So While I Really Loved S4 Of Carmen Sandiego, And I Enjoyed The Finale, It Felt More Like A Season Finale

So while I really loved s4 of Carmen Sandiego, and I enjoyed the finale, it felt more like a season finale than a series one. While the last episode was great, I felt the last ten minutes felt very rushed. So here’s some things I would’ve done different if there was a season 5

Highlights include: tons more of Player interacting with everyone (more Player and Carmen friendship, Player being in danger from VILE), Gray officially joining Team Red, Zach and Ivy joining ACME having more build up, etc.

Season 4

Carmen and Player’s first in-person meeting is shown in FULL like cmon

Have Carmen’s brainwashing last much shorter, only about a month at most (you cannot expect me to believe Team Red would let it go on for seven months)

Carmen never joins VILE’s faculty, but we do see her being quite cruel on cases, and Gray’s growing concern and guilt

Team Red teams up with ACME, desperate to get Carmen back and willing to do anything

Like in the show: VILE lies to Carmen about Shadowsan and she goes after him. Gray realises how wrong all of this is and turns himself over to ACME to try and save Carmen

There’s a big Team Red/ACME vs VILE/Carmen fight. Gray tries to get the headset on (we’re keeping the “please come back” line because it broke my heart) but she realises he betrayed her and shocks him. It’s a big fight between Shadowsan and Carmen, he gets the headset on her and her memories start to come back, but she destroys it before it can work completely. Shadowsan is down, and Carmen’s about to take him out when…

Player shows up!

He’s been beside himself since she went missing. When he finds out about the plan to save her, he says he’s coming with them. The rest of the team thinks it’s a bad idea, that it’s too dangerous, but he says it’s worth any risk to save Carmen. “She’s my best friend! My first real friend! I’d do anything for her, please!’

Player’s always been Carmen’s secret weapon, even back on VILE island. He was her first real friend too. Even if they erased all those years of Carmen Sandiego, even if they took away her heart, Player’s always gonna be in there.

Player tries to talk her down, tries to remind her of their time working together, tries to get her to leave Shadowsan alone - ‘Come on, Red. You gotta remember, please! Remember me, remember who you really are!’ She’s confused, conflicting memories tearing her apart. But she still refuses to listen and maybe pushes him away (he is still a kid, even without empathy, I doubt she’d just attack him). Carmen goes to take out Shadowsan with the crackle rod and Player puts himself between her and Shadowsan.

Carmen demands that he move out of the way. She’s starting to cry, starting to break. Player refuses. ‘I told you, Red. I’m not going anywhere.’

And it all comes back to her at once. She remember everything, her life, her friends, what happened when VILE kidnapped her. She’s overwhelmed - relieved, heartbroken, confused. Player just hugs her, so happy to have his best friend back.

As they start to pick themselves up after the battle, Carmen’s heartbroken at everything she’s done. She tries to apologise, but all her friends refuse to hear it, just glad to have her back.

When Gray wakes up in the hospital, Carmen’s already there waiting for him, to make sure he’s okay and to apologise. But he just apologises for not doing something sooner. They call it even. The Chief shows up to tell Gray ACME’s not after him. Carmen offers him a spot on her team, but he says he’ll have to think about it.

Team Red officially teams up with ACME, of course partnered with Jules and Devineaux. Jules is continuing to look into the mystery of Carlotta Valdez, and everyone’s ready to work together to take down VILE.

The very end of the season is VILE faculty talking with the Troll. He’s got the security footage from when they lost brainwashed!Carmen. The know everybody in the footage except for one. The piece they were missing from the puzzle. They zoom in on Player.

Season 5

With Team Red and ACME working together, they finally start to take down VILE. They still don’t know their new Headquarters, but they start to take out VILE strongholds, like Doctor Bellum’s lab.

Zach and Ivy start working closely with ACME, realising their skills and what the might want to do in the future.

Carmen’s pretty shaken by what happened to her. She’s terrified of being captured again, haunted by what she was forced to do, but refuses to let on that anything’s wrong. Eventually it all builds up and she ruins a mission. She and Shadowsan talk things out, have a wonderful father/daughter scene and Carmen slowly starts to heal as she realises she doesn’t have to take on the world herself.

Even without the need for revenge, there’s some tension between Carmen, Shadowsan and the Chief. They slowly start to trust each other and gain more respect.

