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umbra-borealis · 10 days ago

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Dimitri Lousteau is the most 'human' villain in Sly Cooper

Hello and welcome to my TEDtalk, I've been meaning to type out my yapping for a long time but always talked myself out of it because I mean, this is coming from a guy with Dimitri for a pfp and I figured people would just take it as a guy on tumblr simping for a weird lizard but no. The reasons I care for Dimitri the way I do goes pretty deep and I could sit here and talk about it point by point but to save us both some time (and because I am DEAD tired) I made a graph!

I used Luciano, my little sona, to personify myself in this.

I focused mainly on formative things and similarities in personality without inserting headcanons, even if based on traits or even symptoms I recognize. Most of these are rather straight forward but some run a little deeper. The funny pattern here (maybe aside from the drug thing lol) is that there's a high likelihood that you reading this right now can at least relate to just one or two things on those list and while you could argue that you could do the same with other characters, I picked these traits because in my opinion they ride that thin line between just relatable enough to apply to a lot of people, but not too superficial to be on the same an interest or hobby. Anyone can get upset when angry, it's HOW you express that anger that says something about you as a person for instance.

I also want to quickly mention that yes, a LOT of characters in Sly Cooper are very human, but I said 'villain' for a reason. After all I don't think your average college kid can relate to Contessa, Rajan or Panda King because mass brainwashing, destroying villages and being a literal drug lord are bordering on supervillain and that's not what Dimitri is. A supervillain can be relatable to a degree as well, but it makes sense that the Panda King had to have a whole Moment TM (several really) to come to terms with the kind of person he allowed himself to become. When we see Dimitri in Sly 3, he seems to have already done this perhaps because his sins aren't nearly as great. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I'll insert a read-more here but I'd like to ask you to keep reading anyway if you can because my biggest pet peeve is that Dimitri is seen as a dumb, sleazy (and old??? which is dumb and I got math to back up that he's not in fact in his 40s during Sly 2 lmao) lizard who's only good as a level 1 boss for beginners to learn the game and all he's remembered for, though fair, is his manner of speech and not what he's REALLY saying. None of you ever picked up on what he was throwing down so I'm going to spell it out for you.

(PS I have ADHD and it's 3 AM so go easy on me this is coming from the HEART baby)

To make it easier on myself and you, I'm going to start sectioning the word soup in my head into four categories based on Dimitri's enterprises and roles and just kinda... waffle on about my thoughts regarding them. I'll start superficial and work my way down to the Deep Shit. Feel free to skip around to whatever interests you since I include some lore too, though changes are you're already aware of said lore.

Lets start with:

Dimiti, the club manager.

Nightclubs, and the people that run them tend to have a bit of a sleazy stereotype attached to them, which I suppose is fair. Though a large chunk is attributed to movies and other media, there were in fact some really large and important movements surrounding nightlife and club culture. Just look up the Club Kids if you want to go down a rabbit hole, in short they were a fairly large group of partiers from the 90s who contributed a LOT to fashion and art movements as well as being generally very fluid when it came to gender. Unfortunately that too would eventually be plagued by drugs and members getting addicted to drugs. Again, I digress.

Dimitri is seen partying in the intro of his chapter in Sly 2,

which is a nice touch because not only is it in-character, it's something that would actually happen. Owners of a popular joints would be popular or just enigmatic figures that would regularly get subjected to patrons schmoozing up to them. Some weren't a fan but there were many that soaked up the attention, bought rounds on the house when business was good, maybe get a little TOO cocky with confidence. It's a bit too simple to look at Dimitri in relation to all this info and say 'no doi he was in it for the money it checks out.' because if you spend enough time in his club or just, in the safe house after placing the bug there's signs of more going on.

We KNOW Dimitri is a criminal and he did his whole art forgery business on the side, or maybe it's the other way round? Either way he seemed fairly confident in his skills with this. His biggest risk being that time he tried to marry someone over a STATUE. (Really dude?) So then why was he so damn paranoid? While you could argue that he was sippin' his own supply I don't think that's what it was. He was so paranoid he played his music super loud in almost all areas of the club JUST to keep his security detail awake through-out night and day, whenever his club wasn't open to the public. To compensate he would promise them they could all 'retire early'. with that fake confidence chuckle that masks a sense of 'haha please don't abandon me'

So, ever heard of Imposter Syndrome? Because his behavior as a club owner SCREAMS it. He wasn't JUST cocky and sleazy, he was simply fitting in with the culture of the time because *everyone* was overly confident, over confidence was something to be admired, something to look at and go 'yeah that guy has it figured out' while in reality most struggled with something, anything. So what is Imposter Syndrome? To keep it short and blunt, the overwhelming feeling that you're not worthy of your accomplishments. We know that Dimitri is a 'failed' artist who turned to forging art to make money, it could just be a sense of guilt telling him something he's not ready to hear so he starts overcompensating and this insecurity bleeds into Sly 3 after Sly puts him in his place. His success with this insanely toxic coping mechanism lands him a new enterprise.

