Line #11 Headscratchers/SlyCooper


1	* Here's a big one. The Cooper Family, at least the ones who were thieves, are all known by name with no signs of any secret identities, right? How is it that they managed to survive for so long? That's right, survive, seeing as they probably made enemies left and right. Heck, how did they even have NORMAL lives when their names are known as being thieves. In Sly's case its understandable, seeing as he has no life outside of being a thief, but his ancestors, one was a Sushi Chef in a public restaurant, and one was a frikkin KNIGHT. How could anyone NOT connect the dots?
2	** They probably have, but this is a problem you have to consider on a case-by-case basis. Rioichi could get away with it because ninjas weren't necessarily in bad standing with the public, and Sir Galleth founded his own order so he's a knight but not a noble by any means. Most of the Coopers in history seem to rock the title of thief (Tennessee, Salim, Henriette, Sly, and Conner to name a few), and one's that did it more covertly (Thaddeus Winslow Cooper III is the only one we know to do this) either kept themselves in good company with their "honorable thief" schtick or by taking advantage of the time and forging a street identity for themselves. When you travel the world, especially before the computer era, your genealogy won't follow you if you didn't want it to. Enemies would definitely follow their family regardless but when the family business is ripping off master criminals they would've expected that going in.
3	* Why is Guru more than happy to kill people, when he's supposed to be such a pacifist that his protégé, [[spoiler:Murray]] refused to use violence at all until [[spoiler: Bentley, knocked out of his wheelchair by Octavio, begged him to help]] and that Murray was sure that even as the miners were threatening him and his culturally important places, he would be passive and "try to find a middle way?" Even if killing miners was for the greater good, he's shredding guards to bits with a wolf, ramming them into a van that's apparently made of steel, and crushing pirates just one or two episodes later.
4	** My theory is that he's either doing it reluctantly or is secretly a TechnicalPacifist.
5	** Another theory is that the Guru himself accepts and understands the need for violence. He taught his protégé a much more pacifistic route because he knew that's what was needed. Balance
6	* Why oh why didn't they stick with the main villain for the third game, rather than pulling something out of their collective arses?
7	** Two reasons. First, [[spoiler: Clockwerk was unambiguously killed at the end of the second game. The very thing keeping him alive was destroyed and every part of him shriveled into nothing. Bringing him back would have been very cheap.]] Second, there're only so may ways you can rehash the same villain while keeping it interesting; the second game did a good job, and they were wise not to press their luck. Third (though this isn't a "reason"), the new villain has a pretty decent concept.
8	* In Sly 2, why did everyone act like Clock-la would be invincible and unstoppable if she became immortal? Clockwerk was immortal in the first game, but he still got his ass handed to him by the Cooper Gang.
9	** Because of Arpeggio's plan to sow hate through all of Paris. Clockwerk's immortality was fueled only by his own hatred of the Cooper clan, but Clock-la would have the entire city boosting her immortality with hatred.
10	** It should be noted that an additional reason to stop the plan is that the arrival of the blimp over Paris would cause the entire city to go into a giant destructive rage. It'd be like the Narrows in Batman Begins. And that's where the gang lives. Paris, not the Narrows.
11	* Where did Clockwerk get the robot parts for his body? He made it pretty clear that he'd replaced his flesh with them a few thousand years ago, long before the ''concept'' of robots had been created, much less functional parts.
12	** Prosthetics have been around for thousands of years, and since he's obviously smart enough to replace every single part of his body (including his brain and heart, somehow) with mechanical replicas, he was probably way ahead of his time.
13	*** Yes to the prosthetics, but they were made of wood and couldn't link to a nervous system. If Clockwerk could design and build robot parts like that thousands of years before anyone else even thought of them, why didn't he just [[CutLexLuthorACheck sell them]]? He would've been the richest being on Earth and he could hired an army to kill the Cooper clan effortlessly.
14	*** [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou And allow someone else to kill them?]] He achieved ''immortality'' through his sheer hatred of the Cooper clan. Clockwerk was insane to a degree previously unknown. He wouldn't be capable of thinking that way.
15	** It's perfectly possible that the robotic parts are a comparatively recent addition (comparatively as in only a couple of thousand years old). [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries As Napoleon told Ra's Al Ghul,]] "A strong will can fuel a frail physique", and his pure, undiluted hatred gave Clockwerk possibly one of the strongest wills in all of fiction. It's stated that his hatred is what kept him alive for so long, so it's possible that he only became the six-million dollar bird when the technology became available so that he'd be more capable of tormenting the Cooper clan. Plus, in terms of the technology becoming available, remember that Clockwerk is a technical genius far beyond even the capabilities of the Fiendish Five's nominal "chief inventor", Sir Raleigh (as Bentley says after examining the technology used by Ms. Ruby and the Panda King), and Raleigh himself was capable of casually creating a machine to ''control the weather'', which should give you an idea of how smart Clockwerk was. Combine that with an almost infinite drive to defeat the Cooper clan and there's probably not much he ''couldn't'' do.
16	** How DOES one replace ''their own brain and heart''?
17	*** You download your brain onto a mechanical copy, then once every other bit of you is robotic, you replace your heart. Of course, WHY Clockwerk would need a heart is unknown.
18	*** Perhaps the Heart is some form of power regulator/sub-generator. Keeps power flowing across all Clockwerk's systems optimally (routing additional power to systems as needed for mobility or combat or whatever else needs to be done).
19	** Without getting too far into WMG territory, Clockwerk's cameos in Sly 4 as far back as the ice age implies he has some sort of time travel. [[StableTimeLoop Clockwerk gave Clockwerk the Clockwerk parts so Clockwerk would become Clockwerk in the future so he could in turn give Clockwerk his Clockwerk.]]
20	* Why would Clockwerk need a stomach?
21	** Where else would he store the Coopers he has beat?
22	** He used to be a regular owl, with a regular stomach. He probably replaced it with a robotic one at a point in his life after he decided to replace his body parts with machine parts, but still had organic left parts that needed to be nourished. Presumably, it became vestigial once he was completely mechanical, unless it was re-purposed to serve some mechanical function.
23	*** Don't owls have [[ArtisticLicenseBiology gizzards instead of stomachs, anyway?]] Maybe Sucker Punch just didn't want to confuse children who don't even know what a gizzard is. . .but then again according to Sucker Punch, tigers hate water.
24	*** Clockwerk could have also simply needed the stomach (and other organs) to supply support to the framework of his body so it wouldn't be hallow or a complete mess of wires.
25	*** In Sly 2 it managed to power one of Jean Bison's trains to run all day, so it could be some kind of extra engine
26	* Why did Clockwerk build a death ray? Seems like an odd tool for someone who wants to be a master thief...
27	** As explicated at the end of Sly 1, Clockwerk's idea of becoming a master thief is killing all better thieves so he'd have the title by default.
28	*** What did he actually ''steal'', though?
