Rainbow World Is Tonal Dissonance

In The Interest of Fairness...

I am making this post to mention times Kim has done something good, and Ron has done something bad.

First, times Kim's done something nice:

"Mind Games" - It was nice of Kim to beat up Ron's bullies for him while still in his body.

"Pain King vs Cleopatra" - It was nice of Kim to give the tickets to Ron.

"Go Team Go" - Even though she clearly hated it, it was still nice of Kim to cash in a favor so Ron could see the world's first Mucho Grande Bueno Nacho.

And lastly, times Ron's done something bad:

"Naked Genius" - While he hadn't asked Rufus to do his homework for him, he did take it too far by turning in homework he didn't do and letting Rufus keep cheating for him.

"Hidden Talent" - It was definitely not cool of Ron to sign Kim up for the talent show without her permission.

"Larry's Birthday" - Ron apparently blabs Kim's secrets to Larry's friends when they meet up for RPGs, namely how to access her battle suit, and that is definitely something he needs to work on.

So, there we have it; times Kim's been nice and Ron's been mean.

This is so people know that I realize that Ron's not a saint and Kim's not evil incarnate.

I mean, for all I criticize Kim, I can acknowledge when she does something good.

And for all I love Ron, I can acknowledge when he does something bad.

I'm not blind or clueless, and that is why I criticize the show.

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.

Ron was never given any of his own gadgets in the show was he? He was given a communicator in the games and in a stitch in time to keep in contact with kim, but that timeline got delete. And I’m not sure if the games are canon

I never thought about it, it makes episodes like The Fearless Ferret somewhat sad, he really wanted to step out of Kim’s shadow.

Yeah, he was never given his own gadgets. And he always seems impressed by Kim's gadgets.

He was only given a Kimmunicator in "A Sitch in Time", and even then only after Kim had told Wade to make one.

He is sometimes shown using a grappling hook, but Kim's other gadgets are always made for Kim, not Ron.

And it's frustrating that he doesn't get gadgets because even Robin gets gadgets.

Yeah, Ron really wants to step out of Kim's shadow. He wants to be his own hero, or at least considered a partner to Kim, not her inept sidekick.

Ron Deserved Better

Ron deserved better, from a narrative standpoint. Ron was capable of being more than just Kim's sidekick, and it would've been great to have that emphasized more.

In "Tick-Tick-Tick" Ron is the one who comes up with the idea of using hot sauce to short out the tick and a straw to remove it.

In "Bueno Nacho" Ron figures out how to work the laser after messing around with it for less than a minute.

In "Attack of The Killer Bebes" Ron is the one who made the connection that Kim's dad was the next target, came up with the plan to protect him and find out who was behind it all, and made an extremely convincing disguise in less than a day.

(I know Kim wasn't aware of any of this because she wasn't around, but Kim walking off the mission because she was mad isn't a good look for a hero. However, that's not the point of this post.)

In "Sink or Swim" Ron displays stealth, cunning, quick-thinking, improvisation, resourcefulness, and bravery. Even Kim acknowledges this, but only this one time.

In "Animal Attraction" Ron figures out that getting Rufus to eat corn dogs would make him heavy enough to press the button to release them. Simple? Yes. Effective? Also, yes. And most importantly, a plan that Kim had failed to come up with on her own.

In "Royal Pain" Ron manages to use a mini golf prop to stop a bad guy, aimed in such a way that Prince Wally, who was being held in the bad guy's grip at the time, wasn't harmed.

In "The Twin Factor" Ron manages to not just evade Kim and Shego, but trick Shego into undoing his bindings and lasts against them long enough for Jim and Tim to finish their silicon-phase disruptor.

In "Job Unfair" Ron used sneezing powder on Drakken, which managed to take both Drakken and Shego out of the fight. Simple, effective, and clever.

In "Naked Genius" Ron's mangler was actually a fairly decent weapon, especially considering he was just throwing random things together. And his idea to use it against all the armor was brilliant.

In "The Fearless Ferret" Ron actually makes a decent hero at the end, despite the fact that his mentor was a delusional man.

