Episode 28
- Pixelator - Tales of Vincent the Super Fan
It's Internship Day for Mme. Bustier's class, and she announces that they'll all be working at the Grand Paris luxury hotel. Lila and Mylène will be working at the spa, Kim's acting as a doorman, and Adrien and Chloé will be manning the front desk. Adrien immediately asks Alya if she'd be willing to trade, but she refuses.
Mme. Bustier then asks André what Marinette and Alya will be doing; Chloé offers her father a piece of paper that declares Alya is on trash duty, meaning she'll be sorting through the contents of the main dumpster. Alya immediately asks Adrien if he still wants to trade, only to have her own words thrown back in her face.
Jagged Stone interrupts, ordering everyone to "Shut up and look at me." André protests the fact that the rockstar's just led a leashed crocodile into his hotel. Chloé tries to tell her father that their guest is the Jagged Stone, the mayor dismissively tells his daughter that he only remembers the important people, though he quickly changes his tune when Chloé yells that Jagged Stone is an internationally beloved rockstar. Meanwhile, Penny reminds Jagged Stone that the idiot bothering them is the mayor of Paris and a friend of Jagged's producer Bob Roth. She also brings up how Jagged and the mayor once judged a cooking show together, only for Jagged Stone to dismissively remark that if André's a friend of Bob's, then it explains why he erased the mayor from his memory.
The rockstar then declares that he needs a room with a real tub for Fang. André reassures Jagged that their facilities can meet all of "Mme. Fang's needs," unaware that the woman behind him is Penny. Adrien pipes up that Fang is the name of the musician's pet crocodile. André then tries to save face by offering Fang a bubble bath, but Adrien protests that soap isn't safe for reptiles since they absorb water through their skin. Jagged Stone asks if Adrien can check him in instead, given how he clearly knows more than the mayor.
In barges Vincent Asa, declaring himself to be Jagged Stone's No. 1 fan and begging for a photo so he can prove to everyone that they're super friends. Ignoring the rockstar's protests, Vincent sandwiches himself up next to his idol and tries to snap a selfie, only for Penny to pry the paparazzi off of Jagged Stone before throwing him out of the hotel, yelling that they've made themselves very clear: No. Photos! If he pulls this sort of stunt again, he won't get his camera back.
Hawk Moth contacts Vincent, offering him the chance to capture his idol's smile forever. As Vincent declares that the rockstar will be his and his alone, the supervillain mutters to himself about how crazed fans like Vincent are precisely why he kept his son isolated for so long.
Meanwhile, Penny informs André that Jagged Stone needs a new pair of shades for his gig that evening: blue, white, and red, with two big Eiffel Towers. André declares that as their "chasseur," Marinette will find just what Jagged desires, dismissing her to go take care of that. Penny is left wondering if everyone who works at the Grand Paris is a teenager.
After checking the selection of shades offered at the Eiffel Tower's souvenir shop and realizing none of them suited what Jagged Stone requested, Marinette rushes home, deciding to improvise by crafting her own. Pollen cheers her on, and Jagged Stone and Penny are equally impressed by the results and casually orders thirty more pairs for the rockstar's VIPs. Marinette sheepishly tells them that won't be possible since she made them herself... which only impresses the rockstar and his manager even more.
Seeing Marinette's selfie with Jagged Stone on her social media, Adrien excitedly notes that she was able to find the shades the rockstar wanted. Chloé is less than happy about it, however. She didn't want Marinette getting close to any of the hotel's rich guests; she just wanted her out of the way so she couldn't ruin Chloé's "alone time" with Adrien. He then attempts to squirm out of her grasp and away from her attempt to kiss, both of them missing Pixelator's arrival.
When they do spot the akuma, Chloé goes over to confront him, declaring their hotel is only meant for celebrities like herself. Pixelator claims to be her biggest fan and requests the chance to take her photo, which Chloé quickly falls for. Adrien tries to tackle her out of the way, but both get hit instead, trapping them in a photo together.
