so i fed the present to a passing walrus

i like ninjas and cartoons and lady knights. come talk to me about 2003!Karai and/or CS 2019.

[nixariel]

The Nice and Accurate Canon Timeline of Carmen Sandiego 2019…

…or as close as I could humanly get it. Began as this and this; now expanded to go from Buenos Aires all the way to the epilogue in Kobe. Includes locations, main character ages (where known), and major plot points—plus a few little details I picked up along the way. Spoilers abound.

Enjoy!

This was a long project and I am only one person. If there's something I missed or that needs correcting, let me know and I'm happy to update. However, it should be noted that this timeline is based exclusively on the show's actual episodes and is independent of any info from the tie-in books. If you are interested in a timeline that does reference the books, I would recommend checking out the lovely https-rediation. Otherwise there is now a similar run-through for the To Steal Or Not To Steal interactive special, a CS 2019 trivia tag for the canon things that don't quite fit here, and a headcanon post that does a little more reading-between-the-lines. ;) Have fun.

Unnamed town just outside of Buenos Aires (not quite 2 decades earlier)

·        Shadow-san is a first-year operative

·        Carmen/Black Sheep is walking, making her at least 9-12 months old

·        Vera Cruz registered as villa homeowner but "succumbed to a terminal illness" two weeks prior to Wolfe's death; headstone dated 1971-1999

·        Tamara Fraser is an agent of Interpol, kills Dexter Wolfe; Shadow-san takes credit with V.I.L.E. and becomes faculty

·        Fraser leverages raid on villa into creation of A.C.M.E. and becomes Chief

V.I.L.E. Island (somewhere in the Canary Islands, which are on the WEST coast of Africa. This will become relevant.)

·        Black Sheep is late 17/early 18 when Player calls, prompting her to join V.I.L.E. Academy on its next admission cycle; max cohort size seems to be 40 students

Although V.I.L.E.'s operative training is described as a one-year program, Cleo's conversation with Marta Contreras during the S3 Mexico City caper strongly suggests that the actual classroom/on-island component lasts only 8-9 months, as per the implication that that cycle's delayed start ("classes will begin with the winter quarter this year", emphasis mine) was to be a one-off event. Given that S3 takes place in Oct/Nov, the same line would also suggest that each cycle normally starts in the fall quarter (usually considered to be Sept-Dec). A true full-year program would therefore require either a 3-4 month overlap between cycles or condensing 12 months of class time into 8-9 months in order to achieve a similar expectation of temporary adjustment rather than permanent change

·        Black Sheep moves into the 10-beds-per-room trainee dormitories shortly after attending Coach Brunt's orientation lecture, but both the student housing and her original bedroom appear to be part of the same building

·        Dr. Bellum invents the crackle-rod

·        Cookie Booker visits Dec 1st; Black Sheep and friends are nearly expelled

·        If V.I.L.E.'s vocational program starts in Sept and runs for 8-9 months, it should finish in roughly Apr/May; Black Sheep fails the rigged coat test and stows away on the mission to Casablanca

An Apr/May end to the academic year would also fit with Player being unable to reach Black Sheep "all summer long" after her phone is confiscated post-Casablanca

·        Of note, 16 graduates learn the true name of V.I.L.E. but there are more than 16 pass marks on the exam board

·        Black Sheep is therefore early-to-mid 19 at the start of her holdover year; Paperstar is a classmate

·        Black Sheep regains her phone and escapes the island on Dec 1st (16-18 months after enrolling, 18ish years after Wolfe's death), putting her at mid-to-late 19

·        Maelstrom says Black Sheep's theft of the hard drive "may have compromised V.I.L.E.'s income for the entire coming year", suggesting against a lag time of more than a couple months from escape to first caper (despite the change in hair length and possibly height, though wigs exist and her boots do have heels) as the longer Carmen delayed, the fewer opportunities she'd have to foil the planned operations encrypted on that hard drive.

Post-escape

·        Carmen travels for "a few months" (potentially Dec-Mar) while Player decrypts the drive; likely turns 20 during this time

·        If Player is 12ish when he first calls Black Sheep, he will only be 14ish by the time she leaves the island. If he is 16 in S1E01, this would put him at 13-14 when he first called Black Sheep. Personally I've gone with 13ish during that first call (making him 15ish during the Boston caper) as a compromise between how young he looks versus the time it takes to become that skilled a hacker

Boston (likely no later than Apr, initial year post-island)

·        Carmen's 1st caper, meets Zack and Ivy (age 18 and 19, respectively); Ivy already knows how to pick locks and hotwire cars

V.I.L.E's doughnut shop (Darryl's Donut Hole) is located on the corner of W Broadway and F Street as per Player's map; vault code is 1803

The ARCA Menards Series is a semi-pro level of stock car racing that is often seen as a way for young drivers to build up experience and attract the kind of sponsorship necessary to afford competing in a professional NASCAR series; this would explain both Trey Sterling's presence and why Zack and Ivy felt that they were about to make it to the big leagues

Although the closest NASCAR-authorized racetrack to Boston, Massachusetts, appears to be the Seekonk Speedway in Providence (about 93 km away), the name overlap with the South Boston Speedway—located outside the town of South Boston, Virginia—may have contributed to some confusion when developing Ivy and Zack's backstories as race car mechanic and driver

·        Player does not have a learner's permit; in Ontario, one must be at least 16 years old to apply for this

·        Le Chevre and El Topo meet a tied-up Zack and Ivy at night

Between Boston and Poitiers (May-June)

·        Ivy gets a haircut but Zack either lets his grow a little or stops slicking down the sides because his hair is fluffier post-Boston

·        Paperstar now graduated from the academy; Spinkick and Flytrap either have been or are in the process of being recruited by V.I.L.E.

·        Interpol knows of at least 3 capers: the Swiss National Bank in Bern, an art gallery in Cairo, and an amusement park in Shanghai (one that bears a certain resemblance to the Happy Valley Shanghai park), all in the "last few weeks" before Poitiers, putting them in May/June

The Shanghai job is likely the most recent of the three, as Carmen reminds Player to transfer the proceeds from that caper to her list of non-profits after she arrives in Paris

Poitiers to Paris (very late June/very early July, based on Player's reference to the American 4th of July holiday in the one-day-later Java caper)

·        Only 2 weeks after Julia starts at Interpol; Carmen first encounters Chase and Julia sees Carmen overhead

·        Access code to atrium vault is 1035

·        Tagged matryoshka dolls used as bait; unclear if/how Carmen knew it would be Gray following her onto the train versus any other V.I.L.E. operative

·        Carmen reveals backstory, never identifies Player as more than "someone from the outside world" or gives any indication she overtly told Gray about remaining in contact with that someone

This is in contrast to the three-part cable TV version of the pilot wherein Gray does explicitly learn that Black Sheep had a "secret pal" while on the island, in addition to other changes. For the purposes of this timeline, however, only events/details as per the official two-part pilot have been included

·        Declines invitation to return despite being offered a full pardon with "even Shadow-san on board" (uh-huh); Gray dials the crackle-rod to full, a setting that makes sections of train-roof just evaporate

·        Gray taken into custody by Chase, who apparently knows how to fly a plane. We do not see how he lands it.

·        Zack can shake his booty all night long

·        Carmen eludes A.C.M.E., has no idea who they are other than not-Interpol and not-V.I.L.E.

