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.
Thoughts on the Ron/Monkey Fist rivalry?
They were great foils to each other; Monkey Fist craves power and is obsessed with monkeys, while Ron doesn't desire power and is afraid of monkeys.
But Ron is the one meant to become the Mystical Monkey Master.
Honestly, it was probably Ron's humbleness and the fact that he doesn't want power that made him worthy of it in the first place.
You know, only pure of heart can become the Monkey Master, or something like that.
One thing that irks me though is, even though Monkey Fist knows Ron is meant to be the Monkey Master, and thus usurp the power from him, he still refers to Kim as his arch-foe.
Which makes no sense.
He should be declaring Ron as his sworn enemy because Ron is the one meant to take the Monkey Power from him and Kim is just a teenage girl who saves the world.
But, then again, the show is all about Kim.
Kim's the one who saves the world and Ron is her bumbling sidekick, so of course Kim is his arch-foe, even though Ron is the established, pre-destined threat to his plans.
It's probably his ego that keeps him from acknowledging Ron as his arch foe, but I'd still think it'd be cool if one of the villains, other than Gil, actually viewed Ron as a serious threat.
And Monkey Fist is the perfect mandrill for the job.
The villains are bad in obvious ways, but the civilian adults have issues too, theirs are just more subtle.
James Possible:
Almost no concern for the dangerous things his boys build because he was just like that at their age.
Doesn’t usually know about Kim’s missions until after she gets back, and is okay with it as long as she’s not out with some boy.
Threatens to launch Ron into a black hole if he breaks Kim’s heart in “Emotion Sickness”.
Ann Possible:
Like James, doesn’t know about Kim’s missions until she gets back, and is okay with that.
Expressed concern over Kim forcing Ron into a haircut in “The New Ron”, but did nothing else, not even when Kim made it clear Ron didn’t get a say in the matter.
I understand these two have careers that keep them occupied, but it doesn’t really excuse neglecting their children. I understand normal teenagers don’t save the world, but even if they did, parents would still want to know where they’re going.
Mr. Stoppable:
Adopts a girl and turns Ron’s bedroom into a nursery, moving his things into the attic, in the time Ron was at school, and doesn’t tell him ahead of time.
Mrs. Stoppable:
Adopts a girl and turns Ron’s bedroom into a nursery, moving his things into the attic, in the time Ron was at school, and doesn’t tell him ahead of time.
Doesn’t tell him he’s going to Camp Wannaweep until the bus gets there.
Stops taking his calls while Ron is at Camp Wannaweep.
We don’t really see enough of them to know if they’re okay with Ron going on missions, but they certainly have a bad habit of making drastic life changes for Ron without telling him.
Mr. Barkin:
Power-tripping; admits in “Bonding” that he’s hated Ron since the ninth grade because Ron gave him a “funny look” and gives Ron extra homework just because he can. (Here’s an interesting question; If Barkin wasn’t the one grading most of Ron’s assignments, do you think Ron’s grades would be higher? It makes sense that Barkin would grade Ron more harshly just because he could.)
Does not inform high school students of changes made to field trip plans until the last minute. Examples: “Return to Wannaweep” and “Cap’n Drakken”. Though I might believe he also didn’t know until the last minute, he still shouldn’t be taking the students to places they hadn’t previously agreed to go to.
Approaches running a high school likes it’s a boot camp, and really shouldn’t be in charge of teenagers.
Not much else needed to say about Barkin; he approaches everything, including running a high school, like it’s boot camp, so the fact that he’s still there is amazing. Middleton High needs more teachers.
I’m not saying they’re all bad people, but these issues are pretty serious and should’ve been addressed in the show. The only time any of them is addressed is within the context of how it affects Ron, and so those concerns aren’t taken seriously.
Thoughts on Bonnie?
I have been waiting for this ask.
I'm probably going to get hated for it...
I don't think Bonnie's as bad as we're supposed to believe she is.
Sure, Bonnie's catty, mean, rude, petty, shallow, selfish, and more.
But that seems to be targeted 90% to Kim, 5% to Ron, and 5% to everyone else.
In other words, Bonnie doesn't seem overly mean to anyone but Kim.
Her fellow cheerleaders are seen hanging out with her instead of Kim quite often. And if someone as nice as Tara or pragmatic as Crystal prefers hanging out with Bonnie over Kim, there's probably a good reason for it.