29	*** Sly Cooper's cane. That's got to count for something. Apart from that, though, I'm not sure.
30	*** You could count the Thievius Raccoonus.
31	** New theory: Perhaps Clockwerk is only immortal in the philosophical sense- the Clockwerk family built bigger and better robot suit-type machines throughout history, passing their knowledge down to the next generation. It wasn't until nerve-connective prosthetics were invented that Clockwerk achieved artificial immortality.
32	* What are Clockwerk's parts made of to be so indestructible?
33	** I got the sense that it was the hate chip that was keeping them indestructible, since they all rusted to nothing once it was destroyed. But Bentley did mention something about them being made of super-alloys.
34	* In Sly 3: I didn't really mind Dimitri, and I actually liked the direction they went with the Panda King's character, but having Muggshot be into fighting planes is just ''stupid''. There was absolutely nothing in his character in the first game that would lend itself to that. And don't answer with anything with "dogfight" or "top dog," because even puns that simple would sail over his head.
35	** The dogfights are apparently a perfectly legal way to blow people up in mid-air. Something like that must attract all kinds of psychos and killers, and Mugshot has a lot of steam to blow off.
36	*** He's a mean, stupid thug, and a fan favorite.
37	** Or perhaps the puns did sail right over his head, and he thought he was actually signing up for some kind of dog vs. dog wrestling match or something? Then he comes in and discovers he likes blowing up planes?
38	* Why oh why did Sly have to bring back [[GeniusCripple Bentley]] and [[GentleGiant Murray]]? They were set up for a timely retirement with one crippled and the other grief ridden. He could have got new partners in crime or even just work with the cops in that installment, lending them his understanding of the criminal mind and methodology. he would have had official albeit under cover off-the-records kind of 'official' help and resources with different cops with different specialties helping out for each given job. Of course, it also means working directly with Carmelita but on her terms. Ah, there's still time for that in the future.
39	** Because Bentley and Murray are his friends; he simply WOULDN'T let that happen. Not while he can stop it.
40	*** The Cooper Gang were more than Sly's friends. They're his ''family'', he's not just going to abandon them that easily. Even [[spoiler:at the end of Sly 3, he knows that they know where he is and what he's up to]].
41	*** Officially, Bentley never left. He stuck with Sly after he was crippled, only leaving temporarily to get the wheelchair. Murray, meanwhile, did leave.
42	*** Besides, the whole plot of 3 was to steal back a fortune in previously stolen goods that was being re-stolen by an old accomplice of Sly's father. If Sly had gone to the cops for help, they'd have laughed all the way to the sturdiest cell in the joint. Plus, Dr. M was right, he was within his rights as the legal owner of the island to crack the vault. Everything in it was stolen goods, but... maritime salvage laws. We'll go with that.
43	*** Most of the stuff in the vault was stolen hundreds, if not thousands of years ago. The statute of limitations on those crimes is long since expired. Dr. M might have run into some trouble with the more recent additions to the vault (like the stuff added by Sly's dad) but most of it is up for grabs.
44	* Am I the only one bothered by the ending, NOT because Sly [[spoiler:pretty much abandons his friends]] (though that was pretty bad), but because no one points out that there's probably something wrong with lying about something THAT BIG? Especially basing a romantic relationship off that lie?? (Flight of Fancy bugged me, too-- before you know that Penelope [[spoiler:is the Black Baron]], it sounds like she's very upset by the idea that someone might cheat... so, naturally, you do just that TO GET HER TO JOIN THE TEAM.)
45	** The ending fades to black after Bentley figures it out, and he acts indignant enough. As for Flight of Fancy, the only caper Penelope actually helps you on is one where you're trying to stop people from cheating against you.
46	*** I thought she was upset that somebody had (successfully) bribed the ''Baron's'' minions into helping hurt you?
47	** Penelope is with the gang, drooling over Sly, for a couple of episodes before she ends up in a relationship with anyone, and the only ''relationship'' lie involving her was the internet thing with with the 'shopped photos, which Bentley obviously got over pretty quickly. As for the Sly/Carmelita resolution being based on a lie, that bothers me a lot. Not ''just'' [[spoiler:he faked amnesia,]] but that ''she'' lied about who he is. (and how the hell did she get away with that, anyway? Yes, let's just give an [[spoiler:amnesiac]] criminal access to the international police's resources, and hope he's not lying now, nor will [[spoiler:get his memory back]] without telling anyone.)
48	** In all fairness, he did leave them all of the Cooper Vault Wealth. And He did think that he had been foolish for trying to avoid a relationship for so long a mere hour before hand.
49	*** Yeah, arguably, leaving his family's gold as a goodbye makes [[spoiler:skipping out on his TrueCompanions]] a bit better, but the question of the relationship he did so for being based on a pretty darn big lie on either side is still there.
50	*** No one said it was an easy choice. But it can only be one thing, no matter how you think [[WebOriginal/LOLCats abowt]] it. He DID leave them a good bye present after all. Being his friends, he knew they'll understand.
51	* How come Penelope, someone even less physically oriented than Bentley, was able to [[spoiler:hand Sly's ass to him in a boxing match as the Baron?]] And why did she deign not to use this magical talent afterwards?
52	** Uh, since it's surely the succeeded task that's the canon event, since that's what's needed to continue, that should be [[spoiler:''nearly'' hand Sly's ass to him, and even that took lots of minions]]. Also, she does [[spoiler:win the sword fight against [=LeFwee=]]], so it's not the only time she shows such a talent. Also, less physically oriented than Bentley? Where do you get that from? She was a [[spoiler:blinkin' fighter ace, after all]]. More generally, hitting people is what they have Murray for, they got Penelope for the RC vehicle skills.
53	*** Whoops, I didn't clarify the [[spoiler:boss fight]] as I had intended to, sorry. I'll accept your arguments; it JBM that someone with all that [[spoiler:potential strength]] only operates through machines, is all.
54	*** She might be a [[spoiler:decent fighter]] but the gang has a better [[spoiler:strong person]] and her true potential is as a mechanic and pilot.
55	*** Plus, This Troper always assumed that, due to the [[spoiler:considerable difference in size between the Baron and Penelope, that the Baron suit ''was'' some sort of machine, which would enhance her strength as well as change her voice. Plus, though both this and the [=LeFwee=] fight shows that she's quite skilled in combat, it's unlikely that a "Master Boxer' would leave themselves open to attack as much as she did during the fight. (Yes, I realize that pointing out a boss's tactics being illogical is kind of redundant with these sorts of bosses, but it should be noted nonetheless.)]]
56	*** Should what [[spoiler:the Baron]] says in the cutscene beforehand be an actual part of [[spoiler:Penelope's]] past and not just banter, it makes sense that [[spoiler:she would be very good at fighting since she's "trained ten years at fisticuffs"]].
