Thieves In Time Rewrite - Blog Posts

About Thieves In Time Redux's final boss fight...

I wanted to talk about the gameplay end of the fight scene. Remember how the vanilla boss fight was mostly QTEs? We'll only be seeing QTEs in the first and final phases.

The first phase, of course, has Penelope fighting Le Paradox, in an attempt to redeem herself.

As the fight progresses, the button commands increase in difficulty until they eventually become impossible for a human to complete. When that happens, Sly will join the fight and begin Phase 2.

You'll take control of Sly, Bentley, Murray, and Carmelita one after the other (in that order) as they enter the fight. No, you won't get to control the ancestors when they join in.

The final phase has you controlling Penelope again as she restarts her duel with Le Paradox. More QTEs follow, but now they're easier as our heroine gives her speech on what she learned about friendship.

I find it a bit hard to believe that after 11 years of Thieves In Time, and combing through several rewrites...

My rewrite is somehow the only one that has Penelope fighting Le Paradox at the very end.

Why does she end up fighting him? Simple. She feels it's something she has to do as part of her redemption quest. If she can't do it all by herself, her attempt to atone won't count.

After all, this is her mess. She needs to be the one who finishes cleaning it up. What better way is there than taking Le Paradox down?

This, of course, leads to the final lesson she needs to learn: Atoning for her crimes doesn't mean she has to try to fix everything all by herself. She is allowed to ask for help.

Let's now go over all the change Bentley goes through in Thieves In Time Redux... I don't think I need to say who he's referring to...

Bentley during the prologue: Please tell me you're still in one piece! (During Penelope's segment)

Bentley during the prologue (again): I'm glad you made it back. And thank you for saving me from that guard's wrath. Am I worrying too much? (After Penelope's segment)

Bentley during Episode 1: Stay behind me and Murray. This place is dangerous. Did those guards back there hurt you? (During Something's Fishy)

Bentley during Episode 1 (again): I hope you learned your lesson. You nearly gave me a heart attack when you ran off! Then again, we might have lost Sly if you hadn't done that... (After Altitude Sickness)

Bentley during Episode 2: You really didn't have to jump in there and take those stings for me… but thank you. Let's get your injuries patched up. (After Cooper For Hire)

Bentley during Episode 2 (again): The way you broke me out of that prison was incredible! I was wrong to underestimate you! (After Jail Break)

Bentley during Episode 3: If only you'd told me sooner… Why didn't you say you were sick? (After Getting Stronger)

Bentley during Episode 3 (again): I'm positively speechless. You and Murray worked so well together against The Grizz! Feel free to go back hom-- Wait, you're staying? (After OP: Jurassic Thievery)

Bentley during Episode 4: You want to help Murray tear that tavern apart? The one that's loaded with those massive guards? You know what? Go for it! (During Short Supply)

Bentley during Episode 4 (again): Breaking yourself out of a tower and striking down the Black Knight?! Is there nothing you can't do?! (After OP: Frog Trap)

Bentley during Episode 5: Your services will definitely be required in this perilous structure. I'll have tea and cheesecake ready for you when you get back. (During Copy Cats)

Bentley during Episode 5 (again) This whole mess was your doing?! Young lady, you are in big trouble! (After All Rolled Up)

Bentley during Episode 6: I'm willing to wipe your slate clean if you put an end to what you started and-- You want to lead us to victory? I hope you don't let us down. (Before the final mission)

Bentley during Episode 6 (again): When I said "put an end to what you started", I didn't mean "fight Le Paradox all by yourself"! Please come back safely... (During the final mission)

Bentley during the epilogue: I knew you wouldn't let us down! Of course you can stay with us! Just never betray us again! (After the final mission)

So yeah. Thieves In Time Redux through the eyes of Bentley.

Thieves In Time Redux Meme #17

Let's do a meme starring our very own Sly Cooper for a change... This happens during Episode 3, right after Carmelita comes back...

Sly does this after taking advice from Bentley to be more honest with Carmelita. He takes that advice. It backfires. Horribly.

Guess what? Penelope gets to see them fighting. Again. Another peek into that dark future. She does not want her relationship with Bentley to turn into whatever those two are doing. If you've been paying attention, she's just gone through her change of heart by now.

Our heroine then decides to keep her secret of betrayal... Kind of like what Sly tried to do with Carmelita... That's not going to blow up in her face at all!

