You can count on me, Hawk Moth. There will only be one heroine in Paris: me, Antibug!
"Antibug, I am Hawk Moth. Ladybug has let you down. I want her downfall too! So, shall we defeat Ladybug together?"
—Hawk Moth
Sabrina's missing from school, and something invisible is attacking Chloé. It doesn't take long for Ladybug and Cat Noir to put two and two together, but Chloé insists on entering the fray in her Ladybug costume. Ladybug refuses to listen to Chloé's advice, which nearly costs her the battle when Chloé turns out to be right. This leads to Hawk Moth corrupting Chloé and turning her in a super villain. Ladybug needs to fend off Antibug with Tikki out of commission and Cat Noir out of his depth.
Tropes:
- Acting Unnatural: Marinette does this as she enters a hotel and sneaks into a kitchen to get cookies for Tikki.
- Adults Are Useless: Chloé's other antics aside, how the teacher failed to notice objects apparently throwing themselves is beyond reason. Possibly justified, since Ms Mendeleiev teaches science.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Anticharm as an Evil Counterpart to Lucky Charm creates a flashy weapon instead of more mundane objects like a bag of marbles. Ladybug uses said marbles to disarm Antibug with ease, before she can even really use her sword.
- The entire concept of an Evil Counterpart to Ladybug sounds cool on paper, but in practice, Antibug has the exact same drawbacks Ladybug has, including having the time limit after using her Signature Move.
- Badass in Distress: Antibug successfully captures Cat Noir offscreen and to add insult to injury, ties him to his own pole.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Chloé cruelly says that an apologetic Sabrina must be invisible, and as a result the akumatized Sabrina becomes the invisible "Vanisher".
- Beyond the Impossible: Marinette in civilian guise manages to rescue Cat Noir by pulling on the pole he's tied to until he's on stable ground, without him seeing her.
- BFS: Antibug's Anti-Charm summons one. Cat Noir tosses it away into the Eiffel Tower.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Ladybug taking or not taking Chloé's advice. Ladybug points out that Chloé lied to her about the fight with Sabrina the day before, and she was acting like The Mill Stone in battle. Cat Noir, Tikki and Chloé point out that Chloé did figure out where the akuma was.
- Broken Pedestal: Chloé temporarily after Ladybug disregards her advice and refuses to thank her, though by the end of the episode she gets over it when Ladybug apologizes.
- Call-Back: Chloé's Ladybug costume was first seen in the episode "Lady Wifi".
- Character Development: Chloé after becoming akumatized and getting advice from Ladybug becomes a bit nicer to Sabrina, giving her a new brooch and showing signs of forgiveness.
- Clark Kenting: Inverted; a celebrity Jagged Stone mistakes Chloé in costume for Ladybug and asks what happened to her hair.
- The Complainer Is Always Wrong: Yeah, calling out the Alpha Bitch for lying about who the akuma might be and not acknowledging that she made a good point will lead to her becoming akumatized in turn. Tikki explains to a depowered Marinette why this is wrong, but it's hard to see her point.
- Crying Wolf: Ladybug doesn't believe Chloé when she says Vanisher's akuma must be in her brooch because Chloé had lied to her earlier about her argument with Sabrina.
- Cutting the Knot: Vanisher by comparison is the most efficient of Hawk Moth's akumatized humans since after spending a few hours tormenting Chloé, she waits for Ladybug and Cat Noir to show up, causes a distraction by dropping a flower and uses the diversion to try and pickpocket Ladybug's earrings. Certainly much more efficient than having a fight and then stealing the Miraculous.
- The Dog Bites Back: Sabrina in akuma form makes Chloé pay back tenfold for treating her cruelly.
- Evil Counterpart: Hawk Moth invokes Antibug as this to Ladybug, though Cat Noir calls her a cheap copy. This is shown when her Anti-charm is a BFS and Antibug loses it in a matter of minutes while Ladybug weaponizes her Lucky Charm— a bag of marbles.
- Failed a Spot Check: On one hand, Jagged Stone notices that Chloé has different hair then Ladybug. However he fails to notice that "Cat Noir" is a girl.
- Fearful Symmetry: Ladybug vs Antibug yo-yo fight. Cat Noir even stops to enjoy the show.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: When Chloé!Ladybug and Cat!Sabrina rush into the lobby of Le Grand Paris, you can briefly see Master Fun sitting at the bar.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Antibug ties Cat Noir to his own stick. He realizes how embarrassing it is.
- Hostage for MacGuffin: After capturing Cat Noir, Antibug demands that Ladybug hand over her Miraculous in exchange for his life. Marinette lures her away with a phone recording from earlier.
- Hypocrite: Alya laughs about how "Vanisher" and "Antibug" come to school, even though more than half the class has been akumatized before, including Alya.
