jenna12381

[jenna12381]

Lots of progress recently. Of note...

-Photo Op (Episode 1): Bentley starts to suspect that there may be a traitor in the gang's ranks after seeing El Jefe in Feudal Japan for the first time, but he's able to talk himself out of that idea. After all, the suspected traitor (Penelope) is right here, and therefore can't be responsible.

-Jail Break (Episode 2): More work on when Penelope frees Bentley, mainly about her pickpocketing guards in search of the key to Bentley's cell. Still thinking about the fight scene she'll participate in against five guards, and her actually freeing Bentley. I also got into Bentley really starting to realize how he might have been overprotective towards her...

-Final Boss Fight (Episode 6): Outlined the first phase (Penelope vs. Le Paradox). Also dug into many of Penelope's insecurities. She also develops her heroic resolve by refusing the villain's offer to rejoin him, even though she believes she'll get expelled from the Cooper Gang regardless of her performance.

-Also included a bit after Bentley joins the fight, where Le Paradox claims that Penelope is plotting against her friends while she's shielding Sly from enemy fire.

-Finally, there's Penelope and Le Paradox restarting their duel, with the former now having the advantage. I don't know what her speech on what she learned about friendship will look like yet.

[jenna12381]

Can I just say how much I adore your Penelope redesign? All of your redesigns are goated but Penelope specifically I would die for.

Gosh, thank you!!

She’s undergone a few changes since its initial conception back in 2022. But with the help of a pal of mine who is a character designer, we’ve tweaked her design to be suitable for animation! I still draw her off model in my own “style” for funsies! I hope you’re a fan of nutty, borderline mad scientist girlies! Penelope is going to be the wild card of the Cooper gang! And no. She’s not evil….just unhinged. But Sly, Murray, and most of all Bentley love her for it. And I hope you do too!!!

[jenna12381]

Thieves In Time Redux: Rewriting the finale

Listen to Toad Town - Green Streamer Removal while reading this, and Title Screen (Origami King) when you get to the epilogue.

Episode 5: Here

Back to Episode 0: Here

I already talked at length about how the final episode goes in a few previous posts. I'm going to go ahead and do it again anyway. Because why not?

Penelope has been found out. The boys (Sly, Bentley, and Murray) are rightfully furious with her. There's even talk of her expulsion going on. Oh, and Le Paradox is now king of the world. Crap.

Let's not forget how Carmelita got herself kidnapped by our main villain.

Fortunately for our heroine, she's not going to be expelled right away. The boys believe she must have had a change of heart at some point during their journey across time. Helps that she isn't defending herself.

The boys have also observed that Penelope had several chances over the course of this adventure to truly turn her back on them... and yet she never took a single one.

She could have teamed up with that guard when Bentley's back was turned, but she wasn't going to let anyone touch that turtle except her. (Episode 0)

She could have ditched Sly back in Feudal Japan when she was attempting to go rogue, but turned herself around to help him defeat El Jefe. (Episode 1)

She could have left Sly hanging when he was fighting Toothpick, but saved the former's skin instead. She also could have defected after the boys got themselves arrested, but stayed to bust them out of jail. (Episode 2)

She could have turned on Murray (and by extension, everyone else) when The Grizz tried to out her, but chose not to. (Episode 3)

She could have crushed Sly under the weight of the Black Knight's armor, but instead turned the tables on Raleigh. She also could have joined forces with her impostor, but instead chose an alliance with her knight in a shining wheelchair. (Episode 4)

She could have joined Le Paradox and Miss Decibel when she was outed as their mole, but her newfound loyalty to her friends was too strong. (Episode 5)

As a result, the boys are simultaneously disappointed in her... and proud of her. In other words, impossibly conflicted.

The boys have decided to give Penelope one final chance to redeem herself. If she can put an end to what she started, they'll forget about her upcoming expulsion. All will be forgiven. All she has to do is behave herself during the next mission.

Our heroes' next mission? Invade Le Paradox's blimp, save Carmelita, and get back the ancestors' canes.

Penelope has reason to believe she will be expelled if her performance is less than perfect, so she does the boys one better and volunteers herself as mission leader on the grounds that she knows the most about how Le Paradox's blimp works.

Of course, this leads to our heroine nearly cracking under all the pressure. One wrong move or miscalculation, and she'll lose more than just her friends.

Penelope proceeds to unveil her plan to everyone, including Sly’s ancestors, but leaves out a single detail: She will be the one who fights Le Paradox.

This plan of hers is very similar to what happened in vanilla, BTW. Penelope does reveal, however, that the blimp is rigged to severely malfunction in the event Sly's cane enters its system.

This means that Sly will have to act as bait. He's seemingly fine with this, as he was already going up to the blimp to save Carmelita anyway.

As I stated in earlier posts, our heroine believes she must fight Le Paradox (and defeat him) if she wants to truly redeem herself. She also believes she has to do it alone. If she doesn't, her attempt to atone won't count. After all, this is her mess. She has to clean it up.

Don't worry. The boys fully intend to keep their word and let Penelope stay if she does well. They never said she had to fight Le Paradox. She made that decision on her own.

The time finally comes for our heroes to raid Le Paradox's blimp, save Carmelita, and shut down a certain skunk's evil plot to rule the world.

First, we have some callbacks to the tutorial...

"You boys remember the plan, right?"

"You don't need to worry about that, Sis, for my mind is like a steel... uh..."

"Trap, Murray."

"You remember our deal?"

"Of course. *quietly to herself* No messing up allowed."

Our four heroes take Sly's ancestors to the blimp, but first... Sly has to act as bait.

Le Paradox captures Sly, completely unaware of the trap lying in wait for him.

Our other heroes then work to reclaim the ancestors' canes and prepare the blimp for its upcoming demise.

Sly and Carmelita are freed, and the canes are returned to their rightful owners... but Le Paradox takes Sly's cane.

Now that Sly's cane has been introduced, a hidden countdown begins. When it hits 0, the blimp will explode. Our heroes have 1 hour to evacuate. Le Paradox has no clue, and thinks he's won.