57	** I must have missed that part of the game. Last time I played, it was ''the baron'' who got his (well, her, but... you know) ass handed to him by ''Sly''. The canon event is Sly kicking her ass to the point where she surrenders. And, considering that Sly won, despite all the help the baron got from his henchmen, I'd say it's safe to say Sly [[EpicBattleBoredom was so busy kicking ass, he forgot to take names]], if you'll excuse the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' reference.
58	* I've got to ask, between the first and second games, did Murray... go off his meds or something? I mean, in the first game, he's a fairly normal hippo (well, as normal as anyone is in these games), albeit kind of cowardly and with a serious case of "Sly-envy", as the developers put it, and in the second game, he's, well... [[LargeHam THE MURRAY!]] Maybe it's [[AllThereInTheManual explained in a tie-in comic or something]], but... it just seems odd to me.
59	** HE IS THE MURRAY
60	** Well, what would ''you'' prefer? A not-all-that-interesting slightly clumsy oaf or [[LargeHam THE GREATEST HAM IN THE HISTORY OF PLAYSTATION]]?
61	*** Don't pretend you didn't like Sly 1 Murray's brand of goofiness.
62	*** Several believe that Murray became The Murray via watching Pro-wrestling. Hence the third-person reference and the want to hit stuff.
63	*** Pro-wrestling? My guess was that he got in to Arnold Schwarzenegger movies and 90's comics. Lots and lots of 90s comics. Sly 1 Murray also probably had an inner desire to be a tough [[LargeHam eccentric]] who could KO people in one punch. Mix that in with wanting to be a more useful member of the team, watching a few seasons of wrestling, supporting friends, a few years, and a damn good weight-lifting set, and you have THE MURRAY.
64	*** In addition, Murray probably got a confidence boost from doing field work in the first game. The way Sly talks about him at the end of Thievius Raccoonus implies that field work was something new for Murray (remember Sly describes him as a "full-time burden" at the start of the game), so it's fair to guess that after a couple successful outings, Murray wanted to become even more useful and achieve more, thus training to become a totem pole of strongism.
65	** Plus, it IS two years between the first and second. It's not uncommon for people to overcome personal conflicts in that time.
66	* Okay, a few questions about Raleigh from the first game. 1. When Sly encounters advanced technology in Ms. Ruby's and the Panda King's world, why does Bentley immediately assume that "The fifth member of the Fiendish Five" (who they didn't know about at that point) supplied it, rather than their actual chief inventor. 2. ''Why didn't he use any machines during his boss fight?'' I mean, don't get me wrong, the fight was fun and all, but he's been built up all this time as a "mad machinist" capable of creating bizarre and fantastical devices, including a weather manipulator. I was all set up to fight some sort of giant robot or massive death ray or ''something'' cool and mechanical. Instead, he just bloated himself up and tried to jump on you. I mean, I love the character and wish they'd done more with him, but... Damn, talk about an anticlimax. and 3. Where did he get that sweet hat? I want one!
67	** You can get one at the gift shop. Same place where you buy the canes.
68	** Perhaps Raleigh was caught up in the moment and forgot about his weaponry, or he just didn't have any on hand because he was confident no one would get him in his blimp.
69	** Raleigh was the first boss beaten in the game. During his levels, Bentley was analyzing his technology to see if it could be used against him and the other team members later if he had supplied it to them. Bentley could analyze Raleigh's tech and schematics then compare it to the machine Sly rides during the turret sections in the third and fourth stages and so saw that the technology ''didn't match Raleigh's own creations''. Also, Bentley was performing chemical analysis on the alloys used to create those vehicles and saw it didn't match with any metal Raleigh had used.
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71	* If Interpol had the files to the Fiendish Five linking them to the murder of Sly's parents and the locations of their hideouts for ''years'', then why for the love of all that's pure and decent didn't they arrest them earlier? Were they just not concerned with catching them and decided to focus all efforts on Sly and his gang? If so Interpol has some seriously messed up priorities if they place more importance on simple thieves than a gang of pirates/ mobsters/bank-robbing [[HollywoodVoodoo voodoo priestess(es)]] with a plan to [[TakeOverTheWorld make everyone in the world their ghost-zombie minions]]/arsonists/mad scientists.
72	** Either their locations were just too damn impossible to navigate (Raleigh and Ruby come to mind), or they were only suspected of murdering Sly's parents (likely due to confirmed/suspected association with Clockwerk, who would be way impossible to catch anyway,) or they were using hostages to work out some sort of deal at one time (I mean, Panda King could blow up towns and did so once both Interpol and Sly's Gang started to go after him, and it's likely Ruby could do much more damage with her voodoo powers, Raleigh could wreck havoc if he took his weather machine elsewhere, Mugshot was basically a walking tank that took over an entire city, and you know Clockwerk could've taken over the planet if he wanted. I mean, c'mon.) Also, Sly's gang is anything but simple. Weren't they mentioned having stolen a priceless gem from some temple prior to the first game's beginning?
73	** Carmelita actually showed that she didn't know that the Panda King was a criminal, so it's possible that Interpol only SUSPECTED Panda King of arson, but never had the evidence.
74	*** Likewise, Interpol probably only suspected Mz. Ruby of her bank robberies, as it is doubtful that their police force would [[CassandraTruth even believe voodoo exists if anyone reported it to them]].
75	** Bureaucracy? It's also worth pointing out it wasn't all of Interpol trying to catch the Cooper Gang, it was Carmelita's assignment, and even though she continually failed it she was likely never taken off the case because of all the wonderful things she did along the way. As it stands, Muggshot's recent takeover of an entire city was probably the only thing the Fiendish Five did that was both immediately concerning and easy to pin on him, and you can just assume they weren't there before you were because they take a lot longer than Team Sly does to mobilize.
76	* Here's what I don't get about the end of Sly 2. [[spoiler:How did Clockwerk cripple Bentley? Where did Murray go with him? What was that red thing that looked like Bentley that was draped on a rock? How did Cooper escape the helicopter Did Murray feel guilty for not really protecting Bentley? I'm very confused.]]
77	** [[spoiler:Clockwerk (Clock-la, really) crippled Bentley when she crushed him in her beak. Murray and Bentley went somewhere, but the location isn't important. I'm pretty sure the "red thing that looked like Bentley" was Bentley's and Murray's thief outfits. Sly escaped the helicopter because Bentley and/or Murray somehow managed to replace the pilot and control the helicopter. Sly then just jumped out of it once Carmelita took her eyes off of him. Yes, Murray felt guilty for not protecting Bentley, and it's dealt with in Sly 3. Did you actually beat the game? Most of these questions are clearly answered by the game, so I don't see why you find it so confusing.]]
78	*** Ah yes! I just recently beat ''Sly 2''. I wrote that before I had beat it, so yah. XD
79	*** Dude, you gotta beat these games before asking questions like that...
80	*** Which makes me ask an equally big question, [[spoiler:What was Neyla trying to accomplish through her betraying of every single character in the game and transformation into Clock-la? Did she just want to kill everyone or something?]]
