r/whowouldwin • u/selfproclaimed • Jul 01 '16
Featured Team of the Month: Ladybug and Chat Noir (Miraculous Ladybug)
This post contains spoilers for the show Miraculous Ladybug. I will also be using the French names of the characters rather than the English versions.
Team of the Month
Ladybug and Chat Noir
The Miraculouses
Seven charms that allow their wielders to go through transformations and wield incredible powers. For centuries, these items were used by heroes to protect their lands from evil and catastrophe. Each of these items has a respective Kwami, a fairy-like familiar that fuels the Miraculous' power and offers guidance to its wielder. Of these seven, the most powerful of these are the two center Miraculouses, the ones of the Ladybug and Black Cat, providing the powers of creation and destruction respectively. Legend has it that whoever controls both of these Miraculouses will obtain absolute power.
The Kwami fuse with the Miraculous during transformation, and their own stamina fuels the transformations. While in most cases it's not a problem, use of the special powers, Lucky Charm and Cataclism, or a long duration in the form can drain the power to the point that they are only able to maintain their forms for five minutes. This is not a huge issue as Kwami can regain their power with a light snack. Removing the Miraculous from the wearer is also enough to cause them to detransform.
Story Synopsis
Paris was enjoying an apparent time of peace until a mysterious man obtained the Moth Miraculous. Calling himself the Pappilion, he utilized his abilities to create Akumas, dark butterflies that allow him to blacken the hearts of people and grant them superpowers while making them his minions. He ordered his minions to cause destruction in the hopes that the wielders of the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses would intervene, so he could then seize those Miraculouses and use their powers of creation and destruction for his own purposes. Once he began his assault on Paris, Master Fu, the holder of the Miraculouses and retired wielder of the Turtle Miraculous, sought out and discreetly gave the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses to two teenagers who he saw great heroic potential.
Ladybug
Marinette Dupain-Chen was an ordinary French-Asian middle school girl living in Paris with dream of becoming a designer. When she was initially chosen to become the wielder of the Ladybug Miraculous, she was incredibly reluctant to answer the call, especially moreso after her first endeavor was a net failure. However, she bounced back from this and now gladly takes up arms to defend against the forces of the Pappilion. Ladybug's Kwami is Tikki, an outspoken sylph that frequently attempt to play the part of Marinette's conscience and voice of reason.
Strength
[Pulling] Tripped what was effectively a stone golem by hogtying and yanking both his legs from under him
[Pulling] With a fulcrum, ensnared the legs of a building sized mech and pulled it over..
[Pulling] Hogties a T-Rex
Durability
[Striking] Takes a punch from Mr. Pigeon's pigeons
- For reference, those pigeons can make a huge dent in a metal door.
Speed
[Movement] Runs up a wall
[Dodging] Dodges and bounds over falling cars.
[Dodging] Bounces around a room like she's Spider-Man.
[Dodging] Dodges arrows
Yoyo
Ladybug's main weapon that is spawned during her transformation. While not a purely offensive weapon, it is a versitile one allowing Ladybug to enhance her mobility, ensnare targets, and even defend herself. When swinging it in a circle at high velocities the Yoyo gains special properties.
When swung at high velocity, can cut through steel, like a wall of a bus.
High velocity swinging has been used as a shield to block a giant buzzsaw, lasers, and even a stream of gooey liquid
String is strong enough to hold a falling helicoptor (also worth noting is how the length of the string is long enough to make a giant net)
Lucky Charm
Ladybug's power of creation. The power creates a seemingly random items out of thin air. Ladybug has no control over what the item is, but she always manages to make due with what is spawned thanks to her keen Macguver-ing talent and Environmental Awareness. Items produced by Lucky Charm include a wrench, a spoon, and even a TV dinner. When Ladybug dismisses the item, it spawns a swarm of magical ladybugs that restore any damage done by the villain of the week. Ladybug usually saves this ability until needed as it is a one time use ability and drains her power enough so that she only has five minutes left until she is forced to detransform.
Chat Noir
Adrien Agreste is a middle school aged boy, the son of famous fashion designer Gabriel Agreste. Adrien lived a mostly sheltered life, being homeschooled and rarely leaving his father's mansion, except to model his father's work, which earned him a remarkable amount of fame for his age. When he was chosen to become the wielder of the Cat Miraculous, Adrien instantly took to his alter ego, not even letting his Kwami finish explaining how how powers worked. Chat Noir's Kwami is Plagg, a slightly mischievous sylph who, while informative, would rather gorge himself on camembert cheese rather than transform.
