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This article is about the Season 1 episode. You may be looking for the character or the Season 3 episode.
TPT (365)

The Puppeteer

Season 1, episode 18 (Production order); Episode 18 (Overall)

Read transcript
I'm okay, not a puppet yet! But I'd love to find the akuma before that changes.

Cat Noir, "The Puppeteer"

"The Puppeteer" is a Season 1 episode of the series, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir.[3] As based on the series' production order specifically, "The Puppeteer" is the 18th written and produced episode of Season 1. It is also the 18th written and produced episode of the series, overall.[1]

Synopsis[]

Nickelodeon[]

A misunderstanding while babysitting Manon leads to a young girl becoming akumatized as the Puppeteer.[4]

Netflix[]

Marinette babysits little Manon, who becomes akumatized into the Puppeteer while playing with dolls of Ladybug, Cat Noir, and some infamous villains.

Disney Channel[]

A babysitting mishap occurs and results in a little girl becoming the Puppeteer, a villain who covets controllable doll versions of Ladybug and Cat Noir.[5]

Plot[]

TPT (15)

Marinette is babysitting Manon in her bedroom, playing with plush dolls of Ladybug, Cat Noir, Lady Wifi, the Evillustrator, and Rogercop. Marinette tells Manon about how the villains came to get their powers, and what motivates them. They were ordinary people in Paris who, for one reason or another, became very upset. An even more powerful villain named Hawk Moth gave them superpowers on the condition that they give him what he wanted — the Ladybug Miraculous and Cat Miraculous, two magical pieces of jewelry belonging to the superheroes. Marinette explains that if this were to happen, the bad guys would win.

TPT (90)

However, the heroes always triumph, and when their game of imaginative play comes to the same conclusion, Manon asks to play as Ladybug and Cat Noir, but before they can, Manon's mother, Nadja Chamack, arrives to pick her daughter up.

Ms. Chamack instructs Manon to return the doll, to the little girl's dismay. When her mother tries to take it back, the doll's arm rips. Marinette assures the Chamacks that she can fix it, and says good-bye to them. Just then, Ms. Chamack's phone rings. Her co-worker, Alec Cataldi, needs her help. While her mother is distracted, Manon returns to Marinette's room and again pleads for the doll. Unable to resist Manon's cuteness, Marinette lets her borrow the plush Lady Wifi. Nadja calls for Manon, telling her that they have to stop by KIDZ+ TV station. Tikki remarks that it is a good thing none of the villains are as cute and manipulative as little Manon.

TPT (118)

Manon waits for her mother in the reception hall of the TV station, playing hero and villain with the toy Lady Wifi and a magazine cover picture of Ladybug. When Nadja notices her daughter playing with Marinette's doll, she believes her daughter took the doll without Marinette's permission and scolds her and punishes her for disobedience by taking the doll and directing her daughter to stay in place until she comes back from her errand.

TPT (182)

This angers Manon and catches the attention of Hawk Moth. Elsewhere in Paris, Marinette and Alya rush to the train station, ready to spend the afternoon at the bookstore and movies. The girls spy on Adrien boarding the train as well, and as per usual, Marinette is frozen in place. Alya has to drag her friend into the train. Marinette attempts to figure out a plan to talk to him but has little success.

Hawk Moth sends an akuma after Manon, which lands on her toy fairy wand. Hawk Moth contacts Manon, calling her Puppeteer, and explains her powers to her that she can use Marinette's dolls to control their real-life counterparts, heroes, and villains alike. Recognizing him from the stories Marinette tells her, Manon sees her chance to be the winner of the game and agrees, and she is akumatized into the Puppeteer. Puppeteer begins by stealing back the Lady Wifi doll and using her powers on it.

TPT (212)

On the train, Marinette, Adrien, and the rest of the passengers watch in horror as Alya is re-akumatized. The villainess then demands that Marinette gives her the dolls. Marinette notices that Lady Wifi is speaking less like herself, but more like a very young girl. Confused, Marinette tries to reason with her friend and tells her that she does not have them. This only prompts Lady Wifi to summon a fast-forward icon and ride it out of the subway station and to Marinette's house.

TPT (253)

Having seen the whole thing through the window, Adrien leaves the train and tells the conductor to investigate a cat that is loose on the tracks. Once he leaves, Plagg transforms Adrien to Cat Noir. Elsewhere in the station, Marinette and Tikki are about to do the same thing, but Cat Noir finds her first, asking for information. Marinette explains that Lady Wifi was acting like a young girl she babysat and had left to get a set of dolls the child wanted. Marinette gives Cat Noir her address, and once he has left, Tikki transforms the girl into Ladybug.

