Nino Lahiffe

   

Nino Lahiffe^[10] is a student in Miss Bustier's class at Collège Françoise Dupont and Adrien's best friend. He also is a DJ and the head of the school radio.

In "The Bubbler", when Nino becomes frustrated with adults after failing to convince Gabriel Agreste to allow Adrien to have a birthday party, Hawk Moth akumatizes him into Bubbler, a bubble-wielding supervillain.

Starting from "Anansi", whenever Nino receives the Turtle Miraculous from Ladybug and commands Wayzz to inhabit the Miraculous, he becomes Carapace, a turtle-themed superhero who helps Ladybug and Cat Noir "during particularly difficult missions" in the second season.^[9][11]

In "Mayura", during the fight with Scarlet Moth, due to grief caused by watching Rena Rouge fall victim to an akuma, Carapace is in turn akumatized into Shell Shock, a turtle-themed supervillain.

In "Oblivio", due to his and Alya's embarrassment at being caught playing the Super Penguino game together, they are both akumatized into Oblivio, a memory-erasing supervillain.

Appearance

Physical appearance

Nino is a tall slender teenager, with short dark brown hair, tan skin, and amber eyes.

Civilian attire

He wears a plain red cap, uses black-rimmed glasses, and often has a pair of dark gray, blue, and orange headphones hung around his neck. He typically wears a short-sleeved blue shirt with an eye design on the front (a design involving a black pupil, white sclera, a dark gray upper eyelid with lashes, and a light blue lower lid). Around his jeans is a brown belt, and while most of it is hidden by his shirt, one tip sticks out a little bit below the hem. Additionally, he wears lime green, pink, red, blue, and yellow wristbands around his right wrist, blue-gray jeans, and red and white high collar shoes with a white knight design on the tongues.

As Carapace

Carapace has a dark green bodysuit with a hoodie, the suit itself made with tiny hexagonal patterns resembling those on the Turtle Miraculous. The hoodie has a silver semicircle on the front, curved red-eye designs on the sides with black and golden details, and two small light green ovals below the bottom of the hood's opening. Over his eyes, Carapace wears black goggles with yellow-green lenses, and underneath the suit, he has a black collar. On his suit, he has six hexagon-shaped light green circles on his chest, and he has dark gray hexagon-shaped protective pads on his shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees. The Turtle Miraculous bracelet is on his right wrist. Also, Carapace wears dark green boots with an indent between his big toe and other toes, dark gray outsoles, and two indents on two sides of each boot. On his back, he carries a shield that is dark green on one side and light green on the other.

As Shell Shock

Shell Shock still has the same appearance as his hero counterpart but his outfit is scarlet, due to him having been taken over by a scarlet akuma. His appearance resulting from a normal akuma is unknown.

As Bubbler

Bubbler has light blue skin, reddish-brown eyes, and black circles around his eyes, along with a black spot above his left eye and a black spot below his right eye. He wears a bright red, blue and yellow bodysuit, with many parts of the suit being rounded like attached bubbles. Around his head, he has a red helmet that features a red antenna on top with a red sphere. Also, he wears black boots, black elbow-length gloves with pink knuckles, and black pants. On his chest, an eye-like black and white circle with two dark gray tubes attached. The tubes connect to Bubbler's red, yellow, and blue bubble container, where he puts his bubble wand when he isn't using it. The bubble wand has a blue handle and a yellow head with a long, oval hole.

As Oblivio

Oblivio is a purple humanoid with no face who has a laser cannon in its left hand and wears a gray glove in its right hand.

For more of Nino's outfits and designs, see Nino Lahiffe/Designs.

Personality

Nino is fun-loving, enthusiastic, friendly, and compassionate. He enjoys being a DJ at parties and hanging out with friends. He is described as "a caring friend with a strong sense of right and wrong."^[12] Noticing when someone, like Adrien, is upset, he does what he can to comfort them or cheer them up. If he has a vision for something, he stays dedicated to it, sometimes rather stubbornly. But if things don't go in the fashion he wants them to, it exasperates and upsets him. He is more than willing to argue his point, though he is able to change his opinions on situations or particular people. Nino becomes frustrated if he sees something that he considers unfair, like when Adrien's father won't allow Adrien to have a birthday party. However, he doesn't hold grudges for long, and whether by choice or not, he will help others when they ask for it.