In "Exchange" Ron manages to kick a tree, that then splits cleanly and falls over. That is not a normal amount of strength. He also manages to make his clothes disappear during Bo practice, which, though embarrassing, is also a bit of an impressive feat.

In "Hidden Talent" it's stated that Ron proved quantity was better than quality, but Ron was actually good at half of the acts he performed; tap dancing, ventriloquism, and water glasses.

In "Return to Wannaweep" Ron figures out how to use his new beaver-like mutation and his surroundings to defeat Gil, and figures it pretty quickly.

In "Partners" Ron and Monique manage to build a donut-launching system relatively quickly, and it proves extremely useful in distracting a mutant dinosaur.

In "Oh Boyz" Ron manages to help the Oh Boyz escape by having them use their dance moves to throw off the motion-detecting lasers. He also taught himself their dance moves just by watching them.

In "Triple S" Ron actually did a decent job of staying on the tray and holding the umbrella. I'm not surprised people thought it was a new sport; an average person doing that on accident wouldn't have been able to stay on it at all.

In "Bad Boy" Ron builds dangerous and powerful devices, and has the foresight to track the Kimmunicator's frequency. And the only thing he switched with Drakken was morality, not intelligence. Thus, it's reasonable to assume that Ron is extremely intelligent, he's just not trying.

In "Overdue" Ron goes on several missions alone to retrieve a library book.

In "Stop Team Go" even Shego acknowledges that Ron turning evil again is very bad. And he sends a bunch of Wegos flying through the air immediately afterwards.

And, of course, Ron's powers come into full bloom in "Graduation".

TLDR: Ron was capable of being more than a sidekick, a solo hero in his own right, and it would've been nice if the narrative hadn't treated him as Kim's inept and clumsy sidekick, even when he's being amazing.

Bonus: In defense of his clumsiness, and less than stellar grades, Ron mentions in "The Fearless Ferret" that he has "a slight stigmatism" but that his doctor says he shouldn't need corrective lenses. As someone who needed glasses at Ron's age, and someone who had astigmatism, I can say this; Ron's astigmatism may not be bad enough that he is legally classified as visually impaired, but even with slight astigmatism, it can still make things blurrier than they should be and mess up his ability to see detail, read, and screw with his depth perception.

In other words, Ron isn't horribly clumsy or stupid, he just can't see.

I'm also ace, so I wouldn't notice sexualization as much as someone with a sex drive probably would.

I wouldn't say that the costumes themselves are inherently sexual, though I can't deny that the costumes combined with certain choices in lighting and posing do seem to indicate a desire for showing off certain parts.

My biggest complaint about the costumes is that, despite each hero having their own personal style as civilians, they're all put in generic spandex suits with only minor differences to show their personalities and powers.

And, since Plagg reveals that the costumes are largely based on personal preference, it seems weird that they're all in basically the same costume.

Kind of feels like the creators ignored that bit of lore in order to put them all in tight spandex for some reason.

There are numerous fan designs where the costumes match personal style and are still functional.

So, even if you don't agree with the sexualization, the designs are still kind of...bad.

At the very least, they're boring.

Is it true that Miraculous often sexualizes its characters? Because I see other people say this and want to know if it’s correct

I have not picked up on anything like that in Miraculous, but I'm ace, so sexualization has to be pretty overt for me to notice it on my own. It's entirely possible that there's something subtle that I'm missing. Until someone gives me specific examples, my stance is that this is incorrect. It's not an element that even crosses my mind when it comes to the reasons why I would discourage adults from introducing this show to kids. I am concerned about the quality of the romance between the leads, but that concern comes from a psychological standpoint about modeling what healthy relationships should look like. The love square is way too teen drama for a family show! However, from a purely physical standpoint, it's appropriate for all ages.

In my Unstoppables AU Brick and Tara are siblings, so I thought it'd be fun to edit Tara to have Brick's colors, though I kept her eyes their original color.

I think it's an interesting look, and it helps Tara look more distinct from Jessica, who is also a blue-eyed platinum blonde.

I don't own Tara, but I do own this picture, so please don't use it without my permission.