As they leave Jagged Stone's room, Marinette and Pollen witness Pixelator warping Penny away, laughing evilly. She quickly transforms but isn't able to prevent Fang from being captured as well, berating Pixelator for calling him an alligator rather than a crocodile. The akuma also zaps her hand, causing her to panic and kick a dining cart into the akuma before swinging out the window with Jagged Stone, screaming all the way. She takes him back to her school, reasoning that it was the lamest place she could think of to hide him.
Arriving at Vincent's studio, she finds that the walls are plastered with posters and pictures of Jagged Stone, along with all of Pixelator's victims. Chloé shrieks at the sight of the Bee heroine before demanding that she release them. Marigold ignores her, though, and gets distracted when she spots Mirielle and Théo in another photograph. The pair explain that he snapped their photo while they were strolling along the Champs-Élysées, spurring Marigold to ask why they were there during a school day.
Nadja offers Pixelator an interview with "a reporter who spreads the villain's voice," and he accepts, taunting Jagged to hurry up and meet with him before he turns all of Paris into a faded memory. Jagged Stone decides to head out, musing that making a heroic sacrifice will do wonders for his ratings.
Marigold reaches the akuma first, struggling to hide her irritation as the nearby civilians start asking where Scarlet Lady is. She offers Pixelator a deal: if he frees everyone that he's captured, she'll take him to Jagged Stone. He counters that he'll give up half now, then free the other half later. Privately, Marigold reasons that Chat Noir's absence likely means he was hit as a civilian and hopes this will free him.
Chloé and Adrien rematerialize in the lobby, startling Nino. Adrien charges out the door while Chloé casually follows, both asking Nino to cover for them... like he was already doing.
Arriving on the scene, Chat Noir tries sneaking up behind Pixelator and reaches for the akuma's visor... only to get his cover blown by Scarlet Lady loudly demanding he hurry up and grab the akuma. She also yells at Marigold for not using Venom; Marigold counters that she's not going to use a paralyzing stun with her non-dominant hand. Calling her Lucky Charm, Scarlet Lady's pleased to see she got a compact; finally, something useful in her eyes!
Chat Noir gets zapped, and Jagged Stone arrives on the scene. As he distracts Pixelator by fussing over the pose he wants to be captured in, Marigold yells at Scarlet Lady to use "the Chat Noir method." After a moment's confusion, Scarlet Lady obeys and lobs the compact towards the akuma, with the mirror reflecting Pixelator's beam right back at him; as his body's zapped away, the visor clatters to the ground, and Marigold remarks that Scarlet Lady's aim is getting better (though Scarlet gripes that she was actually aiming for his head).
At the end of the day, André announces that Jagged Stone has donated tickets to his concert that evening to those who worked the hardest on their internships. Alya and Marinette both get one, as Penny acknowledges how difficult their jobs were; Nino also gets recognized for pulling double duty, and Chloé, who holds her hand out expectantly... gets skipped over.
Adrien feels a bit guilty, given how he missed out on half the day. Was he only rewarded due to knowing about proper reptile care? He tries offering his ticket to one of his classmates, but Max, Alix, and Kim already have plans while Mylène notes that she and the other members of Kitty Section already got their tickets months ago. Ignoring Chloé's attempt to ask for the ticket herself, Adrien declares that he'll see them all there. It's his first concert, and he's thrilled to be sharing it with his friends...
...though somewhat less thrilled when both he and Luka take a moment to admire the sight of Marinette so excited and enjoying herself. And her delight only increases when Jagged Stone dedicates one of his songs to none other than Marigold, thanking her for saving his life.
This episode contains examples of:
- Accidental Aiming Skills: Marigold praises Scarlet Lady for her aim getting better when the Ladybug heroine throws the Lucky Charm compact mirror at exactly the right projectile path to reflect Pixelator's beam back at him. Scarlet Lady then reveals she was actually aiming for his head.