Thieves In Time Redux Meme #16

Spoiler alert: Penelope is not straight up evil in this fanfiction. I don't want to reveal her motive for "siding" with him until I finish Episode 0 of the story... That would be Chapters 1-6. In case you forgot, Episode 0 covers the Paris museum heist.

I'm aware my WIP fanfiction shares a name with a WIP comic series. I wish us both luck in our writing.

Regarding A Certain Poll...

For those of you who picked Sly to still fight Le Paradox, don't worry. I already have a solution. Sly still gets to participate.

Let's first set the stage for Episode 6. Penelope has been keeping her secret of betrayal all game. She also underwent a change of heart. At the end of last episode, Le Paradox outed her. This happened right when Sly, Bentley, and Murray's trust in her was at an all time high.

Thankfully, by the time this reveal happens, Penelope has already finished her march towards heroism and refuses the skunk's offer to rejoin him.

The boys are furious with Penelope. But she has a chance to redeem herself... if she behaves during the blimp raid. She doesn't think she'll be allowed to stay if she simply does as she's told, so she does them one better... and volunteers herself as mission leader.

Who better to lead our heroes to victory than the blimp's chief designer herself? It does take a bit of convincing, but Bentley, Murray, and Sly in that order do end up agreeing.

You all remember what else happened at the end of Episode 5: Carmelita's kidnapping.

Near the end of the rescue mission, Penelope feels a need to pursue the villain of this story. In her mind, she can definitely finish atoning for everything she did if she defeats him... all by herself. If she doesn't (or can't) do it alone, her attempt won't count. She gives chase. Bentley in particular tries to convince her not to, but his pleas fall on deaf ears. She gives him one last kiss before running off in tears.

Cue the final boss fight. Penelope vs. Le Paradox. Over the course of their duel, the skunk says a few things to make her lose her focus...

"Those friends of yours will never forgive you, even if you can take me down!"

"Why do you bother trying to redeem yourself? It's hopeless!"

"You'd be much better off if you rejoined me. Just in case your precious friends don't take you back. I'll be your friend."

Of course, our heroine tells him to stuff it. She'd rather die a hero than live long enough to betray her friends again.

And then... Penelope gets disarmed. Knocked down. The villain nearly gets his chance to finish her off... only for Sly Cooper to jump in and save her. Turns out he heard most of that conversation.

This wasn't what she wanted... Now her attempt won't count! But Sly says that's not how redemption works. She is allowed to ask for help.

Like the heroes they are, Sly and Penelope double team the villain, and are soon joined by Bentley, Murray, Carmelita, and the ancestors.

With her morale restored, Penelope takes it upon herself to finish the skunk off. Complete with a speech on what she learned about friendship.

The game ends with Sly not getting lost in time, and Penelope staying with her friends.

Thieves In Time Redux Characters: Deep Dive

Time to dive deeper into each of these character arcs. Namely, the lessons our four heroes will need to learn by the end of the story.

I don't need to remind you how poorly written Thieves In Time was. What a storytelling trainwreck.

If Sly 3 was about a seasoned gang of thieves pulling the heist of the century, Thieves In Time Redux is now about a less experienced member learning the ropes and building on her foundations. With, of course, a helping of betrayal mixed in.

Note that Thieves In Time Redux is an AU where Penelope gets dragged into the events of Thieves In Time as a playable character.

First up, Sly.

In canon, Sly jumped into this time travelling adventure because the "old itch" hit him like a truck. We can do better than that. Let's have his initial motivation instead be more about him missing Bentley and Murray. He can still have the itch. But no way is that going to be his number one reason for coming back. Also, when he starts thinking about Penelope now being on the main roster, it leads to him regretting how he ditched all his friends back on Kaine Island...

And when Carmelita comes back for Episode 2, let's just say things won't be pretty... I'm sure you can guess what he needs to do.

Bentley's turn. With Penelope now dragged into the adventure, our favorite turtle now gets a new character arc to navigate.

Bentley is perfectly fine with Sly and Murray risking their lives on the regular... but Penelope, his beloved girlfriend? Not so much. At the beginning of this story, she doesn't have a whole lot of experience yet. The fact that she was nearly kidnapped during the prologue doesn't help. This leads to Bentley being overprotective, but only towards her.

Long story short, Bentley will need to learn to let go of all that fear and let Penelope soar, because spoiler alert! She's actually a badass. It might even save their relationship...

