#Day 6: Chase and/or Chief | ACME

[disfordevineaux]

An amalgamation of random CS Character HCs that have been knocking around in my brain for a while, pt1:

- Sheena was released on bail by her family a few months after fall of VILE. They worked their rich people magic and finessed a sweet, sweet plea that one could only dream of. She now works at Sephora for some reason.

- Chief loves a good paid product placement. In fact 90% of ACMEs income comes from brand deals and sponsorships. All the elevators within ACME HQs across America are Pepsi Branded.

- Chase has 2 younger sisters that he is incredibly close (one still a minor) with. They are both extremely intelligent, strongly opinionated and driven women, exactly the way he raised them. Which people in his inner circle find ironic when considering previous behaviours displayed. He admits it's ironic, and admits openly that it plagues his soul frequently.

- Neal was eventually caught, multiple, multiple, multiple times but naturally escaped. And eventually was just never seen again. Probably performing stand up somewhere. As is probably for the best. It's theorised that he kept getting caught just to escape because he was bored. The cafeteria staff within the prison miss him.

- Cleo developed a skin care line right out of her prison cell. Somehow. It's really successful. It is actually one of ACMEs many sponsors now.

- Zack signed up for a local musical theatre group after being inspired by the show Glee. He subsequently quit when he found out that you actually have to dance and sing, to be apart of the group. And not just sit in the corner and wait for a Glee moment to happen so you can 'get the live Glee experience', as he puts it.

- 6 months into Shadowan's 'retirement' in Greece, he found himself horrifically bored, and began fishing. Turns out he is really good at it, a natural, and ended up being featured on TV for his innovation to fishing.

- Chase decided to grow an actual beard, nothing serious, to shake things up. Zack caught on to this change emerging and wanted to copy him and grow one too. He was excited to become 'The Beard Brothers'. Chase shaved it pretty much the next day.

- Zari plays professional indoor beach volley ball. And is really dam good at it.

- Player collects Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Not to play, but just to organise. He keeps all the holographic ones in their own portfolio. He claims his entire collection is totally worth like a couple thousand, at least.

- Julia likes the taste of coconut. Loves those little chocolates that are called Bountys. It's not her favourite flavour but she really appreciates anything with some dessicated coconut in it.

- Chase is lactose intolerant, but like many people in society suffering from that affliction he refuses to live his life by it. He will not be controlled by dairy. HE controls the dairy. But he does commit to skim or oat milk in his coffee, he's not crazy.

- Dash Haber and Trey Sterling are frienemies to lovers to strangers.

- Carmen and Ivy partake in many private rendezvous that are not at all as work related as they lead people to believe they are.

- Brunt's favourite show is Supernatural. She has a huge huge crush on Dean. It's concerning. But understandable. She kicked up a stink about missing the 'new seasons' (she's a few years behind) and gets to watch an epp a week, despite being in prison.

- Ivy becomes ACMEs resident mechanic and supes up any ACME car she can get her hands on. Don't expect to have any appliances in any office she has a workshop in as the best parts come from a toasted sandwich maker and kettle.

- Player grows from like 4"1 to 6ft within seconds of turning 18.

- Carmen begins working on starting a charity which aims at completely reforming the international foster care system, so she can marry it to her 'stealing for the right reasons' motif which she is currently working at making an actual legal enterprise of some sort.

- Gray claims that he's so far met 17 celebrities throughout his life. But when you ask for a list of who he has met he only ever names a few out of those 17, but ALWAYS tells the story of how he met Chad Michael Murry at a service station in Brisbane.

- As a teen, Bellum was once lost within an IKEA for a considerable amount of time. They consider it the best 5 hours of their life and nothing will ever top it.

[citrineleaf]

(made for Player Appreciation Week Day 6)

@playerappreciationweek

Summary:  On his way to a Team Red lunch post-VILE, Player ends up in a minor crash with an... old ally of theirs.

[playerappreciationweek]

Here are our official prompts for Player Appreciation Week 2022! Thank you to everyone who filled out the interest check. Our official dates for posting will be Sunday, February 27th - Saturday, March 5th. You can find the transcription of the prompts as well as the rules for the event below.

Prompts

Day 1: Carmen | Black Sheep

Day 2: Ivy and/or the Faculty

Day 3: Shadowsan and/or Player’s Parents

Day 4: Zack and/or VILE operatives

Day 5: Julia and/or Team Red allies

Day 6: Chase and/or Chief | ACME

Day 7: Free Day

*Rules and Guidelines*

1. Since this event is Player Appreciation Week, all works must be Player-centric. They don’t necessarily need to be Player POV, but the character's platonic relationships with Player must be at the heart of the piece.

2. No romantic ships, please. Exceptions are for Player’s parents and Carmen’s parents, but the platonic and familial bonds should still be the focus.

3. This event accepts a wide variety of mediums and types of work. Any form of fan content is accepted so long as it follows the rules and is posted during the event. WIPs or continuations of previously posted works are more than welcome!

4. For fics: All fanfiction should be posted to Ao3 and will be added to the Player Appreciation Week (player_appreciation_week) collection on Ao3. You can either do this yourself when posting, or a mod will send a request to add it after receiving notification of the work. As for tags, use Ao3's checkbox warning system. Please do not select "Choose Not To use Archive Warnings" or your work will not be reblogged. For any other trigger warnings your fic may require, add those via the additional tag section and use the generic tag that pops up in the drop-down menu as you type (ie, "self-harm" or "child abuse"). If you would like to have your fic promoted on the Player Appreciation Week Tumblr, please follow the posting instructions listed for "other mediums" below.

5. Other mediums: All non-written work should be posted on or linked to Tumblr, including tagging @PlayerAppreciationWeek in the body of the post and #csplayerweek2022 in the tags. You must also list any major trigger warnings in the tags as "tw [triggering topic]". If your work has any sort of content that you would consider above a T or PG-13 rating, please put it under a 'read more' cut.

6. If your piece does not meet all of the requirements listed above, it will not be included in the Ao3 collection or reblogged on the official Player Appreciation Week Tumblr.

Posting on the day of your prompt is preferred, but we get it's not always possible, especially if your piece fills more than one prompt. The event’s Tumblr will continue to reblog any remaining content through the week following the end of the event. There is no formal commitment required for this event. Do as many or as few as you’d like or are able to.

If you would like to join a discord server for brainstorming and encouragement, please contact one of the mods (@rueitae, @sakarrie, @constantconfusion14) either on Tumblr or Discord for an invitation.

We are so excited to see what you all create!

