#chase / J/ and chief are strong enough characters

[grahamcarmen]

Any headcanons regarding ACME and just what do you think about them in general.

->I actually want to headcanon that Chase actually did come across VILE incidentally all throughout his teenage and college years and his suspicious radar was going off and did report one criminal activity that totally was them but you know VILE they managed to slip. did he know it was VILE? No. but still.

-> for now an offhand headcanon that Julia’s mom is a museum curator and would tell her about each piece as it came in which fueled Julia’s love for the arts and desire to do the same

-> Chief had someone she was close to when she was in normal law enforcement that she cut off completely to pursue the creation of ACME. who that might be [family/friend/maybe something potentially …] under construction.

-> zari was one of the first ones to join ACME 

-------

how I feel about them?

...well as much as I appreciate how they're woven into the story and are like a third of the base that makes this series...well...

TLDR (mini essay pending this will make sense later) -> I feel very ambivalent about them as an institution and I feel bad about it because ACME is so prevalent in the story and CS as a franchise!

like ACME v Carmen is a pillar of the series and ....like they always get like what? more or less a third of the screentime? its even like the entirety of the opening theme song that shows carmen eluding acme not really carmen v vile [despite them being her target] so the show keeps the focus on that part in practice

:T i don't...care much about them until I need to and not really more than necessary.

I do like them individually though! and kind of on a symbolic level, i'm not immune to possible fascinating conversations brought up by the members and how they connect to carmen

i will do my T,T um...explanation of why i think i feel like that [lmao]later....because there is in fact a reason this took me so long to answer

[ask-maxie-boy]

Not to shoehorn more balance characters into this, but

Magnus Burnsides is the Thomsons to Taako and Angus’s Tintin, the Detective Gumshoe to their Phoenix Wright, the Inspector Lestrade to their Sherlock Holmes. AKA he’s an Actual Cop, who sometimes gives tips and what little background he knows about the case at hand, but his own competency at his job is... questionable at best. The kind of cop who’d watch someone commit a crime in front of his eyes and then wish the perpetrator a nice day as they run by without a chase. He picks up the office phone like “Hello, this is the police... what? You’re being robbed? That’s illegal, people can’t do that!” Still, he means well, and has a heart of gold. He has an affinity for the K-9 unit, but in the sense that he plays with the dogs when he can, and hopes it can be abolished because this isn’t the type of things dogs should be doing :(.

Merle’s both the governor mayor of Fantasy London or wherever they are, and Taako’s landlord. Well, “landlord” is a bit of a strong word, since he doesn’t charge rent. Merle got a neat new place to stay when he was mayor’d, so he’s letting Taako live in his old house, both to keep it clean, and as a thanks for solving the mystery of what happened to his late cousin Gundren.

The Director is chief of the local law enforcement. Its rare for Angus and Taako to actually meet with her, but she’s as scary and nearly as powerful as she is in canon. Every once in a while she lets slip that she’s chasing down some kind of shadowy organization, but refuses to elaborate if pressed, to the point of hostility if necessary. Magnus seems to have some idea of what it is, but even he’s not dumb enough to get on the director’s bad side and spill the beans.

Davenport! Davenport Davenport Davenport, Davenport Davenport. Davenport Davenport... Davenport Davenport Davenport Davenport Davenport. Davenport?

Okay jokes aside, Davenport does still act as Chief Lucretia’s personal lapdog. A very mirthful soul overall, but will become deadly serious when the time calls for it. A high ranking officer who’s probably got there because nepotism, but has since made it evident that he’s worthy of his station.

On that topic, most of the Bureau are just cops, with a few exceptions like Street Performer Johan who loiters outside the department spilling the Hot Goss. Everyone in the office refuses to get rid of him despite the Director’s orders and loitering being a crime, because he ain’t hurtin nobody and he’s got the Good Jams.

Each case sprinkles in some new details on the ongoing enemies-to-lovers situation that is Notorious Outlaw Cary Fangbattle and the officer who’s devoted the past few years to hunting her down, Killian Adventurezone. Its a background thing, but its nice.

Of course, what’s a private investigator without their Criminal Informant? That’s where Barrold J. Bluejeans steps in. Is that his real name? Absolutely not! It’s Sildar Hallwinter, but he’s not gonna be the one to tell you that. He’s pretty in the know about some Big Crime Things, and while Taako and Angus aren’t particularly fond of not knowing his methods, they can’t exactly argue with the results he provides at times. He also claims to have had a run in or five with the guy they’re tracking, and gives some important details. Angus is rightfully creeped out by Bary, but for some reason Taako has a lot of faith in the guy, and takes his word as Law, much to even Taako’s surprise. Bary’s price is always the same, or rather is still attempting to be paid: Keep looking for what happened to his wife. Their only leads they have are some tattered red cloth, what seems like a broken cane that Taako has been using and Barry claims was hers, and a locket with her picture... even if they cant really make out the image, or the name. Barry takes it on good faith that they’ll figure it out one day. Bary’s a good egg, even if he’s kinda sketchy. 

Jenkins reprises his role as the Rockport Slayer, because idk its interesting.

That’s all i got for now, but i feel like this is Neat.

Look I just want a buddy-private-detective au with Taako and Literal Child Angus McDonald teaming up and ruthlessly dunking on each other and also they chase down Kravitz for the trail of dead necromancers he leaves behind for an enemies to lovers taakitz thing.

Angus MUST curse like he does in Rockport Limited and he and Taako MUST be equally skilled but have completely different skill sets so they can each razz the other for missing “obvious” things. Taako is arcane detective and Angus is physical detective.

They’re partners but when people go up to Taako all concerned about bringing a child to a crime scene he’s like “that’s my fucking BOSS” and then either plays the beleaguered assistant to child prodigy or feeds them some line about a backfired eternal youth spell or something depending on what he wants from them

Also Taako DEFINITELY tries to be all noir and shit and Angus is over here doing his encyclopedia brown/half-moon investigations/nancy drew/hardy boys act