#cs5year

[playerappreciationweek]

CS2019 Series Conclusion Anniversary!

Celebrate five years since the series conclusion with us on Jan. 15th, 2026! 

Ways you can get involved:

Post an old or new creation! (artwork, fic, cosplay, music, analyses, collages, edits, etc.)

Write a thank you note/post for the show, cast, and/or crew 

Discuss the impact CS2019 has/had on you

Share a favorite quote or scene from the show 

Make a tribute to your favorite character 

Reblog, like, kudos and comment on other people’s work that you love on tumblr, AO3 and other sites 

Use the short CS questionnaire template posted below and share your experience 

Celebrate five years since the show’s end however else you like on or around Jan. 15, 2026 

Our goal is to spread some love throughout the CS community and honor a fantastic show. We hope you join us however you can!

Questionnaire (feel free to pick & choose): 

When did you first watch CS2019?

When did you get involved in the CS fandom?

What’s your favorite aspect of the show? 

Favorite character?

Favorite episode or scene? 

Which side of the fight would you join: ACME, VILE or Team Red?

How do you mostly engage with the fandom? (art, gifs, fic, chatting in discord, reading posts, memes, etc.)

Which CS character are you most like and why?

If you were a VILE operative, what would your code name be?

If you had the opportunity to create a bonus episode for the show, where would you set the caper?

Tag posts with #cs5year, #CS2019anniversary on or around January 15th, 2026!

[carsandenjoyer]

Storyboard for the finale fight between Shadowsan and Carmen!

source, put into video format by me

Analysis / Breakdown of differences under the cut :D (contains gifs/slight flashing imagery, be warned!)

Quick disclaimer: the timing of this storyboard (how long certain shots are held) doesn't mean anything since it was put into video format by me! I'm simply guessing how long each shot was supposed to be held for ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Carmen's flashbacks of Julia, Chase and Gray aren't in the storyboard!

These shots are different but both show Carmen spotting Shadowsan! The version in the storyboard relies on Shadowsan/the moon's reflection in the water, whereas the final version opts for something simpler with no camera movement.

the shot of Carmen looking surprised and the closeup of Shadowsan's face aren't in the final.

Things play out the same till we get to the fight! The entire fight scene is much longer in the storyboard! Shots are in a different order/there are many small changes... I don't have space to talk about every single one, so I'm just covering the ones that stood out to me!

In the storyboard Shadowsan straight up picks Carmen up and THROWS HER- how did he do that. In the final he simply redirects her punch!

This line didn't make it in!

In the storyboard you can see Carmen's heels leave a dent in the pillar! YIKES! In the final version her kick actually lands on Shadowsan and the shot then transitions into the end of their fight, the storyboard however goes on a bit longer;

This shot from above isn't in the final!

This segment of the fight where Shadowsan hides behind the pillar and Carmen either pretends to or temporarily loses track of him (I can't tell which- I think it's just pretend?) isn't in the final either!

Both the board and the final version transition into Shadowsan's defeat after Carmen kicks him, Shadowsan being punched repeatedly until he stumbles back and kneels is the same!

When this line is delivered, a different shot is used in the storyboard, with Carmen looming over Shadowsan and casting a shadow (heh) over him! The final version remains on that shot of Carmen and Shadowsan from the side.

Same as the last point, different shots are used for this line! In the storyboard version Shadowsan's face isn't visible and that shadow is still being cast over him. You can also see he seems to be gripping his chest, which we later learn is him holding the Matryoshka doll!

The "Only losers..." line is more staggered in the storyboard and when Carmen pulls out the crackle rod it focuses solely on her, rather than the final version which shows us Shadowsan's reaction.

This shot of Carmen holding the Crackle rod isn't in the final! That red box that travels from her face to the Crackle rod is for the camera btw! Meaning only what was inside the red box would have been in frame as it panned down!

The reveal of the Matryoshka doll is different, in the storyboard the camera tracks down the barrel of the Crackle rod, focuses on Shadowsan's face and then he reveals it!

I personally prefer the storyboard version here! It makes Shadowsan seem so much cooler and that he is confident this will work, whereas the final version feels less confident- like this was his last resort and he's not too sure it'll work- I suppose it's up to personal preference which one you believe fits the scene better!