Thoughts on "Grudge Match"

Specifically the plot surrounding Vivian.

While this episode is supposed to be about how girls can be pretty and smart, there was definitely more than Vivian's looks working against Team Possible in regards to Vivian's identity.

First, she was first mentioned as Dr. Fenn's ex-lab partner, presumably pushed into quitting because she couldn't keep up. At this point, they don't have any reason to distrust Dr. Fenn.

Second, when they do run into Vivian, she gets defensive instead of trying to explain things.

Last, Vivian had deliberately published all her research under the name V. F. Porter, a gender-neutral sounding name.

Despite this, Kim still managed to figure it out, with a little help from Wade.

Don't get me wrong, I definitely understand why she didn't think people would believe her.

Kim: She is right here... Dr. Vivian Frances Porter, noted robotics authority. Vivian: How did you know? Kim: A little digging. But why the secrecy? Vivian: My colleagues wouldn't take someone who looks like me seriously.

Especially since she had a respected scientist like Dr. Fenn actively working against her. Still, I feel as though there was a lot more than looks working against Team Possible here.

Other Thoughts:

Ron: OK. Wait. Time out. Time out. So, you're telling me she looks like that, and is a genius! The rules aren't gonna like this.

This is actually unusual for Ron. Other than this episode, we never see him caring about gender stereotypes this much. (Or at all, really.)

And:

I love Vivian and all, but I really hope she wears something else while working. Labs have dress codes for a reason!

Last:

While I do like the episode, it doesn't really emphasize much that pretty girls (and girls in general) aren't taken seriously as scientists (or other kinds of nerds).

Most of the reason they don't know Vivian's the real scientist is because they were lied to and Vivian never tried to explain things to them.

(And she had published all her research under a gender-neutral version of her name.)

At no point was anyone actually acting like Vivian's looks were the reason she couldn't have been the actual scientist. It's definitely happened to her in the past, but Team Possible wasn't acting like that.

(Even Dr. Fenn wasn't upset that she was pretty, just that she was better than him.)

So, while I do think it's important to tell people that girls can be smart and pretty, this episode kind of missed the mark. But only barely.

A better way of addressing that issue would be to have Vivian try to explain to the scientists at the Space Center that she was the one who built the robot, and have them not believe her.

(Aside from Dr. Wong, who is willing to hear her out.)

Then, Kim could suggest a Robot Rumble to prove who the real robotics expert is. Vivian would win, of course, and the other scientists would be forced to apologize and offer Vivian a job.

(Dr. Wong would explain that she gets it; women are often overlooked and undervalued in STEM fields, especially the pretty ones.)

And we still have it somehow revealed that Oliver's a robot. Maybe he gets hit by a stray EMP coming out of Vivian's (other) robot.

As much as I've criticized the writing of Kim Possible at times, I do have to agree that they resolved this issue better than Miraculous did.

Of course, that's because they actually resolved the issue.

Miraculous did not.

And after five seasons, we should already have good team dynamics.

And we don't.

It's all massively disappointing and underwhelming.

The Best Friend Showdown

Season four had many, many flaws. One of the big ones was the Rena Rouge vs Chat Noir conflict where Ladybug starts relying on Alya more and more, basically using her to replace Master Fu. We get a sense that Chat Noir feels inferior to Rena Rouge because of this change, but it’s never directly addressed. The most we get is this conversation from Hack-San:

Ladybug: I'm really sorry, Cat Noir. I should've told you. I mean, if I found out that you told someone about your secret identity, I'd... probably be upset, too. I'm really sorry I hurt your feelings. Cat Noir: You didn't hurt my feelings. You did everything right. 

Which is actually a really weird bit of dialogue because - as far as I can tell - nothing in the episode revealed that Scarabella knew Ladybug's identity. She hands out miraculous all the time and no one knows who she really is. Why would this time be different? Ladybug could just show up in costume, explain what's up, and then hand off the earrings while using yet another miraculous.

