History YMMV / CarmenSandiego

* MagnificentBastard: [[MissionControl Player]], Carmen's best friend and a white-hat hacker, is a TeenGenius who has provided invaluable technical assists Carmen in her capers against V.I.L.E. Described as the Red Team's secret weapon, he is a talented hacker who uses his skills to help Carmen, from deciphering the locations where V.I.L.E. will commit his robberies, to breaking security systems of countries around the world, Player has demonstrated he has a high proficiency in encryption breaking, hacking and data collection. Operating out of his "dark little cave", he is the only member of Team Red who never has to physically confront V.I.L.E. making his identity and affiliation with Carmen unknown to the criminal organization.

** Both of them also get to do a freestyle version of Rockapella's iconic theme to ''Series/WhereInTheWorldIsCarmenSandiego'' in the "To Steal or Not to Steal" special. [[spoiler:The unlockable bonus scene takes it up to eleven by turning it into a CrowdSong, with every single recurring character, both villain and hero, joining in]].

%%* EvilIsSexy: Don't deny it, the first thing Carmen stole was your heart.

%%* EvilIsSexy: [[spoiler:Carmen in the series finale as a brainwashed agent of V.I.L.E.]]

** Despite having a comparatively smaller role to other characters, Paper Star received a lot of love for her unique design and AxCrazy personality. Many fans were not happy that her sole appearance in the final season was just a cameo with no lines.

** ThoseTwoGuys El Topo and Le Chevre are rather close to each other; they never go on missions without each other, their areas of expertise complement each other (the former prefers going underground, the latter prefers going up high), they give each other pet names (including "mon ami", which typically only shows up in fiction in a romantic sense), and if one is in danger, the other will most likely prioritize rescuing him over whatever mission they have at the time. Dr. Bellum even refers to El Topo as Le Chèvre's "dear boy". [[spoiler:In the series finale, the two go legit after the collapse of V.I.L.E., opening a food truck together.]]

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Player can still be considered one in the final episodes. [[spoiler: Despite his vital role in the series and the end of "The Himalayan Rescue Caper" emphasizing his importance as Carmen's oldest friend, he was put aside after Carmen is kidnapped and brainwashed. He appeared for only a few minutes at the beginning of the final episode and didn't contribute to the final conflict, only reappearing near the final minutes of the episode when Carmen went to meet her mother.]]

* MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales: Downplayed. While not an ethnic stereotype, Carmen is clearly the villain of the series. However, [[http://www.themarysue.com/carmen-sandiego-latina-role-model/ she is very popular among Hispanics]], especially young girls, due to being clever, successful, and ''never losing'' (given that [[ChallengeSeeker what she really wants]] is not to keep, just to steal--and she'll ''always'' be back at it again by the next episode).

* MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales: Downplayed. While not an ethnic stereotype, Carmen is clearly the villain of the series. However, [[http://www.themarysue.com/carmen-sandiego-latina-role-model/ she is very popular among Hispanics]], especially young girls, due to being clever, successful, and ''never losing''. Note that every time she's been caught, she's always back at it by the next episode.

* ValuesResonance: When ''Carmen Sandiego'' first appeared, many Hispanic characters were negatively stereotyped and the Hispanic females were also only seen as [[MsFanservice eye candy]]. So, Carmen Sandeigo was a big deal in number of ways -- First, she was intelligent, attractive but not in a fanservice way, won every encounter she had, and was successful at what she did; second, while she was the antagonist but she was a complex AntiVillain with her own set of morals that made her likable.

* MagnificentBastard: Player, Carmen's best friend and a white-hat hacker, is a TeenGenius who has provided invaluable technical assists Carmen in her capers against V.I.L.E. Described as the Red Team's secret weapon, he is a talented hacker who uses his skills to help Carmen, from deciphering the locations where V.I.L.E. will commit his robberies, to breaking security systems of countries around the world, Player has demonstrated he has a high proficiency in encryption breaking, hacking and data collection. Operating out of his "dark little cave", he is the only member of Team Red who never has to physically confront V.I.L.E. making his identity and affiliation with Carmen unknown to the criminal organization.

** Likewise with the Lupin III fandom.

** Zack and Ivy's karaoke duet of "More Than A Feeling" by (who else?) Music/{{Boston}} in "The Daisho Caper."

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: In "To Steal or Not To Steal", Carmen has an ImagineSpot doing a sexy dance while reluctantly waltzing with a man.

* CantUnhearIt: Fans who have watched WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender won't be able to unhear Spinkick's voice actor, Creator/DanteBasco, whose most famous role is Zuko.
** To a lesser extent, Fans who have watched WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender: won't be able to unhear Neal the Eel's voice actor, Creator/RhysDarby, who voices Coran.

* FoeYayShipping: Carmen and Tigress, particularly in "To Steal or Not To Steal" where Carmen refers to Tigress as her "best frenemy", Tigress almost seems to be hitting on Carmen in their banter, and if Carmen makes the correct choice to help Tigress out of a pit she falls into then [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe a grateful Tigress]] [[PetTheDog actually goes agaisnt V.I.L.E and helps Carmen rescue Zack and Ivy later on.]]