81	*** [[spoiler:Neyla likely wanted to take over Arpeggio's plan and attain immortality like Clockwerk himself.]]
82	** The tie-in comic that fills in the gap between the second and third games shows that [[spoiler:Murray took Bentley to a hospital, and he was there for a while under police guard (it can be assumed that Sly escaping from Carmelita made the deal for his gang's freedom null and void). Sly and Murray break Bentley out and get the gang back together, but Murray's still feeling guilty for Bentley's paralysis and quits the gang to find himself.]]
83	* Not really a huge deal, but I've always wondered. In the first Sly game, what are those things in the ground when you're fighting Muggshot? They look sorta like crystals, and you seem to reflect the light off of them. I'm just not sure what they are, or why they're there in the first place.
84	** I think they're just fancy decorations that can repurposed to fry you. Maybe a security system installed by the building's previous owner that Muggshot didn't know about?
85	* Did Sly actually become Carmelita's partner as part of his fake amnesia plan? Given the situation, I can see Interpol having an issue with that, if only for the ethics of it. (Yes, we know Sly was only playing along with Carmelita's lie, and I doubt Carmelita was trying to take advantage of him, but others would probably see it at a HeelFaceBrainwashing.)
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87	* What I don't get is, how can two people of different species be in a relationship? Bentley and Penelope are a reptile and mammal, so it's really impossible for them to have kids one day.
88	** [[GenderEqualsBreed The boys will be turtles, the girls mice]].
89	** Well, it never says that they have children. Even humans can be in a relationship without having children, despite what media [[BabiesEverAfter would have you believe]]. Now, go watch ''WebAnimation/ThereSheIs'' and tell me that anthropomorphic animals in fiction [[StarcrossedLovers have to be the same species to be in love]].
90	** Sly and Carmelita are no different, they are also two different species in a relationship.
91	** Let's look at General Tsao (a rooster -- or a bird of some sort) and Jing King (a panda) -- granted Jing King was kidnapped, and there was going to be a forced marriage, not to mention the implications of that, which is why Sly and the gang rescue her -- but given Tsao's comment about having his bloodline and that of the King's bloodline, maybe being of two different species isn't as much of a biological barrier to having children as one might think. That being said, as Sly says, Tsao's the worst villain the gang has faced.
92	** Then there's Paradox (a skunk) and Decibel (an elephant) -- granted, the relationship was one-sided, with Paradox taking advantage of Decibel's interest in the lost classical songs of the masters, and leading her on in thinking that the relationship was serious -- one might have some [[SympathyForTheDevil sympathy for Decibel]] upon learning about what she went through, and how Padradox simply [[YouHaveFailedMe dumped her for "failing" him]] -- and [[AndThatsTerrible he insulted her musical talents]], [[YouAreFat not to mention her weight]]. Well, at least she has a [[EarnYourHappyEnding better fate than Paradox]]. She might even get out with good behavior.
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94	* How the heck did Dimitri end up in an Italian jail when he was arrested in France? Not only that, but the credits of Sly 2 say [[spoiler:he reformed and became a dance instructor on a cruise ship]]. So what happened to that life?
95	** That one's easy. Dimitri's a career criminal, he probably did something else illegal and got caught. Most likely recently, as the jail Sly broke him out of looked more like a holding cell than anything else.
96	** The things he did that were mentioned in the credits of Sly 2 could have happened ''after'' the events of Sly 3.
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98	* Why did they introduce the mechanical eggs near the end of Sly 2? They weren't relevant to the plot, and they were a perfectly good excuse to have an army of Clockwerk's for the next game, but that was their first and last appearance. This troper hasn't played Sly 3, by the way.
99	** The eggs contain mini robot henchmen for that level(and yes, they had did nothing in Sly 3).
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101	* Would Arpeggio's scheme really have worked? The kind of anger that fueled Clockwerk was obsessive, psychotic hatred. What he was trying to create was basically a chemically induced rage. While they both fit the concept of 'anger' in the dictionary sense, they have very little in common.
102	** Way I see it, as long as it's an overpowering urge to keep going, it counts.
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104	* Arpeggio's scheme is reliant on using the Northern Lights Battery to drive Paris into a hypnosis-induced rage. The Northern Lights Battery has no power in it whatsoever; Sly's gang ''knows'' this, since they were the ones who drained it, in order to be able to ride it up to the blimp, which they did. So, why the worry over Clock-La driving Paris into a rage, when it's clearly impossible?
105	** He could have gotten one earlier -- Arpeggio is one for planning ahead. Too bad, he didn't see Neyla's "EvilerThanThou" actions coming until it was too late.
106	** Plus they still were planning to dump spice onto Paris which would probably still create the desired effect. Remember even though they stopped John Bison, it's still only mentioned that they stopped distribution in the States. Plus they'd been shipping the spice for a while until Sly and the Gang put a stop to it, so Arpeggio would've had access to plenty.
107	* Why is it that neither a turtle or a hippo can swim?
108	** They grew up in an orphanage and probably weren't taught. Animals in real life =/= Animals in fiction.
109	** Bentley has no excuse. Murray, on the other hand, does. [[ArtisticLicenseBiology Hippos don't swim. They walk across the bottom of shallow water. Only water shallow enough to stand in.]]
110	** Murray can be seen swimming in Sly 4.
111	*** He gains an excuse in Sly 3, [[spoiler:when he confined to a wheelchair.]]
112	*** Which really just opens up more questions: if he's such a genius and can invent ''a friggin' time machine'', why can't he invest in a pair of hidden floaties [[spoiler:in his wheelchair tires or something? He's turned the thing into a short-flight jet pack (bypassing the usual trouble of scorching one's own legs), so what's the problem? Also, why is it not electric? He's able to make a mechanical arm quiet enough to pick pockets, so what's stopping him from making a silent wheelchair that moves at the touch of a finger? It's obvious the workout isn't building any arm muscles, so you'd think he'd want to save his energy for something else.]]
113	* In the China level of Sly 3, when Tsao steals the laptop, you have to head into his palace and hack into his computer. Now, the entire point of this level is to save Jing King, who is in the same room as the computer, so why don't they just rescue her then while Tsao is waiting in the forest? The only thing between you and her is a sliding glass door!
114	** I believe it had to deal with ruining him for what he did to Panda King. Tsao took his daughter, he wanted Tsao to be publicly humiliated. Also, Tsao, if I recall correctly, was part of a rich/well-known family, who could've easily set aside the resources to procuring her and ensuring the Cooper Gang ended up in jail.
115	* So, Clockwerk's character revolves around him being a rival to the Cooper Clan, who's tired of them besting him as a master thief over the years. This poses two questions... 1) If Clockwerk is a master thief like the Coopers, why isn't he more notorious (according to Sly, Interpol hardly had any information on him)? And 2) How good a thief could he possibly be given that he's a giant robotic owl? His metal body makes so much noise when you fight him, it doesn't seem he could be that stealthy, and he's ''way'' too big to even fit through most doors, let alone windows or air vents or other "thief" entrances.
