Thieves In Time Redux Meme #14

until we get a sequel sly 4 isn’t canon

replayed the sly cooper series recently and I missed these two so badly

Sly stuff

Murray and Penelope’s shopping day

I totally see these two being shopping buddies (at least where it comes to parts for the van and RC devices)

Thieves In Time Redux Meme #9

For context, we see this happen midway through the El Jefe boss fight.

Before the boss fight, Penelope ran off towards the blimp without anyone seeing her. She has a decision to make when she sees Sly and El Jefe having their duel...

Yes, she does end up doing the right thing. She provides aerial support for Sly.

The others are fully aware she's gone missing. Yes, she does get scolded for running off when she comes back... primarily by Bentley. Though she is partially let off the hook for helping Sly.

The fact that she's being targeted by kidnappers doesn't help her case in the slightest.

At least she's only scolded for running off. That definitely beats getting reamed for the act of betrayal... That secret is still safe, BTW.

some animals

Fixing Thieves in Time Penelope

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).

i’m sorry i just I can’t deal with this game. Penelope was my favorite. :| Spoilers, I guess?

But who should the villain responsible be? Sir Raleigh, of course. He escapes from prison, kidnaps our heroine, and has her impersonated as part of a revenge plot.

How does he know to target her? Was he hired by someone? We don't find out until later...

And the impostor herself... She can get under Penelope's skin, taunting her every time they meet. She's holding that history of betrayal over the real one's head. And if any of the boys are around, she can get very crafty with her words without revealing a thing, amplifying our heroine's guilt.

With that, we'd have both a villainous Robo-Penelope and a heroic Penelope at the same time; the latter of whom now wants to redeem herself.

Let's also have our heroine engage in increasingly reckless behavior, especially after her reveal of betrayal. She'll think that risking her life is the only way to atone for her treachery. Don't worry; she won't actually wind up dead.

Forgot to mention. For this to work, Penelope would definitely need to have second thoughts either during blimp development or during her confinement as a kidnapping victim.

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. 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 Redux Behind The Scenes Blog

Hey kids! Welcome to my behind the scenes blog!

Do you hate Thieves In Time with a burning passion?

Do you love redemption stories?

Are you a Bentley/Penelope fan like me?

Are you wondering what might have happened if Penelope had joined the boys for the events of Thieves In Time?

If you answered "yes" to all of these questions, then congratulations! This Thieves In Time rewrite is for you!

Since I can't pin more than one thing to the top of my blog, here's a link to the abridged version of my story!

Here's a link to the mission recaps, and a link to everything Penelope does in the story.

Feel free to ask me anything about Thieves In Time Redux!

My askbox is currently open. I have so far answered 6 questions.