Thieves In Time Redux Meme #5

*epic latin chorus*

yee haw ?

One of my favorite moments in Sly 2 is the first time you go over the Contessa’s bridge.

You’re Bentley, completely alone. You have to make it to the first mission where Bentley eavesdrops on the Contessa. You struggle through the terrifying area outside the safehouse, which is swarming with guards, and then….

And then you get to an empty bridge. 

The only way to get to the mission is by going over this completely empty bridge.

  There are no guards. Those statues are unsettling, but everything here looks unsettling, so it’s fine. You feel like you’re finally in the clear. 

So you start carefully walking across the bridge…. and THEN

HOLY SHIT THEY cOME TO LIFE????? RUN!

A TANK??? THERE’S A TANK TOO??? DON’T RUN THAT WAY

RUN UP THE RAMP WAIT THERE’S FLOOR-SPIKES???? AVOID THE FLOOR SPIKES

A big part of why I like Jailbreak is because the level hub is designed to give you these fun moments of “cartoon horror” that make you really get what the little characters are feeling. 

Platonic Relationship Meme: Murray and Penelope

I saw this “Platonic Relationship Meme“ on Tumblr. And I decided to try it with Murray and Penelope. I have plans to try this with other BFF pairs. So feel free to toss out suggestions (fyi, I only plan to tackle characters I’m already familiar with). Thanks to sonicsora  for the great idea!

The time has come for Act 3. This covers the final two missions of the episode.

You might have to fill in some of the blanks yourself, but Penelope somehow winds up in a final duel with her impostor, with her signals jammed.

It's during this duel that Robo-Penelope reveals something to the player. The real Penelope designed Le Paradox's blimp. Robo-Penelope did everything else.

With this reveal, we finally understand why Penelope has been behaving so strangely. She's been acting out of guilt. She feels undeserving of the boys' friendship. Even so, she's willing to pull every last bit of her weight to make sure they never get hurt again.

Note: Imagine this playing during the Penelope/Robo-Penelope mirror match.

After defeating her impostor, Penelope, now consumed by an overwhelming amount of guilt, feels the need to confess her treachery to someone. She decides on telling Bentley, knowing full well doing so would break his heart all over again.

Then again, he does deserve to know the truth, does he not?

Cue Penelope's painful confession to Bentley. The only thing she doesn't reveal is her true motive, as she doesn't want to justify anything she or her impostor did.

And that "motive" relating to money, fame, power, and Bentley's potential? All fabricated by her impostor.

After that and a tearful apology, she tries to leave the Cooper Gang forever... only to be stopped. Bentley asks her if any of her treachery was worth it. She says it wasn't, and all she did was lose everyone she cares about.

Guess what? Bentley is satisfied with that answer. He forgives Penelope, believing that being kidnapped, impersonated, and hated by everyone she loves was the perfect punishment for her attempted betrayal. He also refuses to leave her or punish her further, now that she's learned her lesson.

Sly and Murray are spared from learning the truth until after our heroes leave Conquest Island.

Finally, the rest of the Robo-Cooper Gang is destroyed, followed by their creator, Sir Raleigh, getting royally clapped.

Penelope remains reinstated, even after Sly and Murray learn the truth.

As for what happens afterwards... I'm not sure. This is all during Episode 2 of 6.

I want to believe Penelope was kidnapped and impersonated. She still designed the blimp. Her impostor (an evil robot) did everything else. Even her motive was fabricated.

Here's something that could happen in Sly 5.

When the boys (Sly, Bentley, and Murray) eventually find out and take her back, she's going to be a guilt-ridden mess hell-bent on destroying her impostor and her creator for breaking Bentley's heart and making everyone hate her, with several measures of self-loathing for nearly doing the same thing herself.

The reunion scene would need to happen early in the episode in which this story takes place, during the second mission, and no later. That way, the player can get used to her being fully playable for the first time ever before the boss fight.

All three boys, while elated to have Penelope back, will quickly notice that something is seriously wrong with her. They think her impostor did everything, including designing the blimp. When they ask her what's wrong, she refuses to elaborate.

Bentley is especially concerned, but incredibly proud of his reinstated girlfriend for her enduring loyalty.

Cue Penelope pulling her weight several times over during her return episode and defeating her impostor, only to be consumed by all the guilt and confess to none other than Bentley about her treachery by the end. The only thing she doesn't reveal is her motive, saying it doesn't matter because what she did was wrong.

And because I love a good, happy ending, she will be forgiven. She's already spent the entire episode proving herself in spades. As for Sly and Murray's reactions? I'll leave that for you to decide. Would Sly drive himself crazy over not knowing her motive? I think he might.

I realize she will need a very sympathetic motive for this idea to work.

Thieves In Time Rewrites...

A lot of rewrites will do one of two things with Penelope.

One route has her following canon and being straight up evil.

Another route has her being kidnapped and either blackmailed or brainwashed.

Thieves In Time Redux not only marries both routes (in that Penelope is responsible for the game's events, and escapes from a kidnapping situation), but also takes a third option. It has her dragged into the adventure so she can learn a lesson or two about friendship.

So, since Murray calls Penelope "Sis", Does that technically make her and Jing sisters?

I'm not planning on shipping Murray and Jing.

It's not off the table... I just haven't planned anything for them yet.

BENTLEY & PENELOPE: AFTER LEFWEE’S DEFEAT

I have to keep drawing dramatic/kissy scenes of the LeFwee battle’s aftermath. Because someone has to make up for the fact that Sanzaru decided to take Penelope’s Crowing Moment of Romantic Badassery and sh!t all over it.

Bentley and Penelope’s kids

I thought it would be fun to try designing what Bentley and Penelope’s kids might look like (and just ignore the fact that it’s a biological impossibility for turtles and mice to make babies together LOL)

Thieves In Time Redux Meme #6

Episode 2, for context. This happens just before Cooper For Hire.

Bentley's a bit overprotective, isn't he? And you can't blame him. His girlfriend did run off on her own last episode... The fact that she's also being targeted by kidnappers doesn't help, either...

He does agree to her request, though. Mainly because Murray's also going to be there.

I gotta say. Sometimes it's way more fun writing memes for my fanfiction than actually working on it.