Paris to Java (very early July)

·        Team Red leaves direct from Paris, on the island of Java within a day; the Prambanan temple compound (near the city of Yogyakarta) is visible from where they stop to replace the tire Carmen accidentally shot, but the shadow-play festival takes place just outside of Jakarta

·        The Cleaners retrieve Gray and take him back to V.I.L.E. Island for memory-wiping; at minimum, this would require erasing the last 22 months of his life (Sept-Apr/May in the academy, then Apr/May to June of the following year), and potentially closer to 25 months depending on how early V.I.L.E. selects candidates for the incoming class year

As per Chief in the Ecuador caper, only 6 suspected V.I.L.E. operatives have been apprehended by any law enforcement agency in the last not-quite-20 years; unclear whether she was including Dexter and/or Gray in this (I suspect not)

Also, although Julia's dialogue places them in Paris (which does host one of Interpol's National Central Bureaus), the building in which Gray was held appears extremely similar to Interpol's headquarters… which is in Lyon, 500 km away

·        Chief decides to recruit Chase

Java to Ecuadorian port (most likely the city of Manta) to Quito to previous port (early-mid July)

·        Within days of Java caper; no mention of hard drive decryption, instead seems to be Player suspecting V.I.L.E. interest in a newly-discovered 19th century shipwreck

Carmen is at least somewhat familiar with Moby-Dick (even if she does not know/remember what kind of coin Captain Ahab nails to the mast of the Pequod, giving Player the edge for once in their ongoing game of trivia one-upmanship), opening the possibility that her V.I.L.E. Island education included an introduction to classic American literature

·        Chase and Julia have returned to Poitiers and Chase's damaged car; A.C.M.E. grabs Chase and Julia tracks them to an unlocked electrical closet with no actual wiring inside. Where does the chair come from? And why did they handcuff the unconscious man they're trying to recruit? This is. Not how you make friends.

·        Chase and Julia join A.C.M.E. anyway

·        Le Chevre does not recognize Zack or Ivy despite direct mention of Boston Harbour; El Topo may or may not recognize them in Quito later on

Ecuador port to Amsterdam to the Swiss Alps (for both Cleo's chateau and Team Red's hotel, as the Netherlands are too flat)

·        Within days of previous caper; snow at Cleo's chateau likely due to altitude rather than season

·        Moscow Time is two hours ahead of Central European Time, but only one hour ahead of Central European Summer Time (a.k.a. daylight savings) which would fit with this episode likely taking place in mid-to-late Julyish. No explanation given for what Dash was doing in western Russia.

·        Zack becomes the Duke; car ride to the dinner starts at 5 PM and takes long enough that it is full dark by the time they get there

·        The code for the chateau's vault is 967

·        Chase loses his second car and meets both Ivy and Zack in disguise; Lady Dokuso makes her first on-screen appearance and the artist Cleo commissioned to make the Vermeer forgeries looks remarkably like an older version (possibly the father?) of the counterfeiter from the bayou caper

Update: so in the original release of the episode in 2019, the art forger (or so he is credited) sitting next to Zack during Cleo's dinner looks very much like an older relative of V.I.L.E.'s counterfeiter from the S3 bayou episode. Yet for whatever reason, at some point since then the episode has been edited so that it is the S3 counterfeiter next to Zack and the art forger… just doesn't exist now, I guess? This AND changing Gray's expression during the big 'true name of V.I.L.E.' reveal, because apparently that was also a thing that happened?? oh fer cryin' out loud…

·        All paintings returned; incidentally, six of Vermeer's surviving works feature recognizable and accurate depictions of real maps from his time period. Given the extra challenge doing so would have posed, Vermeer is thought to have had a particular interest in cartography—much like Carmen herself, four hundred years later

Sydney to Uluru to Sydney

·        Unknown how long after previous caper; no signs of A.C.M.E. chasing after Carmen on this one

·        Carmen encounters mindwiped Gray

·        Sydney to Uluru is a 30-hour road trip, but Sydney to Ayers Rock Airport is only a 3-hour flight; the drive to Uluru takes about half an hour from there

·        Lab door code is 5616, computer access code is 1063; Ivy has her own phone

·        Le Chevre meets Ivy for a third time; El Topo does not recognize Zack in a lab coat

·        Based on the angle of its view of the opera house, and the criss-cross Sydney Cove heritage railings across the street, Gray's favourite café is located at approximately 10 Hickson Rd in The Rocks suburb of inner-city Sydney

Mumbai to Agra City

·        Unknown how long after previous caper; non-hard-drive target, prompted by Carmen suspecting Professor Maelstrom's interest in stealing all known original copies of the Magna Carta while they are on exhibition at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya

·        No Zack or Ivy, reason unknown

·        Paperstar meets Le Chevre in front of the trimurti Sadashiva statue located in Cave 1 on Elephanta Island

·        Carmen discovers Chase has moved up from Interpol, steals his keycard, and learns A.C.M.E.'s name; meets Julia and deduces she is also part of A.C.M.E./Chase's travel partner

·        Paperstar steals the keycard from Carmen, gives it to V.I.L.E. faculty

·        Carmen leaves the collected Magna Cartas on Julia's seat

San Francisco (suspect Dec, although San Fran fog typically worst in summer and better/gone in winter; 1 yr anniversary post-island)

·        Unknown how long after previous caper

·        Carmen buys Zack the Rogue Vendetta 5 car and Player says he is taking up stamp collecting; she is not expecting V.I.L.E.'s presence at the auction, another non-hard-drive target

·        After the auction, A.C.M.E. has intel that "an exchange of an unknown commodity"; is soon to occur in San Fran, suggesting that somehow they've picked up on V.I.L.E.'s change in plans re: Tigress rather than Mime Bomb transporting the stamp out of the city; Chase loses his lucky jacket and his third car (second vehicle from A.C.M.E.)

·        Carmen proves herself a better pickpocket than Tigress

·        Bellum in process of hacking keycard, learns it is registered to Chase

Vacation in "tropical paradise" (Jan; into 2nd yr post-island)

·        Unknown how long after previous caper, likely within weeks to a month

·        Back on V.I.L.E. Island, Bellum cracks the keycard and learns Chase was transferred to A.C.M.E. "nearly 6 months ago"; Maelstrom also puts the first Poitiers caper at "nearly 6 months ago". Given how Player's Fourth of July comment makes it unlikely that the Java caper takes place any later than early July, it is possible that this meeting to review Bellum's findings actually takes place in mid-late Dec and several weeks elapse before V.I.L.E. is ready to send Shadow-san off-island with Brunt and the Cleaners to abduct Chase

·        Chase and Julia have returned to Poitiers, and meet Chief in the same parking garage electrical closet as before to be fitted for regulation A.C.M.E. suits; once dismissed, Chase gets into a fight with Julia over their differing interpretations of Carmen's actions to date

·        Team Red is finally taking some vacation time after the San Francisco caper; Player lets Carmen know that they've exhausted the first hard drive, but she refuses to consider going back to V.I.L.E. Island to get a new one

·        An unspecified amount of time later, Chase is kidnapped from his apartment while arguing with himself over how he's treated Julia; Carmen has finally relaxed enough to start enjoying her vacation when Player relays V.I.L.E.'s dark web message re: the abduction of her supposed partner

As per S2E01-02, Chase's abduction takes place approx 10 days before Carnival (1 week between Poitiers and Prague as per Player, then 3 days in Rio as per Julia's comment to Zari at the base of the Cristo Redentor) and real-world Carnival starts on the Friday before Ash Wednesday, which usually puts it in mid-to-late Feb. However, very occasionally it will fall in early Feb instead, specifically Feb 5-8 (Feb 5 if we ignore Nov 25 being a Friday in S4 and use 2008 as a model, Feb 8 if we keep Nov 25 being a Friday and use 2005 as a model). Assuming that S2 is a year in which this happens—and assuming that S2 is also a year in which Stockholm experiences a heavy enough winter to still have significant snow on the ground through the end of Mar despite the season normally being on its way out at that point—then there might be just enough time for Carmen to accomplish four other capers and buy the warehouse without causing the problems I'd originally expected from factoring in S4's "18 months ago" time frame (please see update note at the bottom). Using those earliest dates for Carnival would therefore indicate that Chase was abducted sometime around Jan 26-29.

