Here’s your intermittent reminder that Penelope the mouse
is introduced as explicitly a better RC specialist than Bentley
a top-tier engineer and mechanic
so good at dogfighting than when she became a combat pilot “at a young age” she was instantly elevated to celebrity status
very convincing at pretending to be a different age and gender???
apparently wasn’t lying about being a trained boxer
can hack pretty good
easily matches and contends with Bentley’s intellect and could, therefore, plan heists pretty good
just fuckin picked up a sword and used it to murder a guy who had dedicated his life to being an old-timey pirate captain, and, by extension, swordfighting.
Penelope could kick the ass of the collective Cooper Gang at any point and the only reason she doesn’t is to be polite
Seriously, fans? Why does Sly get to have all the fun?
I know having Penelope go that hard is a bold move, but come on. If she started this whole mess, and feels a need to correct her mistakes, shouldn't she end it herself?
We can even have her feel like she has to do it alone, or else her attempt to atone for what she did won't count.
But because I'm not a monster, let's also have the rest of the playable cast join her so they can kick some skunk tail!
And for good measure, Penelope also gets to finish Le Paradox off. Complete with a speech on what she learned about friendship.
Of course, she will have to be told her attempt did count. And that she nailed it. And no, Sly will not be lost in time.
I decided to draw the smartest girl in the universe
yea
Today’s mouse is Penelope from Sly Cooper!
I went ahead and made a tier list. This one's sorted by how much I can't wait to write each character's lines in my rewrite of Thieves In Time.
I'm especially dreading The Grizz, though I can't wait to write up his boss fight.
Heck, I could say the same thing about all five bosses. Still don't know what to do with Miss Decibel...
Sir Raleigh (the new Black Knight), Robo-Penelope, and Le Paradox? They're going to be the most fun...
I haven't pinned down Le Paradox's exact wording yet, but he's going to have quite the conversation with a certain mouse during his boss fight...
As for the ancestors... Not looking forward to Rioichi, Bob, or Salim. Tennessee and Sir Galleth? Slightly more so.
No, I am not writing any lines for Dimitri.
Lastly, there's our main protagonists: Sly, Bentley, Murray, Carmelita... and our lead, Penelope.
Of course, I'm easily going to have the most fun with Penelope... for fairly obvious reasons.
Thieves in Time was a pretty good game overall, but I am STILL pissed about what they did to Penelope. ‘She thinks Sly is a bad influence’ like excuse me? Even if that made any kind of sense (it doesn’t), am I the only one who remembers that she had a bit of a crush on Sly when she first joined the Cooper Gang? And suddenly her inventions are awful, even though they recruited her because she was as good if not better than Bentley? I call bullshit, fuck you very much.
I’ve come up with three alternate ways they could have done Penelope’s story that actually make sense and don’t feel out of character:
Option 1 Mind Control: Le Paradox has Miss Decibel hypnotize Penelope to make her give him the designs for the time machine. He decides to keep Penelope on-hand to maintain his blimp, and to serve as a hostage should the Cooper Gang uncover his plans and try to stop him. Upon their arrival in England, Sly and the Gang immediately learn that Penelope is working for Le Paradox and are devastated. During a recon mission, Sly and Bentley discover devices similar to Miss Decibel’s record players, which keep Penelope hypnotized. Bentley immediately begins drawing up plans to destroy the devices and free Penelope. The boss fight against her still happens, but with the plan being to destroy the hypnotic devices keeping Penelope under Decibel’s control. The Cooper Gang succeeds and Penelope is freed, reuniting with Bentley and rejoining the Gang for the rest of the game.
Option 2 Double Agent: Penelope catches wind of someone trying to get their hands on the designs for the time machine, and does a little investigating on her own. This leads her to Le Paradox, who offers her a position working for him. Recognizing the threat Le Paradox’s plan poses to her friends and boyfriend, Penelope agrees, and she sabotages his plans and tech every chance she gets. Throughout the game, she leaves clues for the Cooper Gang to find (such as the sheriff’s badge), trusting them to thwart Le Paradox’s operations. She’s ordered to go to England to work alongside the Black Knight, who is revealed to be Raleigh from the first game (Le Paradox arranged his escape from prison in exchange for a chance at revenge on Cooper and the Gang). In the final fight, Penelope reaffirms her allegiance to Bentley and the Cooper Gang, and she and Bentley work together to dismantle the giant robot, allowing Sly to land the final blow to take down Raleigh. As in Option 1, Penelope and Bentley reunite, and Penelope rejoins the Gang for the rest of the game.
Option 3 Dangerous Threats: Le Paradox threatens to erase Bentley from history unless Penelope gives up the designs for the time machine to save him. Terrified of losing her true love, Penelope reluctantly agrees, and Le Paradox keeps her close by as a hostage and to prevent her from tipping off Bentley and the Gang. She is sent to Medieval England and is kept prisoner in the castle by the Black Knight (who could be Raleigh as in Option 2, or a new character) and is forced to design and build the mechanical guards for him. Once in England, Sly discovers Penelope’s location and sneaks into the castle to confront her. When she reveals Le Paradox’s threats, Sly reassures her that together they can keep Bentley safe, and convinces her to escape with him and return to the Gang. Penelope and Bentley reunite at the hideout, and she gives the Gang useful information about the Black Knight’s plans and weaknesses. During the boss fight, Penelope again comes through for her friends by being the one to finish off the Black Knight and reveal the next time period they need to travel to.
In all three versions, Penelope and Bentley both serve as tech experts during the final confrontation with Le Paradox, making use of their combined talents to help achieve victory (while also being totally adorable together: finishing each other’s sentences, hugging and holding hands, kissing, all of it).
'Dynamic Duo' is a decent mission in an otherwise lacklustre episode, but what i really love about it is how much it develops Penelope's character. from giving her a cutie health metre (and by extent establishing lavender purple as her signature colour. iconic) to having the targets look like pieces of cheese because y'know she's a mouse
are you ever concerned about the fact that nobody else wears pants in the gang but you
It got a little easier after we defeated Dr M and it was just Bentley and me.
Besides, Panda King wore pants! And even Guru wore pants… sort of…
((awkward timing for a nosebleed there, Bentley!))
Even more so if you want to talk about it.
Here's a link to it in case you somehow missed it.