Dimitri, the Spice distributor.

Rather than going chronological, I'm going through the 'layers' that is this lizard. So if his career as a club owner is the tip of the ice berg with some neat little facts and info about the stereotype he conveys, this subject is a tier deeper. Dimitri the Spice distributor is Dimitri the next level criminal, or so he thinks. When you think about it, it's pretty strange that they gave Dimitri some Clockwerk parts at all. He was never mentioned by the other Klaww Gang members and thus seemingly not missed either when he was the first to get busted. In fact, nobody was upset that their DISTRIBTOR was arrested, putting a hold on their primary income... or so we thought until the Contessa was revealed to have a rather large and lucrative side hussle Dimitri probably could never compete with. Dimitri was expendable, sure he had a role and he played it well but he was also a loss they could cope with without much harm done to their wallets or their pride.

I think about it often, Dimitri in his jail cell, maybe hearing from another criminal or even his lawyer after the whole Clock-La thing about the full scope of the plan. He might've gotten a reduced sentence for ratting the other members out because if you think back to his legendary conversation with Sly he really doesn't seem to know what he's talking about. ("What is it with clocks bro!?") All of Dimitri's other crimes aside, he was young and naive, Sly 3 reveals he came from some form of poverty as well so it makes sense that he'd chase easy money. That's all it was though, he wanted the money and the fame, he didn't want to brainwash an entire city, he didn't know about the giant robot owl. He's once again left feeling like a failure, this time one that was easy to fool and all the confidence he had as a criminal would've seeped out of him, starting this weird cycle of him trying something only to be caught breaking the law and ending up where he began.

Like I said all of this would bleed into Sly 3 and it's pretty damn neat that for how little lines he had and how little he was on screen, they managed to convey this well in my opinion. By the time we reach Sly 3, most of us don't remember him as a Spice distribtor at all. Which leads me to...

Dimitri the Artist.

Being an artist is a pretty broad term and while we know Dimitri as a painter, I think he applies his artist mindset in way, way more. He's genuinely creative an smart, he thinks out of the box to protect his secrets and to cover his tracks. His identity as an artist is also his most vulnerable and 'real' self. Folks will say art is about self expression and usually mean conveying complex topics with pretty pictures or thought provoking stories, however it can be apparent in smaller ways too and the most obvious thing for Dimitri is his business in forging art. Think about it this way:

Picture you don't speak a LICK of english, you're from a lower in-come family or even straight up poverty but you grew up on tall tales of your grandpa being a total badass who lived freely and seizes every opportunity he could to make money... or take it rather but you get the idea. Your grandpa used his talents as a diver and deep down, you know what your talent is. It's art. So you somehow manage to move across the world to Paris, go to an art school work your ass off to develop your own style, your own identity and when it came to making a name for yourself you were rejected super hard. You're now probably in debt, in a foreign country and all you're known for is being the art community's clown.

One thing that gets overlooked is that Dimitri's paintings aren't actually that bad.

He very clearly knows the basics quite well, he's using color theory to shade and add depth but as he goes from student to independant artist, he breaks away from the basics and develops a style. His color use becomes brighter, he adds little stars just because why not? He likes em! This style is PERFECT for the nightlife club scene he ends up in down the line of course, but in the world of pretentious parisian artist hipsters? Absolutely not. So while he's just being himself, he's shown that that isn't allowed, that wont get him success. It reminds me of artists who say shit like 'I'll just learn to draw furry porn I guess!' thinking it's a guaranteed money printer (heh) and whether they enjoy making that kind of content is irrelevant, which leads to burn out or in case they DO find success, imposter syndrome. The dread that you do not deserve this recognition because it's not something you're actually that passionate about, not something you want to be known for. Say what you will about Dimitri but he never compromised. And while the cutscene shows shoddy painted depictions of classical paintings, I think this was more to illustrate him forging paintings to a younger audience than imply he was a bad painter as just before those crappy version, we see what's probably the REAL version he would've painted and sold.

