Felix vs. Adrien

[aikaterini]

So, apparently, Thomas Astruc, the creator of "Tales of Miraculous Ladybug and Chat Noir" had to send a tweet out to fans, telling them that Felix, the original concept for Adrien/Chat Noir, would not appear in any shape or form and that he was theirs to play with. Apparently, fans had been very persistent about asking him about Felix. Originally, the show was planned to be 2-D animation, and was heavily inspired by anime. The civilian identity of Chat Noir didn't actually have a name yet, but the fandom was so crazy about him that they dubbed him 'Felix' and the name stuck.

He only showed up in an OVA, but that was enough for some fans to fall in love with him and for me to dislike him.

Felix's personality in the OVA was very different than Adrien's. While he was the same goofy dork as Chat Noir, as a civilian, he was portrayed as aloof and standoffish. Marinette (or, rather, Marinette's original concept) was still gaga over him, but in the OVA, he was fully aware of her crush and did not reciprocate her feelings. There was still the dramatic irony of the two of them being in love with each other's alter egos, but the way that it was depicted just didn't sit well with me.

Because, quite frankly, Felix came across as a total jerk. He came across as nothing more than the same brooding, rude creep that we've seen a hundred times in shoujo anime and in YA paranormal romance novels. The rich, handsome loner who treats the heroine like garbage because 'he just can't handle showing his feelings.'

Now there may be some people who say, "Well, in the show, Ladybug rebuffs Chat Noir's advances too, so what's the difference?"

The difference is that while Ladybug/Marinette may not reciprocate Chat Noir's feelings (...yet), she still cares about him. They're still friends and partners. They still enjoy being together. And even when she rebuffs his flirting, most of the time it's in playful exasperation. Even when she's annoyed, it tends to be because there's more important stuff going on (i.e. the villain of the week is trashing the place).

But in the OVA, Felix looked like he honestly couldn't stand to be in the same room as Original!Marinette. He openly snubs her and looks irritated by her very presence. Which brings up the inevitable question...

Why the heck is Original!Marinette so crazy about this boy?

Okay, he's hot. Okay, he's rich. That still doesn't change the fact that, as far as the OVA shows, he clearly does not like her and ignores her and appears to be a cold, distant jerk.

With Adrien, Marinette's crush on him makes much more sense. Yes, he's still rich and pretty, but he's actually, you know, nice. He's shy, not standoffish. He's oblivious to Marinette's crush on him, not disdainful. Even though he's socially awkward, he still has friends, whereas the only shots of Felix that are in the OVA show him alone. He may be in love with Ladybug, but he's still friendly towards Marinette. So, it still makes sense why she prefers him to Chat Noir.

But in the case of the OVA, I really couldn't see why Original!Marinette would turn down Chat Noir in favor of Felix. Okay, so Chat Noir's goofy. At least he actually, you know, smiles at her. At least he obviously likes her.

But no, apparently some fans didn't like the fact that Felix was scrapped. They found his attitude to be funny and envisioned him as this cynical grump. Which, okay, if you like that sort of character, fine. I just don't see how he would be appealing as a romantic lead, which he was supposed to be.

Because I didn't find anything funny about his behavior towards Original!Marinette. When watching Original!Marinette eagerly try to talk to Felix, only to be ignored, I didn't feel the urge to smile or laugh. I thought that it was more sad than anything. And it made me wish that somewhere down the road (if the series had continued from the OVA) that Original!Marinette would throw Felix's attitude back in his face once the two of them learned each other's secret identities.

So, as Thomas Astruc said, if you want Felix, go ahead and grab him. But in the meantime, I'll enjoy the sweet ball of sunshine that is Adrien and be glad that the show went with him instead of Felix.