Return to Poitiers (late Jan)

·        Direct from beach vacation

·        Chase held in the basement of Cleo's residence from S1E01

·        Shadow-san and Brunt learn from Chase that A.C.M.E. is after V.I.L.E.

·        The Chief sees Carmen standing over an unconscious Chase before Carmen destroys the pen, previously his longest-lasting piece of A.C.M.E. tech

·        Carmen declines second invitation to return; Brunt tries to kill her

·        Shadow-san saves Carmen, takes her to a bell tower; leaves her a fresh hard drive likely copied from the one Cookie Booker would have dropped off in December

In terms of design, the bell tower has a greater resemblance to the Église Notre-Dame-la-Grande. However, given its position relative to the Cathédrale Saint-Pierre (below right), it is most likely the Église de Sainte-Radegonde instead

Season 1 covers approx 7 months and concludes approx 13 months after Carmen leaves the island; at some point Player turns 16, Zack turns 19, and Ivy turns 20. Carmen is due to turn 21 in early season 2. Julia should be at least 22-24; see S3 Mexico City caper ('Julia leaves A.C.M.E.') for rationale.

Poitiers to Prague (very late Jan/early Feb)

·        "Only been a week" since Poitiers

·        Player has the new hard drive at home

·        Chase wakes from 7-10 day coma, identifies Coach Brunt and Shadow-san as interrogators; sent back to Interpol office in Paris as file clerk rather than inspector. As of S2E10, he does not appear to have moved out from his Poitiers apartment despite his change in employment. This would suggest that he is making a 2 hour train commute/4 hour drive from Poitiers to Paris every workday. Unclear how soon after this he starts tracking VILE through the records of their import-export shell company

Prague to Rio de Janeiro (early Feb)

·        Carmen in Rio for at least 3 days (hence 7-10 day coma for Chase) before discovering the alexandrite mine's location in what is likely Rocinha

·        Le Chevre recognizes an undisguised Zack. Good job.

·        Shadow-san joins Team Red; V.I.L.E. confirms his defection and is shooketh

·        Zack (and Ivy) gets to shake the booty at least part of the night; Ivy tries to catch Shadow-san unawares with her drink's garnish

·        Julia and Zari see Carmen being friendly with one of Chase's interrogators

·        Earliest possible date for Carnival would be Feb 5-8; see S1 tropical vacation ('As per S2E01-02') for further details

Matsumoto to Tokyo to Matsumoto (early-mid Feb)

·        Within days to weeks of previous caper

·        Shadow-san reveals his birth name and that he has a brother, also returns sword

Apparently Matsumoto Castle is also know as the Crow Castle due to its black walls, which would be the BEST reference ever for why Shadow-san wore that bird mask in Rio XDD

·        A.C.M.E. surveillance confirms Carmen still friendly with Chase's interrogator; confirmed again in Athens

·        Cherry blossom season doesn't start until Mar, only plum blossoms would be out in Feb; Suhara would be very unusual as a given name and much more common as a family name but oh well

Athens to Milan (mid-late Feb)

·        Within days to weeks of previous caper

·        Shadow-san does not expect Team Red to trust him yet; learns they just don't have a headquarters at all

·        Fashion show catwalk is in the Sala delle Cariatidi of the Palazzo Reale di Milan

·        Carmen knocks out Zari with her own gas-gun; Julia helps Carmen save the gowns, works directly with Zack and Ivy

·        Cleo recognizes Zack as the Duke. No one sees any possible use for the many cameras taking many pictures of his and Ivy's faces

·        Carmen resistant to the idea of a headquarters

·        Real-world fashion show season is generally Feb/Mar and Sept/Oct; the first week is always in New York, then London for the second week, then Milan for the third week, and finally Paris for the last week

San Diego to Dubai to San Diego (late Feb/early Mar)

·        Unknown how long after previous caper; however, Carmen now willing to at least look at the warehouse as a possible HQ

·        Boston backstory revealed

·        Team Red leaves direct from warehouse using Rogue Vendetta car, in Dubai within 1-2 days

·        Shadow-san stays behind to discuss strategy, is impressed by Player

·        The siblings fail to escape with the Al Sibaq 9000 and are taken to what appears to be the Naif Police Station in the district of Deira; the second car chase starts at the Autodrome and continues towards downtown Dubai until they are travelling north-east on Sheikh Zayed Rd, with Driver turning off the highway shortly after she crosses the Dubai Canal

·        Zack and Ivy ultimately decline Sterling Sterling's offer to start racing again

San Diego to Moscow (early-mid Mar)

·        Carmen purchases warehouse at some point, unknown how long after return from Dubai

·        Team Red moving in when Player sends Carmen and Shadow-san to Moscow (where Brunt has never been)

·        Carmen and Shadow-san break into the Kremlin the next day, Neal escapes with Trip Wire data from server 6609 on vault sublevel 4

·        No snow on the ground in Moscow, deciduous trees in leaf, people in hoodies outside, but Carmen and Shadow-san in winter uniforms. At least they look pretty?

Moscow to San Diego to Sydney to Auckland to Sydney (mid Mar)

·        Within days of previous caper

·        Player decrypts while Carmen and Shadow-san return to San Diego

·        Shadow-san stays behind while Carmen recruits Gray in Sydney and flies him to Auckland for 8 PM caper; the position of the Sky Tower relative to what may be the Vero Centre puts the laboratory somewhere north and a little west of Auckland's city centre

·        Player's alias of 'Peter' may be a reference to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the composer of Swan Lake

·        Gray's mindwipe survives holding a crackle-rod, hearing Dr. Bellum's voice, and blunt force trauma. Well done, mad scientist.

·        Gray returns to Sydney, Carmen meets him for coffee at the café. A.C.M.E. has surveillance of this as well, should we be alarmed at how many closed-circuit monitoring systems these people have access to?

