Sly Cooper

Sly Cooper "'I haven't stolen anything... yet!"" Gender: Male Type: Wily Ringtail Age: 18 (Thievius Raccoonus) 21 (Honor Among Thieves and onwards) Species: Raccoon Portrayed by: Keven Miller Status: Alive Media of origin: 'Sly Cooper'

Sly Cooper is the titular main protagonist from the series of the same name. Being the leader of the Cooper Gang, he was born into the lineage of the Coopers under the tutelage of his father Conner Cooper. Between the jobs that his father's gang would pull off, Sly would spend time with Jim McSweeney, a member of the gang and Conner's friend. At the age of three, Sly was taken by his father to a museum on the Ligurian coast in Italy where they met up with McSweeney, who then took the map to the Cooper Vault—an island-wide safe that holds the riches of the entire Cooper Clan—and hid it in the museum. As Sly got older, he learned more about his family's history as master thieves. At the age of eight, he was to follow in their footsteps and inherit their legacy, a book called the Thievius Raccoonus. While Sly did tried to inherit the book, a gang called the Fiendish Five invaded the Cooper home thus leading the death of both of his parents. Sly is now an orphan who was placed in an orphanage where he met his lifelong friends Bentley and Murray.

Why He Rocks

1. The way that he pulls off jobs often leads to Sly to use his wit, courage, charm, and skills. Weather it be things like often cracking up jokes or make some sarcastic comments, he sure is cunning yet charming.
2. He's also very cool, collected, and can easily manage to keep a rational head in stressful and chaotic situations.
3. His relationship towards Bentley, Murray and Carmelita (even if she tried to put Sly behind bars) is very dedicated and he calls any who he likes as a friend.
4. Sly does admit that he can't complete a goal if he didn't get his guidance from both Bentley and Murray which does lead to his respectful resolution in future games.
5. Because of what Sly has been through, he does take his feelings towards Bentley and Murray seriously nowadays and could be relatable to some who do have good friends/family.
6. Despite Carmelita and Sly working on the opposite sides of the law, both do respect each other by both rescuing the other several times or having Carmelita gain newfound respect for him. Another thing worth noting is that their relationship is complex yet hilarious since having Carmelita and Sly go into such territory does feel similar to old school cartoons like Tom & Jerry.
7. Despite Sly being a thief, he would mostly rather want to steal only from legit criminals.
8. His backstory is actually deep and emotional. Can you imagine a simple cartoony raccoon from a game that anyone can enjoy (even kids can enjoy) have parents who were murdered and lead to Sly being sent to an orphanage?
9. He was able to focus on his goals instead of slacking off. Regardless if he started to act cocky or not.
10. He was able to witness abilities that were seen from the Cooper bloodline which means that he was willing to train for years.

Bad Qualities

1. In the first game, Sly was really cocky. He would even scold Bentley for slowing missions and deny his guidance. Sly would even speak rudely to Murray sometimes. Though he does become respectful.
2. His appearance in PlayStation Move Heroes looks pretty uncanny.
3. Sly has been outsmarted on some occasions by characters like Constable Neyla.
4. Often rely on his team, though he can still be on his own quite well.
5. While Sly alongside some characters that returned were still likable in Thieves in Time, he did feel pretty flanderized as if he came out of a poorly written fan-fiction.

Trivia

• Sly Cooper bears a striking resemblance to Jojo the Raccoon from Sucker Punch's first title, Rocket: Robot on Wheels.
• Sly's signature color is blue. Unlike Bentley, Murray and most characters, his is not based on his skin or fur, but off of his attire.
• Sly wears an actual mask over the mask-like fur around his eyes.
• Concepts shown in a "making of" movie in Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus show that Sly's early designs ranged from him wearing nothing more than his hat and shoes to even being chubby.
• Sly Cooper won "Best New Character" at the Game Developer's Conference in 2003, and the Best Stealth Character by DragonAx in 2011.
• Sly is of multi-racial descent (American, Caribbean, Panamanian, English, Scottish, French, German, Dutch, Middle Eastern, Egyptian, Japanese, and Australian in particular) based on his ancestry.
• Sucker Punch originally planned Sly's name to be JT, not Sly, accompanied with a different voice actor. This can be found in in the "The Evolution of Sly" bonus video in Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves.
• Sly, like Bentley and Murray, cannot swim because he never learned how to when he was in the orphanage, in contrast to real-life raccoons who are excellent swimmers.
• His friendship with Bentley is ironic for his species, as raccoons are known to prey on turtles, as well as eat turtle eggs.
• His relationship with Carmelita is reflective of how real life raccoons and foxes share the same ecological niche (though foxes attack raccoons). Sly and Carmelita have similar roles of vigilance but are not on the same side of the law.
• In Thieves in Time, there is a Sanzaru logo on Sly's backpack.
• Sly is one of few Coopers without a known section in the Cooper Vault, along with his mother, Slytunkhamen Cooper I, Bob Cooper, and the minor Coopers mentioned only in Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus.
• In the cancelled Sly Cooper Movie, Sly was going to be voiced by Ian James Corlett.

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