116	** As for why Interpol had hardly any info on him? He just [[LeaveNoWitnesses kills any witnesses]]. As for actual thieving... Maybe he has his hawk drones do that for him?
117	** To answer #1, the Cooper family, we know Sly for sure, probably left a calling card at their heists, while Clockwerk probably didn't.
118	* What's with Bison? He uses the Clockwerk parts to make his trains run non-stop. Given that the purpose of a train is to transport something from point A to point B, and you can only load/unload cargo when the train isn't moving, wouldn't a train that never stops be essentially useless? Also, his trophy for the Lumberjack games was truly idiotic. The Clockwerk Talons were known to have been stolen from a museum in Egypt. By putting them up as a trophy, he is announcing to the world that he has received stolen property, giving Interpol grounds to arrest him had they been paying attention. And offering an item which is technically illegal to own as a trophy isn't going to attract many competitors. Maybe that's why the Cooper gang was the only team competing against him?
119	** Despite what he said to the contrary, Jean Bison was never the sharpest knife in the box.
120	** I think that The Trains do stop when they are unloading, it's that they no longer have to stop and refuel anymore.
121	** Jean Bison getting away with airing the talons as a trophy can be addressed by {{Screw The Rules I Have Money}}/{{Screw The Rules I Have Connections}} combined with Interpol's infiltration by the Klaww Gang. Jean was noted to be a shipping mogul who dominated the industry in North America so it's not a stretch he had the connections to ensure that the local authorities would look the other way when it came to his little contest. Interpol could be handled by Neyla pulling strings to make sure her fellow Klaww member wouldn't be prosecuted for holding stolen property, at least not until he served his purpose in the big plan.
122	* If Dr. M wanted to get into the Cooper Vault, why didn't he [[spoiler:do what Carmelita did to break inside after the battle with him and Sly?]]
123	** A better question: Why didn't he wait until Sly finished opening the door and ''then'' shoot at him at the very beginning instead of shooting the door shut and going through all that rigamarole to get the cane to unlock the door?
124	** I assumed she got into the vault zone the way Dr. M did and her blasting in was just a compromise to avoid modeling and animating her doing so.
125	* Is it just me, or does it seem that all of Carmelita's arrests seem to be just her settling for not catching Sly? In fact, she's super focused on catching Sly. Don't those kind of cops usually get kicked off the force (and no, I'm not counting that time she DID because she was framed) in fiction? And I'm sure that most of the places she fallows Sly to are outside INTERPOL's region of operations. I even think she might be letting Sly get away (well, her unconscious mind at least) because that part of her mind KNOWS that if she catches Sly for good, that's the end of her life's work, as it were, much like Sly saves her because without her, steal would be 'less fun.'
126	** Why isn't Carmelita getting kicked off the force, despite her obsession with Sly, and despite her repeated failures to catch him? She keeps getting SavedByTheAwesome, that's why. She might never catch Sly, but she always seems to catch the criminals he's stealing from, and they're never small-timers. Her bosses have probably figured out by now that she'll never catch Sly (and hold him long enough to send him to prison), but they humor her because of all the big-time criminals she catches while chasing him.
127	*** Maybe it's because she's too powerful to remove from Interpol?
128	*** Carmelita having enough clout in Interpol to be kept on the Cooper Case no matter how much she fails might be the case. If you recall, ''Sly 3'' showed Carmelita has the connections/resources to hire a force of mercenaries in Italy. Her bio in the strategy guide for ''Sly Collection'' says she's the fourth generation of her family to serve in law enforcement. It might be that like how Sly descends from a long line of rogues (thieves, ninjas, bandits, etc.), Old Ironsides might be the last daughter of a lineage of guardians (cops, royal guards, centurions, etc.) who guarded valuables and otherwise enforced the law. The Fox name might be feared in the criminal underworld and respected among the law, the latter being relevant.
129	*** Alternatively, it’s possible that, offscreen, Carmelita is fully competent and successful at dealing with most of the criminals she faces. Sly and his gang are the exception, not the rule, and they just soften up the big-timers ‘’they’’ face for her.
130	* Where the flying hell does [[spoiler:Penelope's hatred of Sly in ''Thieves in Time'']] come from? [[spoiler:She spent most of the third game obsessed with him, and now she holds an insane desire to see him gone because he's supposedly holding her and Bentley back, despite the intro alone showing how very NOT held back they are? Hell, we don't even know how she MET Le Paradox or how easy or hard it was for him to convince her to give him the plans for the time machine. Were Sanzaru's writers just unable to think of something better to do with her than turn her into Neyla II? Was the thought of more than one female protagonist unbearable? Are they Murray x Bentley shippers?]]
131	** Simple. Poor, lazy, writing.
132	** Look at the facts. [[spoiler:In Sly 3, it was clear Penelope had a desire for power. All of her gadgets came with major offensive capabilities, and were set to self destruct when she lost control of them because she didn't want anyone else getting their hands on them. She became the Black Baron out of a desire to enter the ACES competition, where she would be allowed to freely blow other planes out of the skies. She found herself donning the Black Baron suit more and more because she found herself powerful while inside of it. While she did idolize Sly when she first met him, it's likely her opinion of him became lower and lower as the game went on, which is why she went after Bentley after the gang recruits Dimitri. She probably began to think that Sly was much less honorable than he makes himself out to be. Also, she initially thinks that Sly taught Bentley what he knows; it's likely that she thought Sly was an intellectual at first, especially because he managed to beat her while she was the Black Baron, and eventually found out that it was Bentley who masterminded all the plans.]]
133	*** Yeah, no, sorry, still not seeing anything that should lead to what happened here. Not to mention half of that paragraph was pure guesswork anyway.
134	*** I'm assuming Sly 3's Penelope and [[spoiler:Sly 4's Penelope are twins with the same name]].
135	*** It was brainwashing.
136	*** The Black Knight is [[spoiler:Penelope from a different timeline. Our Penelope's still MIA.]]
137	*** [[spoiler:The opening sequence of Sly 4 shows Bentley working on his time machine and every few seconds we see Penelope switching jobs in the background. This would imply that Bentley became absorbed into his work. Penelope probably became upset Bentley was paying more attention to his project than her and decided to blame Sly on some faulty logic that it's his fault (probably because Bentley was building the time machine in the first place to see what the future would hold for the gang). It's [[EvilIsPetty stupid and irrational]], but that's as good an answer as I can make.]]
138	*** [[spoiler:She said her reasons were quite clear. She felt that Sly and his thief honor was holding her and Bentley back. She wanted to start making and selling weapons. She stated herself "We could have made billions!" in the third chapter. She blames sly for that and thus she wants to get rid of him, ignoring the fact that doing so would probably erase her and Bentley's meeting as well.]]