We get some great team ups: Jules and Carmen get to work together! Also the chaos that Devineaux, Zach and Ivy would wreak as a team, or Devineaux and Shadowsan trying to work together - think of the potential! Also we get a callback to the first episode - Devineaux yelling ‘where in the world is Carmen Sandiego’ during a caper, but it’s waiting for her to come and help him

Gray of course joins the team, changed by Carmen, her faith in him and the remorse after what happened with Carmen’s brainwashing. Parts of the team don’t trust him right away, but he proves himself.

We get some backstory on Player! Apparently he became a hacker to try and find his father after he left, but is now happy with his mum and stepfather (this was in a tie-in novel?). But we see this! We get to see Player’s family! How much they love him, why they’re so overprotective. He’s still happy and comfortable in his room but his experience with school and finally meeting Team Red makes him want to push outside of his comfort zone. He tries to make some real life friends (joins a pride group, or a coding club or something). And if I’m writing this, what the hell, he also gets a boyfriend.

But of course, VILE has their sights set on Player. Now that The Troll has a target he’s been trying to track the kid, and finds him through security cameras. Player’s having dinner with his family one night when a knock comes at the door. It’s Coach Brunt. She bursts in, Player recognises her and tries to go for his room to call Carmen but Tigeress cuts him off. He’s in big trouble.

They take Player and his family hostage and Player’s parents finally find out what he’s been up to.

‘Wait, you were helping take down an international crime organisation!?’ ‘Yes mom, I told you that!’ ‘I thought you were playing a video game!!!’

VILE uses Player and his family as bait to try and finally take out Team Red. Of course they fail, everyone is literally ready to Kill to save Player. Carmen is more furious than we’ve ever seen her. Player gets to do something cool like knock out Tigeress with a computer screen or something. ACME takes Coach Brunt and Tigeress into custody (continuing the fall of VILE).

Player’s parents get to see that their son is friends with bunch of secret agents and ex-criminals. They also see the big sister/little brother relationship between Carmen and Player. He talks about her all the time and they’re really happy to finally meet her, and she becomes an honorary member of the family. They’re still worried about Player’s involvement, but they see how much it means to him (and with ACME assuring their safety) agree that he can continue.

Jules finally finds Carmen’s mother. She brings her the information and Carmen admits that she’s afraid to go and find her. We find out a bit about Jules, how she’s not that close with her own biological family, and how much this new team has meant to her. How family is who you choose. Carmen is comforted by this. She decides to set aside her mother until she finishes up her business with VILE.

They’re building up to the final fight, they’ve found the location of the headquarters. Carmen recruits whoever wants to join (Team Red, ACME, different friends from their journey like Sonia). There’s a big battle, bringing back different VILE characters (Mime Bomb, Flytrap, Spinkick, etc.), gadgets and robots vs the new team.

Of course they defeat VILE, finally bringing them out of the shadows and taking them in.

The Chief officially offers everyone on Team Red places with ACME. They all talk, and Zach and Ivy decide to accept. It’s not Carmen, Gray or Shadowsan’s thing, but they agree to stay on as consultants. Shadowsan decides to retire and go home to his brother. The team “splits up” but promise to see each other again soon.

Carmen gets permission to take Player sightseeing over the summer, so he can get out and go see the world like she did.

Carmen goes to meet her mother, encouraged on the phone by Player and his family (because he’s not sitting alone in a diner, he’s hanging out with other people, showing his character growth).

There can still be a timeskip, but it’s where everyone’s still working together to take down any last traces of VILE

Prompt #156

Villain's who are all tough around people but turn soft when they're with that person.

Villain's lips were pulled back into a heavy snarl, his eyes a dark abyss of anger as he stared down at the person in front of them.

"Move" villain ordered, his voice nothing less of a growl that a wolf would do before attacking it's enemy.

"S-sir?" the civilian in front of him stuttered, wondering why villain came into the coffee shop at 9 am and was demanding civilian to move.

Villain's fingers found the material of civilian's collar, bunching the clothing up in his fist as villain leaned down so the two of them were eye to eye. "Fucking move right now or else–"

"Villain?" A soft voice called out.

Villain's cheeks instantly flushed over with red as he threw down the civilian in his hands, turning to hero.