Stockholm (late Mar)

·        During "Swedish winter"; unknown exactly how long after previous caper, no holiday decorations visible in background. Snow season in Stockholm tends to run Nov-Mar, but possibly this year's winter was heavier than usual in order to still have significant snow cover all the way to the end of Mar; see S1 tropical vacation ('As per S2E01-02') for further explanation re: change in estimated date

·        Shadow-san in Malaysia on an unspecified mission

·        Ivy acts as decoy, and appears to be walking east down Hantverkargatan before taking the Vasabron over to Stadsholmen, while Carmen takes a chance on pulling Julia aside

·        Zack is also on Stadsholmen, parked just off Rådhusgränd before it becomes the north-bound lane on the Vasabron, but is facing the wrong way for the direction of traffic

·        Chief realizes Julia is off-the-grid; notably, her last agent left alone with Carmen Sandiego ended up in a hospital

·        Chief breaks her deal with Julia, sends in the other agents; Zari gets Carmen with the gas-gun this time

·        Carmen jumps rather than let herself be caught; ends up injured and alone in a ravine south of Stockholm

·        V.I.L.E. is allergic to photographs and will not distribute them no matter how badly they want someone caught; a descriptive memo is right out. (Or else Otter Man needs a serious prescription update because how does he not notice that Ivy is white??)

·        Player sends Zack after Ivy first; tracker signal puts her on Odengatan, which technically runs more east-west than north-south, although it does cross several roads that would lead due north

·        Carmen eventually reaches out to Chief for help; they finally talk to each other directly. Chief interested in recruiting her, lets Carmen go in hopes of a willing return

·        The faculty decides to abandon V.I.L.E. Island; as per the assembly they call to announce this to the rest of the school, the current student body (among which would be Spinkick and Flytrap) is close to but not quite graduating yet

Stockholm to San Diego (very late Mar into Apr)

·        Would take about 12 hours for Shadow-san to get from Malaysia to Stockholm if flying directly, 24-36 hours if flying commercially

·        Unknown how long Carmen in hospital before Team Red transfers her to San Diego

·        Shadow-san handles Antwerp, Krakow, and Taipei capers while Carmen recovering; she has nightmare about Brunt after he leaves for Taipei

Interesting fact! Antwerp is a major centre for rough diamonds, although the trade has been shifting to less expensive cities in recent years. Do I think this could be relevant to the Botswana caper? Absolutely! XD

·        Given her likely injuries, Carmen should need at least 4-6 weeks to recuperate; Team Red's concern/Carmen's poor performance in later fight with Tigress suggests she may have only taken 3-5 weeks instead

·        Maelstrom suggests Brunt try to sow discord between Carmen and Shadow-san while Cleo is very confident in Carmen's ability to wreak payback on a former criminal mastermind/still actual ninja; with the students of Spinkick and Flytrap's year now presumably graduated, V.I.L.E. blows up their island

San Diego to Botswana (late Apr/early May)

·        Approx 1 week after V.I.L.E. blows up their island

·        Shadow-san is in the Austrian Alps on a separate but related caper; Player is man-in-the-chair to both him and Carmen

·        Chase discovers V.I.L.E. HQ through the Power of Paperwork™; unfortunately his map has the Canary Islands on the wrong side of Africa (no I'm not kidding; yes this is a show about geography)

·        Carmen collaborates with Chief; Chief calling in the local authorities tips off Roundabout

·        Shadow-san recognizes Chief from Buenos Aires 20 years ago, has Player trace her location

·        Chase leaves for V.I.L.E. Island on the morning of the raid; probably flew to what looks like Rabat, Morocco, before taking a small boat the rest of the way (that's still a solid 15 hour trip from there. Or more! Explains why he runs out of fuel but seriously, why not have him at least START in the Canary Islands, there are 5 international airports to pick from!!)

·        Joint Red-A.C.M.E. mission is a bust but Chief still willing to take a second chance on Carmen

·        V.I.L.E. able to both locate and capture Carmen on the train with seeming ease; Brunt informs her that Shadow-san killed her father

·        Carmen is shooketh

Botswana to Canary Islands (May)

·        Carmen arrives at V.I.L.E. Island approx 1 week later to access their archives; a total of 2 weeks after V.I.L.E. left it in pieces, approx 6 weeks after Stockholm nearly left Carmen in pieces

·        V.I.L.E. is operating out of a diner somewhere, likely American given their waitress's accent; Roundabout joins the faculty

Canary Islands to San Diego (still May)

·        Chase has been on the island since the Botswana bust, missed Carmen's boat (at least until S3) but is rescued by helicopter some time afterwards; finds out he has been fired from Interpol during his absence

·        Carmen ships recovered hard drive to Player, confronts Shadow-san in San Diego as soon as Player retrieves the file on her father

·        Learns her father is Dexter Wolfe, former V.I.L.E. faculty, and Shadow-san denies killing him

San Diego to Seattle (May/June)

·        Shadow-san not present

·        Carmen confronts Chief in person, showing she knows where Chief lives (yes that can be taken as a threat)

·        Carmen uses Chief's overeagerness to bait her into giving Player an easy Trojan horse into A.C.M.E.'s records; confirms Chief killed her father and Shadow-san did not

·        Chief takes the attack (and the trick) personally; Carmen's capture becomes a primary objective for A.C.M.E.

Return to Buenos Aires (June)

·        Unclear how long after Player reviews the V.I.L.E. hard drive files with Carmen, but likely no more than days as Chase hasn't even had time to shave off his castaway beard before Chief calls

·        Carmen finds an empty coffin in Vera Cruz's grave; Chief reinstates Chase

·        Spends "all summer long" off V.I.L.E.'s radar and searching for clues to her mother; post-dating from this puts digging up the coffin in May/June

·        However, off A.C.M.E.'s radar for only a "few weeks last fall" (Egypt caper); Julia also describes it as "weeks" (Veracruz caper) and the Chief as "last few weeks" with Chase confirming this as the period of time in which they could not track Carmen (Mexico City caper). Perhaps A.C.M.E. better at surveillance than V.I.L.E.? Unknown where Carmen was other than Buenos Aires, A.C.M.E. unaware that missing weeks were spent in Buenos Aires until Egypt caper.

Season 2 covers another 5 months and concludes approx 18 months after leaving the island. Player, Zack, and Ivy likely still 16, 19, and 20 respectively. Carmen is 21. Julia is likely 23-25.

Buenos Aires to Veracruz (Oct)

·        Carmen finds multiple fake IDs and a locket in Wolfe's safe-deposit box (#1021, registered to Vera Cruz as per Egypt caper) in what is likely the Banco de la Nación Argentina off the Plaza de Mayo. (Do banks… keep safe-deposit boxes after people stop paying for them? For 20 years? Or where is the money coming from?)