139	*** [[spoiler:Her]] vaguely explaining it doesn't make it any less poorly written.
140	*** Not at all. Why are people insisting that [[spoiler:Penelope]] is a nice character due to lazy writing? [[spoiler:Fact is that in her persona as Black Baron, she is still cheating (that's why she has those blimps and such). She is pretty much attracted to power, as seen in her change from Sly to Bentley. Sure she has worked with the Cooper Gang in 3, but we only know of her through the heist. If anything, her actions isn't surprising at all especially when people recall her stint as the Black Baron]].
141	*** Before I got Sly 4, I replayed the entire original trilogy in order to familiarize myself with the series again. Playing Sly 3 and Sly 4 back to back made me realize one thing about [[spoiler:Penelope. Sly 3 never really goes that deeply into her characterization. She is, for all intents and purposes, a foil for Bentley's character development. Specifically: his feelings of doubt due to living in Sly's shadow. It's Penelope's attraction to Sly that causes Bentley to ask the question 'what does he have that I don't?'. Not just out of jealousy but also out of desire to better himself and be a larger asset to the team overall. It's her later attraction and actual relationship with Bentley that causes him to ask the much more important question 'what do I have that he doesn't?'. It's through Penelope that Bentley steps out of Sly's shadow and truly grows into his role in the team. This is made more evident when you realize Bentley hardly has a single moment of doubt throughout the entire fourth game (save the realization over who the Black Knight is for understandable reasons). But what do we really know about Penelope herself? We know she's a brilliant machinist and an accomplished fighter pilot, that makes up her skills. We know she can be spunky and fun-loving but serious when she needs to be, that gives us a general idea of her personality. However, I cannot recall a single moment in the third game that gave us a clear idea of her morals or her long term goals past the Cooper Vault job. What I'm trying to say is: while the third game doesn't give much warning of a face heel turn, there's nothing really there that contradicts one either. Don't get me wrong: I like Penelope and it was hard for me to see her turn against the team. But I don't see anything wrong about it from a narrative standpoint. Now whether or not you like the idea of turning Penelope into a villain, here are two things you have to realize. One: This is not the end of the story. The ending made it very clear that there is more to come. Two: Penelope is still at large and her current status remains unknown. That means that Sanzaru is not done with Penelope at all. They still have plans for her which means we don't know everything... yet.]]
142	*** Another thing most people forget is that the first time we play as Penelope is when she is brutally punishing some thugs for betraying the Black Baron. [[spoiler: AKA, herself.]] This mouse has a temper, and is NOT fond of betrayal, perceived or otherwise.
143	* This part just bugs me but Dimitri in Thieves in Time is shown being given the Thievius Raccoonus and told to watch and guard it while Sly and the others go through time. You'd expect to see a mission showing him doing that, but instead he does nothing throughout the entire game. He doesn't even talk! With they way they hyped him having learned Sly's moves in the trailer for the game this comes as a disappointment seeing how popular and well received he was.
144	** It's the same trick used in the marketing for ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph''. Show popular characters that everyone loves and they'll want to buy it, even if the character has no affect on the plot.
145	* I love this series, but...why doesn't Sly know how to lockpick? Is there not a single chapter in the Thievius Raccoonus on lockpicking?
146	** Maybe lockpicking is too "common" a skill to be written down? Most of the tricks contained in there are various brands of awesome, so maybe "basic" thievery skills aren't recorded because it's assumed everyone will already have learned them? Sly didn't have his father to show him the ropes, so he may have missed out on a few "simple" tricks.
147	** In Sly 3, Murray suggests that Sly pick the lock of one of the hotels instead of him and Bentley going through a sewer full of mines, so he may know how to in Sly 3 but must only do it off-screen, or he's never had trouble stealing keys for pick-able locks and his friends just assumed he knows how to or would learn it in the time from the plan to this job.
148	** More importantly, in the aforementioned conversation in Sly 3, Bentley explains that in the context of that specific job, any evidence of the door being forced might lead people to believe that Team Iceland is innocent of the crime they're framing them for. Presumably Sly does pick locks in the context of say, a museum heist, where the gang isn't inviting anyone different to come after them (they'll be targeted by the police, which is nothing new), but in jobs where they're dealing with criminals (such as the one in Paris against Dimitri), they're trying to be as stealthy as possible, which means that it's to their advantage not to leave traces by forcing a door.
149	** According to the comics, the cane does have a lockpick function.
150	* There's something that's always bugged me about the boss fight with Muggshot in the first game. When you use the mirrors to destroy his guns, his first reaction is to head upstairs to grab his spare ones. Here's my question: why does he even ''need'' them? I mean, he's got this massive, brawny upper body, and it never occurs to him that he can just use his fists?
151	** That massive upper body on top of those dinky little legs. He can punch down a vault door with ease, but he isn't built to deal with mobile targets. There is simply no physical way that Muggshot could maneuver well enough to fight up close. Sure, long reach and all, but it's doubtful Muggshot could even really walk at this point. I love the guy, but the only way ol' Muggshot is going to hit something is if it's stationary. Besides, if he decided to punch Sly it would be a OneHitKill.
152	* At the end of Thieves in Time, [[spoiler:Le Paradox uses his forged royal ancestry from Ancient Arabia to essentially take over Paris in the present day. After being defeated, he's immediately arrested and the changes are reversed. But what caused those changes and on what charges was he arrested for? All they did was beat up the guy who's connected to royalty and destroyed his blimp and time machine. And I don't see how destroying the time machine in the present reversed his use of it in the past.]]
153	** It's told in the game (the very cutscene before that chapter, even) that he had tried to be a thief, multiple times, and always failed and got caught. Then when he was let out of prison, he started up an illegal operation of buying and re-selling stolen priceless artifacts. Carmelita not only found this out early in the game, but she managed to snag that Arabian coin as proof, so Interpol had plenty of authorization for his arrest.
154	** It is implied that [[spoiler:Le Paradox brought his forged royal ancestry documents with him aboard his blimp when he returned to present-day Paris. This would have prevented the documents from aging, thus making it far too easy to prove that they were forgeries through a carbon-dating test, even considering that they were made of period-correct materials (because they actually were made in Ancient Arabia). Also, given Le Paradox's high social status, being (as far as everyone knew) a billionaire art collector, it's not unreasonable to assume that the documents were not tested until after his stolen treasure smuggling ring was exposed following his arrest.]]
155	* Why did they introduce the EleventhHourSuperpower of Sly 3, the [[spoiler:laser slide]], with an AssPull? Sly even says himself that he doesn't know the move necessary for his father's chamber in the Cooper vault.
156	** The lazer slide was the signature move of Sly's father, and he would have presumably recorded it if he wasn't suddenly killed. Upon seeing that his father was able to do it he probably tried to give it a shot and was able to do it.
