Don’t Touch Da Babies.

Thieves In Time Redux Meme #19

I did another thing.

That one meme, but with a wholesome twist.

Basically it's Penelope's character arc, but super abridged.

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.

my thoughts upon completing Flight of Fancy for the 2648134th time

1. Penelope (under the Black Baron disguise) serves as a pretty solid combat match for Sly. Bentley over binocucom claims the Black Baron has trained for 10 years as a boxer. Why is Penelope thus regarded as so useless out on the field by herself, and only used for her RC car, when she’s actually a decent fighter, especially when you count this was all made more difficult underneath a massive costume?

2. Penelope mentions in a cutscene that she used the Black Baron disguise because of strict age requirements. The age requirement would probably be either 18 or 21, considering the ruthless and unforgiving nature of dogfighting. Does this mean she’s still a minor when Bentley is dating her? (Or, has she been using the Black Baron as a persona for a few years now?). Still…..d r a m a . 

Bentley I thought you had more morals than this

Murray wasn’t kidding when he said you’ve got more devious over the years

I wanted to make a cute Bento…

And then I made an order of thirty stickers of this baby boy.

Penelope is still Bentley’s nerdy and cutie gf, thrives in time NEVER HAPPENED

Penelope has cured my artblock ✨✨✨

let’s discuss the implications and the importance of Penelope’s introduction through the Black Baron and what it meant for her character development moving on, but without any formalities like post structure, intro, etc. because i have to read 6 Shakespeare plays by the beginning of term.

Flight of Fancy’s premise is that Bentley is looking for an RC specialist to help with the Cooper Vault heist and while searching for one, stumbles upon the supposed love of his life. the title itself literally embodies everything that happens in this episode: unrealistic ideas that couldn’t possibly work, but kudos for the great imagination !?!?? i mean if we strip the episode’s main points of any narration, it sounds like a fever dream. Muggshot returns and gets into an insult competition with Bentley, the big heist involves catapulting spinning windmills onto blimps, Sly survives too many aerial dogfights as an amateur. in the middle of all this, Bentley’s desire to get with Penelope, and Penelope thinking her Black Baron charade wouldn’t end are also two major unrealistic notions.

i’m seriously beating myself up trying to think if there’s an obscure element of homoeroticism at play here or if i’m being annoying (or both. i mean, probably). because absolutely no one suspected Penelope of being the Black Baron, which meant she played the part to a T, if it was even truly just a role (my opinion is that, as much as i hate TiT, Penelope most definitely has inner demons and villain potential, and the way all this is just swept under the rug at the end of the episode is so bizarre). so if Penelope’s masculinity - and masculinity is putting it lightly; sis really channeled her best Tom of Finland, butch queen, ultra-hetero taxidermy porn or some shit idk i don’t understand straighties - came out during the episode and Bentley was still persistent on wanting to bone after the big reveal, then ???? quite honestly, if this game came out today i’d just settle for gender is a social construct, but it didn’t so i’m genuinely curious as to finding out if Bentley is in touch with his femininity and if that was brought on by being a nerd and not an incel. we know SP wanted to make Murray bisexual originally, although we have to idea on what the taste level was gonna be on that (especially in 2002). i’m ending this point by saying that, when it comes to Bentley’s character development in regards to Penelope’s disguise, it defo lead to possibilities and ideas regarding his sexuality, his perception of gender and how in touch with his femininity he is. also, Penelope has a great British accent, we love to see it xx

i keep a cerebral log of my best moments from this hellsite, so let me quote myself: i think i put it best when i described Penelope as ‘a meek woman hiding behind a man’s disguise’ and what that meant. i always talk about how the sLy-VeRsE emulates life, from vices to corruption, from pollution to the treatment of feral animals. part of that includes gender politics and how women are mistreated. Carmelita, despite bringing in countless baddies (literally even a fucking evil mask), always gets shit from Barkley, for example. Penelope is no exception. for her to put her plans into motion she couldn’t do so as a woman, she had to dawn the disguise of the Black Baron. as a man, she is feared by everyone, even Dimitri, and has created an empire, living in a fucking castle lair. can we say girlboss ? i’d like to think that Sly beating her bossfight isn’t the only reason behind her dropping her guise. she is simply forced to overcome a horrible coping mechanism used to appease society. she got way too comfortable doing something which wasn’t right but it was ok. despite what i said about her having inner demons (who doesn’t?), she was never a villain. she was actually a victim of how the world works, so… yeah. that’s basically it.