·        Spinkick and Flytrap find Carmen in Buenos Aires; Shadow-san takes their tracker to the southern tip of Africa, leading them away from Carmen

·        The faculty (in the Outer Hebrides now) learns Carmen and Shadow-san are still working together despite V.I.L.E.'s best efforts

·        Carmen learns from a neighbour that her mother went by Carlotta Valdez while she was in Veracruz and only lived there for a year, alone; the nearest Carlotta Valdez is Lupe Peligro and not her mother

The church from the locket appears to be the Veracruz Cathedral

·        Carmen sees Julia for the first time since Stockholm; Julia does not see her

·        A.C.M.E. finally locates Carmen in Mexico, thinks wrestling match was to be a decoy from the Frida Kahlo thefts

·        Chase's third A.C.M.E. car (fourth altogether) is totalled by Brunt; also mangles his suit

Veracruz to Mexico City (Nov 1-2, Day of the Dead)

·        V.I.L.E. specifically targets talented young adults with limited family connections, such as orphans

·        Shadow-san still playing red herring to Spinkick and Flytrap in what appears to be the American Midwest; however, they are summoned back to pick up Sonia and a captured Carmen

·        V.I.L.E.'s classes will begin in the winter quarter this year due to the change in location

·        Julia leaves A.C.M.E., becomes (presumably) an assistant professor at Oxford; assistant professor tends to be an entry-level university faculty position that, although a PhD is encouraged, can be filled by someone with only a Master's degree. Given how Julia is only ever referred to as 'Miss' or 'Agent' Argent, it is unlikely that she has a PhD and her two degrees are more likely a Bachelor's and Master's degree. As per her comment during the Mexico City caper, one of her degrees appears to be in ancient history while the other is likely in criminology or a related field

In the UK, a Bachelor's degree can take 3-4 years depending on the program and students generally start at age 18; a Master's degree usually takes another 1-2 years. Since a Bachelor's in criminology alone would rarely support going on to do a Master's in an area as different as ancient history (or vice versa), Julia likely did a double major, which would be more in keeping with a 4-year undergrad. This puts Julia's age as at least 22-24 during the first caper in Poitiers, assuming that she joined Interpol shortly after completing her studies. As of S3, which takes place roughly 16-17 months after that caper, she would be at least 23-25

New Orleans (Nov 3?)

·        Chase crashes a fourth A.C.M.E. car, fifth including his own

·        Shadow-san absent, reason unknown

·        Supposedly the first Saturday after Halloween

·        Paperstar picks up the recipe card while lost in the basement yet somehow gets all the way to the roof without finding a single better opportunity (in a house full of costumed partygoers) to confront or escape Carmen. This is. Not the only problem I have with this episode. $300 000 is a LOT of money and chartered planes do not come cheap, how is Team Red even supporting itself post Vermeer payment??

Venice (Nov 4?)

·        Chase partnered with Zari (who puns at him and has a truly spectacular deadpan)

·        Brunt and Shadow-san's sketches still shown together as accomplices of Carmen; Chase does not recognize Zack in glasses and a mustache

·        Chase starts to reconsider his position on Carmen-as-villain

·        Hideo and Shadow-san reconcile

·        Neal captured; retrieved by the Cleaners but marked for retirement

·        Do not ask me how Team Red accomplishes 2 capers in 2 days on 2 separate continents when going east means even the time change will be working against them

Ignoring the bayou caper would help; it's filler in a season already constrained by a shortened episode count and several character beats seemed a little off anyway. Seriously, Zack being scared of ghosts? When otherwise he pushes fearlessness to the point of foolhardiness? Not to mention the Cleaners being scarily competent Until That Episode, and then Zack and Ivy mistaking Chief for a ghost despite meeting her face-to-face in Seattle. At least Chief's threat to haunt Chase was par for the course, although her follow-up on the gag was... odd :\

London (Nov 5, Bonfire Night)

·        Chase upset to hear Carmen is captured, now thinks she does indeed deliberately return stolen items

·        Chief still believes Carmen is working with V.I.L.E.; has been keeping tabs on Gray as a potential lead to Carmen

·        Roundabout exposed, removing V.I.L.E.'s ability to release operatives if captured and marking him for retirement as well

Season 3 covers approx 1 month, concluding not quite 2 years after Carmen leaves the island. Zack and Ivy about to turn 20 and 21 respectively. Player either very close to or has turned 17. Carmen is still 21. Julia is still 23-25.

Beijing (early Nov)

·        Unknown how long after previous caper; likely only days as even Neal hasn't been mindwiped yet when Bellum's equipment goes on the fritz

·        Caper only 2 days long

·        Gray on tour in Reykjavik (Thieving Magpie); A.C.M.E. has a facility there

·        Shadow-san breaks his lower left leg

·        Neal successfully escapes V.I.L.E.

·        Chase meets Chief in person in Seattle, recognizes Gray from the train to Paris and is sent to Reykjavik

San Diego to Munich (early-mid Nov)

·        Likely within 1-2 days of Beijing, given that Gray seems to have been stuck in the same ACME interrogation room since being taken into custody, but gold stolen from German bank "a few weeks back"

·        Player tries out public school and is high-risk for getting shoved in a locker

·        No one understands that gold is much, much heavier than you think

·        Chase says the train to Paris was 18 months ago (thus post-dating Carmen's first Poitiers caper to technically more like May/June of the previous year, but given the equal chance of this being a rounded rather than exact number, a June/July estimate is still reasonable) and exposes V.I.L.E. cover-up (again) through the Power of Paperwork™; heck yeah, disaster man!

·        A.C.M.E. uses an experimental device to restore Gray's memories; it goes about as well as you'd expect jumping straight to human test subjects would go.

·        Gray calls V.I.L.E. to come pick him up

Munich rerouted to Singapore to San Diego to Reykjavik (mid Nov)

·        Within 1-2 days of previous

·        Bellum steals the crown specifically for Cleo and over anything else in a entire museum full of tech. I will just. Leave that there.

·        Roby stealing the crown is V.I.L.E.'s first straightforward win against Carmen in 2 years; even Botswana still required them to sacrifice the mine

·        Player struggles with math. So does season 3.

·        New Zealand was Bellum's highest security lab but most highly equipped is in Nepal

·        Shadow-san reads action manga, possibly about robots/monsters, but waits until Zack is not around

·        Chase openly tells Carmen he is not after her

Reykjavik to Nepal to Niagara Falls (Canadian side)

·        Within 1-2 days of previous; Player still in his first week of public school

·        Shadow-san made "special arrangements" for the high-altitude jump but unknown if through contacts from V.I.L.E./yakuza days or instead drawing on Player's

·        "…poison his mind with lies."/"Or worse yet, tell him the truth." Does Shadow-san… disapprove of Carmen keeping the truth from Gray?

·        Chase goes to Julia for answers; Julia hasn't spoken to or seen Carmen since Stockholm, smiles that she is still making A.C.M.E. "chase their tails". She also has three seminars to prepare for and postpones any further discussion to Friday noon of the next week, which appears to be Nov 25 as per her desk planner

·        V.I.L.E. thinks Carmen would use Gray against them

·        Unknown if "Double Code Red" is a specific code-phrase or just improv; Ivy and Zack look at Player, not his teacher

·        Carmen believes Gray has truly changed, that it's more than just a mindwipe; Gray thinks he was merely suppressed

·        Carmen refuses second request to back down, will not abandon fight against V.I.L.E.