However, he tends to act nervous in certain situations seen in "Animan", when he tried to ask Marinette on a date and when he stuttered at the sight of being posted on Alya's Ladyblog. He also has some knowledge on how things work in certain situations like in "Horrificator" or "Anansi".

Like Alya, he can be caught up in the moment or excitement of things. However, unlike Alya, he can calm himself down enough to realize reality as he doesn't hesitate on returning the Turtle Miraculous.

When it comes those he cares about he is brave and loyal refusing to leave them behind in "Simon Says", where he didn't want to leave without Adrien. In "Anansi", when he was even willing to fight against the titular villain to save Alya or staying with her when she's infected in "Zombizou". He is also protective of his brother Chris, running all over the city to find him in "Christmaster. He can become doubtful of his abilities at times but takes advice from others very well.

Also, he seems to be very attached to his signature red cap, as seen in "Chameleon", when it is taken from him by the titular villain and Alya is later seen reassuring him that he looks fine without it.

As Carapace, most of Nino's personality remains the same like his willingness to help others and bravery although he forgets to speak in a formal manner calling the heroine dude or dudette instead of Ladybug. According to one of Alya's Instagram photos, he is also a bit camera shy.

As Bubbler, he becomes less caring and more aggressive, being much wilder and louder than normal. Although one of his intentions is to let Adrien have the birthday party that he never gets, he also despises adults and uses his powers to get rid of them. His hatred can extend to his peers if they defy his orders. As Bubbler, if anyone doesn't listen to him, they get trapped in a bubble. His rage proves to even be an issue for Hawk Moth when he traps Ladybug and Cat Noir and sends them into the sky instead of taking their Miraculouses.

As Shell Shock, his personality as Carapace seems to inverse, making him cruel and aggressive.

As Oblivio, he and Alya become incredibly arrogant and conceited in their own abilities, erasing people's memories on a whim and taunting Ladybug and Cat Noir constantly after doing the same thing to them. However, they are easily frustrated as well, growing more and more angry while trying and failing to track down Ladybug and Cat Noir after they detransform.

Abilities

As a civilian

Nino is a skilled DJ, competing with his abilities and making it to the second round of The Challenge. With his cellphone, he likes to record videos, and, in "Horrificator", he films a movie with it. He is also knowledgeable in film tropes and film crew, noting how cell phones don't usually work in horror movies in "Horrificator" and mentioning Hollywood director Steven Basielberg in "Volpina".

In "Anansi", Nino has shown to have decent fighting abilities.

As Carapace

Carapace has much more enhanced skills, such as speed, agility, and strength, and he is almost invulnerable to physical damage.^[13] However, he doesn't seem to be able to reach great heights as other Miraculouses allow (such as Ladybug with her yo-yo, or Rena Rouge with her superior agility), having to rely on his allies for being transported long distances. He possesses a shield as a weapon that can easily be thrown and used to fight, and is strong enough to endure hits from powerful villains like Anansi.

His special power, Shell-ter, is executed through his shield, and allows to create a giant green shell-like spherical barrier/force field to protect himself and his allies, and is also able to damage particular surfaces (such as Anansi's webs). Despite the usefulness of this power, it must be used wisely, as Carapace can only use it once before reverting to his civilian form five minutes after using it.

As Shell Shock

He still has the same abilities as Carapace.

As Bubbler

With his bubble wand weapon, Bubbler can create giant impenetrable bubbles with various powers and colors.

• Purple bubbles can be used to chase and capture people, turning green. Additionally, Bubbler can use them to project his face and give a message, and he can stand on them to levitate.
• Red bubbles are his offensive attack: he can throw them at his enemies, causing a fiery explosion on impact. Additionally, Bubbler can turn existing red bubbles into swarming green ones that attach to people and morph into a giant green bubble. This is used to catch both Ladybug and Cat Noir in one go.