Rather than join the others in evacuating... Penelope begins pursuing Le Paradox. After all, if she doesn't take him down, her attempt to atone won't count.

Bentley tries to convince her not to go, but his pleas fall on deaf ears. She kisses him farewell before running off in tears.

Penelope catches up to Le Paradox and challenges him to a duel for control of the blimp. Le Paradox, still unaware that he's going to lose his blimp no matter what, agrees to duel her.

This, of course, leads to Penelope starting the final boss fight instead of Sly.

I'm going to have Penelope go much more on the offensive than she might normally. You see, she's putting herself under a lot of pressure right now. She also manages to outmatch Le Paradox... at first.

As the duel progresses, Le Paradox says that even if Penelope wins and survives, there's no guarantee the boys will ever forgive her. The more he talks, the more she doubts herself.

The villain tries to re-recruit our heroine, but she very quickly refuses.

Harboring a renewed duty to her true family, Penelope says she'd rather die a hero than live long enough to betray her friends again.

She fights valiantly, but is eventually disarmed and knocked down. She stops fighting back, thinking she deserves to die here.

The skunk is about to finish her off when Sly jumps in from seemingly nowhere and saves her.

Penelope and Sly double team the villain.

After some time, Sly is followed by Bentley, Murray, Carmelita, and the ancestors in that order.

Also, while Le Paradox hides behind his minions, Penelope actively fights back against them with her friends, even going out of her way to protect them. This shows how much she's grown since the beginning of her journey. Aren't you guys proud of her? I am!

The boys, Carmelita, and the ancestors voice their support for their fearless (and perhaps reckless) mission leader: Penelope. They also silently recognize her need to finish Le Paradox by herself.

Penelope restarts her duel with Le Paradox (via a Battle-Halting Duel)... and comes out victorious, complete with a speech on what she learned about friendship.

Our ten heroes escape the blimp in one piece. Le Paradox also survives, and is arrested, his evil plot foiled not only by a traitor in his ranks, but also by the meddling thieves she ultimately sided with.

As the timeline mends itself, and the ancestors are returned home, Penelope... can't bear to face her friends anymore. She starts to leave and never come back... only for the boys to stop her.

As far as the boys are concerned, Penelope not only redeemed herself, but exceeded their expectations. True to their word, they allow her to stay on with them forever. After a bit of convincing, she agrees, and promises to never betray them again.

Spoiler alert: Penelope stays true to her word. I will say that for the next year or so, she will find it incredibly difficult to forgive herself.

She and Bentley soon end up engaged.

Sly and Carmelita? Sly has given up on her. Carmelita goes away to work on a big case seemingly unrelated to Sly, but intends to make up with him as soon as it's over.

Murray is just happy his younger sister won't be leaving.

All of the villains have the same fates as they did in canon. Raleigh, though, escapes from prison. He's now hard at work on his next project: a Robo-Cooper Gang.

As for what happens next... I might elaborate on that if I ever manage to finish my full rewrite.

Thank you so much for your support, readers and friends.

Isn't this ending so much better than whatever vanilla was?

[jenna12381]

Thieves In Time Redux: Rewriting Episode 5

Listen to Toad Town - Purple Streamer Removal while reading this.

Episode 4: Here

Episode 6: Here

We're almost at the finish line, kids.

I've included an as of yet unnamed penultimate mission to this one. Naming it will likely be one the toughest things I'll have to do when I get around to Episode 5 in my upcoming full rewrite...

Here's how the final regular episode will go...

Just so you know, Salim is still the ancestor in need of help. Miss Decibel is also still the villain who needs to be defeated.

After the events of last episode, the boys' trust in Penelope has reached an all time high, in very stark contrast to canon. They absolutely love her.

Our heroine, meanwhile, has managed to see the error of her ways. She's also nearing the end of her character arc. She's no longer distant. She's grown to like her friends all over again. In fact, she's grown to believe they're all she should care about for the rest of her life.

Can you blame her for overcorrecting after the giant mistake she made?

Now that Penelope has achieved most of her goals, only two remain:

First, defeat Le Paradox. And second, take her secret of betrayal to her grave.

We've also seen other changes in the characters, mostly regarding Sly and Bentley.

I'll get back to Sly when I get to All Rolled Up.

Bentley, however, has come to understand something vitally important. His girlfriend is not a helpless damsel. Heck, he's even willing to send her off to dangerous missions, confident she'll return in one piece. He's also just as willing to patch up her injuries without freaking out at the slightest cut or bruise. He even believes the gang’s common enemies should be afraid of her, not the other way around.

And most importantly... he's grown to become incredibly proud of her, saying as much in the unnamed penultimate mission.

Did I mention that recognition is actually one of the things Penelope has been wanting since the beginning of this rewrite? I don't believe I need to say how happy hearing that would make her.

Speaking of which, let's talk about Murray.

Unless you count Carmelita, Murray is the only playable character who doesn't get a lot of development. The most he gets is his brother/sister relationship with Penelope.

And the big payoff? She finally acknowledges him as her honorary older brother, during the mission Copy Cats.

Murray's reaction is, in a single word, priceless. His younger sister took this long to finally be ready to see him as her big brother.

The reason I say all of this now is because of what happens during All Rolled Up.

If you'll recall from vanilla, Carmelita ended up having to pose as a belly dancer while the boys did their thing.

In this rewrite, I thought I'd have Carmelita pilot a belly dancing robot created by Penelope. In the meantime, the boys and Penelope break into wherever that door goes.

Why does Penelope go in there instead of piloting the robot? Simple. She firmly believes she can be of more use to the boys if she goes with them. She's also still trying her hardest to redeem herself; that is, play a major role in taking Le Paradox down.

At this point, the possibility that her secret could come out matters very little. She's too close to her goal to slow down now.

Before we go any further, though, it's time we talked about Sly and Carmelita once more.

