 of a cat, the youngest son's adoptive mother/mentor/BFF and semi-adoptive father/kidnapper, the adopted daughter's biological dad, the youngest son's best friend who will someday be the adopted daughter's boyfriend, a ghost uncle, the youngest son's first best friend/adoptive brother from his childhood in the army who is probably also the second oldest son's boyfriend, the youngest son's dragon, and the oldest son's wife.

Oh, and don't forget the ghost uncle's ghost girlfriend, the mother, father, and brother of the oldest son's wife, the second youngest son's girlfriend and her transforming panther, maybe a couple witches (or maybe not), the adopted daughter's ghost mom and ghost grandmother, the oldest son's pet tennis ball, the adopted daughter's pet rock(s), and a centuries-old magical grandpa who you can only see by exiting time.

And we haven't even gotten to the sequel series yet!

I'm an asexual Plance shipper and a fan of Miraculous Ladybug. The pundit should declare me the best punster on the planet, but all my puns are either punbearable or so punassuming that no one even notices them.

I was 100% expecting Chat to say "yes, m'lady, I'm well aware" when Ladybug pulled this in Optigami

I had like twenty scenes from the first three Stormlight books I wanted to illustrate before the fourth book came out, but . . . *Glances at countdown to RoW I definitely don't have on my bedside table* Yeah, that's not gonna happen. So here are some doodles of Syl.

some orbs before bed

please don’t tag kin or post to other websites

I saw this, and . . .

I feel like we can all agree that Pidge would be the one trying to find her paladin armour for something, and Lance would be the one standing in the background whining "but you promised you'd have dinner with me! I had candles and music planned and everything! How could you do this to me?"

Unpopular opinion: Vin/Elend is actually really well written.

Not because of the pining/buildup in the first book, but because of the way the established relationship was written in books two and three. It's rare to see characters together, on screen, in stories. Rarer still to see them having problems that they work through, arguments, doubts, differences, and issues that they overcome because they love each other, even if they're different people. Rarest of all to see love that lets a character sacrifice their loved one for the world as the loved one would want, instead of sacrificing the world for the loved one.

So, has anyone figured out yet that I love this boy