·        First onscreen in-person meeting for Player and Carmen, also his last day of public school

San Diego to Nevşehir to Oxford to Longyearbyen

·        Approx 2 weeks after Beijing caper and within days of the previous caper based on the upcoming Friday meeting for Chase and Julia, but real-world cast removal should have been no earlier than 4-6 weeks after Beijing

·        V.I.L.E. has been active since the Middle Ages, original V was Roman numeral representing its 5 founders; only Gunnhild the Gruesome is named

·        El Topo gives Le Chevre a conciliatory little arm-rub after losing the relic

·        Carmen learns Julia has left A.C.M.E.; talks to her for the first time since Stockholm and asks for help (rather than commandeering it as in Milan)

·        Shadow-san gets his cast off after Carmen's meeting with Julia

·        Player calls Julia 'Jules' as well; he and 'Red' are old friends from her school days, trusts Julia enough to show his face

·        Zack and Ivy can chute-climb; Brunt grabs Carmen's ankle mid-swing like she did in Poitiers

·        Maelstrom may be stealthier and stronger than he looks; sneaks up on Zack, caught Gray's swing with the lamp in the Himalayas

·        Shadow-san has a real 'taking you with me' vibe; Brunt calls Shadow-san "old man" but she was faculty before he was

·        Maelstrom was definitely going to leave Brunt behind

North/Central India (possibly the Kandariya Mahadeva Temple in Madhya Pradesh) to Giza to San Diego to Seattle (late Nov)

·        Within 2 weeks of Nepal as per Chase showing up for the Friday lunch meeting shortly after Julia is kidnapped

·        Mime Bomb has cryptanalysis skills; Player calls Julia "secret weapon"

·        Cleo recognizes Julia but unsure from where (the fashion show in Milan)

Based on the architecture, and the contents of the stalls, the market Cleo walks through with Tigress is likely the Khan el-Khalili

·        Carmen thinks Chief would just get in her way; recruits Chase to keep him from telling Chief

·        Julia wears what is presumably her mother's necklace

·        A.C.M.E. finds out Carmen was in Buenos Aires during quiet period, Chief finds the safe-deposit box with Wolfe's fake IDs

·        Chase now humble enough—or cares about Julia enough—to put her safety over self-aggrandizement; still (finally) gets the entrance and the one-liner he always wanted

·        Julia much friendlier to Chase after rescue; could be that she is now convinced he is sincere in his change

·        Carmen meets Chief for an 8 AM face-to-face in the same café as before; Chief learns she is Wolfe's daughter but Carmen doesn't want revenge, making a deal instead: her mother's location for V.I.L.E. intel

·        Carmen doesn't consider herself on Chief's side but Chief on hers; goes abruptly radio-silent in Seattle while talking to Player

·        I swear that boy's going to develop a complex or something because this is the fourth time. At least.

Seattle (Dec, 2 yr anniversary post-island)

·        Shadow-san finds locket where Carmen was abducted; no security footage/online activity for Player to find

·        Julia rejoins A.C.M.E. and Chase is so happy to see her again; Chief immediately sets her to finding Carmen's mother

V.I.L.E. Island to Vienna to San Diego (end of Dec/early Jan)

·        3 weeks after Carmen is brainwashed; V.I.L.E. has been quiet until now, no opportunity to crash one of their operations

·        Shadow-san goes all the way to the Canary Islands for… what exactly? Clues to V.I.L.E.'s new location? Or purely sentiment?

·        Le Chevre mocked Gray's mindwipe in Outback caper but apparently now looking forward to reunion; Gray still calls Tigress "pussycat"

·        How much of a breeze do they get in those tunnels? And the whole nose thing seemed… jarringly juvenile. Fart jokes from Zack (smart-fabric in Milan) are expected; Carmen, even evil!Carmen, is supposed to be a little more mature

·        When the show says "innate desire to do good" and "ability to empathize", they may actually mean compassion; it's not that she can't feel for/understand others, it's that she doesn't care to do anything about it (and so behaves selfishly)

·        Unknown how V.I.L.E. dealt with Carmen's memories of Player, given that there's no evidence they ever realized he is more to her than a recruited hacker or that the two were in contact BEFORE she joined V.I.L.E. Academy—and they did seem to want her to remember BEING in the Academy. Also unknown how the absence of her matryoshka dolls was handled; possible out would be saying they were lost during the evacuation of V.I.L.E. Island?

·        Chase and Julia encounter Zari outside the Hofburg; Chase hasn't worked with her since London and Julia since Stockholm, Zari is working with previous unnamed partner again

·        Zari captures Shadow-san while he's after Tigress; he escapes literally seconds after waking up

·        Gray meets Chase again, this time with full memories and prepared to use the crackle-rod; unknown if his modifications were before or after this

·        Cleo expects Carmen to go rogue

·        Carmen taking risks she normally wouldn't "for the mental gymnastics" (a phrase originally used by the previous iteration of Carmen in Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego); her year-mates ALL KNOW something is wrong with dark!Carmen beyond just the mindwipe

·        Carmen kicks Zack out of a Ferris wheel carriage, likely the Weiner Riesenrad at the Wurstelprater, an amusement park located in the Weiner Prater public park in Vienna

·        First glimpse Shadow-san gets of Carmen since her capture is her flying away on a V.I.L.E. glider

Post 6 month skip (Jan to June; June/July for events taking place after the time card)

·        Carmen hits Brussels, Copenhagen, and St. Petersburg; Crackle is her primary accomplice

·        Chief thinks Carmen has played them and therefore was playing them all along

·        Carmen becomes faculty and the others tell her about Dexter Wolfe; her mouth trembles, but with anger or grief?

·        Coach tells her they did not learn Shadow-san killed Wolfe until after Shadow-san left ("honest" uh-huh)

·        Carmen says that her mother's possible existence doesn't matter, that V.I.L.E. is her family, which makes Coach smile

·        Using flight passenger list, Carmen's mother found to be Carlotta Valdez, born and raised in Veracruz, at some point moved to Buenos Aires, then founded an orphanage there 6 months after Wolfe's death; this would seemingly contradict the neighbour's account from S3E01 that Carlotta only lived in Veracruz for a year. Chief's first thought is to dismiss the orphanage as a V.I.L.E. cover but less resistant than before to Julia's more benign option

·        Chief still regrets killing Wolfe and now willing to consider he may have been leaving V.I.L.E.; they knew Wolfe's daughter was missing but alive (no bodies in the ashes)

·        Shadow-san snags the file from the Chief; first time she's seen him in person

·        A.C.M.E. does not know about the mindwipes, thinks V.I.L.E. can somehow beat their lie detectors

·        Zari watching Valdez's orphanage when Shadow-san breaks in; pictures of Wolfe (unknown mountainous area, Toronto, and Veracruz with baby!Carmen) plus innermost matryoshka doll confirm Valdez is Carmen's mother

·        Gray turns himself in in Reykjavik; A.C.M.E. learns about mindwiping tech and chips him like a stray pet

·        Unknown how long it takes to set up Eye of Vishnu display; Chief pulls strings, so 3 weeks might be reasonable

·        Ivy set on crimefighting, Zack more willing to consider racing again; seems to be the thought of fighting Carmen that turns him off

Casablanca to San Diego to Buenos Aires

·        Eye of Vishnu back on display at an unnamed museum somewhere east of the Hassan II Mosque; dark!Carmen as much a lone wolf as her father

·        Zari grabs Tigress; Tigress manages to knock out 2 agents despite one arm handcuffed to railing

·        Gray's original role was to set the trap, not spring it; grabbing the device instead of helping Tigress means V.I.L.E. will know he's acted against them

·        Julia knocked out by pole from wall hanging, Gray downed by crackle-rod, Chase softens Carmen's landing on the car; Chase's last wrecked car on-screen (fifth A.C.M.E. car, sixth total)

·        Presumably Player picked up news of Eye and Shadow-san recognized it as bait for him, but unknown if they knew that A.C.M.E. would be there too. Also unknown how or even if they knew A.C.M.E. had a counter-memory device. But if they didn't… Shadow-san had a lot of faith in that little doll

·        Initially parrying blows with one arm behind his back, in a long coat, "I am not here for the jewels/gem", "you are in no condition to leave/fight"—all callbacks to important moments revolving around Carmen. Still, he's not really winning that fight even with her off-balance from the A.C.M.E. device

·        Possibly Player monitoring comms, tells Shadow-san A.C.M.E. summoned medical assistance for Gray? And Shadow-san tells Carmen in the break after "there is much to explain"? Otherwise that's some serious mood whiplash from tears to calmly chatting with Chief

·        Devineaux recognizes Shadow-san but still listens first; Carmen provides location of new V.I.L.E. HQ

·        Carmen recovers; in the meantime, Shadow-san collaborates with Chief over coffee and A.C.M.E. takes down V.I.L.E.