157	* This isn't anything major due to certain spoilers in Sly 2, but why the hell would Neyla need a warrant to search the ancient, abandoned temple Rajan is hiding in?
158	** It's designated as an archaeological site by the Indian Government? Running about ancient palaces like Rajan's hideout in an official capacity has to involve some amount of red tape.
159	** Even though it's blatantly being inhabited and used by a known drug lord? Surely there should at least be probable cause in searching the place.
160	** You guys are thinking about this the wrong way. You're right, she probably didn't need a warrant for ruins inhabited by a known drug lord, but Sly and the gang don't need to know that. In fact, think about how quickly she was able to get Carmelita and the Contessa on scene. She was likely already assigned to investigate the temple on Interpol's orders, but decided to play both sides trust, by letting Sly think she didn't have the authority. She certainly is a manipulator, we all know that now.
161	* In ''Thieves in Time'', how does Sir Galleth know the Ninja Spire Jump three hundred years before it was invented by Rioichi?
162	** I've wondered that myself.
163	** Probably so that Galleth wouldn't be missing a key move that Sly has. I guess you could handwave it by saying Sly taught it to him offscreen and instructed him not to record it in the Racoonus to preserve history or something.
164	** Perhaps Galleth, and maybe Salim, know proto-versions of the Spire Jump, at least good enough to do it in their eras and not fall to their deaths, but Rioichi perfected the maneuver, and figured out the formula that later Coopers could more easily learn, while others before him were more trial-and-error sorts, who didn't always get it quite right -- luckily, there was always something that they could grab onto instead of plunging to their deaths.
165	* In ''Thieves in Time'', it's made clear that Sly had no idea that Caveman "Bob" Cooper ever existed, since Bob predates the Thievius Raccoonus. Which begs the question: how the heck did Le Paradox know about him, or know to send the Grizz to steal his cane?
166	** It's possible that the Grizz was going to go back to steal another Cooper's cane, but made some kind of deal with Le Paradox involving the pterodactyl eggs and the falsified-ancient-art scheme—he would pull that off and then go steal the cane from the original ancestor. But when he discovered what appeared to be the first Cooper, he alerted Le Paradox and he had the Grizz kill two birds with one stone.
167	* So in Thieves in Time, Sly gets back together with his closest friends in order to save his family history. Alright, all fine and good. However, what bugs me is that with a whole new extended gang present, how come Sly never invited along Panda King and The Guru on the adventure? Dimitri being behind as mission control makes sense as they need someone to keep track of what's happening in the present, but why not bring the spiritual mind controller and their explosives expert? Would've made some of their experiences a bit easier back then.
168	** It's said in the epilogue of Sly 3 that the Panda King retired after the events of the game, living in a small house next to his daughter. It's probable that he declined the invitation so he could concentrate on keeping his daughter safe. As for the Guru, he took on some new (famous) students, and ended up hiding out in New York. It's likely they either couldn't find him or couldn't get in contact with him. Keep in mind that they are almost literally racing against time here, with the words of the Thievious Raccoonus disappearing as they spoke, so it's equally likely that they didn't really have time to contact the Panda King or Guru, and Dimitri just happened to be in the area for them to get in contact with on short notice.
169	** We don't get told how long it's been since Sly 3, but since the first three games happened in real-time then it's not unreasonable to assume the vault job happened 8 years prior to Thieves in Time. If they hadn't remained active in that time period it's unlikely they're all gonna drop what they're doing to help Sly.
170	* WHY did Sly try to leave a calling card at the museum heist in ''Thieves in Time''? I mean, did he really think that leaving a sign screaming he was there would go over well with Carmelita even if she never showed up? And heck, why does he leave a calling card at all? His entire TheReasonYouSuckSpeech at Le Paradox is that a Cooper wouldn't blow their cover to show off - but Sly does exactly that by leaving a calling card, doesn't he?
171	** Since the Cooper Gang as far as Carmelita knew had six other criminals in them I'm taking that that he thought even if he had left a calling card Carmellita would think that one of his half a dozen incredibly skilled criminal friends had pulled off the heist.
172	** Thieves in Time Sly is incredibly arrogant and insensitive in ways that the previous installments show him not to be (the best lines he delivers to the various bosses are childish insults, and he somehow believes that making pervy comments about the bellydancing will go over well with the woman who's been pissed off at him the whole game). He was hyped up on the adrenaline rush from being able to pull off a heist and wanted to brag a bit. As for point #2: Sly's point wasn't that Le Paradox left proof that he was there; it was that Le Paradox's aim to be the greatest thief of all time was undermined by how much of a trail he was leaving behind in the process of time-traveling. Sly is saying that Le Paradox wasn't a bit stealthy, left a trail made less of bread crumbs and more of entire loaves for the Cooper Gang to follow, and exposed himself as a criminal to an Interpol officer who had previously thought him to be a legitimate (if slightly suspicious) art collector. All the Coopers do by leaving a calling card is make a statement that says that they were the ones who pulled off the job, and the only real link between their crimes is that (at least in theory) they're stealing from criminals. There's a difference between making a statement that you were there after a job is completed and exposing your operation while it's still ongoing—one is a bit cocky, but the other isn't just arrogant, it's ''stupid'', as Sly rightly observes.
173	* Sly says he only steals from other criminals because it's too boring to steal from anybody else, yet in cutscenes in between talking members of the Fiendish Five, we do see him stealing things that don't look like they belong to other criminals the names from the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
174	** Maybe Sly is a conspiracy theorist? Alien invasion is a serious crime if you have taken an Earthling identity and agreed to it's laws, and we all know that movie stars and news anchors are always at the top of "Potential Reptile People" lists.
175	** That's possible, but cutscenes from 2 and 3 suggest otherwise. As Sly and Carmelita converse in the police helicopter and talk about "books, music and art", we see that while Carmelita is appreciating these things legally, Sly is "appreciating them" by stealing them from museums. It's possible that those are museums run by corrupt dealers, of course, but then there's "Goodbye My Sweet", where Sly and the Gang steal the Bavarian chocolate under Carmelita's watch because it's expensive, it's there, and Sly likes to mess with Carmelita. We also see in the Sly 2 heist video that the gang steals a rare and expensive stamp on display at a museum and then uses it to send Carmelita a postcard to rub it in.\
176	\
177	Besides, as Carmelita rightly observes in the ''Adventures of Sly Cooper'' comic, Sly's "honorable thief" code is hypocritical nonsense anyway, even if he didn't violate it multiple times. To quote her: "Where do you think those thieves get their loot from? They steal it! So I don't care where you think you sit on the food chain, you're still breaking the law!" The Cooper Gang may be lovable rogues, but they're still fundamentally criminals; we're not necessarily ''supposed'' to find them sympathetic in all aspects of what they do.
178	*** Sly says in the first game that the Coopers "specialize" in stealing from other criminals, and that there's no honor, challenge, or fun in stealing from normal people. He doesn't actually say he NEVER steals from normal people. It's also possible that thievery is so second nature to Sly that he doesn't really think about it, or doesn't consider pettier thefts the same as a real heist.