Anyway, the Rena Rouge vs Chat Noir conflict is “resolved” by Rena Rouge being outed again (and I guess that matters this time), leading her to give up her miraculous so that Gabriel can’t steal it away, which of course leads Gabriel to steal it away and fully disempower Ladybug’s larger team, leaving Chat Noir her only teammate.

How satisfying! This is such good, character-driven story telling!

It’s not. This is plot contrivances to the max with no meaningful character beats, but we’re not here to talk about that. We’re here to do one of my favorite things: gush about a relevant Kim Possible episode! Today’s topic is episode 12 of season one: Pain King vs. Cleopatra, the episode that introduces Kim’s female BFF, Monique!

This was a bit of a shocker for me because I didn’t realize that Kim and Monique weren’t pre-series friends. Turns out that, much like Alya, Monique is a new girl, which isn’t a bad call. This was a nice way to delay Monique’s introduction for a few episodes so that the writers could focus on establishing Kim’s relationship with other key members of the cast like her partner, Ron. Spacing out your intros is the way to go whenever you can pull it off as it’s a kindness to your audience that keeps them from feeling overwhelmed, making it more likely that they’ll remember your cast.

The other, more important similarity between Alya and Monique is that, when Kim’s hero partner and life-long friend finds out about Monique, he is less than thrilled:

Kim: I barely got to see them. Right after I hooked up with Monique, the museum was robbed by some glowing-headed animal guy. Ron: Oh, that's nice. Ron: Wait a minute, who's Monique? Kim New friend, really great. Anyway, the thief stole an enchanted ancient talisman. Ron: Whoa, whoa, back up! How can I not know about a new friend? Kim: I met her at Club Banana, then again at the museum before I chased the glowing robber. Ron: So what's she like? Kim: The robber? Ron: The friend, Kim, the "new friend".

Throughout the episode, Kim and Monique continue to bond without Ron, leaving Ron feeling left out:

Ron: Seein' a pattern here, Rufus: Kim does her thing, I do my thing, and pretty soon - we're doing different things.

Which leads him to get a little territorial:

Kim Ron! What are you doing here? Ron: Can I dine with my best friend and her new friend? Kim: Uuh, Ron, Monique, and vice versa. Ron: Bearclaw? Monique: No, thanks, I'm vegetarian. Ron: Uhm, I'm pretty sure it's imitation bear? Kim: She's joking, Ron. Ron: Good one, hahaha, ha, good one. So, did Kim tell you that I'm her sidekick? Cause that role is definitely taken by me. Monique: Riiiight. Well, in... you know I better get to class. Later, Kim. Um, n-nice meeting you, Ron. Ron: Likewise, I'm sure! Kim: What is your problem? You're acting really weird. Ron: Well, let's see. You went to the museum with Monique, not me. Monique was with you this morning, not me. Hmm, pattern? Kim: Yeah. You. Weird. Ron: No, we're drifting apart because you're excluding me. Kim: I am not excluding you. It's just that you and Monique are... different.

Noticing some similarities to Miraculous here?

So how does Kim Possible resolve this conflict?

Well, the plot of this episode resolves around Kim Possible’s version of professional wrestling, the GWA. There’s a competition going on that Kim has no interest in watching (mood), but when Kim mentions the GWA to Monique:

Monique: Why didn't you bring [Ron] along? Kim: Unless someone put a waiter in a headlock, this is definitely not Ron's scene. Besides, he had a date with "Steel Toe". Monique: He scored tickets to Mayhem in Middleton? The GWA rocks! Kim: What?

It turns out that Monique and Ron have a shared interest! Multiple shared interests, in fact! Interests that Kim does not share:

Monique: You know, I still can't believe you met Pain King and Steel Toe. Ron: I can't believe you're into wrestling. Kim: I can't believe I know either one of you.

By the end of the episode, the conflict is resolved not with Kim having to pick a BFF or with Monique somehow being demoted, but by showing that this didn’t need to be a conflict at all. Kim can have multiple close friends that she shares different interests with without any of those friends being lesser. Those friends can, in turn, have their own friendships that don’t always involve her.

It’s a genuinely lovely resolution that makes me love this little friend group because it now has added complexity. Monique and Ron are friends in their own right! Kim is not the center of the universe in spite of her main character status!