* GeniusBonus: A brainwashed Carmen meets Zack on a Ferris wheel and refers to the people on the ground as "dots," referencing a scene in ''Film/TheThirdMan'' where the hero is forced to realize how evil his old friend is.

** Shadow-san deterring Carmen from a life in crime makes it hard to look at in "The Daisho Caper" when it's revealed that this way of thinking caused him to lose his connections with his older brother; he doesn't want Carmen to repeat the same mistakes he did.
** In the ''Who is Carmen Sandiego?'' novelization, when young Carmen questions Shadow-san's sword, he states that it's a museum piece. As revealed in "The Daisho Caper" it was a museum piece that Shadow-san stole, from the same museum his older brother worked in and ruined his relationship with him for good.
** In ''To Steal or Not To Steal'', the main plot is VILE attempting to brainwash Carmen into becoming an agent for them, which happens if you choose the wrong options and get a game over. Come season 4 of the show, and this actually happens in canon.

** Shadow-san is the only V.I.L.E. teacher that still refers to as Carmen by her childhood moniker, "Black Sheep," even when [[spoiler:saving her life]] in the first season finale. [[spoiler:It's because he wanted her to escape the V.I.L.E. lifestyle before she was forced to commit murder or TrappedInVillainy. Shadow-san is essentially saying that no matter how much Carmen grows, she is still his child]].

* PanderingToTheBase: Fans of the classic theme song to ''Series/WhereInTheWorldIsCarmenSandiego'' who were disappointed by its absence from this show were more than assuaged by its appearance in "To Steal or Not to Steal."

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: In the first season finale, when Coach Brunt tries to kill Carmen via a bear hug, was she really trying to kill her for her betrayal or because she thought that giving her a quick death would be far better than whatever V.I.L.E. planned to do with her?

** [[https://vamers.com/2013/09/18/carmen-sandiego-and-wheres-wally-are-a-perfectly-unfindable-match/ Carmen and]] [[Literature/WheresWally Waldo]] are downright the page image!

* AuthorsSavingThrow: A small one for fans who missed the franchise's initial premise. Towards the end of the final season [[spoiler:Carmen is [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]] into becoming a loyal V.I.L.E. operative, forcing A.C.M.E. and her allies to embark on a more traditional hunt for a now-villainous Carmen Sandiego whose morality is more similar - [[AdaptationalVillainy albeit slightly darker]] - to her original characterization within the franchise.]]

* ItsShortSoItSucks: The most reoccurring criticism regarding season 3 is its short length, clocking in at half the usual amount of episodes (5 episodes instead of 10). The reason for this shortened length is unknown, though theories have ranged from some ExecutiveMeddling on Netflix's part (as they've split seasons of shows in half before) to the show becoming yet another entertainment industry victim to the UsefulNotes/CoronavirusPandemic.

* WhatAnIdiot:
** At the end of season 2, [[spoiler:Carmen gifts the Chief with a V.I.L.E. hard drive, but doesn't explicitly take her up on her offer to join A.C.M.E.]]
*** '''You'd Expect:''' [[spoiler:For the Chief to check what's on the hard drive before uploading it.]]
*** '''Instead:''' [[spoiler:She immediately uploads it to her organization's computers.]]
*** '''The Result:''' [[spoiler:The hard drive contains a virus, which Player uses to hack into A.C.M.E. databases. The Chief is lucky that Team Carmen was just looking to confirm Shadow-san's story instead of anything worse.]]
*** '''For Bonus Stupidity Points:''' [[spoiler:The password the Chief uses for her ultra top-secret organization's computers is ''the name of her cat'', and not anything more secure.]] Which she casually shared with an asset of (from her perspective) questionable trustworthiness.
** In "The Day of the Dead Caper", Ms. Contreras has a clients' list that she uses for all the stolen art Sonia nabs for her. She's also just managed to knock Carmen out cold with a trap.
*** '''You'd Expect:''' She takes the book on her person and keeps it in her car after she dropped Carmen off to the plane back to V.I.L.E
*** '''Instead:''' She slips it into a vase so that she can pick it up after dropping Carmen off.
*** '''The Result:''' While she's away, Zack and Ivy infiltrate her apartment, take the book and when she arrives she finds out too late that it's gone.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The fourth season introduces a number of interesting storylines to explore and then [[AbortedArc literally drops them]] in favor of wrapping up the series in eight episodes. Said storylines include Bellum's army of Robot-Robbers, the history of V.I.L.E. reaching back to ''medieval times'', and most especially Carmen's mother, who gets neither an appearance nor a speaking role. The only saving grace is the SequelHook in the final episode that indicates V.I.L.E. is gone but their ''numerous members'' are ''not'', meaning they ''could'' explore them if Netflix ever a approves a sequel series.

** Carmen and [[VideoGame/TombRaider Lara Croft]] also works nicely if you're into DatingCatwoman.

** [[http://www.doobybrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/waldo-carmen.jpg Carmen]] [[http://68.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mczydaj2Im1rk68qvo1_1280.jpg and]] [[Literature/WheresWally Waldo]].