[carmenxjulia]

Another Duane interview transcript, coming at you! This one was from a smaller Carmen Sandiego chatroom. There were several interviewers, so that’s why the name of the question asker changes. Get the details below the break! Stay tuned, more interview transcripts coming soon.

Duane Capizzi:

HI EVERYONE! I'M IN!

Sorry I'm late, I got lost on the way haha. Then got lost trying to change my PFP

Thanks for gathering! Shall we get started? Let's do some Q&A!

(as long as they are not geography questions haha)

Fuel:

What characters or plot points were cut from the final product?

Duane Capizzi:

Ooo, starting with a right hook to the jaw!

Let me think about that for a moment: I'm hesitant to give too much away because I'm really hoping we can tell more stories in this world at some point

Which is to say, we tend not to waste anything: if we don't use it when we originally planned, we usually find a way to use something later - and there's usually a "karmic" reason that we waited.

I'll also preface by saying this: I know season 3 was more of a mini-drop and some felt season 4 was rushed. But I wish EVERY season were longer. Season 1: ideally, i wanted the Pilot to be its own event and 10 more episodes after that (but we had to tell the post-Pilot story in 7. At the end of the day, that had its benefits: we got to the Shadowsan turn earlier and I think that's when a lot of viewers realized the ride they were truly in for). Season 2: we initially figured we'd need 5 episodes to have Carmen doing the ACME dance with Chief, and wound up doing it in 3 - mostly because it quickly became clear that Rio needed to be a 2 parter, and the Zack and Ivy backstory a rough 2 parter. So we squeezed 3 episodes worth of plot into 209. It was exhilarating!

So, we had hoped to have more episodes for Season 4 of course. We had a ton of ideas and had to compress things a bit. But honestly in many ways it was for the better. I know we all wanted to live in this world longer, but I think sometimes the flip side is true - when you have big ongoing storylines, it can get frustrating when some things drag out too long. But, we got all the "story" we wanted to tell in Season 4 - we just lost some "incident" if that makes sense. We would have taken longer to get there.

So, all that preface to answer the question: we wanted to do more musical numbers! We had a Bollywood dance sequence in a return to India caper with Paperstar. We wanted to do a famous Elvis suit theft in Las Vegas during an Elvis impersonator convention (Shadowsan's an early elvis guy; Brunt likes the Vegas "jumpsuit" era). We also wanted to do a thread where Gunnar gets captured by ACME so that Julia could interrogate him and he could play mind games with her a la Hannibal Lector and Clarice. CAVEAT TO ALL THIS: these were some ideas that were bouncing around, that may not have seen the light of day if we couldn't get them to work. But they were on our wish list.

re: "other stories" - I could live with these characters for another 32 episodes easily and there have of course been discussions. But alas, that is up to the powers that be. Let's keep fingers crossed - and keep the Carmen love alive online so that someone up there takes note

There is more of course, but those are some things that spring to mind.

Fuel:

Were there any scenes cut for time that were your favorite?

Duane Capizzi:

Not much springs to mind: our directors were amazing at getting everything in the scripts to fit naturally (and in fact, I was the one who was usually suggesting trims to let other things breathe, etc). We were limited to 22 minutes of episode time, NOT counting front and end credits so a little longer than the average show. We have a pretty good idea when the SCRIPT is too long, so the cutting usually happens at script stage before it gets to the board crew so that they don't waste efforts over-boarding material that won't be used.

We had hoped to build out Chase and Carmen teaming up for the first time, meeting at Carmen's hotel lobby etc for more scenes of them together; but had to reduce that to get that all to fit in the VERY packed episode 406. But again, tighter was fine considering. That's one area that leaps to mind. (note that when I say packed, I don't mean that in a bad way: we spend a lot of time pouring over details in editing to make sure everything gets its due).

If I think of anything, I'll circle back at a later point. But the simple answer is that scenes were usually trimmed or compressed at script rather than board or animatic. So nothing comes to mind. I know it's hard to believe, but "shorter is usually better."

except for my answers to fan questions of course

Fuel:

We saw that in s4 episode 6 that Julia's mother(?) is wearing a necklace remarkably similar to the one Julia wears all the time. Is this the same necklace and if so, why was it given to Julia?

Duane Capizzi:

Just when I thought I was detail oriented! Wow! You guys blow me away

I can't take credit for that: it was either the board artist or director who added that. They do slip things in! As I've said before, EVERYONE on the crew really brought their A-game and were as deep thinking and as passionate as I was/am about the show.

It's a nice detail and I would say your interpretation works!

It took me three or four reviews before noticing that the team had slipped in baby Carmen near the play set in Mom's front yard at the end of 408. When I caught it, I was like: bravo!

Fuel:

When they first met, Zack and Ivy said to Carmen that they were the only family they had, do you know what happened to the rest of Zack and Ivy's family?

Duane Capizzi:

I don't. At least, I don't yet until such a time that I might have the opportunity to explore that. It was important to their relationship with Carmen that they be orphans, so they had that common bond (aside from being "thieves who steal from bad guys" - even if it was only gonna be one time for Zack and Ivy).

I know there are writers out there who like to do entire bio's for characters up front but i'm not one of them. It could be a trap in many ways. I like to have a general idea but be open to the demands of the ongoing storyline. You discover things along the way - it's like you're taking a journey with the characters by writing them, and the longer you spend, the better you get to know them (that was not a prepared statement by the way - I just made that up but I'll have to use it again :). So in Z/I's case it wasn't important to the story or Carmen's relationship, we felt. Conversely, we STARTED with Shadowsan's family backstory with 203, but more important to me was that we use it as a platform to explain why he stays with Carmen and crew. He really has no home at that point, so it was relevant to the present ongoing story. Which is what made that especially powerful to me.

Also, there's always a push-pull between telling character back stories while balancing them with ongoing episodic plots. You have to service both. If you just tell back story, then you're writing a biography

Arden:

What was the biggest challenge when designing these characters, especially the pre-existing characters from the series in the 90's?

Duane Capizzi:

This is probably more of a question for Chromosphere, re: challenges. But from my standpoint overseeing that process, the first thing I'll say is that we weren't necessarily trying to be "true" to those characters since we reinvented nearly every one from the ground up. (with the exception of Carmen of course - her trademark red hat/coat weren't going anywhere! But mostly the update with Carmen was in the styling of her "outerwear"

ALTHOUGH: I will admit that I was pushing for Carmen to have shorter hair as Carmen. I thought it would be a cool update. Chromosphere were really passionate about giving her long full hair and I have to see that they were right. The short tomboy cut worked so well for Black Sheep anyway. We had a different hair style for each of her ages.