I also love that Kim isn’t vilified for having other friends or portrayed as constantly leaving Ron out of things that he'd want to do in favor of Monique. Ron genuinely would not enjoy most of the things that the girls love to do together. At the same time, Ron’s feeling aren’t treated as totally irrational either and Kim even admits to ditching him. It’s a genuine, complex conflict that is super common when someone enters a new relationship be it platonic or romantic.

Obviously Kim Possible’s version of this conflict feels far less complex than Miraculous’ because Kim Possible understood that Ron should be Kim’s one-and-only partner, so his position was really never threatened. Monique does not want to be an action hero and is never given the sort narrative weight that elevates her to Ron’s level or higher, but that doesn't matter. The basic lesson here is still relevant and super important for the intended audience of both of these shows.

There did not need to be a Rena Rouge vs Chat Noir conflict that never got properly resolved. Miraculous could have made these two friends and no, Scarabella doesn't count because Chat Noir has no idea that Scarabella is Rena Rouge/Furtive. Their relationship ended at the end of Hack-San. He didn't even know that Rena Furtive was a thing until she was in the process of being benched and that's the problem.

Kim Possible is not a team show, Miraculous is, and yet Kim Possible has better team dynamics than Miraculous. Monique could have joined Kim's team at the end of Pain King vs. Cleopatra and it would have felt natural because both Kim and Ron had welcomed Monique and formed a genuine bond with her. This is a true friend group that Miraculous can only dream of even though they've been adding new superheroes since season two.

We're going into a season with a full, massive team and yet that team has no established dynamics on the hero side. It's not a functional team! None of these characters have meaningful relationships with each other as heroes save for Alya and Nino since they know each other’s secret identities. The only relationships Miraculous cares about are the various romances and everyone's relationship to Marinette and everyone suffers for it.

The show would not have been harmed by Rena Rouge, Chat Noir, and Ladybug being a team. It was the thing I kept think after watching the Kim Possible episode. Since the team is the end game, why aren't we seeing them? It would have been so nice to have Hack-San end with Ladybug introducing Chat Noir to Rena Furtive instead of a nonsense discussion about an issue the episode didn't even address.

And it's especially a problem in situations where Marinette isn't actually wrong, so they need to warp the universe to make her wrong.

Marinette's not wrong for saying Chloe had no heart in "Zombizou" because Chloe was certainly acting like it.

Marinette's not wrong for disbelieving Chloe in "Antibug", Chloe had previously lied to them in that episode about the akuma.

Marinette's not wrong for being confused over her feelings for Luka and Adrien, she's a teenage girl.

Marinette's not wrong for wanting to call out Lila for lying and manipulating, she's a liar and manipulative.

Marinette's not wrong for not taking Chat Noir's flirtations seriously, he flirts with a lot of people and doesn't take his job seriously.

Marinette's not wrong for not showing up for Chat Noir's date, she had already told him she wouldn't be there.

She's certainly not wrong for not wanting ice cream when she's too upset to eat it.

It's not just that they wrote over 100 ways for Marinette to do something wrong, it's that they wrote 100 episodes that portray Marinette as wrong, even when she isn't.

I can understand the "lesson of the day" formula, but the writers of Miraculous drastically misunderstood the assignment.

In Defense of Marinette

I like Marinette. While there are many valid criticisms of her writing, the same can be said for literally every other character and she's actually doing pretty well given that she's the main character. After all, in a show where consistent characterization is an ongoing issue, the one with the most screen time will probably be the one who's the biggest victim of the issue.

This is heavily exacerbated by the rule that supposedly governs Miraculous. Namely that, in each story, Marinette must make a mistake. Or, at least, so says the head writer:

I really do not care what this guy says on Twitter or anywhere else. I only care about what's in the show because, if you have to go outside the text to understand the text, then you have no idea how to tell a good story.

However, unlike many of the tweets that I've seen, this one isn't some BS bit of lore. It's a writing rule and it has substantial backing in the text. It's extremely rare to have an episode where Marinette comes out smelling like roses and that's a problem because Miraculous has over 100 episodes. In other words, to follow this rule, the writers have to come up with over 100 ways for Marinette to be wrong so of course she's going to come across poorly. Why would you do this to your main character?