The zoom into Carmen's eyes is MUCH more dramatic in the storyboard, in the final version it's just a simple zoom, but here her eye is super detailed and there is a dramatic flash!

The best frame in this entire show!! Cannot believe this was removed!!! The emotion and suspense and artistry on display.... Curse you Netflix..........

Carmen drops the Crackle rod similarly, though we see Shadowsan's reaction to it in the storyboard.

This line is only in the final, not the storyboard!

Carmen doesn't gasp as dramatically in the final, and the shot through the broken window isn't in the final either!

This line didn't make it into the final, in the final Shadowsan simply leaves their conversation at "There is much to explain."

A key thing to note is that he smiles at Carmen here! Which he doesn't do in the final version.

And this is the last change, in the final version of this scene Carmen remains distraught, but in the storyboard Carmen smiles (just slightly) at Shadowsan, :) !!

That's pretty much all the changes! As always sources are at the start of the post and I don't own anything I post on this blog! :]

[viacircusm4ster]

I made an Angsty edit…I hope yall like it

This is also for the 5th anniversary of the show finale because yes

[jazzy-aria]

A Love Letter to “Carmen Sandiego” (2019)

Quick TW for brief mentions of mental health struggles, nothing serious or explicit though.

I was in middle school when “Carmen Sandiego” first premiered on Netflix, and the show was always kind of on my radar, but I didn’t think to watch it until November of last year. Without getting too much into it, 2022-2025 have been the most difficult years of my life, and by the time I graduated high school in 2025, I was at my mental and emotional limit. Seriously, I had to start therapy because I was literally tearing my hair out from stress. I remember after my graduation ceremony, I went home and slept for 11 hours, woke up, and was still totally exhausted. I had no idea how burnt out I was until that moment. 

Not only that, but I only had a week to decide if I was going to accept an offer from my dream university to study my dream course of film in 2026, or to take a break and see how I felt in 2027. Trust me, with the state I was in, that was an actual choice I had to make, and I felt like no matter which road I took, I would deeply regret my decision. The night after I graduated, I went out to dinner with some friends, and I just remember feeling so lost and so confused the whole time. I kept wondering what I even wanted anymore. I just felt trapped.

I went home and slept some more - another 11 hours - and still woke up totally drained. I decided that I needed a distraction, something to take my mind off of stressing about university for a while, so that when I was ready, I could make my decision with a clear head. So, I decided to give “Carmen Sandiego” a try. Going in, I had literally no idea what to expect, I’d only ever heard of it and didn’t even know what in the world it was supposed to be about. 

By the end of “Becoming Carmen Sandiego,” I was intrigued. 

By the end of “The Fishy Doubloon Caper,” I was invested. 

And my fascination with the show just took off from there.

I seriously wasn’t expecting to get as emotionally invested as I did, but let me tell you, that finale wrecked me. My favourite moment of “The Dark Red Caper” is right at the end, when Shadowsan sits down with Carmen and tells her that “anyone possessing [her] heart, wisdom, and courage, can become Carmen Sandiego.” It’s so often in our society that we make it out like young girls are catty, selfish, vindictive, or even just vapid and silly, so seeing this incredible show full of amazing, intelligent, and capable female characters end with the message that anyone can be like them if they choose to be, got me emotional. It felt like an equivalent of “anyone can wear the mask.” 

But what really got me is how right at the start of that monologue, he tells her that she has “more than earned the opportunity to live the life that [she] deserves.” I vividly remember hearing that and just bursting into tears. For three years, I’d done everything I could to make other people happy, even though I was miserable, and this moment…

It felt like being given permission to take a second to really think about what I wanted, and what was going to make me happy.

Because this is my life, and I have to choose my own path.

I don’t know how to explain it, but there was just something about “Carmen Sandiego” that always felt so comforting to me. But more than that, this show got me genuinely excited about life again. Just watching it, I felt like a little kid, with these great, big stars in my eyes. For the first time in such a long time, I really felt like there were so many possibilities in this world, and like that was a good thing. Just for a second, anxiety was replaced by wonderment. Like yes, the world is scary, and lots of horrible, awful things happen, but there’s still joy and happiness to be found, there are still people who’ll stand by and for us, even if we can’t understand why. And we can also be one of those people for ourselves, too.