So about the reinventions: Gunnar is in spirit a similar character to the original (old colleague in Vile and an early mentor if I remember), but his presentation completely different. We weren't trying to be "in canon" with the original. The beauty of CSD is that every incarnation has been its own entity so that freed us to reimagine the characters. THE CLEANERS, for instance: gimme some Cleaner love! There were a pair of janitors from the original game named RICK AND NICK ICK. They were literally janitors, it was too silly for our purposes. But, it's one small step to make them "Cleaners" (in the sinister hit men sense) - and lo, our reinvention.

So to summarize the answer to your question, they weren't really challenges to me so much as FUN to creatively reinvent the original characters (many of which were from the game, so not really "characters" per se with dialogue and inner lives). Whenever we could, we tried to use character names from the originals and update their looks and personalities. Where we couldn't find an equivalent for what we needed, we created characters from whole cloth. For instance, it seemed a miss to do a heist show without a tunnel guy and a high rise climber guy. Hence, LC & ET, everyone's favorite taco truck vendors!

(yes, i've seen some short hair carmen fan art on Twitter - someone did a great one recently!)

Arden:

Are there plans to give us more of the characters in, say, novel/graphic novel form?

Duane Capizzi:

I know HMH has done a bunch and no doubt have more in works. There's currently a novelization of the Pilot with some additional material if anyone's interested. I consulted on the second one, Clue for Clue, because it falls in the timeline while Chase was still Interpol/pre-Acme so was tricky.

And depending on whether another series in this canon makes it to air, I may just approach them about writing one or two myself to get some "further adventures" our there. Anything is possible!

Arden:

If you could go back and change anything about the series, what would it be?

Duane Capizzi:

File under anecdote, but there was what I felt was an important expression on Gray that kept me awake at nights, from his graduation ceremony at Vile. When we revisited those flashbacks in the Gray arc in Season 4, I had them change his expression there (to be more evil less innocent). We had it corrected in 404 so was able to get permission to have Netflix "fix" the Pilot by adding that shot in. I am tenacious!

We really poured over everything, it's the series that I have virtually zero complaints with the end product to be honest. But the simple answer is: I would have gone back to 106 and "un-greek'd" Gray's nametag. It's sort of a rule for international that we scramble signage (which is weird for a show that takes place in many countries/languages, I know I know). It's mostly for localization/translation reasons. And I'm sure there are some countries where Gray's name might be spoken differently. But as a proper name, I think we could have made an exception and seen "Gray" on his name tag. See? Details! But that's about the worst of it

there's also like one small line from Chief in 208 where she indicates she knows Carmen is a good guy (something to that effect) which I felt was too absolute and would have tweaked the line to temper it a bit. It's tiny, but looking back it sort of bugs me and I kick myself for not catching it. But this is absolutely the series I wanted and couldn't be happier.

Carmen:

How did Carmen know she could trust Julia? As far as we know, she has not seen or heard Julia defending her, and in the Fashionista Caper, Julia even held up her gas gun to her, saying she was under arrest. Do you have any opinions on this? Was it just intuition?

Duane Capizzi:

I'm gonna go with intuition

Carmen was raised on an island with some hardened criminal types. I think she's a pretty good judge of character. Poor Julia, trying to be tough with Carmen didn't suit her.

But, great observation! I'd have to mentally step through everything to see if Carmen had any earlier indication but i think you're right there.

Yes, sometimes you just gotta follow your heart

Carmen:

Are there any characters that didn't actually interact that you think would get along well?

Duane Capizzi:

Amazing question! First, I'd have to think more about who DIDN'T meet - you're asking the hard questions haha. But "get along well" is very specific! Hmmm, care to volley anyone?

I'll also add that so many smaller moments get lost in the "binge" of it all, but I am surprised how few fans have noted the first meeting between Player and Julia. THAT was a good one IMO! Very sweet!

Before getting back to your question, I also want to add that we were originally going to find a way for Carmen to lose her earring in Stockholm so that Julia could pick it up and be communicating with Player. BUT, I cut it at treatment stage because I knew we didn't have room in that episode to service it. Circling back to questions 1 & 2, another case where it turned out better saved for later IMO (saving Player meeting Julia, not to mention the earring business in 402 with Ivy).

Oh of course, Julia and any of the other Vile members. It would have been Gunnar for my vote, as mentioned earlier. We probably would not have had Julia meet anyone else and mixed it up more. I like that Cleo sort of became J's personal nemesis.

YES, SONIA & XIFENG (and LUPE PELIGRO, if I can add). The intent was (and is, if we ever get to revisit) to see them again in Carmen's travels. We started to expand Carmen's world but when we finally learned the finite number of episodes we had to finish the story, we drilled back down into the essentials. Would love to see them some day!

I'm hesitant to share too many things I have in mind in this forum for hope that they will see the light of day one day. You know, "spoilers"

Julia:

Do you have any opinions on Zari? Just in general? Some thoughts on her backstory would be nice if possible

Duane Capizzi:

I love Zari! I really don't have any back story on her at this point. She was originally just "Agent B" but when the need arose to give story points to another agent, we chose her because she looked so awesome! And Sharon Muthu gave voice to her so wonderfully.

I love when we finally teamed her with Chase. Hopefully the anticipation was that she would give him a hard time. I love that we defied expectation (organically, of course) and had her respect him by the end of that episode (for believing that he foiled Carmen!)

Julia:

Do you have any thoughts on small facts about any character, major or minor, that you think are fun/interesting to think about, but don't necessarily add to the plot itself?

Duane Capizzi:

Bellum, like myself, likes cats. But you knew that!

I try to put everything pertinent on screen, doing double duty to service any given episode's story but also the overarching story. That "journey" thing I mentioned earlier - we had no idea Chase falling on his own car would be a thing when I first came up with it. But as other characters refer to the incident, it took on a life of its own and made the characters feel more real.

Sorta kinda related to this question and some earlier ones, I will say that I DO think there's more to learn about Shadowsan's past vis a vis Lady Dokuso: it's clear to me that they have a history together, and it's something I hope to explore someday soon (maybe in a book if not another series

Julia:

Are the Carmen Sandiego books a part of canon?

Duane Capizzi:

I only consulted on the first two or three (too busy with series!) and have not read them, so hard for me to answer in a definite way. They are definitely in the universe we've created, but not in the timeline that I know of (which would have been too hard to pull off with our script development running concurrently). But do know that the book team at HMH pays close attention to the series and world so they should be perfectly compatible. Look no further to their clever social media on the series for example.

Kenz:

We saw in season 4 that Julia and Carmen helped each other mid to long term; would there ever be a possibility that Julia would permanently or semi-permanently join team Red?

