“If A Fifth Sly Game Is Confirmed, I Personally Hope That We Not Only Get To See Penelope Redeem Herself,

sometimes you need dialogue tags and don't want to use the same four

My usual sketchy tomfoolery

Thieves In Time Redux: Rewriting the tutorial

You guys likely already know how Thieves In Time Redux begins. Penelope gets dragged into the events of the game against her will. Let's go over how she does during the story's opening...

We open near the museum, same as in canon. The only difference? There's four figures instead of three. The opening exchange now includes Penelope.

I'll just go ahead and show you the entire thing...

"Okay, you three remember the plan, right?"

"Of course! My mind is like a steel cap!"

"Uh, that's 'trap', Big Guy. And everybody relax! We've been over it a million times. What could possibly go wrong?''

"Famous last words! Look, we're only going to get one shot at this, so we can't mess up!"

"Alright, no messing up allowed. Now stop worrying! This is gonna be a piece of cake!"

"Question. Is it too late for me to back out?"

"I'm afraid so. You're coming with me, remember?"

"...Fine."

"We won't be out here forever, Sis! All we gotta do is take that dagger, do our thing, and clobber some fools into next week!"

"...Right. I'll keep that in mind."

"And with that, I'll see you all inside. Now let's get going!"

Penelope will be joining Bentley in the sewers. Before the opening, she had been targeted by kidnappers. She told Bentley about them in a panic, and... that's why she's here. She doesn't get enough time to vanish without a trace. Oh, and her blueprints for Le Paradox's blimp went missing.

Spoiler alert: They were stolen.

Sly's section is identical to canon, save for a few new lines. Same deal for Murray.

Bentley's section is changed up to accommodate Penelope. She'll only be following him for now... at least until her segment begins.

Just like in canon, Bentley falls deeper in the sewers... and gets separated from Penelope.

"How's that security system coming, Bentley?"

" Uh... Great! Perfect! I'll be done in a jiffy! *moves forward, only to realize he didn't land where he was supposed to* H--how did I...?"

"I thought you said 'no messing up allowed', old friend."

"I'm... taking the scenic route tonight!"

"Uh-huh... *short pause* You haven't forgotten Penelope, have you? Aren't you supposed to be watching her?"

This leads to a tutorial section for our favorite mouse girl. Her objective is finding Bentley. She's also given a title: The Wild Card.

"Sorry, I'm a little nervous. Nearly losing you to kidnappers does that."

"'A little', you say? You've been a nervous wreck ever since we left HQ."

Since this happens to be Penelope's very first solo outing, poor Bentley is freaking out. Penelope, meanwhile, isn't nearly as uneasy. She's just annoyed that she's been dragged into this adventure against her will. Not that she can tell Bentley why...

She instead tries to reassure him that yes, she can take care of herself... only to immediately follow that up by trying to run off. Bentley, of course, thinks she got lost and turns her around. She plays along and evades suspicion.

Since running off is no longer an option, Penelope goes off to find Bentley... When she does, he's in the process of almost getting jumped by a guard. She responds by knocking said guard out... because nobody touches that turtle except her.

Now reunited, they move onward to the same control room from canon.

Everything after that is nearly identical to vanilla. Yes, even Murray's segment. And yes, even Carmelita catching Sly in the act of thieving around.

The only difference is Penelope now being in the van with the boys as they all drive into a time portal.

Not a bad intro, huh? I've already talked about everyone's character arcs in previous posts, so here's a quick recap...

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

Bentley learns that he needs to not be overprotective of Penelope, but rather supportive.

Murray... doesn't go through much of a arc. He's focused on being a good older brother towards Penelope.

And Penelope? She's got a lot to learn about friendship. I bet you can't wait to see how she goes from distant and not wanting to be here to willing to take responsibility for what she's done. Because yes, she is still responsible for the Le Paradox incident in this rewrite.

I won't be writing Penelope as a sociopath, but rather as someone disconnected from her friends and what she actually needs.

I kind of neglected to mention that since Penelope is still behind the events of this game, she's going to be a bit confused about how Le Paradox's evil plan has gone ahead without her.

Lastly, I want to address how long it's been since the end of Sly 3. It's been roughly 19 months since Sly started faking amnesia.

At the beginning of this rewrite, Sly and Bentley are 22, Murray is 23, Penelope is 21, and Carmelita is 25. No clue about Dimitri or the villains.

Real Talk

Props to Bentley for driving from all the way from the jungles of the Bengal region of India to Prague in Sly 2, that is an insane drive. That is crossing through 8 countries, 4 time-zones, two continents and over 8,500 km. Non-stop, it would’ve taken him almost 5 days.

And he did that all without knowing at first how to drive stick.

Like look at how far that is. I know that’s only up to Lahore but I couldn’t get a drive route that’d go into India and I assume that has to due with the nature of driving through the Indian-Pakistani border. That’s also passing through some rugged terrain and some unforgiving weather conditions too.

cant sleep so doodled penelope ... wasnt a furry growing up so i cant draw animals my bad guys [sad ant with bindle]

Thieves In Time Redux Meme #15

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.

Da Gang

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.

@extraneousdominomask

Thanks for the feedback on this post. I finally got around to making that Decibel comic!

I had an idea for an alternate story line for Sly 4. So I decided to sketch it out. In this one, Penelope is kidnapped and forced into building a time machine for La Paradox (instead of just agreeing to be his lackey for….reasons like she did in Sly 4). And Miss Decibel’s design doesn’t feature a hideous feathered housecoat in this comic because I couldn’t bear to draw that ugly thing over and over (and also because I think a classier outfit fits her character better)

Also, I just dug the idea of Penelope acting as a life-coach & relationship counselor in order to escape