TPT (280)

The heroes find each other at the Dupain-Cheng house to catch Lady Wifi in the act of stealing the doll replicas of Ladybug, Cat Noir, the Evillustrator, and Rogercop. Recalling how they defeated Lady Wifi last time, Ladybug tells her partner to knock out the wifi signal while she fights Lady Wifi. Cat Noir uses his Cataclysm to destroy the antennas, but when Ladybug smashes open the signal-less phone, no akuma comes out. Lady Wifi retreats, but not without three of the dolls, with the exception of Ladybug. The heroine recounts this to her partner, and they realize that Manon must have been akumatized and is using the dolls to control Lady Wifi, and now has the means to control three more people, including Cat Noir. To make matters worse, Cat Noir's transformation is about to wear off, having already used his Cataclysm. He runs off to feed Plagg.

Ladybug arrives at KIDZ+, and asks Ms. Chamack about Manon. When she finds that her daughter is not in the waiting hall, Ladybug checks the security footage to find that the Puppeteer, Lady Wifi, and three plush dolls are on the soundstage. The heroine instructs the adults to evacuate, assuring Ms. Chamack that she will save her daughter.

TPT (364)

Cat Noir returns and the heroes run to find the child villain before she can cause any more harm. However, they arrive to find that she has already summoned Nathaniel and Roger as their villain personas and promptly does the same to Cat Noir. Realizing that the akuma must be in the girl's toy wand, Ladybug attempts to retrieve it, but is outnumbered five to one. Forming a plan, Ladybug takes her cloth counterpart, and roll of duct tape, and flees to the roof.

TPT (423)

Deciding to handle the puppet villains first, Ladybug shines a huge spotlight on their faces, temporarily blinding them. She uses the duct tape to tie the hands of Evillustrator and Rogercop, who rely on their hands. She then throws the Ladybug plush off the building so the Puppeteer will send Lady Wifi to fetch it from the Eiffel Tower. When she successfully does and hands it to her mistress, Ladybug counters by summoning her Lucky Charm. This time, it provides her with a power strip. While she ponders what to do with it, Rogercop and the Evillustrator escape, allowing the latter to erase her hiding spot. A fight ensues with Ladybug using the power strip as a second yo-yo to dodge Rogercop's handcuffs, Lady Wifi's pause icons, and the disks drawn by the Evillustrator. When Cat Noir advances with his staff, Ladybug ties his foot in her yo-yo and knocks him over.

TPT (511)

She proceeds to deflect the villains' attacks at the others and pauses the Puppeteer just as she is about to activate the Ladybug doll. She breaks the wand, cleanses the akuma, and throws the power strip into the sky, repairing all of the damage caused by the fight and changing Manon, Alya, Nathaniel, and Roger back into themselves. None of them have any memory of what they did as puppets, including Cat Noir. Once again, Hawk Moth is angry that the heroes have bested him, while Ms. Chamack is relieved to see that her daughter is all right. Ladybug dashes away.

TPT (588)

Later, at the Dupain-Cheng house, Marinette apologizes to Ms Chamack for letting Manon take the doll without her mother's permission. Ms. Chamack understands and leaves her daughter under Marinette's supervision. Manon asks to play with Ladybug and Cat Noir, but Marinette instead suggests they go to the zoo instead and Manon agrees in the end.


Characters[]

Major characters[]

Minor characters[]

Trivia[]