Duane Capizzi:

Of course there's a possibility. But in a sense, with ACME now finally on Carmen's side, in a sense if Carmen were back in the game Julia, Chase, Zack and Ivy would ALL be an extension of Carmen's crew. But, would J remain with ACME or literally come to Carmen's team at her HQ? As they said in an old radio show: "Only The Duane Capizzi knows ..."

Kenz:

Where do you see Carmen in her retirement (if she retires)? Do you think she would still travel the world or settle down somewhere? Similarly, do you have any thoughts on what some other characters could be doing years down the line?

Duane Capizzi:

That is a big question, and one difficult to answer without some potential future spoilers (and yes, I really want to tell more Carmen stories if you can't tell But I'll answer by giving you one "read" on our open-ended ending as seen in 408 (read no further if you haven't seen it - yeah, right haha). The ending suggests to me that Carmen settled down for a spell to forge that relationship with her mother, to make up for lost time. But, if that is indeed Carmen that we see on the rooftop, I think the ending suggests that Carmen doesn't stay still for very long. If Vile is back, there is work to be done! Carmen has a life mission - she's one determined lady.

But of course, it's deliberately ambiguous: "anyone with your heart, wisdom and courage can be Carmen Sandiego." Is it Carmen? Sonia? Someone we haven't met? I think both endings resonate: Caroline and I always said "Carmen is bigger than a person, Carmen is a movement" would be a great message to end the series on. And I think our ending resolves this chapter of Carmen's journey as a person, but also elevates her to mythic status. Which is why I love it!

And, that seems to me a pretty perfect question and answer to end our chat on. Thanks everyone! Again, I cannot tell you how moved I am to see that we have such a passionate, intelligent and talented fan base. THANK YOU.

Take care guys, thanks again for having me! 'night!

[itsdappleagain]

My theories proven/disproven/thoughts, and thoughts on the trailer.

1. Looking for Vera will be the season goal. Well...its seems to be a goal, but it all seems to be building up to stealing/trying to steal the crown jewels.

2.  Carmen’s love interest will me made clear: Julia, Graham, or no one. Well, since neither of them were in the trailer at all!!!!!!! I don’t know. Could, still, be misdirection (Again with the SPOP S5 observation I made)

3. Zack will get an episode where he saves the day. Well, we don’t see him alone in the trailer at all, only helping out with ground support and (possibly) finding Carmen or something? Unknown

4. Julia will take initiative over Devineaux. WELL SINCE SHE DIDN’T SHOW UP IN THE TRAILER and Devineaux did-! I don’t know. Could be misdirection..

5. More ACME-centric. Mmmmm. Seems like the same balance, VILE showing up maybe even a bit more.

6. VILE will take more of a backseat; however, the fewer attacks we’ll have will be more ferocious. Still yet to be seen, but I don’t think so. 

7. VILE House Hunters. Maybe for a little bit, but it looks like they settle down in some unknown castle. You know. Discreetly.

8.  Roundabout content! We’ll see him in action. Yes yes yes! Totally more Roundabout in S3!

9. As much as I would love more info on Player, I don’t think we’re going to get much/any. Remains to be seen (we did get some info on his family in Secrets of the Silver Lion, though!)

10. Maybe some background on Chief? Unknown.

11. Based on the end of the Crackle Goes Kiwi Caper, ACME will interact with Graham. Again, unknown, but maybe this is why he wasn’t in the trailer...

12. Julia and Carmen will have a different sort of relationship after Stockholm/the hack. *Inhales* WELL

13. Hoping for some silly Shadowsan-Zack ninja training. Unknown again, but this season does seem more focused and serious.

14. Based on the flag teaser from Twitter, I’m hoping we’ll get an episode in Venice. (However, they already did have one in Milan..) Yes! Yes! Yes! Pretty sure that was Venice in the trailer! Yesssssss

15. Hoping for some more angst, as both VILE and ACME’s main directives are now taking Carmen down. *Glances at Carmen getting electrocuted into unconciousness and nearly getting hit by a car and gettig bola’d to a pole and fighting a bunch of people* so

16. Based on 15, maybe Carmen gets captured? This could also be Zack’s big moment, or a turning point for, perhaps, Julia or Graham (if he were to be recruited). So, maybe. Maelstrom says “Who will escort our little lost sheep back to VILE?”. Also, again, electrocuted into unconsciousness.

17. Counting on a small return/mention of the Duke, as he was mentioned in passing in the Need for Speed Caper. Unknown.

18. More. Fancy. Outfits. OH MY GOD I AM LIVING FOR THAT STAR OUTFIT JDJHHHHHH

19. El Topo and Le Chevre...doesn’t everyone want them to get together? weLL since they weren’t in the TRAILER

20. Vera Cruz...I don’t know if they will find her, or if she’ll be alive. To add such a potentially important character in S3, especially after Shadowsan, might be strange. Unknown again; though who is that buff lady who kicks the crap out of Brunt? Hmmmm

21. Building on 20, maybe Carmen will have a “my team is all the family I need” moment. Sounds like she’s still very adamant about finding her, from sneaking in to wherever to Ivy telling her they’ll find her

22. Hoping for some cool, deadly new operatives! Yeah!!!!!!!! Flytrap and Spinkick, plus electrocution lady, and perhaps a few others. (Also, lots of Neal, it seems!)

23.  Return of Mime Bomb. Yeppers yeppers yeppers!

24. Perhaps a stuck-together-for-survival situation (either Team Red-ACME, TR-VILE, or VILE-ACME). Didn’t see a hint of anything like that, but who knows.

25. I know we all want backstory for Ivy and Zack, but they got their little moment in S2, and their “family over career” moment. WELL- who was that lady? The one who sounds like Ivy, then Ivy-Julia, then Julia. You know the one. Maybe she’s family to them?

26. However, maybe Chase’s backstory? It seems to be quite a popular theory that he used to smoke (hence the mints). Maybe this will cause us to be more symathetic to him. Unknown again.

OKAY, MISC. THOUGHTS ON THE TRAILER!

-Again, yay glasses zack!

-Hideo! Hideo’s back and helping! It seems he was either wearing a mask or helping steal one.

-Pirate hat Carmen!

-I am in love with all the masks

-Wrestling lady!? Whomst!?

-The guy talking to Tigress was at C Cleo’s dinner party. The painter, I think.

-Spinkick and Flytrap seem pretty cool, actually. 

-Carmen’s reflexes seem so slow? She couldn’t avoid the loud whistling bola that tied her arm to the pole or think to drop (if possible) the thing that was electrocuting her into unconsciousness

-WOW That car did not slow down or anything, just honked

-Again! The star outfit! Oh my goodness gracious!