Sly and Carmelita have not been getting along well at all. Everything that has happened has led to Sly doing something a little surprising, even in-universe.

Sly's going to give up on Carmelita. In his mind, his chances with her are shot. But before that, he will apologize for his dishonesty. He does that during the unnamed penultimate mission.

Sly giving up on the love of his life happens at the beginning of All Rolled Up. He also announces that he will not be going back to his job as a cop. He's staying with his friends, because they need each other.

He would still like a future with Carmelita, but doesn't think it'll ever be possible after what he did. For now, he'll settle for an eternal future with his honorary brothers and sister.

As in canon, Carmelita is left behind. Our four heroes (Sly, Bentley, Murray, and Penelope) head inside.

The next series of scenes shows us just how much Penelope has grown since Episode 0.

She joins a Team Hand Stack as though it's second nature to her.

Rather than being dragged along for the ride, she actively helps the boys advance forward, and is more often than not at the ready with banter. In fact, she's happier than she's ever been.

She jumps into action when her friends are threatened, especially for Bentley. And luckily for her, Bentley is no longer overprotective. He applauds her heroic efforts.

But nothing lasts forever... Our four heroes are soon met by Le Paradox and Miss Decibel.

"Wait, hold the phone. Four? That cannot... *looks at Penelope, and sees a silver Cooper Gang badge where a Le Paradox emblem should be*"

You can probably guess what happens next...

"Oh, for the love of... You can drop the act now, Penelope."

This is where Penelope gets outed as a traitor. She falls silent. The boys think Le Paradox is lying... until he clarifies...

"Now, why do you look so ashamed? You should be proud of this beautiful blimp you helped me build!"

That's right. A Liar Revealed scene.

Le Paradox, thinking Penelope has been acting this entire time, asks her to rejoin his side.

Too bad there's only one problem with Le Paradox's little speech. Penelope's not acting anymore. She's on the heroes' side now. She refuses his order to return.

She also tries to convince Miss Decibel to stop fighting for someone who doesn't care about her (or anyone besides himself, for that matter), but the latter doesn't listen.

Our four heroes then proceed to fight Miss Decibel and win.

After the boss fight, there is no celebration. Le Paradox has taken Carmelita, and Penelope has been revealed as a traitor to her friends. The fact that she's no longer working for Le Paradox matters little, at least for right now.

Our four heroes return to modern day Paris, not looking forward to what they find. The boys also have no idea what they'll do with Penelope.

You might be wondering why the Liar Revealed scene is during Episode 5, rather than in 4.

Hear me out. It makes more narrative sense for the reveal to happen right now.

Our main focus is on Penelope, and what she would lose if her secret came out. Let's have it come out when everyone's trust in her is at its highest point, and while she's willing to actively help them.

And yes, the journey back to modern-day Paris is very quiet for our four heroes.

Next time, we're going to see how Episode 6 plays out.

[jenna12381]

Thieves In Time Redux: Rewriting Episode 4

Listen to Toad Town - Yellow Streamer Removal while reading this.

Episode 3: Here

Episode 5: Here

It's finally time to cover how Episode 4 went down in my rewrite.

Firstly, I had to give it a new title: Of Frogs And Mechs. This is mainly because Penelope can't be the Black Knight now that she's been traveling with our other heroes. That, and she no longer has the heart to do it now that she's a changed woman. I gave the position to a certain frog in Sly's past...

This is going to be really long, so grab your popcorn.

Last episode had Penelope undergoing a change of heart. She's no longer interested in betraying her friends.

Cue her surprise when our heroes wind up in Medieval England.

Oh no. Not now. Not this soon.

Turns out Penelope was supposed to be stationed here. But she never showed up, which forced someone else to take over in her place as the Black Knight.

Now for Penelope's biggest question: If she isn't piloting the Black Knight, who is?

The boys still don't know anything about her attempted betrayal, by the way. As far as they know, Penelope has been on their side this whole time. So you might want to forgive her for not wanting to confess what she did right away...

The threat of a new Black Knight leads Penelope to a few new goals. First, to become someone the boys can be undeniably proud of. Second, to give Bentley a proper love confession. Third, to strike down her own creations without being found out.

In short, this is the perfect test for our heroine. Spoiler alert: She's going to achieve all three of her goals and pass with flying colors.

Her first major act is helping Sly steal back Sir Galleth's cane during Cane Swipe.

And before you ask, the first two missions (Shopping Spree and Juggling Act) are identical to canon.

At the beginning of Cane Swipe, Penelope notices a different insignia on the Black Knight than what was originally there... Some kind of... mechanical top hat?

Fortunately, she knows better than to tell the others. If she were to do that, things might not end well...

"I'm... just glad it's not me who has to stalk a giant hunk of metal several times my size..."

Spoiler alert: She will have to stalk said hunk of metal in a future mission...

She then proceeds to do her part in the mission, providing aerial support for Sly.

Eye In The Sky... I'm thinking about altering it a bit so Penelope will have something to do.

Next up is Mechanical Menace.

As you might have already seen, Sly and Carmelita are not doing well at all. They're actually worse off than in canon. During Mechanical Menace, Sly has a bit of a spat with her. Soon after that, he's approached by Penelope...

"I'm such an idiot! Why can't I just--"

"*from off-screen* Have you tried apologizing?"

Sly is given some advice: To pretend she's Carmelita for a moment and practice his apology. That's when he remembers something important...

You see, Sly kind of ditched all his friends on Kaine Island to be with Carmelita without saying a word to anyone. This is something he's never apologized to any of them for.

"All right, then. I'm sorry."

"Great start! Now, what are you sorry for?"

Sly starts to play along, but... a feeling of guilt gets to him. He changes course.

"...Remember Kaine Island, and how I ditched everyone, including you? Yeah, that."

"...Wait, what?"

You read that correctly. And no, she didn't see that apology coming.

Sly isn't really sure how to explain to Penelope why he ditched everyone. After all, she wasn't on the main roster at the time. She didn't grow up in that orphanage. She doesn't have the same connection with him as Bentley and Murray.