It's extremely common for kids shows to have a "lesson of the day" element to them. Someone always needs to learn something, but I've never seen a show misunderstand the assignment so badly. Learning a lesson is not the same as doing something wrong.

It's been a while since I watched the 2010 version of My Little Pony, but it really leaned into that whole "lesson of the day" thing and it actually knew what it was doing, so I'm going to talk about it briefly to discuss things that Miraculous should have done.

The first thing to note is that MLP had an unambiguous main character - Twilight Sparkle - but Twilight was not the one who learned all of the lessons. She had a pet dragon and a crew of five friends who would, occasionally, be the ones to learn the lesson because there were lots of lessons that simply didn't fit Twilight's character. Instead of warping Twilight to make the idea work (cough cough Ikari Gozen cough), the writers just let someone else have the spotlight for a bit.

This is an excellent way to build out your cast and Miraculous had plenty of opportunities to do it. For example, Lila should not have been Marinette's issue. The fact that Lila hates Marinette could have certainly stuck around, but the one who takes her down and learns to investigate her sources? That should have been Alya. A liar is the perfect enemy for an investigative journalist, but a poor enemy for someone who shines as a battlefield commander and overthinks when she's given too much time.

Another way that MLP would teach lessons was to have someone other than Twilight or the main crew cause the issue that they then had to deal with. This leads to one of the best moments in children's television:

And, frankly? Marinette deserves a moment like this. That poor girl has been through hell and is never allowed to make the right call when it really matters. The show will even completely rewrite its lore to make her fail (see: Strike Back). That is such an awful thing to do to your lead! Shows about female empowerment should include women feeling powerful and, no, Lila and Chloe don't count!

Also, the show is literally about Gabriel taking advantage of people who are upset. You don't need to have Marinette make a mistake to shoehorn in a life lesson. Akumas are life lesson fodder and season 1 actually seemed to get this. I'm not sure why they switched gears to "Marinette is the star and, therefore, must always be wrong."

The final way that MLP taught lessons was to have Twilight do something wrong because having your main character do something wrong is a totally valid way to teach lessons. It just shouldn't be your only way because you know who is always wrong in children's media?

Villains.

They wrote Marinette like a villain.

And a large part of the fandom hates her for it because of course they do.

You're not supposed to like villains.

Thoughts on Brick Flagg

So, I've seen Brick labelled as a "bully jock" character, usually lumped with characters like Flash Thompson (Spider-Man), Dash Baxter (Danny Phantom), and Brad Morton (American Dragon: Jake Long). However, I don't think Brick deserves to be in that group.

Firstly, we never actually see Brick bully anyone. It's never even implied he does that. Whenever someone's picking on Ron, Brick isn't around. The only time Brick gets aggressive is with Hirotaka, but never anyone else. Truly, that exchange with Hirotaka was out of character for Brick, not the norm.

Secondly, Brick actually seems to like Kim and Ron. He willingly sits with them and talks with them in "Royal Pain" and has had pleasant interactions in other episodes. Brick has never insulted either of them, and doesn't seem interested in doing so. Surely, Brick isn't a mean-spirited guy.

(I also want to mention that when Brick sees bulked-up Ron in "Ron the Man", he seems a little concerned until Ron assures him it's nothing to worry about, at which point he's just supportive.)

Lastly, Brick is actually a sensitive guy. In "All The News" he openly talks about his feelings. He mentions that he was devastated when Amelia dumped him and lost a game because of it. Typical "bully jock" characters don't talk about their feelings, they just beat someone else up to deal with them. But Brick doesn't do that. He opens up to people and talks about his feelings, not beat other people up.

Sure, Brick is definitely lacking in intelligence, as Barkin mentions in "Ill-Suited" that it took him seven years to finish high school, but he's not a bully. He'd be more of the "dumb jock" variety than "bully jock".

He could also fall under the "himbo" category, but I don't think the fandom's ready for that talk yet.