-Hey! Tigress and Paper Star working together, that’s going to be really interesting!

-Mime Bomb finally learned how to run

-Suit Chase is not horrible. I’m not thrilled. But its not horrible.

-”You care too much.” WHO ARE THE ROSES FOR SCREAM

-Most impossible heist keeps coming up. Again, like many, I think its the crown jewels.

-Hahah Zari looks so done when Carmen just zooms past

-ACME Graham is totally something I want to see. Maybe thats why we don’t get many ACME clips. Maybe he’s partnered with Julia...

Very very excited!!!!!!!! Its not what I was expecting but I’m very anxious to see how it goes. October 1 can not come soon enough! That was a really long rant and lots of stuff but I’m reallly really excited really really

[365days365movies]

January 6, 2021: Last Action Hero (1993) (Part 1)

Let’s have some fun, shall we?

Comedy is my favorite genre, and I obviously also love action. So, when looking at the subgenres to cover this month, action-comedy most certainly was at the top of the list. But what exactly is action-comedy?

Exactly what it sounds like, funnily enough. Action-comedies rely on physical action sequences to further the plot, but also inject dialogue with humor and jokes throughout the script. Entertainment and amusement combined into one beautiful, succinct package. I’ll be judging the writing for these movies on how much they made me laugh while watching it. That said...

OK, so, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Last Action Hero. Schwarzenegger isn’t exactly the most emotionally expressive actor in the world, as you’ve probably noticed. And expressiveness is somewhat necessary to express humor. Look at Eddie Murphy up there, and see how expressive he is. Schwarzenegger...doesn’t have that. At all. But, this movie could still be funny! Shane Black wrote it, and he wrote one of my favorite guilty pleasure Halloween movies, The Monster Squad. So, I’m looking forward to this movie for that in and of itself. And with that...

 Recap

We start with a sick guitar lick on Christmas Day, as a group of cops close in on a criminal known as the Ripper holding children hostage at an elementary school. But then...Jack Slater (played, naturally, by Arnold Schwarzenegger) arrives. And yes, this is a parody character and scene, meant to lambast all of the stereotypical renegade cop tropes that I’ve literally never seen in a movie. Like, I guess Lethal Weapon and Beverly Hills Cop have it, but I think this character concept has been Flanderized into...well...Jack Slater.

Slater kicks a cop through a window with a Schwarzenegger-esque action line, and CRUSHES A RADIO LIKE A NAPKIN. I appreciate Schwarzenegger making fun of himself like this, and we’ve only just begun. Jack goes through banter with the Ripper (Tom Noonan), who...is unironically terrifying. Holy shit, that guy is creepy as fuck, and his stylized ax is intimidating as hell. And as he holds Slater’s son hostage out of revenge, the two face off with some cool action beats, and...

...Shit, I think I want to watch this movie. And I don’t mean Last Action Hero, I mean the in-universe movie that our actual main character, Danny Madigan (Austin O’Brien) is watching. Danny’s a big Jack Slater fan, and one of the only patrons of a movie theater owned by Nick (Robert Prosky). Nick, a kind old man, invites Danny to see the next Slater film before anybody else. And honestly, I get it. I’d watch this movie series unironically if it existed, real talk. Mostly because it seems fun.

Danny’s skipped school just to see this movie, and he walks into his English class, where the teacher shows Lawrence Olivier as Hamlet. Fun fact! The English teacher showing it is played by Joanne Plowright, Olivier’s real life wife! Very sweet! Anyway, Danny, bored by a goddamn classic movie, conjures a different movie in his head.

Fuck yes. I need this movie to exist. 

We learn from Danny’s mother (Mercedes Ruehl) that his father has recently died, and he spends far too much of his time watching movies at Nick’s theater. I look forward to this revelation never being explored. As he’s headed to the theater when he isn’t supposed to, he opens the door at the exact wrong time, and A ROBBER BREAKS INTO HIS PLACE, OH SHIT! Confronted with the type of real danger that he’d see in an action movie, and with no action hero to save him, the robber finds nothing of value and leaves the place. He gets rescued by the cops eventually, and they tell him to go home. But, no, he goes...to the movies.

Mom might have a point there, sport.

While he’s there, Nick brings him in, and begins to monologue to him about his past in the theater business. And that monologue introduces the MacGuffin of the film: the Golden Ticket, given to Nick by Houdini himself, and an alleged portal to another world.

So, is this gonna be more of a Pagemaster situation, or a The NeverEnding Story deal? The Golden Ticket is torn for admission, Danny sits down, and the movie-in-a-movie begins in earnest. In the film, Slater’s cousin Frank (Art Carney in his last film role) is being held hostage by the crime boss Vivaldi (Anthony Quinn), and his henchman...one of the most immediately visually interesting characters I’ve ever seen in a film...in a FILM.

Benedict (played by Charles Dance), is immediately a fascinating character, essentially a non-Marvel Bullseye, and a gunsman with flawless precision. And yeah...I dig it. Oh, how I dig it.

Jack Slater arrives in his snakeskin boots, and discovers Frank, who delivers a message in the cheesiest death sequence I’ve ever seen, followed by the cheesiest bomb compound I’ve ever seen, followed by a bigger explosion than anyone would’ve expected, FOLLOWED by...OK, look, the references to other action movies in this are already ridiculous and all over the place, and I refuse to spoil them all for those of you who’ve never seen this movie.

By the way, I gotta make a comment about Danny real quick. Watching this many action movies may have made him a little...detached...from reality. I say this because he expressed no shock or emotion during or after the robbery, then went immediately to the movie theater, and had no reaction whatsoever about the death of the two cops in the movie. Little budding sociopath, that Danny.

Although, that might change, now that the ticket’s getting all magic-y, and a stick of ACME dynamite (actually in the film, I swear) makes its way into the theater. It explodes, and Danny inexplicably (magically, even) finds himself in the movie. So, Pagemaster, then.

Danny’s complete lack of reaction and emotion in this situation confirms my theory on him being a liiiiiiiiiiittle detached from reality. But then...the most gloriously stupid thing I’ve seen this month happens.

Arnold proceeds to make a pun that is NOT “Nasty brainfreeze,” and I am disappointed forever. Who wrote this? Who wrote this?

We get a car chase fueled with jumps, gunfire, puns, a casual mention of premature ejaculation, and Coca Cola product placement, all accompanied by Danny finally showing a modicum of reaction to the fact that he is IN A FUCKING MOVIE. REACT MORE, DANNY. At his age, I would have soiled myself immediately. At MY age, I would soil myself if this happened to me! Anyway...