- Adaptational Intelligence: Since Marinette isn't obsessively crushing on Adrien, she's in no rush to get back to him after being tasked with finding Jagged Stone some Eiffel Tower-shaped shades in the colors of the French flag. Thus, rather than hoping he'll settle for some cheap tourist sunglasses that don't match his request, she heads straight home to make a "tacky" pair herself. This is rewarded by Jagged and Penny making a big fuss over her handiwork, even letting her post a selfie with him on her social media account.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Penny physically kicks Vincent out of the hotel instead of just dragging him out. Later, when passing out concert tickets to the class, she also emphasizes how Chloé won't be getting one rather than just silently skipping over her.
- Armor-Piercing Question: While investigating Vincent's studio, Marigold notices Théo and Mireille trapped in a photo together. The two explain they got zapped while walking down the Champs-Élysées, only for the Bee heroine to ask her two schoolmates what they were doing there on a school day.
- Beat Panel: After Marinette admits that she designed the glasses Jagged Stone desired herself, there's a moment of silence as both he and Penny stare at her, letting that sink in.
- Bilingual Bonus: André claims Marinette is their "chasseur," which can have multiple meanings, the most relevant being a hotel messenger, a personal servant/attendant, a soldier specializing in rapid movement, and a hunter.
- Bruce Wayne Held Hostage: Both Chloé and Adrien get trapped in a void by Pixelator, leaving only Marigold free to save them.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: When Pixelator, an obvious akuma, claims to be her biggest fan and asks if he can take her picture—right before asking what her name is—Chloé agrees and strikes a pose, failing to sense the imminent danger or pick up on the clear inconsistency.
- Entitled to Have You: Along with Chloé's usual antics, we have Vincent, who claims to be Jagged Stone's biggest fan and seems to believe that entitles him to monopolize and be a Personal Space Invader to his idol.
- Establishing Character Moment: Vincent appears as he's being threatened by Fang. He then ignores Jagged Stone's obvious frustration at his presence to force his way into the rockstar's personal space and try snapping a selfie that he claims will prove how close they are.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Played With. While Hawk Moth uses Vincent's status as a Loony Fan to justify how he kept his son locked away at home for so long, he still akumatizes Vincent in order to exploit his obsession with Jagged Stone for his own ends.
- Everyone Has Standards: As much as Adrien and Alya dislike the idea of working the front desk alongside Chloé, they'd both still gladly take that over dumpster diving.
- Freudian Slip: When explaining to M. Damocles why she brought Jagged Stone to the school, Jagged Stone calling the place "lame" causes Marigold to slip and say the school was the lamest (instead of safest) place she could think of.
- Got Volunteered: André enlists Marinette to track down the special shades Jagged Stone wants, much to her shock.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Played for Laughs when Jagged Stone decides to accept Pixelator's demands... because he'd get awesome ratings in exchange for his sacrifice! Needless to say, M. Damocles isn't impressed.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The compact mirror created by the Lucky Charm ultimately reflects Pixelator's own capture beam back at him, sealing him into a photograph like all of his other victims and leaving his visor behind.
- In Spite of a Nail:
- Adrien and Chloé are still digitized together by Pixelator in spite of Chloé having more akuma experience in this AU.
- Even though she didn't waste any time on a bad pair of shades, Marinette still ends up at the right place at the right time to overhear Pixelator zapping his way into Jagged's hotel room.
- Ironic Echo: When Adrien asks Alya if she'd be willing to switch jobs with him, she replies, "Not on your life." Mere minutes later, the two have the exact same exchange with the roles swapped, complete with the same body language.
- Laser-Guided Karma:
- Alya immediately and mockingly rejects Adrien's request to trade assignments before learning that she will be going dumpster diving. Adrien then throws her words right back at her when she tries to switch with him again.
