#Cap Stacey 3: i hate him already

[batcavescolony]

So I'm watching Across The Spider-verse (finally) and could you imagine Gwen's Captain Stacey meeting other Captain Stacey's? Do you think they'd be pissed? He doesn't know it but he's from one of the handful of universes where Gwen doesn't die. How many Captain Stacey's across the multi-verse would take a Gwen that is a Spider-person because at least SHE'S ALIVE?

[kicacris]

do you ever wonder if cree had never turned evil, she would have enter the TND and maybe the AND

GATHER AROUND KIDS ‘CAUSE OLD CRIS IS ABOUT TO KND RAMBLE IN A VERY LONG POST!

Long time ago, when I was still in my 15s and the show was barely starting in CN, I used to believe Cree was another secret undercover teen operative working for KND and I was CONSTANTLY waiting for the reveal to eventually happen (pretty much what I also expected with Chad) but after the show ended and Chad was the only one who got proven to be good all along, I was 100% convinced she was really in the enemy side and I learned to accept it and EMBRACE IT.

You see, part of what makes Cree’s this cool character we all love it’s her personal vendetta against KND. If you take that element out of her character design, she would probably be just a normal teen-older-sister figure who has been somehow secretly protecting Abby/Sector V in the sidelines all this time and, although I admit that would have been pretty awesome to discover, I totally prefer the case not to be because I think a redemption arc for her would be way much more awesome to watch.

But please allow me to go into full Numbuh 101 mode for a second and ramble a bit with another of my “KicaCris-analyses-the-KND-canon-universe!” very long posts:

To me, Cree is the “Jasper” (Steven Universe) of the Kids-Next-Door, the villain who will figure out later her mistakes and rise again as a redeemed heroine. 

Story-wise, I think the writers needed to show us the both sides of the aftermath of KND operatives turning 13 yrs old: the kids who accept decommission and grow up honorably (Maurice) and the kids who (for some reason) decide to rebel and betray KND upon becoming teenagers (Cree).

Now I don’t think Cree betrayed KND just because “she’s now a teen and suddenly her brain/hormones decided to turn her evil” and all that yada-yada, hell no. Cree was A LOT like Abby when she was a kid (proven in the flashback of Op MAURICE), she was Sector V’s leader, super smart, brave and responsible. 

SOMETHING must have happened after Maurice left Sector V that somehow made her HATE with raging passion the Kids-Next-Door. What was it? We don’t know it yet, but we can pin-point WHEN it probably happened.

Canon-wise, it seemed to have happened after Nigel’s graduation from the Cadets-Next-Door Academy and during what I presume was Chad’s first years as a global command operative (Op TREATY flashback). The flashback definitely happens after the whole chicken-pox thing, as we can notice Abby is already wearing Cree’s red cap and Numbuhs 8A and 8B have been cured and still part of the team:

Funny enough Chad seems to have gone thru one heck of a growth spurt after Maurice left Sector V. Notice how he was a small boy scout in Op Maurice flashback and how he suddenly is towering Nigel in Op TREATY flashback: 

(Bonus: he’s even taller in the present day)

Sorry I got distracted-what was I saying?

Ah yeah, the timeline! So, as I was saying, Cree was still Sector V’s leader when Nigel graduated from the Cadets-Next-Door academy and Chad was already a global command operative. 

And then we have Kuki’s graduation flashback:

As far as I know canon-wise, Kuki is the youngest and last member to join Sector V and notice how by this moment in time, Numbuh 100 is STILL the Supreme Leader, Chad is a global command operative and yes Rachel is also pictured in here wearing her old uniform, but none of the old or current members of Sector V appear.

I’m not sure if there is an established limited number of operatives per KND team sector but, but either Sector V had like 8 members by the time Kuki joined in or Cree and the twins were already gone by then.

Anyway, my point is whatever triggered Cree to betray KND probably happened around this moment, either before or after Numbuh 100 got decommissioned. 

But alas, we never learned what caused her to rebel…just another of the many unresolved stories in the show…*sigh

I don’t want to spoil much my headcanon, ‘cause you’ll see what is my version of what probably lead Cree to rebel in my story, but all I can say is that SOMETHING must have rubbed her the wrong way with KND right before hitting 13 years old that triggered to start a personal war against the organization (plus, recruiting decommissioned high-ranked-beloved ex KND operatives to be part of her Teen Ninjas forces seems pretty ill-intended so her desire for revenge is really intense!)

 (((BONUS RANDOM  UNRELATED GROWTH SPURT ANALYSIS UNDER THE CUT BECAUSE I CAN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT THIS LOL))) :

What really confuses (and fascinates me the most too) is that A LOT OF TIME seemed to have passed between Maurice leaving Sector V and Kuki’s addition. In Operation: E.N.D., it is stated that Numbuh 274 was the leader for 5 years, but this is later contradicted in Operation: M.A.U.R.I.C.E., as the flashback shows that three years before the present time Numbuh 100 was still the Supreme Leader. (This is a very intriguing mistake because clearly, the writers didn’t have Numbuh 100 in mind when Operation END was written. Numbuh 100 seemed to have been created in the production of the two last seasons and he must have had a purpose story-wise because why would you suddenly throw another Supreme Leader before Chad and Rachel’s time to the story???)

The growth spur Maurice, Chad and Rachel go thru the show is very noticeable and it’s probably the best indicator of how much time has passed if you compared them to how all members of Sector V remain physically the same throughout the show.  

These three, (and Cree too) are the only characters who seem to go thru this expected puberty effect during the show either because they turn 13 or are close to reaching puberty as in Rachel’s case, while Numbuh 1-5 are all barely hitting 10-11 years canonically (Kuki reaching 10 years old in the show is my only reference).  

Let’s check some facts first: Chad is canonically a few months older than Maurice and at least a year older than Rachel, BUT Chad probably had a late growth spur as he clearly looks shorter than Maurice during the chicken-pox crisis. 

Let’s look at Maurice growth spur first: he clearly grows A LOT in the 3 year gap between the flashback and the time of his decommission. He now towers Abby but is still a bit shorter than Cree, who is 16 years old in the show (that means she’s 3 years older than Maurice and Chad wow). 

He’s also almost the same height as Stacey:

But THEN in Op PARTY he seems to have grown even more and is now Cree’ same height:

Let’s check Rachel:

She was already taller than Fanny before becoming a global command operative.

And grows slightly taller than Nigel in Op ZERO.

She keeps growing taller as the show progresses. Look how far she has grown by the time op TREATY happens! She reaches Steve a bit under his shoulders and he’s taller than Cree! It’s very subtle but it’s still noticeable. I’m pretty sure she’s way taller than Abby by the time she passes to her the Supreme Leadership.

And Chad, boy he grows a lot throughout the show! Remember how Stacey was the same height as Maurice at first? Well look again in Op PARTY, Chad is now taller than her!

And in this other shot during the first teen attack during operation TREATY? He’s almost as tall as Cree! 

I’m going to use Numbuh Infinity as my height reference but look how much he’s taller compared to him and Nigel (and Infinity is a tall alien kid mind you).

I’m guessing by the end of the show Chad is almost just as tall as Maurice. Too bad we never saw them side by side in the show, it would have been interesting to see who is the tallest between the two but my headcanon is that Mo is slightly taller. 

Ok I got too carried away with this answer lmao, sorry guys! XD I’m gonna leave it here, thank you for coming to my TED talk about “Growth spur in KND”,  bye!