This is conjecture on my part but I have to believe it because well, art forgery is HARD. You'd have to actually be a freaking genius to do it and sell it for so high, you can just afford what is basically a freaking opera house in PARIS and turn it into a nightclub. Also did I mention Dimitri just, HAS a ~mansion~ in Monaco? Because he does.

I've also always liked that scene for the expression on his face. It's smug, it's so full of petty, passve aggressive anger, a stubborness to admit defeat and instead to just 'prove a point' even if that point is lost to the means being SUPER illegal. That being sad, I don't think any of us feel bad over this man stealing a couple thousand from billionaire pockets. Billionaires that probably have their own little illicit ways to get that cash. Funny... It seems Sly isn't the only one who steals from other criminals.

And you might've stuck around this long and gone 'Umbra, get to the fucking POINT already." to which I have good news.

Dimitri, the Marine Iguana.

My favorite part, feel free to skip ahead to this headline if you want.

So who is this guy anyway? Well, from Sly 3 we see that he has a mother, a sister and his grandparents and that's about it as far as we can tell.

Just look at that smile! He looks like your average, awkward teenager. No struggling on the streets from what we can tell, no bullying by bigger kids, no weird sociopathic tendencies, no childhood trauma or grudges. The events that changed him seem to all have happened after he left for Paris. Sure it aint much to go off of but even if his life was hard, it seemed he was close with his grandfather and got to know him for a decent couple of years. Marine Iguanas are, like the name implies, an aquatic species of reptile. They're well adapted to land but due to low food availability in-land, they migrated to the beaches and started living off of sea algae, learning how to dive in the process. Even in Sly 2 the devs included plenty of references to Dimitri's affinity for water. The windows in the dancefloor area of his club are partially submerged, there are two massive aquariums in his office, he lives on a boat (or hides there anyway) and has several water features but inside and outside his club.

When you take a step back and look at all that, Dimitri is... just a guy who left his home country, his family, to follow a dream only to have that dream shatter and he's left to pick up the pieces all alone, making poor choices in the process. Choices based on anger and a broken heart. And the truth of the matter is that ALL of this, could happen to anyone. Granted in varying different ways as not everyone's life is the same and not everyone will make the same choices but I think many of us had a dream career as a kid only to become a jaded adult who thinks it's unrealistic or only does that thing as a hobby, I think there's many of us that remember the moment our hearts were broken and we realized the cold, unforgiving nature of real, adult life.

We see the effect of ALL of this come to a head in Sly 3, when at first he's not sure if he should still be mad at Sly for putting him in jail while he's currently the only guy he knows that COULD break him back out of jail as well. He still overcompensates, he's still overly confident and he put himself in that cell but still, he honors his word and helps Sly and Bentley find their friend. Then in Holland we see him behind a bar, seemingly as if he's actually got a job as a bartender there. Heck, he DOES have a job! He's the announcer! He may not super like it but he's being humbled by it all the same and when Sly comes for help a second time, the bravado is gone for a moment. He expresses genuine fear, not necessarily for his own safety but for losing a job, for *failing*. Of course the right answer in this scenario is to hype up his confidence again. And because Sly has proven himself to be trustworthy in the past he figures he can trust him with a favor of personal, sentimental value. If anyone would understand how it feels to have your family name dishonored and an heirloom stolen, it's Sly and Dimitri knows that damn well.

I think this is about as real as Dimitri can get, aside from the whole scuba gear thing. I know the gang is disguised but I don't think Dimitri is at all. I think that's just... what he likes to wear, further making me think he's just a regular guy with so much heart ache he lashe out in some pretty vile ways. Tortured artists are known to do some crazy shit after all. And while he continues to be his funny eccentric self we know him to be, he starts to have his first real moments of genuine care and loyalty while a part of the Cooper Gang. He tells Bentley he 'has his own flavor' which is his way of telling him that he's unique an valid the way he is. He dives after Sly's cane in VERY dangerous waters, risking injury or even his life, no questions asked. He sends Bentley postcards and letters to let his friend know he's safe and doing well. But perhaps something that hits me harder than any of that, is how angry and shocked Dimitri looks upon Sly's 'retirement announcement'.