Our heroine is ultimately happier with Sly after that surprise apology, and more confident she made the right decision in continuing to side with him.

Sly might not be ready to apologize to Carmelita yet, but maybe that other apology he just gave did him some good...

Shortly after that apology scene, Short Supply happens.

In contrast to our favorite raccoon/fox couple, Bentley and Penelope are doing much better.

During Short Supply, Penelope volunteers herself to go off with Murray to shut down a tavern's operations.

You'd think Bentley would freak out, but he doesn't.

He still hasn't forgotten about her previous efforts throughout the story. He lets her go.

"One more thing..."

"Let me guess. Stay safe? Stay close to Murray?"

"Uh... No. Show those wolf-bots what you're made of!"

"*pleasantly surprised* Who are you, and what have you done with Bentley?"

Simple. He grew up. Learned to believe in the love of his life.

It's not like he didn't trust her. Quite the opposite, in fact. He was just worried because of her level of inexperience compared to the boys.

Aren't you guys proud of Bentley? I am.

Murray and Sis then proceed to shut down the tavern and ruin everyone's day.

...Which brings us to that mission.

You all remember Shell Shocked Heart, right? And you're wondering who this Black Knight is, aren't you? Well, so is Penelope. If it isn't her, then who is it...?

The next mission ends up being assigned to her. In the full rewrite, she suddenly rushes out before Sly can leave, right when everyone hears that the Black Knight is on the move.

And yes, Bentley is worried about her doing this. But he doesn't ask her to abort, even though it's possible she might get hurt. She's just asked to be careful. After all, the Black Knight is no joke. He's said to be ruthless.

Good thing Bentley moved on from being overprotective, or else things would have gone a bit differently...

Penelope naturally can't tell Bentley the real reason she took this mission. He and everyone else are still in the dark. All she can say is that something is bothering her about the Black Knight, and she needs to get to the bottom of it and see the answer for herself.

When our new Black Knight reaches the smithy as he did in canon, Penelope hits a wall. She can't get in through the roof hatch. It's locked.

That's when Bentley shows up with a key he snagged from a nearby guard, right as she begins to request backup.

And rather than turn her around, Bentley doesn't even flinch when Penelope proceeds to join him inside.

Bentley's section proceeds mostly as it did in canon, only with Penelope not piloting the Black Knight...

A lot of our new Black Knight's dialogue is strangely similar to canon... to the point where Bentley has started blaming himself for this mess... Luckily, Penelope is there to correct him.

"Bentley, listen to me. None of this is your fault. Whoever this Black Knight is... *pauses, knowing full well she caused this adventure to happen* They did this. And you know what? We're going to stop them."

Shortly after this is the moment of truth. The armor opens up, revealing...

...Another Penelope? Bentley is so surprised how lifelike she looks he briefly forgets that the real one is right next to him.

This "Penelope" rants to herself for a bit... before scolding some of her men for not being able to kidnap our Penelope. She's even constructed a false motive for "betraying" our other heroes: Money, power, and taking Bentley all for herself.

Then... a familiar frog comes in. Turns out this "Penelope" is a robot created by none other than Sir Raleigh.

Obviously, he's out for revenge against our heroes, namely Sly for taking him down years earlier.

Raleigh is fully aware that Penelope did design Le Paradox's blimp, but makes no mention of it throughout this episode...

After that comes Hard Target. It goes mostly as it did in canon. However, after Sly finishes up, he gets a shocking announcement: Raleigh's men invaded the hideout and kidnapped Penelope!

I know this episode is already really long, so let's make it a bit longer with a new mission right after Hard Target... Princess Out Of Distress.

It's assigned to Bentley, but the focus shifts to Penelope very soon afterwards.

Bentley has grown enough to stop overcorrecting himself. He's going off to save his girlfriend, while simultaneously believing she can escape on her own, or at least make significant progress. He's not the type to just leave her hanging, so off he goes...

We then cut to Penelope, now locked up in a tower. She's in a bedroom, not tied up or anything. But the door is locked. And her weapons have been taken.

She's no pushover, though. She quickly decides to free herself rather than wait for her knight in a shining wheelchair. Though if Bentley does show up at any point, she won't complain.

Of course, she doesn't want Bentley showing up when she's made no progress towards escaping, so she proceeds to ram herself into the locked door, very much like Murray might. She breaks it open, and continues onward.

After sneaking around a bit (like Sly), she finds the wolf-bot that took her weapons. She jumps him, takes her stuff back, and defeats the guard. Imagine if Bentley heard that story…

She eventually hacks into a security system (like Bentley), then makes it through the final stretch of hostile guards.

Penelope eventually makes it outside... and is stopped by her impostor. This impostor (now called Robo-Penelope) knows Bentley is coming, and plans to trick the poor turtle into choosing her over the real one.

"It's simple, really. I'll just have your precious Bentley take me back instead of you! I'll have him destroy you without a shred of mercy... With your anger getting the better of you, he'll think you're gunning for both of us! And then when he least expects it... I'll crush him like the defenseless walnut he is!"

Our Penelope isn't having any of that, so she duels her impostor... until Bentley shows up.

Now's the part where Bentley needs to spot his real girlfriend. He... pulls it off, forcing the fake to drop her act.

Bentley and Penelope then team up to defeat the robot in a rather epic boss fight.

After Robo-Penelope goes down, our favorite couple gets a sudden urge to... do a double love confession. They even end up kissing.

That's one of Penelope's three goals down. But the scene does end up being heartwarming, if you forget that she's still lying to everyone.

Our heroine also picks up a little something from her impostor's remains, something she says will come in handy during the operation...

She and Bentley go into hiding in preparation for this episode's final mission...

Now's the part which is more than likely to become a fan favorite... OP: Frog Trap.

You all remember what happened in vanilla... No need to reopen those old wounds. What a hot mess that was.

The mission begins very much as it did in canon, only with Raleigh as the Black Knight instead of Penelope.