  • Internationally, this episode first premiered in France.
  • This episode reveals that Manon is Nadja Chaack's daughter and that Sabine Cheng is good friends with Nadja, something that was first mentioned in "Stormy Weather".
  • The word "Butterfly" is written in the subway along with the sketch of a butterfly similar to the logo that is on the side of Adrien's shoes.
  • The events in this episode must take place after "Lady Wifi", "The Evillustrator" and "Rogercop", as the villains from those episodes reappear.
    • Something interesting is that on Netflix in some countries, these 3 episodes are right next to each other ("Lady Wifi" then "The Evillustrator" then "Rogercop") and these episodes air in the same order the Puppeteer summons these villains in.
      • Which, however, appears inconsistent with Cat Noir asking for Marinette's address and not indicating in any way that they met before, since "The Evillustrator" had them meeting in Marinette's house as an important plot point.
  • This episode features four akumatized villains, three of which not technically akumatized, which breaks the previous record of three in "The Evillustrator".
    • Also, unlike in "The Evillustrator", the returning villains are not imaginary.
  • This is the first time that Hawk Moth does not get angry or impatient with a villain. Instead, he speaks sweetly to the Puppeteer the entire time, and even praising her.
  • Cat Noir falls under the Puppeteer's control and turns against Ladybug. This is the third time he is controlled by a villain, having been previously controlled by Dark Cupid and Princess Fragrance.
  • The fourth wall is broken twice.
    • Alya points out that Marinette is talking to an unknown audience when she tries to convince herself that she is not obsessed with Adrien.
    • When Ladybug walks over to take the akuma from the Puppeteer's wand, she is whistling "It's Ladybug" to herself.
  • Despite missing the Ladybug doll and not being at full power, the Puppeteer can be considered the strongest akumatized villain seen so far in the series.[6]
    • Especially in combination with Evillustrator, as he is most likely able to draw new dolls for her to control.
  • In the end title card, Marinette and Manon are looking at the new panther from "Animan".
  • Puppeteer's powers is related to the old stories about Voodoo dolls, which are magical dolls that are believed to have the power to control the person they look like.
  • By extension her villain name is a pun to the work Musketeers a group of French swordsmen trained to protect the kings and keep the peace of France similar to how Puppeteer used her minions to protect herself from Ladybug.
  • This is the second time where Cat Noir uses his powers to destroy a previous object the WiFi antenna seen in "Lady Wifi".
  • This is the first time Ladybug is seen dual wielding.

Errors[]

  • A zip lock is animated poorly: it seems that Manon closes her bag not touching the lock.
  • Ladybug has her doll hung around her waist when she leaves the subway.
  • Cat Noir already should know Marinette's address from visiting her in "The Evillustrator."
  • When Ladybug calls Nadja with her yo-yo, another yo-yo is around Ladybug's waist holding the Ladybug doll.
  • At the Louvre, Nathaniel is looking at where the Mona Lisa is supposed to be, but the Mona Lisa is not there.[7]
  • Ladybug wields her yo-yo in her right hand and the power chord in her left hand during the final confrontation. However, when using Lady Wifi's powers to stop the Puppeteer, the yo-yo is in her left hand and the power chord is in her right hand. After that scene, both are sent back to their original positions.
  • As Cat Noir goes up the subway stairs, his tail appears to be grey.
  • The static end card is not shown in the original TFOU broadcast. Instead, there is an iMovie error message that reads "Missing File - 'MLAdLeCN_S1_18_FR_HD_tfou_v1' is missing. Try reimporting the original source media.
  • When Cat Noir exits Marinette's room to Cataclysm the wifi antenna, he exits from the window, but in the next shot, it's closed.
  • When Manon and Marinette leave the bakery, Marinette doesn't have her purse on her, but in the end card, she has it on.
  • In Marinette's room, when Ladybug and Cat Noir are fighting Lady Wifi, it is unknown how Tom and Sabine are not able to hear all the mayhem going on downstairs.
  • After Manon is de-akumatized, her hair appears to be brighter.

Gallery

Click here to view the image gallery for The Puppeteer.

Click here to view the gallery.

References[]


