Austin And Ally Isn't A Friends To Lovers Story, Its A *takes A Huge Breath* Strangers To Enemies To

nothing makes me feel more alive than being insane about a little show

the sacrifice sometimes is necessary.

After watching Glaciator 2.0, we ought to revisit Hack-San, Rocketear, and Wishmaker after getting more context from this episode, because I really wanna talk about Adrien and Chat Noir's characterizations as of late. Take a look at the scene from Hack-San as an example:

While there have been instances, such as in Oblivio and Troublemaker, where Adrien occasionally displays Chat Noir's mischief and playfulness, you don't usually see Adrien act out or be petty about anything. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't recall Adrien ever "acting out" like this in his civilian form in previous episodes. For the most part, this is the first time Adrien has shown any kind of emotional outburst (or immaturity, I guess?) in his civilian form. Adrien is usually portrayed as being"perfect" because he has to uphold his father's brand. Most of Adrien's emotional range is expressed through Chat Noir because Chat Noir is Adrien's emotional outlet.

We don't typically see Adrien act like this unless he's Chat Noir. Because of this, I have always found it a bit challenging to see Adrien and Chat Noir as the same person. At first, I thought that the writers couldn't make up their minds with his characterization, but now, especially after seeing Wishmaker, I think this disconnect between Adrien and Chat Noir was an intentional writing choice.

It's so easy for the audience to see Adrien and Chat Noir as two separate characters because, in a way, they are. That's certainly how Adrien views himself; he's either this teenage heartthrob who's constantly on his best behaviour, or he's the goofy and mischievous Chat Noir. These two personality traits are seemingly at odds with each other, and yet Adrien somehow embodies them both. This contrast was made especially clear in the art room scene in Lies:

"There. This is really you."

"Do you really think?"

"Yes. You're... perfect."

This scene honestly told us so much more about Adrien than I think most of us realize. A lot of people have analyzed this scene and said that Kagami is able to see Adrien for who he really is, but I don't think that's the case at all. Look at his reaction. If Adrien had a strong sense of self in the first place, then this interaction between him and Kagami wouldn't be like this at all. Adrien would be happy, or at the very least flattered, that someone actually understood him and wanted to get to know the real him. Yet, look at Adrien's face; he's not scared or put off, but he's definitely not happy nor relieved. He's unsure. He's confused. He doesn't connect with Kagami because he doesn't understand what Kagami means. Kagami only sees what she thinks is Adrien's true self, but even Adrien has no clue what that even is.

This season, Adrien is starting to push back against his father, as we saw in Mega Leech, and that line between Adrien and Chat Noir is slowly starting to blur. This "perfect" facade that Adrien has to perform all the time is starting to dissipate. His flaws are starting to show as he's being put in situations where he has to assert himself.

Now, before he can do all of that, Adrien is going to have to come to terms with that the fact that Ladybug isn't interested in Chat Noir, and that the idea of them being together is completely off the table.

Some people might look at this and say "well, yeah, it's about time. Adrien needs to learn about boundaries and stop projecting this fantasy onto Ladybug." That's true, yes, but a lot of people forget just how isolated Adrien is and just how desperate he is for some kind of deep emotional connection. Remember this scene in Glaciator?

"Perhaps Ladybug will love me someday. I mean, like I love her. I have to believe. In the meantime, her friendship is the best gift of all."

Most of us overlooked this scene, but this was a crucial piece of characterization for Adrien, not to mention foreshadowing for Glaciator 2.0.

Of course, Adrien values Ladybug's friendship, but he always had this hope that she was going to fall for him eventually. Whenever horrible things went on in his life, he always turned to Laybug to make him feel better. Even after defeating the akuma in Lies, despite being on rocky terms with Kagami, he doesn't seem as bothered by it because Ladybug was still practically living in his head rent-free.

This is a heavy contrast to the way Marinette felt about her breakup with Luka, which left her devasted.

In Adrien's case, he's not just clinging onto this romantic fantasy, he's become dependent on it for his emotional well-being, so much to the point where it clouds his better judgement. Now he's experiencing emotional whiplash after being faced with the fact that his fantasy won't ever become a reality. He can't depend on this fantasy anymore, because now he has to face all of the loneliness and lack of control he has in his life and realize that he's the only one that can change it.

This is the catalyst for Adrien's character development, and it's going to be intense.

The most adrienette development we've had in season 3 is him following her on instagram in our reality

that time chat was ready to die for ladybug and ladybug was ready to kill for chat

PWs scrambling and saying "Gina was acting and Ricky is the only one with feelings" pretending is not canon Gina was in love with Ricky and it’s most likely burying those feelings because she thinks he never liked her back and it’s clearly trying to make her first relationship work even if it feels like she’s romanticizing everything about it. Media literacy left the room. You cannot pretend all of that was acting with a straight face, not after she ran away. Not even after we have seen her caught up in the moments and quickly checking herself.

I love how the tables have turned though. After 2 seasons of denying Ricky reciprocated Gina’s feelings I’m glad we can agree Ricky is down terribly for her and Rina is following the girl falls first boy falls harder trope. We only have to wait until Gina finds out her feelings for Ricky were never unrequited and she wasn’t just confusing his actions with friendliness as she said on 209.

Kit Snicket? Jacquelyn Scieszka? Olivia Caliban? All stanned

JATP characters/relationships as text messages

yes i am the funniest person alive thank you

HE PROTECC

HE ATTACC

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY

HE LOVE HER BACC

Marilla knows