I also realised that I had been given a wonderful opportunity to do something I’d dreamed about doing ever since I was a little kid, and I wanted to take it more than I’d ever wanted anything. 

So, guess who’s starting her film studies this year? 

Thank you, “Carmen Sandiego,” and everyone who contributed to this beautiful show that will always hold a very special place in my heart.

Lots of love,

xoxo

Jasmine-Ariana 🧡🩷

[constantconfusion14]

CS 2019: Trustfall

A two-chapter fic of the prompt: "Trust me." I took this opportunity to do a little comparison of how my writing has changed since I initially joined the fandom

Chapter 1 is a WIP I wrote in 2021 and never posted

Chapter 2 is a re-write I've been doing over the past few weeks of the exact same prompt.

[frozenwolftemplar]

Five (More) Things

Rating: G

Word Count: 5,665

Warnings: None

Summary:

Some time ago, Carmen asked Shadowsan to tell her five things about her father.

Now it's Carlotta's turn.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/77539981

It's up! Here to celebrate 5 years of the finale-anniversary for the Netflix Carmen Sandiego! Happy reading y'all!

Tag train! 🚂 @mmaricarmen23 @explosiontheory @fluffytheocelot @1morefrenchfry @1nconcievable @backofthepencil11 (am I forgetting anyone...?)

[sakarrie-creates]

Happy 5 year anniversary Carmen Sandiego fandom!! I was trying to think through what I wanted to do for the anniversary event and this art from back in my early fandom days came to mind. This piece was one of my earliest experimentations with actual animating and even though it doesn't really reflect my art style now and isn't the best, it's always had a soft spot in my heart. It brings me back to 2021, which was a really wild and challenging year but also a year that brought a ton of joy and laughter into my life through creativity and meeting my best friends @rueitae and @constantconfusion14. CS is so interlaced with our early friendship days that it's hard to separate out my love for the show and my love for what it brought me. The feelings this gif brings up for me are the exact same ones I feel whenever I think of that early 2021 craze, so it felt like the right one to share for the anniversary. Plus, I feel like Player and Carmen deserve some uninterrupted happiness after all I've put them through in my other works xD

And here's my CS fandom questionnaire from the event post! (Under the cut cause I'm a rambler and everything gets loNG haha.)

When did you first watch CS2019? When did you get involved in the CS fandom? I first watched CS when it first came out in 2019, but I wasn't super captivated by it at first. Player was my favorite character from the beginning, but the rest didn't really grab my attention. (I was firmly in the VLD fandom at that point lol). Flash forward a few years when I was DMing Rue, about some VLD fic idea. She mentioned CS and I didn't really remember much, but I lowkey wanted to be friends with her so bad that I decided to catch up… only to realize the final season was dropping like THAT NIGHT. So. I binged basically the whole thing and spam liveblogged my reactions in Rue's DMs haha. I remember being SO CONVINCED that Player was gonna get kidnapped that season and absolutely losing my mind that VILE never even found out about Player's existence. Rue is a powerhouse of brainstorming, so together we started chatting about all the ways it could have happened, which then prompted fics and art. Soon, Rue introduced me to Constant, and we went absolutely insane bouncing off each other's brainrot. Like 100+ messages of brainstorming every day for weeks. Those first few weeks are like a blur of creative mayhem that I still struggle to compute. I can't tell you where it came from, but man the brainworms were WORMING.

What’s your favorite aspect of the show?  I love the dynamic of Team Red! They're so much fun when they're all together, especially the siblings and Player. While Carmen and Player are easily my favorite duo, I feel like Player could have had SO many more great moments with the siblings if they show had more screentime. I also really love the premise of the faculty and how intense things get quick when you drop the y-7 nature of the show. The truth is, those villains would be absolutely TERRIFYING if they were let loose without age restraints. A lot of the operatives as well!

Favorite character? Lol, probably anybody who sees this post already knows that it's Player, who doubles as my h/c character. I remember trying to force myself to change to Ivy or Zack and failing epicly. xD

Favorite episode or scene?  Favorite scene would have to be the diner scene when we first see Player and Carmen together in person. That scene holds a special place in my heart for sure. Favorite episode probably has to be Stockholm for all the h/c and Player needing to take charge with the gut-wrenching decision of who to send Zack after. Also Ivy is that whole episode is SO peak. Love her.