ve Episodes
Season 1
101 Stormy Weather102 The Evillustrator103 Lady Wifi104 Princess Fragrance105 Dark Cupid106 Mr. Pigeon107 Pixelator108 Copycat109 The Bubbler110 Simon Says111 Rogercop112 Gamer113 Animan114 Darkblade115 Pharaoh116 Timebreaker117 Horrificator118 The Puppeteer119 The Mime120 Guitar Villain121 Reflekta122 Ladybug & Cat Noir (Origins - Part 1)123 Stoneheart (Origins - Part 2)124 Antibug125 Kung Food126 Volpina
Season 2
201 The Collector202 Prime Queen203 Glaciator204 Despair Bear205 Troublemaker206 Gigantitan207 Riposte208 Befana209 Frightningale210 Gorizilla211 Robostus212 Sapotis213 The Dark Owl214 Syren215 Zombizou216 Captain Hardrock217 Frozer218 Style Queen (Queen's Battle - Part 1)219 Queen Wasp (Queen's Battle - Part 2)220 Reverser221 Anansi222 Malediktator223 Sandboy224 Catalyst (Heroes' Day - Part 1)225 Mayura (Heroes' Day - Part 2)226 Santa Claws
Season 3
301 Chameleon302 Animaestro303 Bakerix304 Backwarder305 Reflekdoll306 Weredad307 Silencer308 Oni-Chan309 Miraculer310 Oblivio311 Desperada312 Christmaster313 Startrain314 Kwamibuster315 Feast316 Gamer 2.0317 Stormy Weather 2318 Ikari Gozen319 Timetagger320 Party Crasher321 The Puppeteer 2322 Cat Blanc323 Félix324 Ladybug325 Heart Hunter (The Battle of the Miraculous - Part 1)326 Miracle Queen (The Battle of the Miraculous - Part 2)
Season 4
401 Truth402 Lies403 Gang of Secrets404 Mr. Pigeon 72405 Psycomedian406 Furious Fu407 Sole Crusher408 Queen Banana409 Gabriel Agreste410 Mega Leech411 Guiltrip412 Crocoduel413 Optigami414 Sentibubbler415 Glaciator 2416 Hack-San417 Rocketear418 Wishmaker419 Simpleman420 Qilin421 Dearest Family422 Ephemeral423 Kuro Neko424 Penalteam425 Risk (Shadow Moth's Final Attack - Part 1)426 Strikeback (Shadow Moth's Final Attack - Part 2)
Season 5
501 Evolution502 Multiplication503 Destruction504 Jubilation505 Illusion506 Determination507 Passion508 Reunion509 Elation510 Transmission (The Kwamis' Choice - Part 1)511 Deflagration (The Kwamis' Choice - Part 2)512 Perfection513 Migration514 Derision515 Intuition516 Protection517 Adoration518 Emotion519 Pretension520 Revelation521 Confrontation522 Collusion523 Revolution524 Representation525 Conformation (The Final Day - Part 1)526 Re-creation (The Final Day - Part 2)527 Action
Season 6
TBA
Season 7
TBA
Season 8
TBA
Specials
Two Part Episodes
The Origins StoryQueen's BattleHeroes' DayThe Battle of the MiraculousShadow Moth's Final AttackThe Kwamis' ChoiceThe Final Day
Christmas specials
Santa ClawsChristmaster
Standalone specials
ActionThe End of Ladybug
Miraculous World
Miraculous New YorkMiraculous ShanghaiMiraculous ParisMiraculous: One Night MissionMiraculous RioMiraculous LondonMiraculous DakarMiraculous Tokyo
Cancelled/Unknown Specials
Miraculous & Ghostforce crossover
Movies
Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie
Future movies
Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie 2Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie 3
Cancelled/Unknown movies
Miraculous (live-action film)Miraculous Lady Bug
Spin-offs
Miraculous LadydragonMiraculous LadyBlueMiraculous LadyLionMiraculous LadyTiger
Miraculous Secrets
Marinette in ParisMarinette and FashionLadybug as seen by AdrienLadyblogAdrien's Double LifeMarinette and AlyaMarinette's Double LifeCat Noir as seen by MarinetteMy Birthday PartyMarinette and AdrienMaster FuTikkiPlaggFriendsNinoMaxMylèneRoseAlixSabrinaIvanGabrielNathaniel & MarcMarinette as seen by ChloéLilaHawk Moth and the Akumatized VillainsFamilyKagami as seen by MarinetteKagami as seen by AdrienLuka as seen by MarinetteNew PowersNew HeroesMayura and the SentimonstersChloé as seen by MarinetteNathalie as seen by GabrielFeelings
Tales from Paris
The NotebookInspirationRepetitionBusy DayHomework Essay
Miraculous Chibi
Rooftop DinnerCatnip FragranceThe ChaseCuriosity Kicked the CatCutest Cat FightFatal PosyScarybugPanic at the ParkThe Cake Race
Future webisode
NeckRace
Action Shorts
Plastic - The Story So FarReduce, Reuse, RecycleInnovation & CreativityYouth Empowerment and LeadershipBecome an Advocate Against Plastic
YouTube series
Diários de ParisMiraculous News NetworkMiraculous Club
Other media
Released media
The Mini Menace LadybugLadybug PVFirst CGI promotional videosHappy Birthday to You!Ladybug (musical)Miraculous Ladybug (musical)Miraculous: The Ladybug ShowMiraculous Ladybug COVID-19 SpecialLadybug Saves ChristmasAction
Future media
Miraculous (live-action TV series)
Cancelled/Unknown media
Miraculous Ladybug COVID-19 Special 2Miraculous Ladybug OVAMiraculous LiveGagotor
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