179	*** Perhaps, in "Goodbye My Sweet", the chocolate that Carmelita is guarding is merely a decoy -- being a regular milk chocolate bar, with the real one being carried by some regular delivery guy in regular clothes on a regular train -- and it's all a trap to catch Sly and his gang. Funny part is, Sly knows that the chocolate bar is a regular chocolate bar, and just wants to mess with Carmelita.
180	** Another possibility is that, to Sly, those things aren't actually being "stolen", insofar as he isn't keeping them. He may simply take things like the names or the stamp and "relocate" them (sending the stamp to Carmelita, for example). He doesn't steal them for keeps or for any purpose, he just nicks them for fun and to mess with people.
181
182	* How was Panda King no longer in prison by the time of Sly 3? Aside from being an accomplice to the murder of Sly's parents, he killed the noblemen with his fireworks when they chased him away and killed an entire village. I am pretty sure mass murder like that would get you the death sentence or at least life. Before you suggest he may have broken out, keep in mind he was stated to have given up his life of crime and was living a life of peace. This would suggest he made parole rather than breaking out, unlike Muggshot who was stated to still have had 13 warrants for his arrest in the same game.
183	** The timeline allows for him to have broken out, though. There are three years between the events of Thievius Raccoonus and Honor Among Thieves, which would have given the Panda King time to break out; as for the meditation thing, Tsao states directly that he "convinced" the Panda King to take up meditation, making Tsao's path to forcing Jing King to marry him clear; the kidnapping of Jing King is implied to have happened relatively recently—otherwise, given Tsao's power and ego, he would have already held the wedding. It's not implausible to construct a timeline wherein the Panda King is arrested, breaks out of jail, goes back into seclusion in the mountains for awhile, has his daughter targeted and kidnapped, and unwillingly gives up violent resistance for the sake of a peaceful lifestyle so as to keep him out of Tsao's way.
184	* Alright, so in the original ''Sly'', you get the ground dive attack out of a safe, and you also get the air dive/ground pound-like attack out of another safe. But in Sly 3, you have to buy the ground dive, and you already know the air dive. How did a family secret from the Thievius Raccoonus get on [=ThiefNet=]?
185	** Unsatisfying as this answer is, GameplayAndStorySegregation. Not only would it make Sly OP from the get-go, but having so many functions introduced all at once it'd be hard to learn to use them. Actually pretty much nothing on thiefnet makes sense as a physical product when you think about it.
186	* Why does Dr. M have an RC Drone track on his island? What purpose does it serve? Similarly, why don't villains just block off key points with a tight laser grid that not even a golf ball could squeeze through and call it a day? General Tsao's room with the blue nodes has a near-perfect sensor door -- except for a huge gap at the bottom big enough for Penelope's RC Car to squeeze into. You can afford plenty of lasers, why have that gap?
187	** If we're thinking of the same thing, it wasn't an RC drone track, it was a pipe that happened to be reasonably sized for RC cars, and Dr. M put his own RC cars on it because he knew it was a weak point in his stronghold. As for why not more lasers, even though several of the villains were paranoid with security none of them had a chance to prepare ''specifically'' for the Cooper Gang. And lasers cost money. So if there's no immediate threat there's no reason to keep your laser security that water tight.
188	* How much would Arpeggio's plan have worked with most of his associates defeated? Dimitri was arrested so he [[spoiler: couldn't distribute spice for the plan's fruition]], Rajan was down so they couldn't have any additional spice, and the Contessa being arrested means that her custom hypnosis might not have been possible. (Jean Bison had fulfilled his role, so he doesn't count) So by the time he has Clockwork together and ready for himself, could his plan have worked?
189	** Arpeggio gave this troper the impression that all the pieces were already in place. Dimitri, Rajan and Jean had already moved enough of the spice, and their arrests couldn't undo the damage that had been done. Contessa had hypnotized several people successfully long before she met the Cooper gang, so her methods would likely be tested and sound.
190	* In the Sly 2 mission where you stalk the Contessa, why did did she never notice Sly?
191	* In Sly 3, there's a mission where you get Murray to make a Belgian laugh, and then Bentley has to pick a handkerchief off him while he's laughing, but how can Bentley do that? He uses a magnet when pickpocketing, and hankies are not made of metal.
192	** Bentley's a genius. He probably figured out some way to make it work.
193	* In Sly 1, why is it that Sir Raleigh (the mechanist of the Fiendish Five), gets a page of the Thievius Raccoonus on ninjitsu, while the martial artist in the group (Panda King) gets a page for vehicle upgrades?
194	** Raleigh is a frog and Rioichi's page is about hopping and landing on narrow points, something he may find useful, whereas even if Panda King was interested in that he's clearly too large to pull such a move off. Similarly, Panda King knows pyrotechnics but probably wants to bone up on other engineering for his crimes (can't rely on Raleigh for everything), and Raleigh may already feel like his designs are better than Otto's.
195	** Out-of-universe, the Panda King's episode was originally meant to be the first level but was traded places with Raleigh's due to its difficulty. As such, Rioichi and Otto's pages were originally meant to be with the Panda King and Raleigh respectively.
196	* Why didn't Sly or anyone else for that matter call Carmelita out on her hypocrisy? She lied to Sly too about being partners when she thought he had amnesia. As far as she knew she was taking advantage of him and changing who he was for her benefit, yet this is never called into question even after she [[HypocrisyNod acknowledges this]] to herself?
197	** As much as I myself have issues with this plot point, it's possible that Bentley and Murray weren't aware that she lied to Sly about being her partner, just that he had joined Interpol after faking amnesia. As for Sly himself, well, he's always tried being gentlemanly towards Carmelita when he can, and it's possible that he either didn't get a chance to have a civil conversation with her about it throughout the adventure, or didn't want to burden her with this issue.
198	* In Sly 2, Episode 6, Sly and the Gang are in northern Canada. This troper is not exactly familiar with extremely northern areas, but it appears to be daytime. Why, exactly, do the Flashlight Guards need flashlights? While on the subject of guards, why can't the flashlight guards see anything that isn't in their cone of vision, yet the smaller guards can see without a light, and can (at least, I think they can) see trespassers from farther away than the flashlight guards?
199	** Maybe the area is foggy or the guards in this level specifically have nearsightedness?
200	* Clockwerk's size. Honestly I could see him having the ability to change size or something because sometimes he's big (his boss fight and Clock-La's, the Clockwerk wings when they're on the statue Rajan has) and most of the clockwerk parts in the cutscense suggest a smaller, but still large character, but the tail feathers and eyes in the cutscenes suggest something quite normal-sized, also him being about the same size as the other members of the Fiendish Five in Sly 1's intro, best seen when he grabs the pages from the book.

Context Headscratchers / SlyCooper