Sly does the boss fight as usual... then gets pinned down.

Meanwhile, Bentley and Penelope are watching the entire thing.

Their plan? Well, this one entirely comes from Penelope. She's hoping to impersonate her now destroyed impostor long enough to lower Raleigh's guard so she can take him down.

This is one of her contingency plans. And yes, Bentley does approve of this one.

That's right. Penelope (ours, mind you) gets to play the villain... but only for a hot minute as part of her act, even going as far as referring to Sly by his last name.

"Don't you worry, dearest creator... *winks at Sly* ...I'll be sure to do you proud."

It pains her heavily, but she prepares for her next move...

"So sorry about this, Cooper.... but I'm afraid it's time you met your end..."

Does Sly see through her act? Even I don't know...

"Say good night... *long hesitation*"

For a moment, she thinks about finishing that sentence with "Cooper" and actually destroying Sly.

I'm not making her do that, for that would mean throwing out all her character development. Though she will put herself through one last private guilt trip.

Bentley is watching this entire scene, by the way. She knows he'd be furious if she went against her word not to harm Sly.

Besides... if she did go against her word, she'd never become someone the boys could be undeniably proud of.

So...

"...frog."

...she turns on Raleigh. Rather than crush Sly and undo all her development, Penelope drops her villainous act, going from a villainous Slasher Smile to a heroic Grin Of Audacity.

"I almost forgot to mention... I'm on Team Sly. Always have been... Always will be!"

She makes that declaration to all who can hear her... though it's mostly directed to herself. She even puts on a silver Cooper Gang badge midway through her little reveal, and keeps it for the rest of the story.

Instead of a giant mech fight (as we already got one with Robo-Penelope), we get our heroes all fighting Raleigh together.

But yes, we would still get Bentley's giant mech participating.

Lots of payoffs throughout the entire second phase, with each of the boys showing us a few things...

Murray is still the best big brother ever.

Sly is thankful to have been saved by such a good friend.

"Permission to launch?"

"Have at him... *launches her in mid-air* And make me proud."

Bentley is doing his best to be a supportive boyfriend, rather than overprotective, again following up on Episode 2's events.

And all of this, coupled with how their friendships with Penelope helped her become a better person, is simply beautiful.

As for Carmelita... She's there. Look, I know she's a fan favorite, but I'm not the best at writing for her.

With that, Raleigh goes down. Penelope makes it through the entire episode without getting found out. And even better, the boys absolutely love her for pretty much carrying them through that boss fight.

This leads to quite the celebration, during which our four heroes take this adorable photo together.

In it, Murray picks up Sly, Bentley, and Sis from behind. Let's say Carmelita's able to let go of her anger long enough to take it for them.

This photo replaces the old relic from two years ago on the van's sun visor. There's also a copy of it taped to Penelope's Bincucom.

With this, that's all three of her goals down. Deliver a proper love confession to Bentley, become someone the boys can be undeniably proud of, and take down her own creations without being found out.

And to cap it all off, Murray decides to do something he's only done one other time in his entire life... He lets someone other than himself drive the van: Sis.

Murray admits this moment was a bit overdue, but well worth the wait.

Penelope, meanwhile, initially refuses, thinking she doesn't deserve such an honor. But everyone insists.

The episode ends with our favorite mouse getting to drive the van into a time portal, confident that she's earned her keep. The only thing left for her to do is find Le Paradox, defeat him, and take her secret to her grave...

That leads us to Episode 5, which we'll cover next time.

[jenna12381]

Quick question about my Thieves In Time rewrite...

Bentley's character arc, for those of you still unaware, has him learning to not be overprotective towards Penelope.

I'm very surprised that nobody has given me a single question or comment about this subject, so... I thought I'd throw out a poll.

[jenna12381]

Thieves In Time Redux: Rewriting Episode 2

Listen to Toad Town - Red Streamer Removal while reading this.

Episode 1: Here

Episode 3: Here

Rewriting Thieves In Time has been fun. But how to improve on what seems to be everyone's favorite episode?

Now, Episode 2 is a diamond in the rough for Thieves In Time. Which means I can make it better.

Go West, Young Raccoon in my rewrite will have a few changes. Most of them are, of course, all about our favorite two couples: Sly/Carmelita and Bentley/Penelope.

We start, of course, focusing heavily on the latter.

Which leads me to Bentley. He's been overprotective of Penelope since the beginning of this story. He appreciates her company, but worries himself sick when she's in any combat situation.

You can't really blame him when Penelope doesn't have a whole lot of experience compared to the boys.

The end of last episode, if you've been paying attention, had Penelope running off on her own towards the blimp. Which, of course, led to her getting scolded.

Because she ended up helping Sly with El Jefe in the process, the boys are in no way disappointed in her. Quite the opposite. But they are worried about something like this happening again.

Let's go over the little chat our heroine has with Bentley while he's taking pictures of the prison's exterior, during Jailhouse Blues...

"Go on. Lay it on me. Tell me how much of an idiot I am. "

"I take it this is about your running off earlier?"

"What do you think? Listen... I'm sorry. For making you worry. I... I don't know what I was thinking back there."

Yes, Bentley does sound more like a parent than a romantic partner. But... Can you blame him after Penelope's "running off" nearly gave him a heart attack?

Penelope knows what she did was incredibly bone-headed, even in the moment it was happening. Yet she still jumped off that bridge. She still ran off toward that blimp. And she still stopped to help Sly.

All she can do is apologize, mainly because she can’t talk about the real reason she ran off.

She and Murray also have a chat while waiting for Bentley to come back.

Now, I mentioned in earlier posts that Murray's old "character arc" was getting axed. Actually... that's not entirely true. I ended up reworking it into Penelope's arc. Though she doesn't feel "useless". Rather, she feels underestimated. Pushed away.

Does that feed into the motive I'm planning for her? A little, maybe. Though this problem with Bentley being overprotective only started being a thing shortly before the events of this rewrite.