- Chloé used the class spending their Internship Day working at her father's hotel as an opportunity to try humiliating her favorite targets while forcing Adrien to spend time with her. Her plans backfire when Marinette winds up impressing Jagged Stone, something that leads to massive opportunities for the young designer; worse still, Chloé doesn't get any of the tickets Penny hands out as rewards for the hardest workers.
- Played With when Pixelator comes into the picture. On one hand, Chloé's decision to have her and Adrien working the front desk as well as her failure to recognize Pixelator as an akuma leads to both of them being zapped and captured... but Chloé doesn't seem to mind much, since Adrien is trapped inside the same picture as her.
- Loony Fan: Vincent Asa, who insists that he's Jagged Stone's number one fan and is more than happy to make a deal with Hawk Moth in exchange for the power to trap his idol forever.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Chat Noir manages to sneak up right behind Pixelator and is about to steal his visor, which Marigold has deduced is the akumatized object. Scarlet Lady then arrives and impatiently yells at Chat to hurry up and grab it, accidentally alerting Pixelator to the hero's presence.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Chloé assigns Marinette to menial work to keep her favorite bullying target away so she and Adrien can have some alone time at the front desk. It results in Marinette meeting and greatly impressing Jagged Stone, much to Chloé's chagrin.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Adrien tries to save Chloé from being zapped by Pixelator, only to wind up trapped together with her.
- No Sense of Personal Space:
- Vincent immediately presses up against Jagged Stone the second he gets the chance, attempting to snap a picture to "prove" how close they are.
- Chloé is up to her usual tricks with Adrien, draping herself off his arm and trying to kiss him several times—all while completely ignoring how Adrien keeps pushing her off.
- Oh, Crap!: Marinette and Pollen pull off the same sweaty horrified face when they hear Pixelator zapping Penny.
- Plot Parallel: Vincent/Pixelator's single-minded pursuit of Jagged Stone reflects Chloé's treatment of Adrien. Both ignore how the objects of their obsessions repeatedly reject their advances, act entitled towards them, and throw fits when reality doesn't align with their delusions. Their refusal to respect their target's boundaries and wishes further ensures their failure, as Jagged Stone and Adrien are both weary of dealing with them.
- Poor Communication Kills: Marigold comes up with the idea of using the compact to reflect Pixelator's beam right back at him. However, rather than explain this to Scarlet Lady, she instead tells the Ladybug heroine to use the "Chat Noir method"; since Chat Noir typically just throws the Lucky Charm object at the akuma's head, Scarlet Lady attempts to do the same. It's only through dumb luck and Scarlet's Accidental Aiming Skills that Marigold's plan ends up working.
- Skewed Priorities:
- Even after she and Adrien are trapped in one of Pixelator's photographs, Chloé decides that being imprisoned isn't too bad so long as they're stuck together.
- Jagged decides he has to sacrifice himself for Paris... because it would do wonders for his ratings.
- When Lucky Charm creates a compact mirror, Scarlet Lady promptly starts using it admire herself, ignoring how Chat Noir is battling the akuma.
- Too Dumb to Live: Chloé confronts the akuma, only to fall for Pixelator's Blatant Lies when he claims to be her fan who just wants a picture of her (before asking what her name is immediately afterwards).
- Unintentional Backup Plan: Marigold urges Scarlet Lady to use the "Chat Noir method" (referring to how Chat Noir usually can't come up with a clever plan on how to use the Lucky Charm objects aside from just beaning akumas with them), in her hurry failing to explain that the goal is to throw the compact so that it's at the right height and angle to reflect Pixelator's beam right back at him. Scarlet Lady thus instead throws the compact at Pixelator's head, but her Accidental Aiming Skills end up allowing Marigold's plan to work as intended after all.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: While they aren't together (as far as we know), Penny unleashes her inner Saiyan (Battle Aura and all) when Vincent harasses Jagged Stone.
