#carmen sandiego critical

[carmensandiego-dreams-collection]

Alright everyone, this beast is finally out! This is a project that I’ve been working on for a long time, and a big reason why I’ve been so quiet on this blog. Season 4 really never sat right with me, and after stewing a bit I finally decided to bite the bullet and fully dissect why. A year and change later, I had a three hour essay on my hands, which I guess is something that happens to even the best of us sometimes.

This is a full critical breakdown of every major element of Carmen-- what I liked, what I didn’t like, what went wrong, and, most importantly, how it could do better.  I broke it up into about ten different chapters, each focusing on a different character (or plotpoint), so if you don’t have time to watch it in one sitting and/or don’t have superhuman focus, you can certainly watch it in chunks and not lose a whole lot. I don’t expect everyone to agree with every point or position I present, but the most important thing to me in this project was breaking down why I take the positions I do and to deeply examine the underlying ideas and logic of the show; so even if you think differently, you still might get something out of what I have to say. I’ve seen so many people discuss the worse elements of the show (evil Carmen, the mindwiper, the ending, season 3, the copganda, Gray. Oh My God Gray.) but I think what I’ve really wanted to see post-Season 4 was a dissection of the actual mindset and creative process behind the writing. I genuinely can’t tell you how many arguments I’ve watched people have in this fandom where I could see how both sides were reasonably correct about the same thing, they just (IMHO) failed to see the common factor at play. Who knows! Maybe this video will settle some longstanding debates. Anything is possible. I hope people enjoy what I have to say as much as I enjoyed writing it! (TW for discussion of police/state violence, racial police violence, simulated gun violence, death, etc in the section about ACME. Basically what’s already in the show anyway, but just in case, I’m definitely going to talk about that)

[tacktheyak]

they should have a heart-to-heart, i think

i sketched this a while ago after i was inspired by this video:

as a big CS fan, i highly recommend it, it was a very interesting watch!

bonus:

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

“catra is a complex poc” fuck that. here are some ACTUAL poc animated characters who are just as, if not more complex than catra.

grace monroe (infinity train) • black american

connie maheshwaran (steven universe) • indian-american

katara (avatar the last airbender) • inuk

wolf (kipo and the age of wonderbeasts) • black american

suhara/shadowsan (carmen sandiego) • japanese

korra (the legend of korra) • inuk

jesse cosay (infinity train) • indigenous (apache)

lars barriga (steven universe) • filipino

azula (avatar the last airbender) • japanese

ryan akagi (infinity train) • japanese-canadian

luz noceda (the owl house) • afro-dominican american

(there are a lot more, so i'll be making a part 2!)

[fedorah-the-explorah]

look at my alignment charts, boy

[tiredguyswag]

i have taken gina's shitass voice acting and decided that carmen is actually just a monotone and deadpan person who doesnt know how to emotionally articulate. because of the neurodivergence. like me

[icanteleportnow]

'Please Please Please' by Sabrina Carpenter is so red crackle from carmen's pov

[vileoperativeamaryllis]

QUESTION

We love Carmen Sandiego, but i’m sure we have some parts we aren’t fond of. So tell me, what are the things you guys don’t like about it that you think could be fixed in CS5?

[elizabethemerald]

Pride Prompts!

Time for my favorite June tradition! Send me some Pride prompts! Send me a character and I'll write something gay for them! Maybe how they figured out their gender or sexual identity, how they came out to their loved ones, what them attending a Pride parade would entail, or maybe just a sweet date! All June you can send me Prompts!

I'm tagging all my fandoms so feel free to send prompts for any of them!

[utilitycaster]

I would actually not mind a Carmen PortDamali style run of episodes of collecting missing Ashari

[pagerunner-j]

tfw you belatedly notice the Critical Role social media feeds making Carmen Sandiego jokes

And, I mean, setting aside the whole "Liam was in the Netflix animated series" thing, which is obviously the most relevant connection for them, where my brain goes is straight back to the early '90s and a certain game show on PBS.

Which I might have watched, um, a lot of.

Like...a lot.

(To be fair, there were 295 episodes, and between our two PBS stations it aired at least twice a day, often four -- and, during one summer at the height of its popularity, five times, as late as 11 PM -- so there was a lot of show to watch.)

Anyway, I'm having a really weird flashback right now. And 30+ years on (god help me), it's still hard to read the words "Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?" without singing them.

[retrokid616]

HOLD THE FUCK UP IS THIS LADY CANNON!

[red-balloon12]

I come back to melt over my two favorite sapphics and the RedCrackle/Camivy nation are stirring bullshit….I thought we were all cool and civil. WHY YA’LL STARTING STUFF AFTER 3 YEARS??

[katewillaert]

Looking forward to an epic year of cranking out mind blowing forgotten history that will be criminally ignored until I run out of money once again and give up for good. :3

The current release plan for 2024:

- MED: Metroidmania #1 - MED: Mario/Popeye #2 (Patreon Preview) - S: Metroidmania #2 - MED: Mario/Popeye #3 (Patreon Preview) - S: Metroidmania #3 - MED: Mario/Popeye #4 (Patreon Preview) - MED: Metroidmania #4 - LARGE: Mario/Popeye #1-5 Complete - S: Metroidmania #5 - MED: Carmen #1 (Patreon Preview) - S: Metroidmania #6 - MED: Carmen #2 (Patreon Preview) - S: Metroidmania #7 - MED: Carmen #3 (Patreon Preview) - MED: Metroidmania #8 - LARGE: Carmen Declassified #1-4 Complete - S: Metroidmania #9 - MED: VideoDames #1

(The chapter previews are available at the $5 tier.)

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

“catra is a complex poc” fuck that. here are some ACTUAL poc animated characters who are just as, if not more complex than catra. (pt. 2)

mako (the legend of korra) • mixed (japanese and chinese)

min-gi park (infinity train) • korean-canadian

zuko (avatar the last airbender) • japanese

caitlyn kiramman (arcane) • bi-racial (east asian and presumably scottish)

miles morales (spiderverse) • puerto rican, afro-latino

amaya (the dragon prince) • east asian (ambiguous)

marshal lee (fionna and cake) • half-black (technically, marceline is black too but i figured marshal would be considered better representation)

carmen sandiego (carmen sandiego) • hispanic (argentinean-mexican)

toph (avatar the last airbender) • chinese

callum (the dragon prince) • half asian (ambiguous)

[youraveragecatastrophe]

First rule of computer safety : don't plug random flash drives into your computer

Second rule of computer safety : don't use your pets or loved ones' names or birthdays as passwords

this is a 0/2 for Chief! Someone send her to computer safety classes

[crystal-lillies]

Damn it's a shame Liam isn't here for the Carmen Sandiego joke since he voiced Professor Maelstrom in the Netflix show, that would have been so funny to see his reaction 😆