And it might be the fact that, had it not been for Kim, Bonnie would've never stooped to sabotage in the first place. ("Return to Wannaweep")
Or it could be the fact that Bonnie can actually keep her commitment to the squad, and was willing to put in a lot more work to help the squad. ("Number One")
(I still don't think she willingly gave up the Captain position, especially not to Kim.)
Or that she would've been better able to be Chair of the Dance Committee, since she could fulfill her obligations and get Smash Mouth to perform, but Kim didn't care if Bonnie was better, Kim's own pride and ego, and rivalry with Bonnie, were more important than actually getting the job done. ("Queen Bebe")
Even Ron couldn't see a problem with Bonnie being the Chair of the committee.
(And I still have no idea what "throne" Kim was referring to.)
I wouldn't blame other people for deciding Kim is too competitive to hang out with regularly. She doesn't seem to put a lot of value in enjoying things, just doing them, and doing them the right way (her way).
And from what we've seen of Bonnie's romantic relationships, she dates guys who are genuinely nice and doesn't seem to be very mean to them either. She says Brick is "cute" when he can't think, instead of just calling him stupid or dumb. And the date we've seen her on was to a horror movie, so either Bonnie likes horror movies, she let Brick pick the movie, or some combination of both.
(I don't blame her for dumping soda in Kim's lap, Kim was talking throughout the movie, and being rude and condescending about it to boot.)
And from what I remember of high school, no one who's as mean as Bonnie supposedly is would actually have that many friends. They wouldn't even really have a lot of followers.
And Bonnie didn't just win the vote for Captain unanimously, she won it with everyone other than Kim being enthusiastic about her being Captain.
I think Bonnie's biggest issue with Kim is that Kim quite literally has things handed to her, doesn't have to work for much, and people are too enamored by the hero to notice the person. And Kim treats her best friend horribly which, shockingly, is not something we actually see Bonnie doing.
I think Bonnie's biggest issue with Ron is that Ron is so slavish towards Kim, and Bonnie sees it as pathetic and loser behavior. When Ron distances himself from Kim, she not only has no problems hanging out with him, but dates him, or tries to, and is unequivocally supportive of him. Which is...interesting, as it implies her issue isn't with Ron himself, but with how Ron acts around Kim.
But more to the point: the "mean girl" of the show treats people better than our hero does, and that says a lot about both of them.
You have a lot of gripes about Kim as a character? What about Ron though? Do you think they handled his character better then the rest?
Oh, good question! Yes, and no.
No because Ron is portrayed as a loser and a freak, the butt of many jokes within the series.
And so many people, females included, find themselves relating to Ron more than Kim, so it's a little bit insulting that the character most like them was the "loser" of the show.
And yes, because Ron actually got more character development than Kim.
And, while Ron has been known to be selfish at times, it doesn't usually cause harm to others.
There was "Ill Suited" where he stole Kim's battle suit to join the football team, but he had no way of knowing he could be putting others in danger as he had no idea Dementor was after the suit or had a way to control it.
And Kim called him out for it.
Whenever Ron is behaving badly, neither Kim nor the narrative will hesitate to call him out on it.
Most often, Ron puts Kim's interests before his own. And he certainly treats Kim better than she treats him.
So, Ron is treated as a joke, and often puts Kim's needs ahead of his own. When he behaves badly, he is called out on it. And for this reason, I think he was handled both better and worse than Kim
This is probably small in the grand scheme of things, but how did Emilie being noble play any impact in the story at all?
I mean, I'd get it if it was just a small detail to help deepen Emilie's character, but why nobility of all things? I don't know, from what I'm seeing so far, the whole "Emilie renounced her noble title" shtick just feels worthless if it's not going to impact the story or add depth to Emilie's character (like maybe upbringing or personal values?).
I don't know. Like everything else, the noble part just feels shallow and means nothing to the story, especially for a character like Emilie, who is the plot device for the whole show. Any detail about her, like her personality and life story, is supposed to influence the story and characters one way or another, namely Hawkmoth since she's his driving force.
So what was the point?