"O-oh hi, hero." Villain stuttered, toying with the button of his jacket.

"Were you. . .were you just threatening that civilian?"

"Of course not–"

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bigbadivy

3 years ago

Obedience Without Rules

“Fascinating”- Supervillain smiled- “that I have enough power to hurt you both simultaneously.”

Hero couldn’t respond as her mouth opened in a silent scream. The pain was becoming intolerable, rising with each moment, exhausting her further and further, yet she couldn’t simply pass out. Supervillain knew her limit after days of torture. He wouldn’t cross the line which allowed Hero any amount of relief.

If she could have, Hero would have turned to face Villain, to see if his line had been met yet. He’d arrived- arrived, how dare I think that? Villain had been captured two days after Hero. As much as she’d like to think Villain deserved the treatment Supervillain was fond of, she knew it wasn’t true.

“Ah- ah!”

“Don’t,” Hero breathed. “Don’t fight it.” How long had it taken her to say it after the fact? It wasn’t immediate, she knew, because it took her several moments to even collect her thoughts through the pain. Beyond that, there were a series of croaks which escaped her before she could speak a single coherent word. Did what she say even make sense now?

“Yeah, well, I’m not- not- Mm!” Villain was wincing in the moments he couldn’t speak. The pain, the one Supervillain was inflicting, was becoming unbearable.

Villain was in better shape than Hero, that was for sure, but it wouldn’t last. All three of those in the room knew it. Supervillain, most of all.

“I’m not just gonna let it happen!” Villain finally got out.

Supervillain listened to their banter long enough. He watched the two from the door, happy he didn’t have to take a step further into the room. It meant he could keep the door open, a taunt to his captives. Seeing a way out…they must have just been itching, huh? Ready to sprint? Prepared to claw Supervillain’s eyes and cheeks out. But they couldn’t.

Clenching a fist, Supervillain let the rest of his body relax. Villain’s grunts became screams, became pleas, became voiceless whines in the back of his throat.

For once, Supervillain was giving Hero a break, letting her slump in her chains. She was righteous enough that hearing another person hurt, even if they were considered a bad guy in her eyes, would pain her just as much as manipulating her mind into thinking it was in real pain.

Electrochemical reactions. How fun they were to play with. How easily you could control a person by firing them off. Ping the nerve cells. Make them hurt.

It’s what Supervillain was doing to Villain now. Hopefully, he wouldn’t pass out soon. It’d only been fifteen minutes, and that wasn’t enough time to satisfy Supervillain. Although, maybe…Hero was on a break right now. Maybe Supervillain could push Villain to his limit and then move onto Hero again.

“Stop,” Hero finally wheezed, not thinking about what she was doing. Her intention was to make Supervillain move on away from Villain, which he did, leaving the open doorway and walking towards her. “He’s- he’s had enough.”

Hero didn’t think about the continued pain Villain would feel, the exhaustion which would set in, making his bones creak as they were continuously being pulled on by the chains above his head.

Supervillain’s painful power was a blaring feeling while he was actively tormenting them. But…well, they were better off if they passed out from the pain during or afterwards. At least that way, Villain would have a chance to heal.

Hero already messed up, though. She got Supervillain’s attention before Villain could reach that point of healing.

Passing out shouldn’t have been better than this life. It shouldn’t have been, and yet…yet, it was.

“And you, Hero, haven’t had enough?”

In a moment, Hero’s limbs were light- felt like feathers. She drew in a breath, slowly, allowing herself to feel the air all the way in her lungs before releasing- or trying to release. What happened instead was that she drew in a breath on top of the first as something panged in her chest. The extra breath made her chest hurt worse- beyond the pain Supervillain was inflicting himself. “St-stop. Stop, please.”

“Oh? Now you have had enough? Make up your mind, little girl.”

To everyone’s great surprise, Villain spoke up. “You’d do well,” he rasped at Supervillain, “to not…demean her. She’s-” Hero couldn’t see it, but Villain was looking over at her, head hung low, yet high enough to admire her- even if she was sweaty. “-stronger than I am, than I’ll- than I’ll ever be.”

He knew Hero had been here longer, had been tormented greater than he had been yet. And she was volunteering in order for him to catch a breath.