Time to talk about Murray.

Instead of Murray feeling useless from out of heckin' nowhere, he... doesn't have much of an arc to follow. You'd think he'd now have nothing to do, but since Penelope is here for the ride, guess what? Murray has been seeing her as a younger sister. He even goes as far as only calling her "Sis". His focus is now on being a good older brother.

While Murray doesn't get a lot of development here, he does end up being incredibly wholesome.

Which brings us to our main protagonist, Penelope.

I'm not going to reveal her motive here. But I did change it from canon. No longer is she after "something something fame/money/power". As she spends time with our other heroes (and sees how much they care about her), she realizes that her motive isn't worth chasing after.

The lesson she needs to learn is obvious. And it's all about friendship.

I don't even know how to begin covering the ancestors and villains... That'll be for another day. And Carmelita? She's in the same boat.

Thieves In Time could have been so much better. So here. Here's one way it could have gone without ruining the characters.

I already stated earlier that it would make more narrative sense to have Penelope (fully reformed) fight Le Paradox during the end of Thieves In Time Redux. But what do you think?

Drop a comment if you picked "secret third option".

I have to wonder...

Thieves In Time Rewrites...

A lot of rewrites will do one of two things with Penelope.

One route has her following canon and being straight up evil.

Another route has her being kidnapped and either blackmailed or brainwashed.

Thieves In Time Redux not only marries both routes (in that Penelope is responsible for the game's events, and escapes from a kidnapping situation), but also takes a third option. It has her dragged into the adventure so she can learn a lesson or two about friendship.

Thieves In Time Redux Meme #15

Seriously, fans? Why does Sly get to have all the fun?

I know having Penelope go that hard is a bold move, but come on. If she started this whole mess, and feels a need to correct her mistakes, shouldn't she end it herself?

We can even have her feel like she has to do it alone, or else her attempt to atone for what she did won't count.

But because I'm not a monster, let's also have the rest of the playable cast join her so they can kick some skunk tail!

And for good measure, Penelope also gets to finish Le Paradox off. Complete with a speech on what she learned about friendship.

Of course, she will have to be told her attempt did count. And that she nailed it. And no, Sly will not be lost in time.

Thieves In Time Redux Meme #14

I couldn't resist.

Penelope is going to go through a lot in this story. While simultaneously keeping a dark secret of betrayal, she learns to like Sly, Bentley, and Murray all over again.

She ends up having a change of heart, and finally starts to see the boys as her family... only for Le Paradox's reveal at the end of Episode 5 to nearly rip that away from her, and right when their trust in her is at an all time high.

Thieves In Time Redux Behind The Scenes Blog

Hey kids! Welcome to my behind the scenes blog!

Do you hate Thieves In Time with a burning passion?

Do you love redemption stories?

Are you a Bentley/Penelope fan like me?

Are you wondering what might have happened if Penelope had joined the boys for the events of Thieves In Time?

If you answered "yes" to all of these questions, then congratulations! This Thieves In Time rewrite is for you!

Since I can't pin more than one thing to the top of my blog, here's a link to the abridged version of my story!

Here's a link to the mission recaps, and a link to everything Penelope does in the story.

Feel free to ask me anything about Thieves In Time Redux!

My askbox is currently open. I have so far answered 6 questions.

Thieves In Time Redux Meme #13

Here's how I fixed Thieves In Time...

Anyway, these changes are only the tip of the iceberg...

I know making Penelope the main protagonist is a bold move, but I can't see this story going any other way. Yes, this also means making her fully playable as well.

Thieves In Time Redux Mission Recaps #2

Here is everything Penelope does in each mission... This includes who is assigned to each mission. You'll notice some of them were reassigned from canon.

Check out what happens in each mission here.

Bold: New mission

Italics: Reassigned

Paris Tutorial:

Sly's Segment (Sly): Nothing.

Bentley's Segment (Bentley): Follows Bentley through the sewers.

Penelope's Segment (Penelope): Tries to find Bentley after getting separated from him. Saves him from a guard's wrath.

Murray's Segment (Murray): Nothing.

Turning Japanese:

Photo Op (Sly): Nothing.

Breakout (Sly): Nothing.

Sushi House Startup (Sly): Nothing.