Here he was thinking he made a friend out of Sly, and just like that he was gone. It makes me wonder if he held onto that grudge or not but a part of me likes to imagine that he didn't. I think his time with that gang made him realize that although he might not understand and he might be upset, it's not all about him. If anything he silently continued the rivalry by seeing how many girls he could cram into one post card with him to one up Sly's act of running off with a girl himself or perhaps he took it as a sign to make a career switch as well. Either way, Dimitri ended up changing for the better, he became himself in the end. A sweet, goofball iguana who loves the ocean and loves to paint. Making money became a nice bonus rather than his main focus.

Coming from a similar, rough background, having gone to therapy and trying to find my place in the world, this gives me hope. Hope that if I look hard enough, I can find my niche too and that being myself is the best I can be. If you read all this, thank you. I fgured it was best to just get it ALL out at once. I hope it was a fun read or made you look at Dimitri a little differently.

#Sly Cooper #sly 2 band of thieves #sly 3: honor among thieves #Dimitri Lousteau #If there's typos suck it up #It's now 4 AM

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arpeggio-the-parrot · 2 months ago

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Klaww Gang Headcanons

Not that anyone asked, but I have several headcanons regarding the Klaww Gang, some of which I’ve posted about here and there throughout the years of me running this blog. I figured I’d throw some of my Klaww Gang-related headcanons into a little list, in no particular order of importance!

Arpeggio didn’t establish the Klaww Gang, but he took over as its leader after working with its previous one, who retired and offered Arpeggio his position. While it’s generally accepted that Arpeggio was indeed the leader of the Klaww Gang leading into and during the events of Sly 2, Sly states in the introduction to Anatomy For Disaster, “…the Klaww Gang took [Arpeggio] on as chief inventor,” supporting the idea that the Klaww Gang existed before Arpeggio’s leadership. I actually have my own story for this, but I don’t feel like getting into all that here LOL. Someday …

Rajan’s actual name isn’t Rajan—hear me out. The name “Rajan” translates to “king” in Sanskrit, but as we know, Rajan wasn’t born into royalty. I like to think that he took on the name once he gained notoriety and joined the Klaww Gang. I also like to think that he was the first member of the Klaww Gang that we know in Sly 2.

Jean Bison carries a heavy guilty conscience, as he knows that it was his risk-taking that costed him his closest friends—all of whom perished in the avalanche that froze him.

The Contessa��s husband was a member of the Klaww Gang when he married her, and his death/murder allowed her to effectively usurp his position and expand it with her role as a criminal psychologist working in INTERPOL. This makes her the second member of the current Klaww Gang to join, shortly after Rajan.

Rajan really fucking hates Arpeggio LMAO, the main reason being that he feels that he is entitled to be the leader of the Klaww Gang. Admittedly, this headcanon isn’t exactly an original take, as he can be heard expressing this via the speaker in the Cooper Gang’s safehouse, after bugging Rajan’s office in The Predator Awakes (“I should be ruling the Klaww. I'm the source and the supplier. Without me, their silly tinkering would go nowhere”.

The illegal spice that the Klaww Gang produces is closely related to cannabis, assuming the spice is native to Southeast Asia, which is near the native range of cannabis. However, it is a separate species entirely with more intense effects, and is much more addictive.

Rajan is secretly addicted to the illegal spice. This is somewhat implied in the actual game, again heard over the safehouse speaker in Episode 3 after bugging Rajan’s office, when he says, “The dance was going so well, so grand, until that ragged raccoon... maybe I'll have just a little spice...”. This could also be the reason for his aggressive temperament, as rage and aggression is a side effect of spice consumption.

The Klaww Gang is named after its founder and first leader, who was a raptorial bird and is represented by the talons clasped around the globe in the gang’s emblem. However, this leader was not the one who “recruited” and passed his leadership onto Arpeggio upon retirement. In Sly 2, ‘Klaww’ is sometimes capitalized like an acronym, but I always saw this as an oversight by the developers as it’s not stated or implied anywhere in canon as to what that acronym would stand for.

The illegal spice was unknown outside of India until Britain’s colonization of the region in the 19th century, though the Klaww Gang wasn’t formed until a few decades later.