For context, this ask is about Félix's play which says that Emilie gave up her title to be with Gabriel. I'm gonna give a slightly larger section of the transcript of the play for full context, but the relevant but is at the end of the last paragraph:
Félix: The king and queen's twins grew up, each day as different in heart as they were similar in body. The firstborn, curious and brazen, despised life at court and escaped at every opportunity. The younger daughter, well-behaved and respectful, did everything she could to please her parents, and stayed quietly in the castle. Félix: (as Mr. Graham de Vanily) Oh, my queen. Did we entrust our legacy to the right princess? Kagami: (as Mrs. Graham de Vanily) She will fall in line, eventually. Félix: Confident that she would settle down as she matured, the king and queen allowed the curious princess to leave to study beyond the sea in another kingdom. There, she immediately found true love in a humble tailor. Félix: The tailor was making clothes so magnificent that they revealed the beauty of the soul of anyone who wore them. Although it made her parents furious, the curious princess gave up her rank, her wealth and her kingdom to live a bohemian life with the tailor.
Story wise, I have no idea why any of this was added since it adds nothing to canon. It's not like this finally explains why Gabriel and Emilie are poor while Amelie is wealthy. Along similar lines, it's not like Amelie's title has ever mattered. Prior to this play, I don't think that we even knew that she had a title or that she was the younger sister. The play is all about explaining things that we never had reasons to question in the first place.
My best guess as to why the writers wrote this pointless backstory is that they wanted to make Emilie seem even more pure and perfect so they went with the tired old trope of a rich girl giving up material things for the sake of love and art because good pure women don't care about material things! Only nasty, shallow women care about money. (Way to play into sexist tropes, guys.)
There may also be cultural elements at play here given that France doesn't have the greatest history with nobility, so giving up a noble title may be seen as good and pure to a French writer, but I don't know enough about French culture to say that with any certainty. If anyone who reads this blog is French and would like to chime in, then feel free!
While we're on the topic of the play, I wanted to point out that the above quoted passage is why I say that the Graham de Vanily parents can be as kind or as abusive as you'd like to make them. It's incredibly vague and you can read into it whatever you want to read into it. Were they good loving parents who were just upset about their daughter living in poverty or were they miserable controlling classist who Emilie fled England to get away from? It's up to you because you can get both reads from this. The play commits to almost nothing of value. Politicians could take lessons from this impressive level of noncommittal writing.
A better version of the play would have focused on things that actually matter to canon like the details of finding the miraculous and/or Emilie learning she's sick, but you could only have those details if they were coming from Nathalie or Gabriel. Félix is a terrible choice for a character to tell us the show's backstory because he knows so little of it, thus the play focusing on his largely pointless backstory.
What role do Ron character has in team possible? Do you believe he gets the credit he deserves for his contribution to team possible within the narrative of the show?
Well, the role Ron is supposed to have is "bumbling sidekick".
But, as stated in my "Ron Deserved Better" post, he outgrew that role very quickly.
He demonstrated on numerous occasions that he is capable of being more than that.
But he's not treated that way.
The narrative wants Ron to be a sidekick, so no one acknowledges that he's capable of being more.
Kim acknowledges it once, at the end of "Sink or Swim", but then follows up with telling him he's not going to be allowed to lead a mission anyways. She never acknowledges it again after that.
(Despite this, he goes on four missions alone in "Overdue" and is successful in all of them.)
In "Showdown At The Crooked D" Kim's cousin Joss, who knows everything about everyone of Kim's missions, does not recognize Ron as anything other than the guy who's always losing his pants.
In "The Ron Factor" Kim refuses to consider the possibility that Ron might be important to her success, even when Wade, someone who she greatly respects, suggests it might be true.
And people are always talking about how Kim saves the world, but never even mention that Ron's with her every time.
And this is despite the fact that it's canon that she can't save the world without Ron.
In "Bueno Nacho" it takes no time at all for her to get captured when she tries to go on a mission alone.
And in "A Sitch in Time" it highlights just how important Ron is to Kim's success. Once again, she gets captured immediately when trying to go on a mission alone. (And then the timeline gets reset and everyone forgets everything.)
But no one's opinion of Ron really changes until the last episode. To everyone, he's still Kim's sidekick.
Even though they're dating in season four, Kim doesn't actually acknowledge any of Ron's skills or admit that he's more than a sidekick when it comes to saving the world.