- Moreover, Vanisher and Antibug are among the least destructive and disruptive villains, with their actions taking place almost exclusively at one location and mainly consisting of bugging Chloé (for Vanisher) and fighting the heroes (for both).
- Idiot Ball: Hawk Moth telling Antibug to use Cat Noir as bait for Ladybug instead of taking his Miraculous.
- In Medias Res: This is the first episode to start with someone already having been akumatized. Flashbacks fill out details on Sabrina's breakdown, but we never see the akumatization itself.
- Informed Flaw: For Ladybug, it's apparently taking advice and trying to work alone. Except... in this episode it was because Chloé who not only caused another akuma again but also lied about it and was The Millstone during the fight. Cat Noir acknowledges that Ladybug takes his advice, and Tikki acknowledges that as well and they work as a team.
- Jerkass Has a Point: And that becomes the plot of the episode. Chloé feels disrespected when Ladybug won't accept her help or acknowledge that Chloé figured out where the akuma is.
- Juxtaposed Halves Shot: At the peak of their confrontation, half of Ladybug and Antibug's faces are seen juxtaposed with a fierce expression.
- Kick the Dog: Chloé cutting Sabrina out of her life for messing up in front of Jagged Stone. What's worse, Chloé leaves that story out when Ladybug tries to figure out who the akuma might be.
- The Millstone: Chloé during the fight with Vanisher. It gets so bad that Ladybug locks her in a room to take her out of the fight, right as Chloé figures out where Vanisher's akuma is.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Sabrina after getting de-akumatized. Ladybug and Cat Noir focus on escorting her to paramedics, and she's visibly trembling. The next day, she waits for permission to sit next to Chloé.
- Near-Villain Victory: Vanisher comes within a hair's breadth of just yoinking Ladybug's earrings right off her, stopped only by Cat Noir spotting her Visible Invisibility at the last moment.
- Not a Game: Ladybug has to tell this to Chloé, who's treating the whole thing like one of her LARPing fantasies.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Vanisher has no costume, so we only see the outline of Sabrina when she's coated in paint.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Antibug overpowering Cat Noir.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Being disappointed by Ladybug is so devastating for Chloé, that not only does it leave her vulnerable to akumatization, but she genuinely cries.
- Pet the Dog: Chloé taking Ladybug's advice and patching things up with Sabrina at the end. For all her grandstanding about it, it's clear from her private smiles that getting her only friend back is an outcome she's pleased with.
- Poke the Poodle: Vanisher's Humiliation Conga of Chloé. First she steals Chloé's most expensive clothes, chases her around at school, and then takes embarrassing photos of her.
- Serious Business: The mayor is concerned that he has to replace Chloé's wardrobe since the only clothes left are inexpensive. Ladybug has to tell him that Chloé's life could also be in danger.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Antibug says that Ladybug is a Faux Action Girl and nothing without Cat Noir. Both Cat and Ladybug say that they are a team.
- Slippery Skid: How Ladybug uses her latest Lucky Charm.
- Status Quo Is God: Sabrina and Chloé reconcile as friends, and Ladybug remains Chloé's idol.
- Tempting Fate: Chloé on seeing her butler tell Ladybug and Cat Noir what happened with Sabrina scoffs and says Sabrina is too spineless to attack her. Two minutes later, Vanisher nearly steals Ladybug's Miraculous and starts a furious attack against the duo.
- Too Dumb to Live: Chloé, again. When someone invisible is attacking her, possibly under the influence of an akuma, she lies to Ladybug and Cat Noir about who her attacker might be, and dismisses an akumatized Sabrina as too spineless to be a threat. Then when she's proven wrong, she dons her own Ladybug costume and joins the fray, acting as The Millstone. It's unsurprising that Ladybug gets fed up with her.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Chloé, to a minuscule extent, at Ladybug's advice and perhaps on realizing that her actions led to Sabrina becoming an akuma.
- Tsundere: Chloé becomes this at the end towards Sabrina, on Ladybug's advice.
- We Can Rule Together: Antibug tells this to a tied-up Cat Noir, but he refuses because she's a cheap copy of the original Ladybug.
- Weirdness Censor: It takes a while for the professor to notice that something or someone is attacking Chloé in class, albeit an invisible person.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Cat gently asks Ladybug why she didn't acknowledge that Chloé was trying to help, and her response makes several good points: that Chloé lied to them about who the akuma might be and defied orders to jump into the fray without thinking.
- When She Smiles: Chloé gives her version of one when she forgives Sabrina. Marinette lampshades it.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Just as Cat Noir and Ladybug defeat one akuma, and Ladybug needs to recharge, Hawk Moth succeeds in corrupting Chloé and sending her after the pair.