#sly cooper #sly 2 #sly 2 band of thieves #klaww gang #headcanons #it feels so good to bother you all with this nonsense at last #saveslycommunity #part of why i appreciate the absence of so much canon lore in the sly cooper series is that we can think of stuff like this #and it’s easier to make it make sense because we have so many blanks to fill in

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iobartach · 27 days ago

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i was thinking of a new idea for the wishlist tag, but the more thought i gave it, the more i started to go hmm... probably shouldn't Do That, with miguel 💀 see the read more below for the thought, and grab it for yourselves if you like!

so if anyone's as old as a fossil like me, and played the sly cooper games as a kid, you'll probably remember the second game, band of thieves

and rajan

and Spice in particular

now, remember the effects it had on murray, when the contessa subjected him to it?

picture that, plus the muse of your choice

enjoyyyyy

😈

#ooc #yes i was absolutely a sony kid #hell i still am lmao #but yeah clocks are going back tonight and i am shattered 💀#prepare for more stuff tomorrow!

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fraterribilis · 5 months ago

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The taxonomy of Sly Cooper: Part 3

Part 1 Part 2

Sorry for being so late with this one, but I've been occupied with other things.

Anyway, time to overthink the biology of the different members of the Klaww Gang!

Starting off with a two for one, it's pretty obvious that both Neyla and Rajan are meant to be mainland or bengal tigers (Panthera tigris tigris). They were originally conceived by the developers as father and daughter afterall.

I think pretty much everyone knows what tigers are and what they're all about (solitary apex predators, live in Asia) so I'll spare you the details, and share some lesser known facts about them instead.

Most relevant to the topic at hand, the bengal tiger was long considered a separate subspecies from the siberian, chinese and malayan populations, but recent genetical analysis suggests that they all belong to the same subspecies, and are now collectively referred to as the mainland tiger. The only other extant subspecies being the Sunda Islands or sumatran tiger.

Contrary to what Bentley would have you believe, tigers do NOT have an aversion to water. In fact they are some of the best swimmers among big cats, with the population in the Sundarbans being known to swim between islands in the delta in search of prey.

And contrary to popular belief, there are NOT more tigers in captivity in the US than there are tigers in the wild. @why-animals-do-the-thing has a very well researched series examining the data regarding captive tigers in the US which you can find here.

Sidenote: As a kid I thought that Neyla was supposed to be just a normal (purple) tabby cat. It wasn't until I got older and heard Dimitri's office recordings that I realized she was supposed to be a tiger.

Speaking of Dimitri, he is obviously an iguana of some kind. There are no wild iguanas in France, but i guess his family could have migrated there. Some fans have identified him as a marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus), but his pointed skull and impressive dewlap beard suggests to me that he belongs to the genus of true iguanas (yes, taxonomy is confusing).

There are two recognised species of the Iguana genus; the green iguana (Iguana iguana) and the lesser antilliean iguana (Iguana delicatissima). I couldn't decide which one fit Dimitri better so you're getting another two for one. Both species grow to be up to six feet long, with males being larger than females. They are herbivorous, and feed on a wide variety of leaves, flowers, seeds and fruits. Both species live in forest and swamp areas, and are very capable swimmers and climbers. In addition to having well-developed vision, iguanas also possess a so-called parietal eye placed at the top of their skull, which allows them to detect ultra-violet light.

The green iguana is by far the most widespread of the two species, being found throughout most of Central America and northern South America, along with invasive populations in Florida and the Carribean. It is also one of the most popular lizards in the pet trade, even though it can be notoriously demanding and stroppy.

By contrast, the lesser antillean iguana is critically endangered, being only found on the archipelago of Lesser Antilles. Here it faces threats from invasive species, such as feral dogs and cats, but its greatest threat is, ironically enough, its invasive cousin the green iguana. The two species compete over resources, and can even interbreed, creating hybrids which further limit the native population.

The Contessa is most likely a black widow spider of the genus Latrodectus, seeing as she's often associated with an hourglass symbol which several members of the genus famously display on their abdomen. There are way too many Latrodectus species to count, so I'm just gonna assume that she is a southern black widow (Latrodectus mactans) which is basically the type species for the genus.

The southern black widow is the most common Latrodectus species in North America, being found throughout the southeastern United States along with Mexico and the Dominican Republic. Like other spiders it largely preys on insects, but sometimes also preys on other spiders, including its fellow species.

Black widows are infamous for their venom, which causes a condition called Latrodectism. This venom is rarely fatal in humans, with fatalities usually being those already of poor health, but it is extremely painful, causing symptons like nausea, vomiting, and muscle pain. These symptoms can sometimes last for weeks.