OK, I just have to say this now: this movie has some of the most insane shots and set-ups that I’ve ever seen, and by GOD, I am here for it. Like...Did you SEE the motorcycle dress girl panic while a man WAS ON FIRE IN THE BACKGROUND? Earlier, a car does an INSANE jump and crash and explodes in the BACKGROUND, and the movie just treats it like a pigeon flew on set! Nobody cares! THE SCENES IN THIS MOVIE MAKE INSANITY AN ART FORM.

Anyway...we get to the LAPD, and...HOLY SHIT. IS THAT…

Was that Sharon Stone as Catherine Trammel from Basic Instinct, and Robert Patrick as T1000 from Terminator 2? I...but...wait...if...how...I’m broken now. 404, blue screen, reboot, update needed, WHAT?!? I...just...SO many questions, and this movie better answer them.

We see some added insanity, including a man with a houndstooth suit which I DESPERATELY WANT but could not pull off. There’s literally a buddy cop generator, where we also see a rabbi cop, and an Amadeus reference is dropped as F. Murray goddamn Abraham (playing a cop named Practice) appears in this movie, and THEN...an animated cat cop sexually harasses a female cop. I am not joking.

Am...am I insane? Also, if I was in the theaters watching this movie-in-a-movie, I would be both angry and confused as to what in the FUCK was happening!!! WHY IS THERE AN ANIMATED CAT COP IN MY JACK SLATER MOVIE? WHO DIRECTED THIS BULLSHIT (in universe)?? Also that cat was recently suspended, and is also one of their best men.

And then, Danny uses his knowledge of the Jack Slater franchise to break down the barriers of repressed affection between the chief and Slater, and it’s briefly heartwarming for some reason. Anyway, they’re now suspicious of his knowledge of Slater’s life, and this leaves to the inevitable buddy cop pairing of Jack Slater and Danny Madigan. This art-deco something walks by…

...and I desperately need to know more about the art direction of this film. Because, wow, it is an absolute masterpiece of randomly exaggerated shit, damn.

To prove his point about being in a movie, Danny goes to a Blockbuster, which... man, does THAT bring me back! That’s right you young whippersnappers, I WAS THERE FOR BLOCKBUSTER IN THE ‘90s! We used to go to the store and look at the VHSs. I remember seeing The Lost World there, but my dad said I was too young for it. I was sad, but he got me some candy and a Really Wild Animals video, and we watched it that night after Carmen Sandiego. My God. It was paradise.

Anyway, Schwarzenegger doesn’t exist, and find out that Stallone has taken over his roles.

...I’d watch that. I’d watch the HELL out of that. Danny then uses some legitimately impressive math to dissect the “555” number thing in movies, as well as pointing out the lack of non-conventionally attractive women. Which, credit to you, kiddo, for addressing the overwrought emphasis on conventional attractiveness that permeated Hollywood at this time, and to this day. I mean, he’s not criticizing it, but he is pointing it out, and that’s better than nothing in the ‘90s.

Danny guides his way to Vivaldi’s house, where the butler is...Professor Toru Tanaki! He looks exactly like Odd Job from the James Bond series, but the actor is SubZero from The Running Man! You know, the hockey killer!

Anyway, after crack about Schwarzenegger’s “I’ll be back” line, a conversation with Benedict (who has a smiley face instead of a bullseye), and some terrible CGI dogs, Benedict becomes correctly convinced that something’s up with Danny. They arrive at his house, and his college-aged daughter Whitney (played by Bridgette Wilson, in her first film role in and out of the movie, in a neat little twist!) kisses Danny directly on the mouth, and I’m a liiiiiiittle uncomfortable with that. Anyway, we brush right past that, and realize that his son...died. Oh. Uh. Guess we didn’t see the end of that movie, huh? Yikes. Poor Jack.

Hey, Benedict and his gang arrive at Slater’s place! Fun! There’s a sort-of amusing play on “harming a hair on one’s head,” and the interrogation continues. Charles Dance is legitimately threatening as Benedict. And, while we’re at it, Bridgette Wilson has an entertaining action sequence all her own.

Anyway, Jack arrives, and makes a ridiculous jump off of the balcony to pursue Benedict. Benedict name drops getting a tank, which I’m assuming is named the Chekov (film trope reference there, have a good time). Danny realizes that he’s the comedy sidekick of the movie, and at this point, I need to mention something: in case you haven’t noticed, this film is delightfully meta. And I love that about it. 

But it’s also...cluttered. You’ll see what I mean in a little bit, but real talk, I didn’t realize that Benedict had stolen the ticket until Danny mentioned it, because I was apparently quite distracted. And this is an important plot point, as Benedict soon realizes the true power of the ticket, cleverly overlaid by the opening to the Twilight Zone, with Rod Serling mentioning traveling to another dimension. Also...his eye was a bomb. What. Anyway, that explosion results in Slater officially getting fired from the department, and the chief...

Um. Yeah, this movie is also kind of a cartoon, not including the cartoon cat. And you have no idea how much I’m omitting from this movie. The digitization of Humphrey Bogart, the fact that Slater can’t say “fuck” in a PG-13 movie, the surprising character realization that Slater’s ex-wife is actually remarried, the clearly dominatrix cop clad in leather, the fact that there’s a plan to detonate a nerve gas-infused bomb stuffed into a dead man nicknamed Leo the Fart at his own funeral, a digitization of Humphrey Bogart. Yeah, I said that last one twice, because the effect actually holds up really well, like, seriously.

OK, let’s take a break, yeah? Part 2 later today!

[hammeraction07-blog]

The Bear’s Den, December 3, 2018

BEAR DOWN, CHICAGO BEARS, BEAR DOWN!!!!

BEARRRSSSS

Haugh: Bears’ Loss More Frustrating Than Devastating - 670 The Score - All the Bears’ goals remain attainable despite an overtime loss to the Giants.

Emma: Bears Remain Optimistic In Aftermath Of Letdown Loss - 670 The Score - ”I’m proud of them for fighting to the end,” coach Matt Nagy says.

Emma: Bears QB Mitchell Trubisky Close To Return From Shoulder Injury - 670 The Score - With Trubisky sidelined, Chase Daniel struggled in a loss to the Giants.

Emma: Bears’ Matt Nagy On Costly Timeout Before Halftime - ‘I Take Responsibility For That’ - 670 The Score - Matt Nagy’s decision allowed the Giants to hit a field goal that proved crucial later.

Bernstein: Bears Can’t Overcome Themselves On Crazy Day - 670 The Score - The Bears didn’t deserve to win on a day they fell in overtime to the Giants.

Bears Lose Wild Overtime Contest To Giants - 670 The Score - The Bears rallied from down 10 late to tie before falling 30-27.

