Ik I Should Be Working On The Next Character Notes (it’s Between Alya Or Chloe, But I’ll Probably

(Edit: Added more purple.)

The original design had a pretty strong base, I just needed to add a bit more of Alya’s signature “practical journalist vibe”. (Like the renaming of her blog) she won’t be called Lady Wi-Fi, as she isn’t specifically motivated by just Ladybug. The new name we have is Network, but if you have any other suggestions, I’m all ears!

Wanted to draw something for the day, and this idea has in the back of my mind for a bit now.

Hello my friend, can you help my children? Look at my page and I hope

Vetted by 90-ghost, north gaza updated @90-ghost @northgazaupdates @el-shab-hussein

So what has changed for your European Miracle box?

Here’s what’s been established:

The prime Kwami (a duo of Kwami who are the most powerful in their given box) are Nooroo and Duusu (they got moved to this box so that they can be primes when Tikki and Plagg are the Celestial Box’s prine Kwami and because it doesn’t make sense for Emilie and Gabriel to get them otherwise, since the Feast incident never occurred in MTS).

For similar reasons, Trixx is one of the European Miracle Box’s Elder Kwami, and was stolen many centuries ago… There will be 2 or 3 other Elder Kwami for the EMB, but like the minor Kwami, we haven’t created them yet.

As I’ve said previously, Miracle Box and general Kwami lore mostly gets explored in Miraculous: Unlimited, which would be a sequel to Miraculous: The Series. Because it’s a sequel, it (and the lore found within it) is a lot hazier and more incomplete than the story of MTS. Basically, be prepared to be a little bit disappointed when asking about Miracle Boxes and Kwami, because other than the canon Kwami and Flicc, we haven’t fully developed these elements yet. If you have questions about the show’s characters, I will probably be able to answer those since character work is a huge part of MTS, which we’ve more or less figured out.

Thanks for the ask!

Okay, now it’s time for the actual main characters.

I tried to make them look good both as stand-alone characters and as a duo (I got CN first try, but this LB was actually my second attempt at designing her…)

(Let’s just say his design needed a second chance)

Aw dang, I can’t believe I forgot to post Alix. I kinda tried to give her more of a roller derby vibe (whilst also taking a bit of inspiration from her Greenhopper concept art), but idk if I hit the mark or not. I still think she looks cool though.

I feel bad I didn't ask this soon, I genuinely just realized I never asked this, but what miraculous make your Asia Continental/Celestial Miracle Box and your European Continental Miracle Box?

Thank you for the ask!

I’ll start with the part of the question that I can answer in entirety. For organizational purposes, I’ll be listing the Kwami in a sort of hierarchical order that is also part of Unlimited’s Kwami lore.

Celestial Miracle Box:

Prime Kwami - Tikki (kwami of creation), Plagg (kwami of destruction)

Elder Kwami - Pollen (kwami of regulation), Wayzz (kwami of protection), Flicc (kwami of revelation)

Minor Kwami - Mullo (kwami of division), Stompp (kwami of determination), Roarr (kwami of elation), Fluff (kwami of preservation), Longg (kwami of composition), Sass (kwami of intuition), Kaalki (kwami of migration), Ziggy (kwami of abstraction), Xuppu (kwami of disruption), Orikko (kwami of commotion), Barkk (kwami of devotion), Daizzi (kwami of distraction)

As for the Continental European Miracle Box, we’ve got a lot more to figure out.

Prime Kwami - Nooroo* (kwami of presentation), Duusu (kwami of animation)

Elder Kwami - Trixx (kwami of illusion), ??? (Number of elder kwami not determined)

Minor Kwami - ??? (Also not yet determined. Apologies y’all, we haven’t been thinking on that part of the story too much yet. I seriously underestimated how interested people would be in the miracle boxes.)

(The number of minor kwami for the average miracle box is about 6-20, depending on the number of elder kwami and what the kwami are based on. For example, the celestial minor kwami are based off of the Chinese Zodiac calendar. So the European Kwami might be based something relevant to the history of the continent. As for what that is… we’re still workshopping it. Like I said, sorry guys.)

*When making this decision, it has come to my attention that it’s kinda confusing to have a European Miraculous have a power (akumas) that references Japanese folklore (then again, wasn’t it implied that the miraculous either came from China or Tibet despite neither of those locations having something to do with akumas?). Regardless, we’ll likely either change the name of the power to something else (maybe make it a spoken word like almost every other power?) or not directly refer to it by name.

(I also realize that the same problem can be applied to amoks.)