Black widows are of course also known for practicing sexual cannibalism, where the larger female will consume the male after mating, hence the "widow" name. This is not guaranteed however, as the female may spare the male if she isn't hungry. The females are generally the deadlier of the species though, as they are not only larger, but also have more potent venom (and a longer lifespan). All very fitting for a character who likely poisoned her husband.

As for Jean Bison, I actually like to think that he is a wisent or european bison (Bison bonasus). Part of that is his design. While his head is definitely big, it isn't quite as ridicoulously large as that of an american bison (Bison bison). More importantly however, I think it makes more sense for a european colonizer trying to industrialize the wild north, as opposed to a native american animal.

The european bison is distinquished from its american relative by being generally smaller and lankier in frame, but it is still a large and powerful animal. Adult bulls stand 6 feet tall at the shoulder (taller than the american bison) and can weigh up to 900 kg, making them the largest land animal in all of Europe.

The species has historically had a range covering most of northern Europe, but overhunting and habitat loss drove them to extinction in the wild in the early 20th century. Less than 60 animals remained in zoos worldwide, but thanks to wildlife rehabilitation efforts the species is slowly but steadily recovering. Today they are found in scattered populations across Europe, mostly in the east.

All in all, quite an ironic fit for a villain who's goal involves destroying the natural environment.

And finally we have Arpeggio. I had a hard time choosing between two particular species for him; the yellow faced parrot (Alipiopsitta xanthops), and the golden parakeet (Guaruba guarouba). Thanks to @arpeggio-the-parrot for coining me in on that last one. The yellow-faced has a more appropriate plumage, but the parakeet has a more prominent beak, much like Arpeggio. This combined with features we'll discuss later makes me conclude that he must be a golden parakeet. I do also kinda like the idea of him being a flightless kakapo, but I digress.

The golden parakeet or golden conure is only found in the Amazon Basin of northern Brazil. The species is endangered in the wild due to deforestation and the pet trade. It has a diet largely consisting of fruits and seeds, particularly corn. This is a highly social species, with up to 10 individuals roosting in the same tree hole. Different females will lay their eggs in a single nest, and when the chicks hatch they are raised communally.

The golden parakeet might seem like an odd choice, given that adults of the species are almost entirely yellow, (besides their green remige flight feathers) as opposed to Arpeggio's more balanced mix of yellow and green. However, juvenile parakeets have more prominently green coloring, including their back and tail feathers, which they lose as they grow older. This to me suggests, that Arpeggio likely suffers from paedomorphism (the retention of juvenile traits into adulthood), which would also explain his underdeveloped wings, that are so key to his character. Funny how things work out like that.

#sly cooper #big cats #lizards #spiders #bovids #birds #the taxonomy of Sly

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jak-ratchet-sly-quotes · 1 year ago

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*Rajan looking at how Sly dances*

Rajan: That fellow is very graceful

Jean Bison: If only you moved spice shipments as well

Rajan: Silence!

Sly 2: Band of Thieves

#sly cooper quotes #sly cooper #sly 2 band of thieves #rajan sly cooper #jean bison sly cooper

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rjjameshiii · 2 months ago

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RJ's Platinum Collection #23: Sly 2: Band of Thieves

Achieved on 3/18/2023 at 12:17 PM

This is the best Sly Cooper game. I'm not even going to pretend that the other games, while all good and fun, even compare to this game. Band of Thieves is literally SUCH a good game, and getting the Platinum was so much fun.

Sly Cooper and his two teammates, Bentley and Murray, discover that an international crime syndicate called the Klaww Gang have stolen the parts of Sly's old nemesis Clockwerk, and they must now travel the world to steal the parts back. Unlike the first game, each level is a single map that you can freely traverse to complete missions and steal loot - and Bentley and Murray are playable for the first time! This game is just THE BEST.

Most of the trophies are from just playing the game, but you do need to get enough coins to purchase a bunch of move upgrades from ThiefNet. I started off by playing the tutorial section where the Cooper Gang breaks into a museum in Cairo, only to get chased off by Carmelita Fox and newcomer Neyla.

1/36: Firey Fox - Escape from Carmelita in Egypt.

Then you go into the first real level, Paris, to face off against flamboyant art forger Dimitri. However, before doing any actual missions, I decided to find all 30 clue bottles hidden throughout the level for trophies. Each level has 30 hidden clue bottles that unlock a safe, but you only need to find all of them in one level for the platinum. So I spent about 15 minutes running around the map collecting all the bottles.