When Bentley eventually comes back from his photo op, he invites Murray and Penelope to join him to help out with Sly and Tennessee's escape.

Yes, you read that correctly. Both of them. Turns out Bentley's starting to see how he might be overprotective. Sadly, he's not ready to tone himself down just yet.

In order for this to work, I had to expand the mission a little. Penelope will be providing aerial support for Sly and Tennessee as they enter the last phase of their escape.

Next is Cooper For Hire. Our favorite turtle/mouse couple is out tailing Toothpick together. Bentley, though, can't help but insist that Penelope stay really close.

Then comes the part with the scorpions who want to eat Bentley for lunch... or something. Murray and Tennessee come in to help. And Penelope's already here, so she takes down all the scorpions Murray misses that get too close to Bentley. The target for the player to reach is 45 instead of 30.

Like I said earlier, nobody touches that turtle except her.

But this heroic action comes with a price. She ends up getting stung. You'd think Bentley would freak out, but... he doesn't. He knows better than to complain about a rescue he didn't arrange for.

Rather than waste his energy scolding someone who just got stung by a scorpion for him, Bentley offers to treat Penelope's injury.

The rest of Cooper For Hire proceeds normally.

Time for Saloon Bug. It goes mostly as it did in canon, only with Penelope driving her car into the air vents instead of Bentley. She opts to move ahead a bit further to "dig up some more dirt", but all she finds is Toothpick's men badmouthing both Toothpick and Le Paradox.

During Blind Date, you know the drill. Carmelita is discovered, Tennessee is sent to save her, the boys drive off to send her home.

However... Penelope is left behind to hold down the fort. Something she's more than happy to do, actually.

Why? It's simple. She can do research. Good thing Bentley was kind enough to leave his laptop behind.

Her target? Cyrille Le Paradox. Bentley's database is sure to have it in there somewhere...

"Bentley won't mind if I borrow this, will he?"

As she types in Le Paradox's name, she gets interrupted by an SOS from Tennessee. Turns out the boys have been arrested by Toothpick.

"What?! All of them?! Even Bentley?!"

Fortunately, Carmelita is safe.

"*sensing an opportunity to prove herself to Bentley by breaking him out of jail*...Send her over here. If we want to bust the boys out of prison, we'll need all the help we can get."

Yes, Penelope drops everything to prepare for the next mission: Jail Break, which is now assigned to her. Sorry, Tennessee, for taking your second mission away.

One of the earliest things I worked on was how Jail Break would play out. We still have Carmelita and Tennessee going to Toothpick's prison to free Sly, Bentley, and Murray. But in this rewrite, Penelope's going to be joining the rescue team.

I did not want Penelope to get arrested with the boys. If she had gone with them, it's extremely likely that she would have been outed by Toothpick at the end of Blind Date. I'm not willing to write up that chain of events, so moving on...

Now, about Jail Break. This is the first mission I'm really looking forward to. Having Penelope be a part of Jail Break was always part of my final plan.

The boys are going to be separated unlike canon. This is so Carmelita and Penelope can have a chance to save their respective boyfriends. And Tennessee gets stuck with freeing Murray. Tennessee's portion goes exactly as it did when he freed the boys by himself in canon.

Carmelita wants to tear Sly a new one for his dishonesty. Penelope wants to show Bentley she's not a helpless damsel. And yes, the girls do form a bit of a bond during this mission.

"You're going to break Sly out of jail just so you can strangle him? That's cold. What on earth did he do to you?"

"*insert Carmelita ranting about Sly's dishonesty here*"

Yes, it's true. Penelope isn't fully aware of Sly faking amnesia until her first real chat with Carmelita.

I'm not going to cover every single change to this mission here, but here's a super abridged recap.

First, Penelope frees Bentley. He's very surprised to see her at the prison, but very thankful she saved him. What was she supposed to do, sit at the hideout and wait for a hero to save her friends? Turns out Bentley never provided her with any instructions. You'd think he would have...

As for why he never does... The words of the day are "experience" and "pride". He's grown to believe he and his childhood friends are untouchable. Cue him getting a bit humbled after they all get arrested and saved...

Second, Tennessee frees Murray. Murray is overjoyed when he hears Penelope (or Sis as he always calls her) was in charge of this entire jail break.

Third, Carmelita frees Sly. She's not exactly happy to see him, but agrees to a cease-fire until everyone escapes in one piece.

I already talked about how Penelope gets to see a dark future for herself and Bentley (through Sly and Carmelita) in earlier posts. It's starting to get to her now that she knows more about Sly and Carmelita...

We also have a little hacking session at the tail end of the mission.

After Jail Break is completed, Bentley realizes something. He theorizes that Penelope's "running off" last episode was a cry for help. She's been feeling underestimated. (He's not that far off from the truth...)

He fires up a Chalk Talk before the events of Grand Key Larceny can begin... I'll let him speak for himself for a bit.

"Before we move any further, I... I owe someone here an apology. Penelope, I'm sorry."

This leads to him apologizing to her for being overprotective. He promises to treat her more as a member of the team rather than just his girlfriend, and to never underestimate her again. Cue a positive change for our heroine and Bentley, as she's starting to feel appreciated...

Also starting after Jail Break, Bentley will no longer freak out if the player selects Penelope when she doesn't have a mission assignment.

"And don't worry. You'll never hear anything like that from me again."

It also leads to a bit of an issue... During Grand Key Larceny, Penelope gets assigned to partake in a mechanical bull riding competition. Bentley nearly assigns this to Tennessee, but the humbled turtle remembers his promise to Penelope and assigns it to her instead.

Why is this an issue? Because Toothpick will be watching. She can't risk getting found out by the likes of Toothpick, so she goes to the event in disguise. And she nails it. The player needs to stay on the mechanical bull for one minute to win.

The other assignments for Grand Key Larceny are the same as in canon.

Now it's time for OP: Gold Digger. This mission will mostly remain the same. Penelope will be assigned to van retrieval duty with Murray. And yes, he will be happy to have her saving the van a second time. Even more so because they got to do it together.