Also idk if I should have included this on the main post or not, but the main reason why Alya doesn’t approve of Ladybug at first is (along with her not liking secret identities) she feels that Ladybug’s Miracle Cure/Miraculous Ladybugs are causing the city to become more complacent, expecting everything to get fixed rather than trying to protect themselves. Just like Chat Noir’s Wildcats lend credence to Alya’s concerns over his destructive potential, Marinette eventually having to give up the Miracle Cure kinda prove Alya’s point, even if she’s still wrong about wanting to expose them. (MTS has a lot of conflicts where both sides have a point/there isn’t a clear “bad guy” in the argument.)

Alright, breaking out of my procrastination bubble to finally do:

Alya MTS!

As per usual, the four categories:

1. General Info

2. Personality

3. Key Relationships

4. Character Growth

1. General Info

I kinda feel like I should preface this with a massive “hear me out”, because her character goes in a VERY different direction from most Alyas.

Not only does she only become Marinette’s best friend at the end of season 2 (as both characters have a lot they need to do first), but “Alya the fangirl” isn’t really a part of her MTS character. She still runs a blog, but it probably won’t be titled “The Ladyblog” (which is sad, because that name is ICONIC), because she focuses on the two heroes pretty equally, and doesn’t want to seem “unprofessional”.

Basically, we took the “Alya is sometimes presented as the practical voice of reason character” and “Alya initially wants to find Ladybug’s identity”, along with the MTS LB and CN getting into some mishaps early in their career, and made her much more skeptical and critical of the heroes. She doesn’t think the safety of the city should be placed in the hands of two strange teenagers (she especially doesn’t trust Chat Noir, since his power is pretty dangerous and he’s pretty reckless with it at first) and wants to find out all of their secrets. Is she in the right? Not completely, but she isn’t 100% wrong to have criticisms of the heroes either.

She fills a pretty interesting role in the earlier portion of the show, where she is technically an (initial) antagonist to the heroes, but isn’t a bad person (in fact, she’s fairly altruistic), as a contrast to Chloe (Marinette’s initial civilian antagonist) and Felix (Adrien’s initial civilian antagonist) who are more morally grey/not concerned with doing “the right thing”.

This is also a bit more of a minor note, but while Alya’s family still moved to France from Martinique, they did so much earlier than they did in the original, (likely when Alya was around ten), so she has lived in France for a few years now.

2. Personality

As I mentioned, this iteration of Alya is a bit more grounded, and tries to be logical and mature. She cares a lot about morality, ethics, and safety, with helping people being her top priority. Her fixation on the truth extends to this, as she believes that knowledge is the only way people can take care of themselves. She’s still very passionate, but tries to direct her energy into trying to be a “legitimate journalist” and often forgets to just let herself be a kid.

Her viewpoints do lack a bit of nuance at first, as she doesn’t realize how important secrets can be, and can get a bit too caught up in her own judgments (in hindsight, MTS Marinette is a lot more understanding than her canon counterpart due to her new backstory, while MTS Alya is kind of the reverse). It’s worth noting that a lot of Alya’s more intense traits are amplified by her fear. Having your city bombarded with demon butterfly possessed supervillains with your only source of protection being mysterious animal-themed teenagers with overwhelming power isn’t very good for your mental health.

Because of these fixations, she often struggles with the more “normal teenager stuff” like friendships and romance. Her blunt nature also makes it difficult to socialize, but her earnest, loyal, honest, and slightly awkward demeanor make her quite endearing once you get to know her (this might not be completely essential to one’s understanding of her character, but MTS Alya likely falls somewhere on the autistic spectrum).

3. Key Relationships

Marinette: These two have occasionally crossed paths in their more recent years (Nora would frequently take Alya with her to the same gym Kim and Marinette go to together), but never really noticed each other until now. Alya mostly sees Marinette as the kind but nervous girl who sits next to her, and is especially worried about her safety after Alya realizes that her “new best friend” Lila is bad news. Marinette is still pretty nervous about Alya finding out she’s Ladybug (although she’s stopped trying to find out the heroes’ identities at this point). After the two (unknowingly on Alya’s part) take down Lila and stop her villainy, the two become proper friends. Marinette helps Alya get more accustomed to the more casual aspects of being a teenager, and Alya helps Marinette begin to recover from her friendship issues. They help each other let their guard a bit more, despite both being such high strung individuals.

Nino: Unlike the original show, Alya and Nino never have a romantic relationship (no hate on DJ-WiFi, the MTS iterations of their characters just aren’t compatible romantically; believe me, we tried!) but do form a strong bond nonetheless. They do get to a rocky start (as Nino mistakens Rena Rouge for Volpina and tries to take her down as Carapace), but after better understanding each other, they team up and build a friendship. Nino makes Alya realize that she doesn’t have to be responsible for everything 24/7, while Alya shows him the importance of putting more effort into things (besides his brother and heroing). Their differing personalities balance each other really well, and while they aren’t hero partners (Nino’s a lone turtle), they work really well as a team.