·        It's been over 6 months, why is Roundabout still in the dungeon?

·        Both Mime Bomb and Maelstrom qualify for psych ward rather than general prison population; Cleaners are now actual cleaners, Antonio and Jean-Paul run a food truck (and look very happy)

·        Chief declines to pursue Gray as part of V.I.L.E. (although unclear whether the chip is simply deactivated or truly defunct); he declines having his contact info passed on to Carmen

·        Carmen evidently doesn't see Zack and Ivy again until after full recovery; wherever she was, apparently they couldn't visit (??)

·        Shadow-san passes on file labelled Dexter Wolfe, Carmen leaves Zack and Ivy all of a note after not seeing them for months; does Shadow-san leave for Japan at same time? what is this even

·        Carmen meets her mother, Player still on the comm, thank goodness something in this scene makes sense

Kobe (over 2 years to first resurgence of V.I.L.E.)

·        Zack and Ivy in repainted Rogue Vendetta car

·        Paperstar captured at Kobe City Museum, has not changed her outfit or hairstyle in 2 years

·        Zack is Chief's favourite; both Ivy and Zack's hair slicked down compared to previous

·        Unknown if figure on roof is the original Carmen Sandiego or someone else stepping up but if it's Carmen she doesn't even TALK to them what the heck.

·        An epic wave of fanfic is launched to correct matters

Season 4 covered approx 9 months before the 2-year skip, making it 2.5-3 years from leaving V.I.L.E. Island to Carmen meeting her mother. Zack and Ivy would be 20 and 21; Player might be 18 by now. Carmen would be 22 and Julia should be 24-26. Including the 2-year skip puts the entire show at 4.5-5 years total, making Zack 22, Ivy 23, Player 19-20, Carmen at least 24, and Julia 26-28.

END

[ivytea]

false lanternberry

[bagelbun-art]

Her smile is still lovely though

and yes. this is a tf2 reference:

because I love how Bellum and Medic are so alike <3

I love her.

[onehundredandeleventropicalfish]

First, I love reading your analyses of the Sandman comics.

Destruction never gave me younger sibling vibes, so it was really interesting to see the post where Dream is big brother to Destruction. Do you remember any other instances?

i think that's pretty much it, for moments of dream being a comforting older brother, which is why that scene is such an interesting twist for me!

and also in that scene, like. he's not even really being comforting, because the panel specifically draws attention to his hesitation. he and destruction don't do this, they're two brothers close in age, comfort has never really been their thing (and then corinthian shows up to cause problems before he gets to change that)

but dream is trying. and i include the panel above bc there's an interesting through line of dialogues between the endless about their purpose

because like. i've said it before, i'll say it again, the endless are, in general, not okay. the kind of responsibilities they have, the things they're made of and were created for, i don't think you can put what still is a fairly human mind in the middle of that and not have it break in some way

so the entire endless family dynamic is just seven people doing their best to cope with their overwhelming existence in the only ways they can, which rarely work for any of the others, and they're all helping and hurting each other at once every time they talk about it but all of them, even desire, care so much about each other, and it's this huge mess that i find really interesting

death's coping mechanism is to be more human, and to rely on humanity. to remind herself she's not alone and there's always something new to discover. she finds her purpose in being the one who can help, she shares the responsibility, and she lets herself take the occasional day off

so when dream's struggling she tries to get him to see things her way, to engage more with humanity on their terms, to see the world beyond just what he knows of it, and to try and live, not just exist

which has minimal effect because dream's coping mechanism is to detach himself from the concept of life entirely. he tried, when he was young, to both have a life and be dream if the endless, and things kept blowing up in his face. whether or not he actually had to choose is up for debate, but as far as dream's concerned, a choice had to be made there, and he chose his duty over what he wanted, because that's what he was created to do. and he doesn't think about the things he could have had if he wasn't who he was, because that'll just cause pain, this is his purpose and what he was made for and he will serve it with everything he has

(though his never ending series of romantic disasters are the last vestige of that war inside him, the part of him that wants a life reaching out and the rest of him pulling away, and no one wins)

so then we get destruction. and dream can see destruction's struggling with the idea that endless don't change, they're the only things in the universe that don't. and that's grating on him in a huge way. for dream, this is an easy thing to accept, because if he doesn't change he doesn't have to worry about things going wrong or failing in his duty, he always is and always will be, for as long as he is needed. and dream reminds destruction that he's felt like this before, it will pass. everything will return to as it was. but destruction needs that change, needs to believe the endless can change, so dream's advice can't help

and then the end of brief lives where destruction gets to be the one giving advice back, because now 300 years later it's dream struggling again, and destruction thinks he has the answer (though again, it doesn't help, because destruction chose himself over his duty. and dream can't do that)

(there's also the end of doll's house, which i wouldn't call dream trying to help, exactly, but is still relevant here - desire's coping mechanism is to lie to themselves, push everything that bothers them to the back of their mind where they never have to think about it. they've constructed a neat little world in their head where they're always in control of everything and nothing bad will ever happen, and deep down they know that's a lie, but every time they remember it they immediately do their best to forget. which dream just crashes through by telling desire the endless exist to serve humanity, not the other way round, and that doesn't compute with the fake "i am in charge of everything and everyone bows to me" world in desire's head. and they have a moment of almost coming to terms with this, before they just snap back to "i really got under his skin this time", and it's already forgotten)

(destiny is another interesting older sibling, because he also gives a lot of advice in this vein, but unlike the others he always knows it won't be followed)

which is a really long winded way of saying between brief lives and destruction comforting daniel in the wake (the only times we see them talk), dream's been on the receiving end of the older sibling-ing two out of three times

but to get back to your question, there's one more in terms of dream having more maturity than destruction

which is when they're talking about orpheus

because it was destruction who found him after eurydice's funeral, who encouraged him to make the underworld journey, after dream had specifically told orpheus not to

and dream is still less than happy at destruction going behind his back on that, because dream was right, orpheus making that journey led to nothing but tragedy

destruction tries to defend himself with "it was what he wanted" and dream snaps back with "he was a child, he didn't know what he wanted."

(and god that quote kills me, like. you knew when your son was born his life would be far shorter than yours, but this is nothing, he got so little time to live and despite your best efforts you couldn't stop him walking to his death. he was a child.)

and i think that's the other moment you can tell dream is older. dream's not seeking vengeance on this one, which he would have done were it anyone else. but destruction caused this tragedy because he didn't know better, he never did do well with seeing the long term consequences, it's not in his nature. he's your little brother and he was trying to help. but what do you do with that?

[enabianca]

Sun sisters

[bisonwares]

We spent the whole day at the beach yesterday, it was so lovely.