Hero grunted as she was relieved of her pain again. She nearly cursed when Villain’s voice pitched. “Give us a break!” she screamed at Supervillain. Had Hero had a hand available, she’d have slapped it over her lips. Dread churned in her stomach and she quickly apologized.

“You’re apologizing? You think that takes back your disobedience.”

“Can’t be disobedient if you haven’t set rules,” Villain piped, regaining the most miniscule amount of strength as Supervillain’s focus was changed again. He wouldn’t let Hero take the blows, but he didn’t know why. Maybe it was only because she did it for him first. Ah, it didn’t matter.

“Villain,” Hero’s voice was quiet, broken. “Stop. You can’t- can’t do this for me. Just stay silent.”

“No. You don’t deserve-”

Supervillain hummed, sending a high frequency in his captives’ ears. Villain’s eyes and mouth opened as if the sound could simply pour out, meanwhile Hero was clenching every muscle tight, squeezing the sound out.

“It seems you both want to sacrifice yourselves for the other. I reckon that makes this easy. If you”- Hero’s pain flared and she screeched- “want to take the pain for him, I’ll let you. And since you”- now Villain hollered- “want to take hers, I’ll let you. You both make this too easy.”

******

Part 2 here

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bigbadivy

4 years ago

JEALOUSY IDEAS

Here are some prompts that involve your characters getting jealous of each other:

Person A and Person B have been best friends since childhood. One day Person B introduces Person A to their new friend, Person C, who they’ve been hanging out with a lot recently. Person A gets jealous of Person B’s new friendship and starts doing a bunch of silly things to have an excuse to spend time with Person B like faking sick so Person B will take care of them or purposefully locking their keys in their house so Person B has to come bring them a spare.

Person A and Person B are friends who both idolize the same musician/celebrity/YouTuber/etc. (Let’s call them Person C.) One day Person C notices Person B on social media. Person A gets jealous and spends the next few days/weeks desperately trying to get Person C’s attention online, but instead of noticing them, Person C ends up blocking Person A for spamming them.

Person A auditions for the lead role in a play but ends up being cast as a secondary role while Person B gets the role that Person A originally wanted. Jealous of Person B’s spotlight, whenever Person A goes onstage to play their part they exaggerate their performance to a ridiculous degree which earns them lots of laughter and attention from the audience.

Person A has a crush on Person B. Person B keeps liking all of Person C’s photos on Instagram but never Person A’s. Person A gets jealous and starts posting pictures in similar poses/outfits/lighting to Person C’s photos, trying to be subtle but it’s super obvious and eventually Person C confronts them and asks them why they’re doing it.

Person A has to move to a new school away from their best friend, Person B. They keep in touch for a while but after a few months, Person A has made new friends and doesn’t talk to Person B much anymore. Person B gets jealous and transfers to the same school Person A moved to. Person A is shocked when they walk into class one day and see Person B there.

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bigbadivy

4 years ago

i wanted to gif two very important scenes from the new season

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bigbadivy

5 years ago

‏‎Mega swampert- pokemon drawing‎‏ https://www.instagram.com/p/B26dgIuhfVE/?igshid=ia21qrsvfzyc

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bigbadivy

3 years ago

"I thought we had something, I.. I thought you loved me!" "We are but enemies, my dear. Soon enough we have to part ways, and this is the path I am taking."

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bigbadivy

5 years ago

‏‎Mega swampert- pokemon drawing #pokemonart #pokemon #sellartonline #drawing #sketchbook #pokemon_trainer‎‏ https://www.instagram.com/p/B26dgIuhfVE/?igshid=1rpk25v3tcntw

Prompt #161

"What do you want, Hero?"

Their eyes glittered with starlight and they smiled. "The moon."

Villain nodded, turning their head and staring at the moon with squinted eyes. Before they could say anything more, Hero spoke up again.

"It's a joke, it's a joke. Please don't start trying to devise a plan to literally take the moon. We don't need another space race, alright?"

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bigbadivy

5 years ago

#happy_birthday_drawing! #drawingtablet #digital_art #digitalart #digitalillustration #artoninstagram #fanart #marvel #antihero #drawyourfriend #venom #marvelfanart #art #artwork #artworks #artworks_portrait #portrait #artworkshop #sellartonline #happybirthday https://www.instagram.com/p/B-b7LkHBg9a/?igshid=13c7ppwsf55dx