Chloe: They start off with a small rivalry (which I alluded to in my Chloe post), but quickly form a common enemy. That, alongside Chloe’s arc about caring for others as an actual hero, and Alya’s arc about being more patient with others, and they have a lot to offer each other. For these reasons (and then being the only two heroes with public identities), they are a superhero duo much like Ladybug and Chat Noir. Though Alya gradually accepts Chloe’s dramatics, she doesn’t tolerate her slacking off or making things about herself during an active threat to the city (has the energy of “she’ll fix herself if she knows what’s good for her”). That being said, she does come to enjoy Chloe’s peppy nature and (surprising) ability to be supportive. (However, Chloe’s attempts to get Alya to take “spa days” with her and “treat herself” are met with a mixed reception!)

Lila: Fox versus Fox, Lila and Alya are full-on archenemies. It starts out with Alya simply getting slightly off-putting vibes from Lila, but when she discovers she’s Volpina (after managing to obtain her miraculous that got lost in a fight), she does everything in her power to get her exposed. Likewise, Lila is doing everything she can to get her miraculous back and ruin Alya’s life while she’s at it. Lila coming off as a sweet girl with a lot of friends while Alya’s initial hostility to the heroes and accidentally jarring personality do stack the odds in Lila’s favor, often leading to severe consequences, but Alya is eventually able to team up with the other heroes to take her down. Though Lila is taken into custody, she manages to escape with a dangerous vendetta against Alya…

Other key relationships include her family (particularly Nora and her mom), the heroes (duh), and Zoe.

4. Character Growth

Her main arc is pretty apparent by now. She generally needs to learn to not jump to extreme conclusions when she doesn’t have all the information, as well as be more accepting that people have their reasons for not sharing everything. The two main sequences that help her learn this are her Alakumatization and the Lila/Volpina experience.

Alya gets akumatized when an akuma she captured (attempting to study it to find more about the source of the problem) escapes and corrupts her. She also tries to end the akumatization when Hawk Moth orders her to potentially endanger civilians, but his control over the miraculous (and her) are too strong. After being deakumatized, Alya is a bit more careful in her investigations, and a lot more willing to hear the heroes out (while Alya doesn’t remember being an akuma, just the knowledge that she was corrupted, and the video footage of her as a villain is enough to rattle her).

When dealing with Lila, Alya tries to take the direct approach, both in trying to publically confront Lila for her crimes and by telling the city that she’s the hero Rena Rouge. This inevitably backfires when Lila manages to use her manipulation to avoid being found out and getting Alya in trouble instead. Lila also teams up with Hawk Moth to target Alya’s family, even managing to get Alya akumatized into Vixen Vermillion at her lowest point. She does overcome this, and becomes a lot more tactical with her knowledge in the future. (Alya’s development into tolerating secrets is completed when she finds out that Nino is Carapace, but keeps his secret). She’ll also rename her blog to “The Miracle Blog” after forming a proper respect and camaraderie for the other Miraculous heroes, and shifts from trying to expose or criticize Ladybug and Chat Noir to simply posting any relevant information needed to keep the public safe (which she was doing in the first place but now it’s more of a focus).

Alya also gets the smaller character progression of relaxing a little more, both because she feels safer with her fellow heroes and due to her new friendships helping her appreciate the smaller things in life.

Conclusion:

And that’s a wrap! I know that she might seem a bit odd for an Alya, and her slightly more difficult tendencies may make it seem like we don’t like her very much, but not only was the shift away from her original character intentional (we realize how different we made her), it was not meant to salt on her in any way. On the contrary, we wanted to give her more of a story as her own character, not basing her entire life to revolve around someone else (heck, sometimes she feels like the deuteragonist to Ladybug and Chat Noir’s co-protagonist statuses!). This is particularly what I mean when I said that us rebooting the characters often drastically changed up their original personalities and roles (like many reboots do). Not to hate on what they were, but to tell a different story.

After this I’ll probably explain the new Tikki and Plagg personalities, roles, and development. Then maybe explain the MTS Love Square after that. Thanks for staying patient everyone!

(One more thing: I’m also releasing Alya’s akuma design shortly after this post, so if you enjoy seeing character designs, I’d recommend checking it out!)

Woo, Bubbler!!! (I love this episode sm) I wonder what Gabriel meant by “being disrespected”, as Nino didn’t really say anything rude; then again, it makes sense that he’s so defensive against anything that might even slightly resemble a critique of his (let’s be real) rather flawed parenting style.