Chicago Bears-New York Giants Postgame Show: Bears Fall Short in Overtime After Epic Last-Minute Comeback - Da Bears Brothers Podcast - Da Bears Brothers share their comprehensive game recap with their instant analysis and insight on the Chicago Bears Week 13 loss to the New York Giants.

Kane: Bears force overtime with wild comeback but see winning streak snapped in 30-27 loss to Giants - Chicago Tribune - Bears quarterback Chase Daniel helped send the game against the Giants to overtime Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium, but he couldn’t complete the comeback as the Bears lost 30-27.

Stankevitz: Bears leave absurd loss to Giants with prevailing feeling: ‘We’re better than that’ - NBC Sports Chicago - The Bears had a lot of self-inflicted mistakes in Sunday's overtime loss to the Giants. They believe they can and will do better going forward.

Stankevitz: Mitch Trubisky still day to day as Chase Daniel shoulders blame for Bears’ loss - NBC Sports Chicago - After the game, Matt Nagy continued to classify to Trubisky as day-to-day.

Stankevitz: Bears don’t quit, but it’s not enough in overtime loss to Giants - NBC Sports Chicago - The Bears' inspired comeback came up just a bit short.

Ellis: Only one other NFL player has ever had the type of game Tarik Cohen had today - NBC Sports Chicago - Only one other player has ever had a receiving performance like Cohen did today ... and he's a hall of famer.

Under Center Podcast: Bears come back but come up short - NBC Sports Chicago - Laurence Holmes, Lance Briggs and Alex Brown explain why the Bears-Giants game felt off from the very start.

Game Recap: Bears rally but fall in OT thriller - ChicagoBears.com - The Bears scored 10 points in the final 1:13 of regulation Sunday in New York, but ended up losing a 30-27 overtime thriller against the Giants.

Pace talks Bears on pregame show - ChicagoBears.com - Bears general manager Ryan Pace appeared on the WBBM Newsradio 780 AM and 105.9 FM pregame show in advance of Sunday’s contest against the Giants.

Ugggggggh: Giants 30, Bears 27 (OT) – December 2, 2018 - Bleacher Nation - The Chicago Bears lost a game they had no business losing. Or is it that they had no business winning it? Either way, ugggggggh!

Nagy on Bears' trick play: 'It wasn't a hard choice' - ESPN Video - Bears head coach Matt Nagy details Chicago's trick play and prides his team for its execution.

Potash: Not their best work - ’Sloppy ... undisciplined’ Bears defense pays the price - Chicago Sun-Times - After allowing 74 yards on 24 plays (3.0 avg.) prior to the Barkley run, the Bears allowed 266 yards on 44 plays (6.0 avg.) the rest of the way.

Morrissey: Bears drop thrilling, painful game to Giants - Sun Times - Do you applaud them for a valiant comeback behind a backup QB or do you take them to task for not winning a game they should have won? Answer: Both.

Finley: Coach Matt Nagy's aggressiveness helps, hurts Bears in 30-27 loss to Giants - Chicago Sun-Times - At the end of regulation Sunday, Bears coach Matt Nagy was at his aggressive best. At the end of the first half, he was at his aggressive worst.

Jahns: Giants 30, Bears 27 0 It's time for Mitch Trubisky to return for Bears - Sun Times - Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky missed his second game in a row because of his shoulder injury.

Finley: Bears upended by Giants in topsy-turvy overtime game - Chicago Sun-Times - The Giants were content to run to the locker room, it seemed. Then Bears coach Matt Nagy took a timeout that would prove a turning point.

Finley: The Fridge, Part II? Bears DL Akiem Hicks scores on handoff - Sun Times - Chase Daniel handed the ball off to Akiem Hicks, who plunged for a score.

Campbell: 'I let my team down.' Chase Daniel's 2 interceptions, 5 sacks and 4 fumbles dig Bears a hole they can't escape - Chicago Tribune - Bears quarterback Chase Daniel threw two interceptions, fumbled four times and was sacked five in the 30-27 overtime loss to the Giants on Sunday.

Wiederer: Gritty comeback? Horrible loss? Wacky overtime game with Giants leaves Bears dizzy - Chicago Tribune - In a wild affair in New Jersey, the Chicago Bears lost 30-27 in overtime to the New York Giants, squandering a gritty late comeback with too much overall sloppiness. Now at 8-4, the first-place Bears needs to move on quickly.

Kane: Surprising call at the end of regulation results in Tarik Cohen-to-Anthony Miller tying TD pass - Chicago Tribune - The Bears had been practicing the play called "Oompa Loompa" for months. So when they had the ball on the Giants 1-yard line with three seconds to play in regulation, Bears coach Matt Nagy made the surprising call.

Rosenbloom: Bears gag a chance to move closer to a playoff bye - Chicago Tribune - This was a bad loss. The Bears's 30-27 OT loss to the Giants showed they hadn’t learned from an OT road loss to the Dolphins earlier in the season. All the Bears needed Sunday in the Meadowlands was to get out with a win and get healthy. At least they’re healthy. Hopefully they’ll get smarter.

Alper: Chase Daniel - I let my team down – ProFootballTalk - Bears quarterback Chase Daniel was able to guide the team to a win on Thanksgiving in his first start since the 2014 season, but things didn't go nearly as well against the Giants on Sunday.

Finley: Bears coach Matt Nagy mum about Kareem Hunt - and Bears' plans - Chicago Sun-Times - The star Chiefs running back who was cut Friday after video surfaced of him assaulting a woman.

Finley: Via the pass, catch and run, Bears' Tarik Cohen being 'the playmaker I am' - Chicago Sun-Times - He set a career high with 186 scrimmage yards. His career-best 156 receiving yards were the most by any Bears running back since at least 1960.

POLISH SAUSAGE

Kareem Hunt: Kansas City Chiefs were right to cut me - NFL.com - Kareem Hunt took responsibility for the actions that led to his release by the Chiefs on Friday, saying the team was right to cut him after video showed him pushing and kicking a woman.

KNOW THY ENEMY

Vikings fail to pick up game on Bears in NFC North, but still control playoff fate - ESPN - The Vikings (6-5-1) are still alive in the NFC playoff picture, but they still haven’t beaten an opponent with a winning record.

5 coaching decisions that may have cost the Lions the game vs. Rams - Pride Of Detroit - Coaching played a huge part in Sunday’s loss to the Rams.

3 things we learned in the Detroit Lions’ loss to the Los Angeles Rams - Pride Of Detroit - Detroit came close, but ultimately fell short against one of the best teams in football.