Even when Joss acknowledges Ron as a hero, it's because he always faces his fears to be there for Kim, not because of any of his own skills.
Ron doesn't get gadgets, or his own Kimmunicator, and many people who owe Kim favors don't even remember Ron being there. Or, if they do, it's because Ron caused the problem in the first place. (Which, that last part is fair, but still...)
Ron is treated horribly by the narrative. He doesn't even get recognition that other sidekicks get. (Robin, Kid Flash, Sam Manson and Tucker Foley, etc.)
So, no, I don't believe Ron gets the credit he deserves. He's not even treated with respect part of the time. (The tracking chip, the haircut, the lack of gadgets or communication device, etc.)
Ron is barely even a sidekick. He's treated more like a lapdog.
And it's disgusting.
You know, now that you mention it...
The girls at my elementary school had crushes, but definitely not on adults. Teenagers were the oldest they had crushes on. The boys were the same.
Adults just seem so old at that age, so Jimmy's mom, Beautiful Gorgeous, and Princess Quin Shi "Peggy" Sue should've just seemed old to them, not hot.
I mean, they are attractive, to adults. And teenagers. Prepubescent children, not so much.
And, while I'm sure 11-year-olds were allowed some freedom, "One of Us" has Cindy returning from a competition out of town, and she exits the bus alone. That's an amount of freedom Cindy wouldn't have been allowed for legal reasons.
Not to mention, "Men at Work" has them getting jobs, despite being 10 at that point. Again, legally, this would not have been allowed.
It's a cartoon, not everything has to be accurate, I know. I'm not asking for accuracy, I'm asking for shows about children to remember that the main characters are children.
The show had some great plots that make sense for 11-year-olds:
Jimmy's upset at being the shortest in class
Jimmy's upset over not being athletic
School science fair
Candy-selling competition
Trying to make the perfect candy
Sheen's afraid of being held back (again!)
Jimmy doesn't want to pick up his clothes
Sheen's action figure goes missing
And more
But as the show went on, the romance aspect got emphasized a lot more. Of course, by that time, most of us were invested in the main ships, but looking back, it seems weird how much romance they put in the show.
I don't hate romance, but it feels weird to make it a central plot element in a show about elementary school-aged children. Especially when some of those romantic feelings are directed at adults.
Not to mention having it be such a flip-flop, back and forth, will they won't they thing.
The show would have been fine if the romance aspect wasn't so heavily emphasized at the end. Even though we liked the main ships, they weren't why we watched the show.
Well, time for another opinion! This one's about an older Nickelodeon show, Jimmy Neutron! It's very simple: the show would've made way more sense if the characters were teenagers instead of 11-year-olds. Things like:
Jimmy being allowed to fly around the world in a homemade rocket
Jimmy being allowed to fly into space
Jimmy being allowed to work in his lab unsupervised
Pretty much anything Jimmy does
The kids routinely go places like amusement parks or Cafés by themselves
The boys developing crushes at the drop of a hat
Cindy & Jimmy flip-flopping back & forth on their feelings for each other
Carl's crush on Jimmy's mom (still creepy, but makes more sense if he's a hormonal teenager)
The boys' brief crushes on Beautiful Gorgeous
These are all things that would make sense if the characters were teenagers. 11-year-olds just don't act like this. Trust me, I was 11 when the show was airing. I was in that age group, no one at my school acted like that. Crushes were only on classmates or teenage celebrities, we weren't allowed to go out by ourselves, and we would've needed supervision just to cook, nevermind the kind of science Jimmy was doing.
This level of drama, romance, and personal freedom, would make more sense for teenagers than children. Shows about kids can be fun, but you need to remember to have them act like kids.
Reblogging to add an idea for season 4.
In "Homecoming Upset" Ron, after being stuck with the job of finding Bonnie a boyfriend, a job he did not want, realizes his relationship with Kim is still very unequal. When he attempts to talk to Kim about it, it results in an argument and them breaking up.
Whether Ron dates Bonnie or not after this is up to interpretation.
While I love the idea of Ron deciding to end things with Kim after "Crush", there are definitely other times when Ron could've ended his friendship with Kim, and if you're interested in that trope in fanfiction, I think you might find this list helpful.
After being forced into a haircut in "The New Ron", Ron decides Kim's controlling behavior is too much for him. He ends his friendship with Kim and calls her out for her behavior.
