Nino Lahiffe

**Nino Lahiffe** is one of major recurring characters in *Miraculous Ladybug*, he is Adrien Agreste's best friend and Alya Césaire's boyfriend.

## 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." 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.

## 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* - 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.
* 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".
* In the French version, Nino's villain name is Le Bulleur.
* Ironic as much his villain name came from a turtle-themed monster named Shellshock from *Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers*.
* 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.
* 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. It was previously assumed his family came from Réunion based on a series of tweets.
* 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.
* *Carapace* means "a protective shell."
	+ 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
	+ In a post where Chloé mentions her distaste for being paired up with Nino for an art assignment (one that also saw Adrien with Alya and Marinette with Nathaniel), she commented, "#ninodoesntneedaninstagram".