On top of that, Penelope gets a real taste of how nice it feels to be treated as a member of the team rather than a burden or the new girl… or worst of all, a helpless damsel.

When the time comes for the boss fight with Toothpick, Sly fights him as he did in canon. But midway through, he runs into a bit of a jam. Enter Penelope, who decides to help Sly via aerial support. She mainly does this seeking revenge against Toothpick for locking up Bentley. Without anybody telling her to.

I originally left Toothpick's boss fight unchanged from canon until I really started work on this rewrite...

Just like in canon, the episode ends with our five heroes (Sly, Bentley, Murray, Penelope, and Carmelita) flying off a cliff into a time portal leading to prehistory...

One last thing... Yes, I am fully aware of the parallels going on between Sly and Penelope.

Sly is dealing with the aftermath of being found out in a lie, with low stakes. Carmelita can't stand him, but at least his friends haven't rejected him.

Penelope hasn't been found out yet. The stakes she has to deal with are much higher. Additionally, she's been lying to everyone around her. Imagine the blowout in store for her when the inevitable Liar Revealed scene happens later on...

Those already existing plot points and parallels from canon meant that the story ended up writing itself after a certain point...

I already posted about Episode 3 a while ago, so I plan on skipping to Episode 4 next time.

[jenna12381]

Thieves In Time Redux: Rewriting Episode 1

Listen to Toad Town - Ghost Town while reading this.

Tutorial (Episode 0): Here

Episode 2: Here

Turning Japanese was a bit of a weak link for Thieves In Time. Let's see how Penelope's inclusion in my rewrite improves things...

"What was she supposed to tell the boys? They'd never forgive her!" (the opening line for Chapter 7)

Now, as you might remember, Penelope is stuck on this time traveling journey against her will. What would she be doing during her time in Feudal Japan?

I think I'll have her doing her tasks to avoid looking sus. That, and searching for evidence that Le Paradox can be trusted...

Apart from that, not much would change from canon. That said, I don't want to leave our heroine with one mission (that being Tiger Tail), so I gave her another assignment: Something's Fishy (though it's officially assigned to Bentley instead of Murray).

Bentley doesn't assign her to this mission, but she still shows up anyway.

"It's been a long time since we went fishing, Bentley. I''m excited!"

"Well, this is no vacation, Murray. We need to help Rioichi get back on track as a sushi chef, and what he needs most right now is fish!"

"I get that and all, but... *looks in Penelope's direction* What's Sis doing here? *Bentley also looks in the same direction*"

Bentley is obviously worried about her showing up unannounced, but happy she came.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Something's Fishy now opens with a Protect Bentley segment, rather than hacking. The player, controlling Penelope, will need to do this with Murray for two minutes.

Our heroine might not exactly be on the heroes' side, but nobody touches her turtle except her.

Unfortunately for our heroine, Bentley ends up seeing none of those guards get clobbered into next week. When he sees the aftermath, he assumes Murray did most of the heavy lifting. In reality, though, Murray and Penelope each took out half of the guards.

Penelope is disappointed that Bentley couldn't see her in action. After Murray tries to cheer her up a bit, the mission continues.

Inside, Murray tries to open one of those closed gates... and tries. No dice. Turns out it's locked tight.

Penelope examines the locked gate, and the lock turns out to be one of her designs. She could open it easily... or pretend that it's hard to crack. She uses the opportunity to send her car to do a little snooping around, though she ends up finding nothing other than some guards badmouthing Le Paradox. Then she unlocks the gate for Murray. Cue the applause.

The rest of the mission goes very much as it did in canon.

...Which leads us to Pretty In Pinker (now assigned to Murray).

Yes, this means we will have to deal with Madame Murray... I'm not looking forward to writing anything relating to the geisha house...

Speaking of which, I think I will have Penelope involved in Pretty In Pinker after all...

I still don't know exactly what she'll do in this mission. But if I could crack this vanilla game wide open, I'll find some way to make this mission a little less cringe.

The next major change happens in Tiger Tail, which is now assigned to Penelope.

Bentley naturally shows up to keep an eye on her when the mission begins.

You'd think that Penelope would then tail El Jefe with her car, but... she convinces Bentley to do it instead.

Penelope has different plans. She's still searching for evidence that Le Paradox can be trusted. So... she sends her car into the geisha house to do some more snooping around.

Unfortunately, all she finds is more of El Jefe's men badmouthing Le Paradox.

She's disappointed that she got nothing. Good thing Bentley's there to cheer her up. He's still in the dark, BTW.

Everything beyond that remains mostly the same until Altitude Sickness.

Altitude Sickness starts off mostly identical to canon, only with Penelope now joining the boys and Rioichi.

At first, I wasn’t sure how to include Penelope in the final mission. Then I watched it in vanilla, and it hit me. I needed her to run off on her own towards the blimp, which will set up her role in El Jefe's boss fight.

Le Paradox's blimp, if you'll recall from canon, made its first appearance during Altitude Sickness. I'm sure I don't need to explain why Penelope would want to go there.

I should also remind you that Penelope's blueprints for this blimp were indeed stolen, and whoever did it most likely just copied and pasted her homework.

The bridge brawl now requires the player to defeat 25 enemies rather than 15, since you (Murray) will be working with 3 CPU allies (Sly, Bentley, and Penelope). Rioichi's section is identical to canon.

It's shortly after the bridge brawl that Penelope makes her move... and jumps off the bridge.

Nobody notices she's gone until after Sly goes off to chase El Jefe. It's Murray who alerts everyone. He counts everyone present, and... I'll just let the big guy speak for himself.

"One... *counts Bentley* Two... *counts himself* Three... *counts Rioichi* Fou-- *begins to count Penelope* Sis? *notices Penelope has gone missing* Sis! She's gone!"

You can imagine how much Bentley would freak out upon hearing that come out of Murray's mouth. But let's just say Penelope's going to be torn a new one when she gets back.