2/36: Loot Pockets - Collect 100 coins.

3/36: Gotta Find Um All! - Collect 15 clue bottles.

4/36: Bottle Capped - Collect 20 clue bottles.

5/36: Soda Popped - Collect 30 clue bottles.

I didn't even bother opening the safe after I got the 30th clue, I just resumed playing the missions. I did make sure to collect coins until I got to 1,500 for a few more trophies, then I purchased the available trophy-related upgrades before finishing the level by beating Dimitri in his boss fight.

6/36: Art Snob - Replace a painting undercover.

7/36: Heads Or Tails - Collect 500 coins.

8/36: Exact Change - Collect 1,000 coins.

9/36: Loot! - Collect 1,500 coins.

10/36: Remote Trigger - Purchase the Trigger Bomb from ThiefNet.

11/36: He Is Flaming - Purchase the Fist of Flames from ThiefNet.

12/36: Reptilian Robber - Defeat Dimitri.

And that is pretty much how I spent the rest of the time playing this game - complete missions while purchasing upgrades whenever they became available. Next up were two of my favorite levels in the whole game, the India levels where you steal from the illegal spice trader Rajan.

13/36: Artful Dodger - Purchase the Combat Dodge from ThiefNet.

14/36: Learn To Fox Trot - Dance with Carmelita.

15/36: Someone Call A Doctor? - Purchase the Snooze Bomb from ThiefNet.

16/36: Watch Out It's Spicy - Defeat Rajan.

After the Rajan levels, you move to the Czech Republic for the gothic-themed Contessa levels. The first Contessa level is fun because it's a prison break, but the second level taking place at Contessa's mansion is my second least favorite level. And for some reason Contessa's boss fight has two trophies? Which never made sense to me.

17/36: Train Jumper - Hack the train.

18/36: Rise and Shine - Purchase the Alarm Clock from ThiefNet.

19/36: Spider Legs - Pickpocket 3 items from Contessa.

20/36: Big Spender - Purchase the Paraglider from ThiefNet.

21/36: Pink Fire Flop - Purchase the Raging Inferno Flop from ThiefNet.

22/36: Jail Bird - Break out Carmelita from Contessa's prison.

23/36: Creepy Crawly - Defeat Contessa.

24/36: More Creepy Crawlies - Defeat Contessa again.

From the Czech Republic to Canada is the Jean Bison levels taking place in Canada. Once again this is a situation where I dislike the first level, which is about destroying Jean Bison's trains, while I love the second level, which is about infiltrating a lumberjack competition.

25/36: Rocking It Shell Style - Purchase the Hover Pack from ThiefNet.

26/36: Sneaky - Purchase the Silent Obliteration from ThiefNet.

27/36: Jailed Cotton Candy - Pickpocket three keys from Carmelita in Canada.

28/36: Bear Hug - Cause a bear fight in Canada.

29/36: Upset Stomach - Shoot down Neyla to help out Sly.

30/36: Tummy Trouble - Collect Clockwerk's stomach.

31/36: Moose Head - Steal the moose costume for Murray.

32/36: Gold Medal Winner - Defeat Jean Bison.

And then I only had the final level to do, which is set on the flying airship of Arpeggio, the final boss of the Klaww Gang - except no, the final boss is actually Neyla after she enters her consciousness into Clockwerk's reassembled body. This is the worst level ever. All the missions are stupidly hard but also somehow boring, and the final boss fight against Clock-La is also very hard. However, once you beat the final boss, you will unlock the remaining two trophies and get the Platinum.

33/36: You Look Great In Pink - Purchase the Diablo Fire Slam from ThiefNet.

34/36: Tick-Tock - Defeat Clock-La.

35/36: Bird Dentist - Use Murray's strength to open Clock-La's mouth.

36/36: Unlikely Bandit - Unlock all Sly Cooper 2 trophies.

Sly 2: Band of Thieves will always be the pinnacle of the Sly Cooper series. I love it so much, I played it at least 50 times when I was a child, and it's also one of the Platinums I have where I re-played the game after getting the Platinum. I recommend this game to ALL.

Rating: 10/10

#playstation #ps5 #ps4 #ps2 #playstation trophies #trophy hunting #platinum trophy #sly cooper #sly 2 band of thieves

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totally-correct-shenanigans · 2 years ago

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Rajan: So, Sly Cooper, you finally--

Rajan: ...what are you wearing?