He is unable to levitate in mid-air without standing on a bubble, but he can jump very high and can fly from one place to another leaving a trail of purple bubbles.

His bubbles can't be penetrated by limbs or by Ladybug's yo-yo. However, the shields Ladybug and Cat Noir create by rotating their weapons do offer some protection. Additionally, the bubbles can be blown away by air currents and can be burst by Cataclysm and the Miraculous Ladybug.

As Oblivio

Oblivio has super strength and wields a laser cannon that can fire a blast of purple energy that causes whoever it hits to lose their memories.

Family

Tree

Nino's mother

Nino Lahiffe

Chris Lahiffe

Nino's mother

Nino Lahiffe

Chris Lahiffe

    = Male

    = Female

    = Gender Unknown

Notes

• The official Miraculous Ladybug Tumblr blog revealed that Nino's family was originally supposed to be revealed in Season 2.^[14]It was pushed to a future season for unknown reasons.
  • Later, the writers revealed at an event that Nino has a younger relative named Chris.^[15]

Relationships

Click here to view the relationships of Nino Lahiffe.

History

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Sightings

Episodes

Comics and books

Other

Trivia

• Nino's name is of Spanish roots, meaning the Spanish word "nino" which means "a male child".
  • Nino's name is a wordplay on "No life" - or rather, Nolife -^[16] a French TV network about pop culture, self-described as "for geeks, nerds and otakus". This refers to his geeky personality.
• Nino aspires to be a film director hinted in the episode “Horrificator” and in “Volpina” when he says “Lila knows all of the Hollywood directors, she promised she'd mention me to Steven Basielberg himself!"
• Nino is a DJ during his spare time, and he manages the school radio station.^[9][17]
• In the French version, Nino's villain name is Le Bulleur.
  • In the English version of "The Bubbler", Nino is only referred to as the Bubbler by Tikki while everyone else calls him Bubbler.
• An earlier concept design for Nino involved a white shirt with red color included in the eye logo and dark gray headphones.^[18]

  

• In "The Bubbler", Nino has black hair, but in all episodes afterward, he has brown hair.
• Nino sits next to Adrien and in front of Alya in class.
• Nino's family comes from Morocco.^[19] It was previously assumed his family came from Réunion based on a series of tweets.^[20]
• In the online game Miraculous Mission Ladybug, Bubbler is the enemy, but he is colored blue and appears multiple times throughout the game.
  • Also, in Ladybug Contra os Vilões, he is the enemy, this time with the right colors.
• In Season 2 and upcoming comics, Nino will have more interactions with Alya.^[21]
• Carapace means "a protective shell."^[22]
  • It is also the technical name for a turtle's backshell.
• Both Carapace and his civilian identity were revealed on August 31, 2017, in a press release video from French Miraculous distributor TFOU.^[9]
• Following Alya Césaire, Nino is the second person to become a Miraculous holder and an akumatized villain, excluding Gabriel, who akumatized himself.
• His transformation sequence seems to have been inspired by part of the opening credits of the 1987 version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, where Michelangelo spins on his shell while break-dancing, a move emulated by Nino.
• Ironic as much his villain name came from a turtle-themed monster named Shellshock from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.
• The orange markings on the side of Carapace's hood are likely based on the red-eared slider.
  • Coincidentally, this is the species of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
• When Nino and Alya become Oblivio, their supervillain name is a pun on the word oblivious.
• The Bubbler appears another time in "Gamer 2.0" for Gamer's powers.
• A statue of Bubbler appears in the Musée Grévin in "The Puppeteer 2".
• At Comic-Con 2019, Marinette, Adrien, Alya, and Chloé were announced to have real-world Instagram accounts that fans could follow. In the video showing the accounts, Nino was shown to be tagged in a picture with a supposed account of his own, under the account name "@djnino" – currently, however, there exists an inactive account under that same nickname. While it is currently unknown if Nino will get an Instagram account in the future, Alya started the trending hashtag #ninoneedsaninstagram, which the accounts use to "tag" him in posts.

Gallery

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References