The El Jefe boss fight is mostly identical to canon... at least during the first half.

At some point, however, Sly finds himself in a bit of trouble when he's cornered by our Villain Of The Week.

Here's where things get a bit interesting. Penelope, who happens to be running nearby, sees Sly in trouble. She's got a decision to make. Does she keep going, or does she help Sly?

Spoiler alert: She does the right thing and helps Sly with a little aerial support, yeeting one of El Jefe's swords away. Why does she do this? Well... she's not sure herself.

My full rewrite will elaborate on her reasoning.

Sly is quick to see she deliberately ran off, but he's got no time to be mad at her. She did end up saving him, after all.

"I'll save your reaming for after we take this guy to school!"

Yes, you would get to control the chopper during the above scene.

After the boss fight, Penelope is, as expected, scolded for running off (mostly by Bentley). And mostly let off the hook for helping Sly.

We've now reached the end of the episode, but one thing I neglected to mention is what changes about Rioichi.

Rioichi is mostly left unchanged, though he, being fairly spiritual, notices that Penelope has a powerful darkness within her... and also an equally powerful light. And those forces are at war with each other. He mostly keeps this to himself, not wanting to alarm anyone.

All of this sets the stage for Episode 2: Go West, Young Raccoon. See you then.

[jenna12381]

Penelope Sly Cooper my beloved <333 you deserved much better writing than you got <333

[jenna12381]

More Episode 2 Work

Back to Episode 2 again.

This time I'm at the beginning of Grand Key Larceny. The boys have just been freed from Toothpick's prison thanks to Tennessee, Carmelita... and especially Penelope.

I say that last bit because up until now, Bentley has been quite overprotective of her. This is the moment when he tones that down. He doesn't know this yet, but apologizing for being overprotective is going to help Penelope through her own character arc.

I'm currently thinking about how to word his apology.

He fires up a Chalk Talk, does the apology, then issues orders to everyone.

Remember those minigames from Grand Key Larceny? I'm adding a mechanical bull riding minigame. Bentley, out of habit, first assigns this to Tennessee... then backpedals and assigns it to Penelope.

There’s also so much I want to talk about regarding Bentley’s character arc, despite how predictable it is. But I’ll leave that for later. For now, though, I did post a little recap of my rewrite through Bentley's eyes here.

[jenna12381]

Penélope

[jenna12381]

So, what are you most proud of in TiTR? Like, any changes? Or the fact that you’re fixing the games “straw and camels back” moment? It can be anything.

…I don’t know. I can’t say it’s any one thing.

Though I am surprised that this rewrite worked out as perfectly as it did with how janked up vanilla was.

[jenna12381]

Rediseño de la Penélope

No puedo con el de Sly 4 así que lo mandé a la xuxa 😋

Y aquí la mina aparte por si acaso

[jenna12381]

penelope sly 3 my beloved, 🐭

[jenna12381]

How to Write a Character Arc + an example from The Bear

By Writerthreads on Instagram

1) Establish who they are at the beginning

Before anything can change, you need a clear picture of who your character is when the story begins. This includes their flaws, limiting beliefs, fears, and emotional wounds. Are they guarded because of past betrayal? Do they seek validation through success? Create a version of your character that feels believable but incomplete—someone the reader can root for, even if they’re not yet who they need to become.

2) Define what they want vs need

This is the core tension within your character. What they want is usually external and obvious—winning a competition, being accepted, solving a mystery—while what they need is internal, often hidden even from themselves. They might want revenge but truly need healing; they might chase love when they need self-worth. The arc comes from the slow, often painful realization that what they’ve been pursuing doesn’t address their deeper emotional truth.

3) Challenge them

Growth doesn’t happen in comfort zones. Put your character through situations that directly challenge their worldview. Let them make mistakes, lose things that matter, or be forced to face contradictions in their beliefs. Each turning point should push them closer to discomfort—and therefore closer to transformation. The tension between how they see themselves and who they could become is where real development takes place.

4) Show the moment of shift

Eventually, something will happen that forces your character to confront who they are and what they’ve become. This doesn’t have to be one dramatic moment—though it can be—but it should be emotionally honest. Maybe it’s the realization that they’ve been hurting others in the pursuit of a hollow goal, or that vulnerability doesn’t mean weakness. This shift marks the beginning of change, when they start to make different choices not because the plot demands it, but because they’ve truly evolved.

Step 5: Let their ending reflect their growth

By the end of the story, your character should not be the same person they were at the start. They might not be perfect, but they’ve learned something meaningful—and we should see that in how they act, speak, and make decisions. Their arc should feel like the natural consequence of everything they’ve endured, a reflection of internal growth that feels earned, not forced.

The Bear: Richie’s arc (mild spoilers!)

The Bear (before it fell off imo) is a great show that showcases the humanness of its characters and how they interact and grow.

At the start of The Bear, Richie is loud, defensive, and stuck in the past. He clings to tradition and power in a restaurant that’s moving on without him.

He wants respect and purpose but seeks it through authority, not action. What he needs is to let go of ego.

When he’s sent to stage at a fine dining restaurant, Richie’s thrown completely out of his comfort zone, but learns from his peers after being dismissed and humiliated.

In Season 2, Episode 7 Forks, Richie finds joy in polishing cutlery and precision in his service. He lets go of his ego finally.

When he returns to his restaurant, The Bear, he’s more thoughtful, and nurtures his staff without feeling the need to dominate. He hasn’t become someone new—he’s become a better version of himself.

A great character arc doesn’t erase who someone is—it reveals who they were capable of being all along.

Final thoughts

A powerful character arc isn’t just about change—it’s about truth. It’s about peeling back the layers of defense, denial, and doubt until what remains is raw, real, and resonant. The best arcs leave us feeling like we’ve grown alongside the character.

Have fun writing your character arcs!

[jenna12381]

babygirl i love youuuu

[jenna12381]

So for Bentley and Penelope's wedding who will catch the bouquet, Carmelita or Jing?

No idea.