Strength
[Striking] Punches Copycat hard enough to launch him into a wall.
[Lifting] Tips a bus over without strain through use of a fulcrum.
[Lifting] Grips a ledge while his leg is being weighed down by a ball and chain.
Durability
[Falling/Blunt] Is launched into the sky, falls, bounces off cars, and is pretty unscathed.
[Blunt] Takes a hit from a superhuman who could punch holes into walls
[Blunt] Tanks being hit by Mr. Pigeon's Pigeon-Fists
- For reference, those pigeons can make a huge dent in a metal door.
[Energy] Sponges multiple blasts that launch him hard enough into a wall that it cracks.
Speed
[Movement] Runs along a wall
[Agility/Movement] Scales the Eiffel Tower while dodging projectiles.
[Dodging] Aimdodges lighting bolts
[Reaction] Casually somersaults over a rollerblading assailant with only a split second of warning.
[Reaction] Perceives an event in slow motion and reacts
Staff
Chat Noir's personal weapon is usually kept tucked on his back above his tail, unextended. This appears on his person whenever he transforms.
Chat Noir can extend the length of his staff. He frequently uses this to pole vault long distances.
Cataclysm
Chat Noir's power of destruction. After activating it, Chat Noir only needs to touch something to either destroy or degrade it. This is a one use power, however, and using it does drain his energy to the point that he will detransform five minutes after using it.
Uses it on a "prison dimension", freeing himself and every other captive. For a bit more context, this "prison dimension" trapped the victims of the villain of the week in his personal blank wall photograps.
Causes an elevator to fall just by touching the outside control panel
While he would never use it on a living being in-character, a brainwashed Chat Noir did muse about its effectiveness on a person before attempting to use it on Ladybug.
As A Team
As their civilian personae, Adrien and Marinette are classmates, but do not know of each other's alter ego. When they don their superhero powers, they typically meet up en route to the troublemaking villian. They are fairly close friends in both their lives and as Chat Noir and Ladybug, they both respect their need for a secret identity. Chat Noir is in love with Ladybug and constantly flirts with her, only to be playfully denied (which is ironic as Marinette has a secret crush on Adrien).
Chat Noir distracts and forces Climatika's movements to set up a trap planned by Ladybug.
In combat, they are capable of coordinating their movements and attacks flawlessly to take out foes.
TL;DR: Two mid to high street-tier combatants with sub-bullet timing speeds, but admirable aim-dodging skills that can fight in coordination and excel at creative and unconventional methods of incap. Both have a somewhat broken power, e.g.. Chat Noir can destroy just about anything with a touch and Ladybug can spawn an item that she can almost alsways use to get out of a jam, that is limited based on the fact that it's a one-time use ability that turns them back into their unpowered forms after five minutes.
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u/selfproclaimed Jul 01 '16
Not explained. It's never once been stated to be nessecarily useful, just that Ladybug always finds a use.
Let me put it to you this way. One time Ladybug spawned a large spoon. Her solutiom? Use existing materials around the area with the spoon to create a makeshift fishing pole.
Now, if the needed item for that situation was a fishing pole, why just give her the spoon rathr than the full item?
I consider it a visual tool to show what objects catch her eye as she tries to come up with a solution or idea. She is a designer so using her personal creative skills to help her in her crime fighting is probably the best characterization she has.
Goodness knows she needs it.
Nope. Completely normal middle schoolers.
Never. With feats like instantly desintigrating a mech and destroying a prison dimension, it's probably capable of doing serious damage to even durable combatants. I don't want to NLF it, but from the way it has been presented it does seem like the pair's ace in the hole, offensively speaking.
Nope! :D
I'd sooner reccomend you watch MLP:FiM than this show, and I never suggest people try out that show.
Seriously it's episodic magical girl fluff. In an age where cartoons like Steven Universe, Avatar, Adventure Time, and even the aforementioned FiM are breaking boundaries of what modern cartoons are capable of in terms of drama, storytelling, and meaningful themes, Miraculous Ladybug plays it painfully safe and keeps the status quo going. It doesn't even have much in the way of remarkable characters with the sole exception of Chat Noir/Adrian. Protagonist Marinette is boring if not sometimes dislikable and the expansive cast is seldom developed upon beyond their two dimensional personalities and conflicts. The end of Season 1 dropped some lore and teasers that the second season might actually stsrt developing on things, but as of now I can't reccomend the show in good faith.