Headscratchers / Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time

• There were no anthropomorphic animals before 1996 because Cortex hadn't created his evolvo ray before then. New anthro animals randomly showing up in the sequels can easily be hand-waved as "new experiments from Cortex", but what about the pirates from the 1717 segment? Where do they come from?
  • Most likely created by N. Brio and sent to that timeline.
  • Additionally, the various dimensions likely have countless variables which could, for instance, lead to divergent chains of evolution from our world. Similarly, Tranquility Falls shouldn’t be assumed to have simply lined up to anywhere in our world’s timeline even BEFORE Brio’s experimentation on the local inhabitants.
• This game firmly established the events of the original Crash Bandicoot as taking place in 1996. Crash's last Flashback Tape ("Cortex Vortex Pre-Check") even dates the day he was sent to the Cortex Vortex as September 9 (the same day as the game's North American release). However, Coco's Flashback Tapes show that despite the castle burning down and Cortex finding the crystals immediately after Crash defeats him, Cortex restarted his experiments, created and started testing Coco a month later, and she undergoes testing until she escapes July 24, 1997. This means that Cortex had been up and running his operations for nearly a year before Cortex Strikes Back, and Coco knows this firsthand, and yet apparently does not tell Crash and Aku Aku that Cortex is back and up to something until they are unknowingly working for Cortex?
  • It also suggests that Crash genuinely only bothered to rescue Tawna in 1 and left all the other experimental animals to their fate, including his little sister.
• Why is Brio working for Cortex again? His dialogue does imply he's planning to betray him, but in the second game they'd already already become full on enemies. While it's possible they used the time rifts to pick up a pre-falling out Brio for their evil plans, it seems unlikely Cortex would want the guy who'd be responsible for blowing up his space station to be working for him.
  • Given Cortex’s apathy and general disillusionment, it’s not a stretch that he either didn’t care, or just expected N. Gin and N. Brio to fail beyond slowing Crash down a little.