Sly, in the mismatched suit: My ass-kicking outfit, bitch!

#re the rupaul quote from earlier alfnnendn #[soliloqueue]#[totally correct]#sly cooper #incorrect quotes

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sodascribbles · 1 year ago

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two weeks of whump: day one

(read on ao3 here!) For @promptsforyourwhumpfic's Two Weeks of Whump! Thank you :] Poker | Shock Collar | Ashes Characters: Sly Cooper, The Contessa, misc. wolf guards Content: the titular shock collar, mentioned conditioning/'training', very minorly implied whipping, swearing. Note: i assure you, it only goes downhill from here >:3c

Maybe if she didn't want to get shocked, she should have paid better attention.

He’s still learning how to properly utilize the Voltage Strike that he’d tomfuckered his way into while scuffling in Rajan’s temple. He’d panicked and had just sparked up, lightning arcing from his cane as he’d swung.

He didn’t currently have his cane, unfortunately. Hopefully he could still do it.

. . .

He’s dead. He can’t quite find it in himself to be guilty, but he’s definitely about to be dead.

Sly had meant to use the Voltage Strike alongside some kind of escape plan. Knock out some guards, turn off the power, something.

She’d startled him. He’d shocked the Contessa. He’s about to die.

An icy fury burns in her eyes as she glowers at him. Like a deer caught in headlights, he freezes, ears pinned to his skull. He has half a mind to apologize— but he doesn’t get the chance. (And he really doesn’t feel bad. For a split second, before the oh shit had settled in, he had thought it was funny.)

The Contessa smiles. Her expression remains dangerously dark, mandibles clicking as she fucking grins at him. If he hadn’t already been convinced of his imminent demise, that would have done it.

“Hold him here for a moment,” she hisses between her teeth, still smiling.

When she returns, the guards practically scatter away from him, desperate to avoid her wrath. Suddenly unhindered, Sly scrambles backward. He pins himself to the wall, claws scrabbling against the stone.

She has something, held behind her back like one might hold a surprise present, still beaming. He growls, only for it to pitch up into a frightened hiss as she continues to approach.

Unfazed by his (frankly pathetic) attempt at a warning, she gives a quick gesture. Two of the wolves lurch into action, taking him by the shoulders and wrenching his head upward.

“Get off of me—!” He thrashes, of course he does, but the struggling doesn’t do much.

She clicks something into place around his throat. It digs, turning his breaths quick and shallow. It’s not enough to choke him— that is, until she hooks a claw into it and yanks, and he’s cut off with a sharp strangled sound.

“That’s a fascinating ability you have, Cooper,” she coos, waving a ‘hand’ once more and allowing the wolves to release him, “Unfortunately for you, I’ve come prepared.” He flattens backward again, hand coming up to press at the strange��

—collar? She’d collared him?

“Go on!” The Contessa claps her hands together like an excited child. “Try your cute little party trick now.”

…Sly really, really doesn’t want to do that. But he knows better than to disobey an order like that. (The gashes still crisscrossing his back ache pointedly.) So, reluctantly, he reaches into that feeling, letting—

—White hot agony arcs through him. He lets out a choked cry, now-twitching hands coming up to desperately scrabble at the collar— at the shock collar. He’s sent spasming, writhing away from the pain— get it off, get it off, get it—!

All at once, the worst of it is over. It’s like a switch is flipped (belatedly, Sly realizes that’s probably exactly what happened), and the pain sizzles off into an ache. He slumps, eyes glassy, panting.

The Contessa stands over him, looking positively thrilled. “Well, that was a wonderous show,” she coos, crouching down enough to cup his chin and tilt his gaze to hers. He whines, ears pressing down as he tries to pull away. Her grip turns bruising, and he stills. “I think I’ll keep that on you for a while. Teach you some lessons, yes?”

Sly hisses, and almost immediately regrets it as she draws back to turn the collar on again.

“Now your training can truly start,” she smiles, though she knows he can’t hear him. “I can’t wait.”

#two weeks of whump #twow #whump #sodalites sclooper #sodalite scribbles #sly cooper #sly 2 band of thieves #HELLO SLY COOPER COMMUNITY ITS ME SLYS WORST NIGHTMARE #the contessa #shock collar #swearing #lady whumper #uhhhh i still odnt know how to tag hfdskjhlfdkjlh #whump writing

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