Which side of the fight would you join: ACME, VILE or Team Red?Lol, I don't think I'm cut out for any of them haha. If I were to pick, I think ACME feels most-likely, but I'd probably be like an unnamed background intern character or something who has no idea what's going on haha. (Reminds me of that one interpol dude who occassionally interacted with Chase and I was CONVINCED would be revealed as a VILE operative undercover lol. Him and Player's teacher.)

How do you mostly engage with the fandom? (art, gifs, fic, chatting in discord, reading posts, memes, etc.) Originally? Basically any way I could lol. I was in brainrot to the extreme and was creating, consuming, and interacting with the fandom all over the place. I unfortunately have had a lot less creative energy in recent years so I'm usually more of a lurker now, but I'll chat in discord and still think about CS pretty often. While I'm not always able to participate, I'm also one of the mods for the Player Week fan event, so that helps keep me involved even when real life is keeping me from jumping in more fully.

Which CS character are you most like and why? This is... a really interesting question actually haha. I think this might have actually been one of the questions I proposed, but clearly I forgot because I feel caught completely off guard lol! I think in many ways I'm a lot like Julia, which is funny because I'm pretty neutral about her character. That said, I'm slow to jump into things, but also speak up when I feel like something matters. We're also both very methodical and need a little coaxing to bend rules/stray from what we know.

If you were a VILE operative, what would your code name be?Mmm now this one I DO remember cause I didn't have a clue then and I don't have a clue now haha. I guess it would depend on what my abilities/specialties would be. Maybe something with like psychological manipulation? I feel like evil me could be good at messing with people's emotions. Though a codename reflecting that would be actively unhelpful since it would basically serve as a billboard saying "WARNING: Will try to manipulate your thoughts and feelings!" Or I could use that to my advantage and have a name that could lead to being underestimated. Maybe Wallflower? Kinda matches my lurker-ness and alludes to someone listening and gathering intel, but also has a very docile and shy connotation that likely would match the act I'd most often present... It doesn't quite feel right, but I think we'll go with that one. So Wallflower.

If you had the opportunity to create a bonus episode for the show, where would you set the caper? I want the hydro electric caper so bad!!! But if we're saying just any historical location... back when I was looking for a caper location for a fic, I stumbled across the Shanghai Tunnels in Portland, Oregon and they've intrigued me ever since. (They actually are what inspired the animatic I made at the end of Whumptober in 2021). Basically, they're a bunch of tunnels under Portland that lead to ports on the Columbia river. They apparently had trapdoors in local pubs they'd use to smuggle drunk people onto boats to be used as slave labor on ships. I don't quite know what VILE would be looking to steal relating to them, but using them totally feels up their alley, and having the team have to deal with creepy underground tunnels that are said to be haunted, deeply unstable, and mostly unmapped would be a lot of fun, especially if VILE was trying to track Carmen down in them or something. Realistically, Player would probably not be able to get a comm signal down there, but I'd still want him involved. In an ideal world, I'd throw him there in person, but to be true to an episode, it's more likely he'd just have teamed up with Ivy to create a gadget that amplified the signals or something. In closing, a huge thank you to Rue, Constant, the people in the Player Week server, the show creators and actors, and... well most people I've interacted with through this show actually. The people are what makes a fandom what it is, and as much as I love this show, there's no question that I love the fandom it's created even more. Y'all are rockstars <3

[jazzy-aria]

Final Update to "Living Under Thunderstorms"

Chapter 4: "I Hit Rock Bottom Thanks to Gravity" (which I finished just in time for the 5-year anniversary of Carmen Sandiego Season 4 being released to Netflix)

Set towards the end of "The Dark Red Caper" (after Carmen's return but before Shadowsan gives her the A.C.M.E. file)

After getting her memories back, Carmen is so overwhelmed with guilt and horror at what she did while working for V.I.L.E. that she hasn't been sleeping. After a week of her seeming almost completely numb, late one night, on the rooftop of their headquarters, Shadowsan tries to help her find a way forward, even when she can't understand why he refuses to hate her.

Will Jazzy ever stop writing Dadowsan...?

As we say in my country, "yeah nah." [translation: "no"]

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