After using mind control on her brothers at the end of "The Twin Factor", Kim is grounded for a long time, leaving Ron to handle missions alone. This would cause Ron to realize his own skills, and put a strain on his relationship with Kim as she can't stand to watch him succeed on missions without her. Kim also finds herself with fewer babysitting jobs once word of her using mind control on her brothers gets around.
Kim finds herself getting fewer missions after word of her negligence and reckless endangerment in "October 31st" gets out. She also finds herself banned from Monique's house since she destroyed the garage door.
Upset over GJ thinking Ron is the secret to her success in "The Ron Factor", Kim tries the solo hero thing, and fails. Unfortunately, her parting had left Ron hurt and upset, and he's not interested in coming back to Kim.
After "Adventures in Rufus-Sitting", Rufus manages to communicate to Ron what happened while he was away, and Ron gets angry that Kim not only neglected and endangered Rufus, but lied to him about it. Ron ends things with Kim as he doesn't know how he can keep being friends with someone who cares so little about Rufus.
Ron comes back from his trip in "Exchange" with new skills, new confidence, and an unwillingness to put up with Kim's controlling behavior. So he takes a break from Kim when she gets to be too much for him.
After constantly being ignored about Gil in "Return to Wannaweep", Ron decides to end things with Kim and look for someone more supportive. Kim finds herself booted from the squad after they learn about how she intentionally sabotaged her own teammate to succeed.
Team Impossible from "Team Impossible" uses legal actions to keep Kim out of the save the world business, at least until she's 18, due to the reasons mentioned in my post about them. They offer to train Kim and Ron in how to be better heroes, but Ron is the only one who accepts.
Feeling abandoned in "So The Drama", Ron decides to confront Drakken alone. He succeeds, and it starts a new chain of events where Ron realizes how little Kim cares for him and decides he deserves better.
There might be episodes in Season 4 that could have Ron end things with Kim, but I feel like at that point it would take a lot, and Kim didn't do anything truly heinous to Ron so he wouldn't.
If anyone can think of any other episode where they think it would make sense for Ron to end things with Kim, please feel free to comment!
Regardless of my feelings on Kim/Ron, I think the show could've done a better job of portraying them as having feelings for each other.
In "Grudge Match" Kim mocks and insults Ron for even suggesting that people might think they date. This does not indicate that she's secretly crushing on him.
In "Emotion Sickness" Ron is uncomfortable with the idea of dating Kim. This does not indicate that he's secretly crushing on her.
In "Bad Boy" Kim suggests Ron take a date to Rueben's wedding, but gets uncomfortable when he asks her to go. They both agree that it's not a "date-date".
(I will give them props, Kim and Ron's conversation about the main characters of Agony County getting together was a nice lampshade.)
I will admit that Kim was jealous of Yori in "Gorilla Fist", and her conversation with Ron about Yori crushing on him could be a nice parallel to Kim's situation.
However, Kim was also jealous of Felix in "Steal Wheels", so it's not like she has to consider someone to be romantic rival to be jealous of them.
Ron is never shown to have issues with Kim dating, even attempting to help Kim with Josh.
And, though she doesn't seem to think highly of Ron, she doesn't have a problem with Ron dating.
Before "So The Drama" there wasn't a lot to indicate that they were attracted to each other.
Actually, there was more to indicate that they only see each other as friends than that they were secretly attracted to each other.
In "So The Drama" we get a lot of Ron pining over Kim, but only one line near the beginning that might indicate Kim is also pining over Ron.
And then, there's Eric.
Eric was perfect for Kim, and she begins to ignore Ron because of him.
This prompts Ron to realize his feelings for Kim, but he doesn't act on them until after Eric is revealed to be part of Drakken's plan.
Which is another problem; Eric was part of Drakken's plan.
Aside from one line at the beginning, there wasn't much to indicate that Kim was crushing on Ron. So having her date him after it's revealed that Eric was part of Drakken's plan makes it seem like Ron's the rebound.
Honestly, having two people end up together because the alternate love interest was no longer an option is kind of lazy writing.
(Granted, they hadn't been expecting the show to continue after this, so I'm not too surprised.)
Still, Kim ended up with Ron not because he was the better option but because he was the only option.
And that's just unfair to both of them.
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.
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.