Acrylic Gouache and paint markers

[pudgeybear]

yo guys i was just casually looking through the archives of the cs website’s resources just to archive them myself, and i made an interesting discovery. one of the activities kinda confirms where Carmen and crew were having their vacation at: Tahiti, French Polynesia!

[acorviart]

truth seeker

[worldsandemanations]

Bowl with Fish design , Iran, probably Kashan, late 13th–mid-14th century, stonepaste; black decoration under a transparent turquoise glaze

[stealingpotatoes]

felt a very strong need to draw mel in sophia sinot-style makeup

(links // tip jar!)

[clara-scintilla]

.

|commission design, not for use|

[thegorgonist]

Spring Peepers

It is still winter where I live but we've had some sunny days and I'm thinking about spring. I miss hearing frogs at night like I could from my childhood bedroom, so I had to draw some little guys whose voices you just know are ringing through the misty forest!

You can grab a print here!

[ahli-stuff]

The Corinthian: more than an object but less than a human and a wretched reflection of his creator

My obsession with the Corinthian is so funny because at first it's like ok. Cool. He's this gay serial killer nightmare with creator issues who's turns out to be a charming antagonist while he's pitted against dream and going about his nefarious plans on screen. What's not to love?

But then there's the next layer of oh...he has preferences and quirks and interests, but he's not a person enough to be a human he's a tool.. that's why he gets unmade in the middle of the street by his lord!! That he had a couple millennia of history with!! Because it's easy.. Dream has the blueprints, therefore remaking the Corinthian and editing out these faulty design aspects is pragmatic. It's efficient. It's less effort and way less emotionally taxing that trying to wrangle in your rogue creation and trying coax them back into doing their job. A human makes a mistake, you correct and reprimand them and offer a better course of action. But if your wrench rusts, you throw it away and buy a new one. It doesn't matter if it's your prized or even your favorite wrench, if it's been rusted to the point of uselessness, you toss it.

And the Corinthian, the agonized wrench, can probably only think: "Did I really mean so little to you?"

I think it totally fucks with his mind. The fact that Dream refers to the Corinthian as his masterpiece and yet he is still lesser in every form of his being—his agency is lesser in every form.

But you can't really blame Dream, can you?

Dream treats the corinthans agency like he treats his own—unnegotiable. For him, it has always been perform your function or die.

Dream: We are, each of us, born with responsibilities. Even I am not free to choose to be other than what I am.

And the Corinthian, in his own eye teeths, has performed his prescribed duty perfectly without hesitation or fail for thousands of years as well and worn as a well used knife—but he knows he can do more, so he does. Because if his function is to chase and slaughter in the dreaming, what's to say can't do it in the waking too?

Besides, in the waking, he's realer. More combobulated. More valued. If you're a mirror for long enough you start to crave a look of your own.

And oh, even with the thrill of newfound freedom, he loves his lord. He's eager for to give to him—to share with him—everything that's ever been dreamed of. In the Corinthians long, long, life he has only ever had his purpose and his lord and for a while that was enough, but his expectations evolve, he changes.

And that's really what dooms him.

Over the course of The Sandman you can see that looking deeper into Dream's ideology "perform your function or die" reveals one of the true themes of the sandman which is "change yourself or die." The Corinthian, whether intentionally or unintentionally serves as a mirror to dreams own character arc and the way dream treats himself.

Like how people put facets of themselves in their original characters, I think that in the corinthian Dream put a version of his own insatiable hunger; to break every rule, to run freely, to enjoy hedonistically. In creating the Corinthian as a mirror Dream unknowingly reflected a distorted face of one of his own buried desires—and i think he couldn’t accept that.

The Corinthian even calls dream out for it at the serial convention (even though he's advocating for murder) he's also jabbing at Dream's unwillingness to show emotional vulnerability and the cage he's built around himself.

Corinthian: Or you might actually feel something.

The dream the Corinthian knows he always cared exceptionally little for humans save for a select few, so what remains is this. Dream might've cared for the Corinthian, but he would unmake him, his prized creation, not for any moral justice, not for a personal slight, but for his rules and nothing else.

For the corinthian, who has spent years upon years upon years with his lord, fighting in his wars, chasing after his approval, pouring every ounce of love and loyalty to him—it stings.

And then there's this scene.

Dream: You're right. This was my fault, not yours. I had so much hope for you. But I created you poorly then.

This is the Corinthian, knowing he is about to die, spilling his frustration and spite to his creator for maybe the first and last time and trying, desperately, to make dream understand that none of this is fair (it's never been, for either of them. It's been the function and nothing else for an eternity but they could be happy.)

This is Dream purposely misinterpreting the Corinthian in the way that is guaranteed to hurt the him the most. Dream, with a writer's indifference, reduces the Corinthian's complicated desperate desire for freedom, rebellion, and his creator's love to his typo. Like a character’s grievance towards their writer, like a man’s outrage towards their god, Dream decides not to deign the corinthian with even the right to call his treason his own. He will not even let him have that bit of agency. No, Dream made the Corinthian wrong.

And then Boyd Holbrook does a phenomenal piece of acting here—he knows how to play evil and charming so well but the Corinthian’s vulnerability is so starkly on display it feels like a knife.

And when you imagine he is about to burst into bloody tears and anguished final words, this is how it ends: they leave each other cruel and jagged, because the corinthian will not end pathetic and he will have the last word.

The Corinthian: I am only sorry I won’t be here to see Rose Walker do the same to you.

The first Corinthian never gets a happy ending.

I don’t think there’s any universe where he doesn’t bite more than he’s allowed to and there is no world where he can really be forgiven. As there is no universe where Morpheus Dream does not stubbornly tie himself to his function and hurt himself and those around him with his pride.

In objectification and the inability to change, they exist as wretched mirrors of each other: The first Corinthian, sick of his function and executed for abandoning it, and Dream, unendurably tired, taking his sister's hand in his when he can no longer bear to perform his duty.

[nixariel]

#That moment in the show where The Corinthian realizes he is about to be unmade lives in my head on repeat#he really didn't seem to understand he had made such a terrible transgression by killing in the waking world#he even wanted to share the experience with Dream#and I do think realizing he could so easily be discarded by the creator he loved so much really fucked him up#the rest of his actions and motivations can be tied back to the moment#'he doesn't give a fuck about us' he says to Lucienne#just his rules and his realm#there is so much bitterness there so much pain#but what he doesn't realize is that Dream acts in the same harsh way to himself#serve the function or die#like OP said#when it should have been change or die#anyway The Corinthian as Dream's mirror and one that Dream doesn't want to look at too closely will always drive me insane via aisalynn

#I've seen some takes on how Dream claiming Corinthian's wrongs as his own mistakes and yeah I think it's the most hurtful thing#And you just SEE him just crack (Holbrook did so good) but I also think Dream believes this is the kind thing to do via just-a-little-creature

[lucy-clik]

I watched the Cybersix series

[p1r4t3st4rx]

Since i mentioned that i wanted to see Cookie in her coat n fedora, i edited this shot of her speaking to Carm.

But since it was tempting me to turn her into 94 Carm i also did this

Plus:here's the scene from which i took the coat n fedora

Guess which Carmen is my favorite, lvl inpossible

[horsefigureoftheday]

Horse figure of the day: Gene & Rebecca Tobey "Dust"

[fishfingersandscarves]

soap bubbles