although A Cold Alliance spotlighted Penelope’s chemistry with the rest of the gang in such a charming way, it wasn’t until Dead Men Tell No Tales that we really got to see her character post Black Baron. and i think for the most part, this was truly a mixed bag. we reach the climax of Penelope being pigeonholed into an unhealthy love triangle between Sly and Bentley (which i’m pretty sure Sly was 100% unaware about). as a baby playing this episode, girl i was living for the drama (Bentley shading Sly about ASCII *audible gasp, hand on chest*). in retrospect though, i couldn’t care less. i think Penelope wouldn’t care for either of them, whatever her sexual orientation is. however, i think it’s only natural she would pick Sly over Bentley. lil mama brawled with Sly on a fucking plane wing mid-flight. anyway, her being kidnapped by LeFwee didn’t quite make sense in my opinion. i mean, i’ve never been taken hostage on a desolate island inhabited by a clan of pirates and prehistoric lizards, but i’m pretty sure she could kick LeFwee’s sexist ass? let’s say the gang truly didn’t have a choice and this was worst case scenario, why did Penelope have to be the hostage again? wasn’t she just taken hostage by Tsao’s dragon? why couldn’t Bentley be kidnapped? LeFwee had beef with him over their competition of intellect, so why not take him instead? SP made progress with Penelope overcoming the Black Baron persona, why not switch the stereotypical gender roles here and have Penelope rescue Bentley, which would result in the same outcome of them getting together? i can’t be that mad at this because in the end she’s the one who fights LeFwee, bringing about the gender role swap i’ve just mentioned. and that’s fascinating. like, it makes sense for her to be able to handle a sword because she lived in a fucking castle for fuck’s sake. and the bossfight ends in one of the most brutal ways in the series, Penelope throwing LeFwee’s chauvinist ass to the sharks. i truly like this ending to the love triangle because it depicted a relationship based on a foundation of equality, equal forces. no one is being disrespected (by each other, not the SP writers unfortunately). and it’s interesting to consider that Penelope went from being a “villain” to accompanying Bentley in creating a new beginning for the Cooper legacy and lineage.

so yeah, to skip the formalities, Penelope is fucking awesome.

Why don’t you like sly 4

Bad story

Good charcter was completely rippsd apart for plot

Carmelita has a right to be angry and Sly has a right to explain his side of the story, they should've had a better resolve to their relationship than fucking "Sly I..." "I know."

Le Paradox

The entire story stood on a throwaway idea left on Sly3.

Lazy plot convenience with time travel

The ancestor(s) romance subplot. Fucking nasty

Penelope was made the villain cause they couldn't inplement the mole charcter that was supposed to be Mice and Mech's main baddy

Le Paradox

No villain (but Toothepick) feels like they're trying to slide by nonchalantly when they take over. It's "hey we're in the past and now we gotta conquer it" and no one (but again Toothpick) uses any time relevance to fit in or influence the surroundings.

Le Paradox

Fucking Le Paradox

This prick is a fickle fart compared to the sheer thunder Neyla made in Sly2. You want a family rival? Make a family rival that uses his established smarts instead of making him "ohohohoho so predictable!!hahahaha"

Also his boss fight, Sanzaru you shouldn't of brought back all the ancestors for one long fetch mission. Get cane, return to the past???

Honestly how did the ancestors just phase back into their own timeline they got to the present with the van.

Miss Decibel is the weakest female villain and only is ber boss fight in same difficulty as Mz Ruby cause goddamn as if the slow down power was mandatory.

AND TOOTHPICK WAS RALEIGH 2.0

El Jefe needed to chaange up his tactics cause why keep the Cooper you were sent back to capture, alive???

Grizz need to get on a grill and never leave

Penelope my baby what have they done to you.

She went down doing ugly fisticuffs with Bentley in a mecha.

Cooler option would've been to make the Mole, and have Penelope the Balck Knight STILL- but she was trapped in there without any control to the mecha.

Episode could've ended with Bentley beating the mecha, and the chest plate popping out, startling everyone as Penelope finally climbs out sweaty, disoriented, and tied up with extension cords. Cue Bentley vehemently apologizing as the Gang move on.

Sly is a dick to Murray and Bentley. And his suit sucks.

Dmitri never got a speaking role in game. Or missions.

Carm only got ONE MISSION.

Murray oh dear lord was the food gag pushed to an eleven.

Also Sly and Bentley being creeps.

What the fuck was up with the Ice Age episode.

Why wasn't Sly4 about Le Paradox trying to get Sly to slip out of his amnesia act so he'd get busted by Carmelita and start massive trouble.

But so why wasn't Sly4 not affected by any time alteractions. Sly could've been erased from existance, Bentley could've walked for a time before realizing he wasn't supposed to, Murray being a fraidy cat again.

How come Penelope and Dmitri didn't get any love in this game.

Why the fuck did a member of SuckerPunch say want the ping-pong minigame in there. Why.

Thieves In Time Redux Characters

Other than Penelope, our other heroes go through their own personal character arcs as well.

Sly learns that maybe ditching his friends on Kaine Island wasn't the best idea.

Bentley becomes less overprotective and more supportive towards Penelope. He'd be humbled after she saves him multiple times over the course of the story.

Murray doesn't go through much of an arc. He spends much of the story being a good older brother towards our heroine, and making her look good. If anything, he shows he can step back and let others take his spotlight.

As for Penelope, our main protagonist... She realizes what's truly important to her: Her friends.

I'm not touching whatever Sly and Carmelita are doing. Not here. Their fighting actually gets worse until Episode 5, when they realize they've been acting like children.

Isn't this so much better than whatever happened in vanilla?

reblog if you believe fanfics are as valid as books that were published and sold by authors who write as their main careers. I'm trying to prove a point