New England Patriots 24, Minnesota Vikings 10: Vikings come up small in big game - Daily Norseman - They had their opportunities, but couldn’t take advantage

Packers’ 2018 season is over after unthinkable 20-17 loss to hapless Cardinals - Acme Packing Company - Mason Crosby’s kick sailed wide right in a game Green Bay never looked like it deserved to win.

Odell Beckham: Don’t question my effort – ProFootballTalk - The Giants became one of the few teams to fall victim to an onside kick after the league’s rules for kickoffs changed this offseason and that gave the Bears life at the end of regulation on Sunday.

Packers fire coach Mike McCarthy after 13 seasons - NFL.com - The Mike McCarthy era in Green Bay is over. The Packers announced Sunday that they have fired the head coach of 13 seasons. OC Joe Philbin has been named interim coach.

Detroit's Take: Green Bay Packers fire Mike McCarthy after 13 seasons - Pride Of DetroitThe - second head coach firing of the season has happened. And it’s coming from inside the division.

Green Bay's Take: Mike McCarthy fired as head coach of the Green Bay Packers - Acme Packing Company - It finally happened.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT ON WINDY CITY GRIDIRON

Wiltfong: Packers fire head coach Mike McCarthy - Windy City Gridiron In a move that - shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, the Green Bay Packers have fired head coach Mike McCarthy just hours after they lost to the Arizona Cardinals 20 to 17, to fall to 4-7-1 on the...

Curl's 2018 NFL Week 13 Postgame: Bears take it to overtime but unable to recover from big mistakes in 30-27 loss to the Giants - Windy City Gridiron - After a 5 game win streak, the Bears tease us with some magic at the end but walk away from Met Life stadium with a loss.

WCG CONTRIBUTORS BEARS PODCASTS & STREAMS

2 Minute Drill - Website - iTunes - Andrew Link; Steven’s Streaming – Twitch – Steven Schweickert; T-Formation Conversation - Website - iTunes - Lester Wiltfong, Jr.; WCG Radio - Website - iTunes - Robert Zeglinski

THE RULES

Windy City Gridiron Community Guidelines - SBNation.com - We strive to make our communities open and inclusive to sports fans of all backgrounds. The following is not permitted in comments, FanPosts, usernames or anywhere else in an SB Nation community: Comments, FanPosts or usernames that are intolerant or prejudiced; racial or other offensive epithets; Personal attacks or threats on community members; Gendered insults of any kind; Trolling; Click link for full information.

The Bear’s Den Specific Guidelines – The Bear’s Den is a place for Chicago Bears fans to discuss Chicago Bears football, related NFL stories, and general football talk. It is NOT a place to discuss religion or politics or post political pictures or memes, and any posts that do this will be deleted and the poster will be admonished. We do not allow comments posted where the apparent attempt is to cause confrontation in the community. We do not allow gender-directed humor or sexual assault jokes. The staff of WCG are the sole arbiters of what constitutes “apparent attempt to cause confrontation”. We do not allow the “calling out” of other members in any way, shape or form. Posts that do this will be deleted on sight. Bottom line, it’s fine to debate about football, but personal jabs and insults are strictly prohibited. Additionally, if you keep beating the same dead horse over and over and fail to heed a moderator’s warning to stop, you will be banned.

Click on our names to follow us on Twitter:

WCG Contributors: Jeff Berckes; Patti Curl; Eric Christopher Duerrwaechter; Kev H; Sam Householder; Jacob Infante; Aaron Lemming; Andrew Link; Ken Mitchell; Steven Schweickert; Jack Silverstein; EJ Snyder; Lester Wiltfong, Jr.; Whiskey Ranger; Robert Zeglinski; Like us on Facebook.

Source: https://www.windycitygridiron.com/2018/12/3/18122957/chicago-bears-2018-season-news-updates-analysis-game-twelve-new-york-giants-daniel-mccarthy-nagy

[disfordevineaux]

Okay with the 2024 Player Appreciation Week in march I really want to do something, and i think my best way back in is with a pt.2 to the fic I wrote for it wayyyy back in 2022. I have some ideas on where to head with it but then it's the issue of the expandability of such and which I think will work the best.

I'll link the orginal fic here incase anyone wants a refresher and the 2024 Player Week post but here are my thoughts for a continuation of the fic:

Day 2 - Parents: Direct continuation of Pt.1

Once arriving in Argentina, Players mum finds it difficult to accept letting go of her only child, and after a while (and accidental encouragement from Player himself) ends up phoning and messaging him multiple times a day, always at the worst times, aka all the time. It all culminating in almost ruining an important mission thanks to the eventual escalation. A nice resolution, naturally, but a story about the difficulties of separation and how ignoring/distancing in contrast to the almost obsessive inability to let go, one extreme to the other, isn't the best way to process it at all.

Player POV. Players mother & Carmen, then new team ACME Ivy and Zack and possibly Julia, Chase.

Day 5 - Loyalty: Can be a separate fic or direct continuation of Pt.1

(If a seperte fic, based sometime after the 2 year jump) Chief attempts to poach Player to join her ranks now that he's officially legal to actually hire and back out after the hiatus. Chief assigns Zack & Ivy to get the 'job' done, unbeknownst to them of her actual plans. After an official approach from her senior Agents Julia and Chase and sending him all the ACME merch one could possibly need, unsurprisingly, leads to no avail. Hijinks ensue.

Player POV. Carmen vs Chief + New ACME Zack & Ivy, brief Chase and Julia.

Alt. 3 - Hacker + Day 6 - Abandonment: Direct continuation of pt.1

Due to some self reflection, Player is determined to spread his wings with his new found 'adulthood' and separate himself from being a 'simple hacker' after Carmen unintentionally gets in his head about his role in the team and maybe his lanky physique, truly, she didnt mean it. Its hard being a young adult in the big wide world, trying to make or reinvent a name for yourself. He attempts to cultivate a new 'field agent' identity, eager to get out there one-on-one and in his words; "if Zack can do it, how hard can it be?". Unfortunately underestimated the true training, experience and skill development it takes to do what Carmen does, and do it well. He ends up, quite literally and accidentally, abandoned in a foreign country after failing to make it to the pick up location. With Player on the ground and off his perch, his tech destroyed, AI failing to fill his 'old' position, Player has to hope that he can either turn the drastically crappy situation around, manufacture a 'run in' with ACME or he will probably fall into the remnants of VILE's grip he barely avoided to dodge in the first place.

Player POV. Carmen, non disclosed VILE agents & Maybe ACME.

This is what I got. Or at least the best ideas I have that have a bit a meat to em. I'm open for a discussion on what y'all would want to read the most. I'm open for anything, Rbs, direct msgs on the post or to be me are totally welcome. ♡