Something's Fishy (Bentley): Helps Bentley and Murray advance further in the fish caves. Also snoops around for information, but only hears ill words about El Jefe.

Pretty In Pinker (Murray): Nothing.

Tiger Tail (Penelope): Convinces Bentley to follow El Jefe instead of her. Goes snooping around the geisha house for information, but only hears general grievances against El Jefe's boss.

Spiked Sushi (Rioichi): Nothing.

Altitude Sickness (Sly): Joins the group for the mission. Tries to go rogue in pursuit of the blimp. Runs into Sly and El Jefe's duel, then decides to help Sly via aerial support. Also gets scolded for running off, mostly by Bentley.

Go West, Young Raccoon:

Under Arrest (Sly): Nothing, though she does convince Sly to take out some of Toothpick's men.

Jailhouse Blues (Bentley): Nothing, though she does have a lengthy chat with Bentley about her running off last episode.

Cooper For Hire (Bentley): Helps Murray protect Bentley from a bed of scorpions.

Saloon Bug (Sly): Snoops around Toothpick's office, then opts to move further ahead for more information. She finds very little apart from Toothpick's men complaining about their boss.

Blind Date (Tennessee): Nothing, though she does gain permission to stay behind while the boys try to fetch Carmelita.

Jail Break (Penelope): Joins Tennessee and Carmelita to free the boys from jail. Focuses on freeing Bentley.

Grand Key Larceny (Murray): Wins at a mechanical bull riding competition in disguise.

OP: Gold Digger (Sly): Placed on van retrieval duty with Murray. Also provides aerial support during Toothpick's boss fight.

Clan Of The Cave Raccoon:

Stone Age Reconnaissance (Sly): Nothing.

Unexpected Ties (Sly): Nothing.

Getting Stronger (Bob): Demonstrates events for Bob. Falls ill after the mission is cleared. Placed on bed rest for several missions.

Going Up (Murray): Nothing. Bed rest.

Starving Starving Hippo (Murray): Nothing. Bed rest.

Ice Ice Bentley (Bentley): Nothing, though she does gather enough strength to check up on Bentley. (No, she does not go in person.) Bed rest.

Duty Calls (Sly): Nothing. Released from bed rest after this mission. Has seen the error of her ways by the beginning of the next mission.

OP: Jurassic Thievery (Penelope): Placed with Murray and Carmelita. Provides aerial support for Bob. Gets roped into The Grizz's boss fight with Murray. Helps Murray with the boss fight, even dealing the final blow.

Of Frogs And Mechs:

Shopping Spree (Sly): Nothing.

Juggling Act (Sly): Nothing.

Cane Swipe (Penelope): Helps Sly distract the Black Knight's guards so he can steal back Sir Galleth's cane via aerial support.

Eye In The Sky (Sir Galleth): Nothing.

Mechanical Menace (Sir Galleth): Nothing, though she does offer Sly advice on salvaging his broken relationship with Carmelita.

Short Supply (Murray): Helps Murray out in the tavern.

Untitled SSH (needs new name) (Penelope): Follows the Black Knight around instead of Sly. Bentley joins her in the blacksmith's. Sir Raleigh is exposed as the villain of this episode, alongside his creation Robo-Penelope.

Hard Target (Sly): Gets kidnapped after mission is completed.

Princess Out Of Distress (Bentley): Escapes from said kidnapping situation. Runs into impostor and fights her. Bentley helps her defeat said impostor. Also includes a double love confession.

OP: Frog Trap (Sly): Impersonates impostor in order to severely weaken Raleigh and free Sly from the villain's clutches. Declares loyalty to Team Sly. Helps everyone finish the villain off.

40 Thieves:

Lost And Found (Sly): Nothing, though she is stated to have helped Bentley perfect some new technology for Sly.

Open Sesame (Sly): Nothing.

Rug Rats (Salim): Sends her car into the tower to help Salim free one of his allies.

Up In Smoke (Bentley): Helps Bentley during his portion of the mission.

Copy Cats (Murray): Joins Sly and Murray in person, then gets trapped in with Murray. Manages to get Murray out of the caves safely, but not before helping Sly find another of Salim's allies.

Heavy Metal Meltdown (Rename?) (Salim): Submits an EDM track for use in the mission, which turns out more effective than in canon.

Untitled New Mission (Penelope): ?????????

All Rolled Up (Sly): Finds an alternative to Carmelita having to belly dance, though the cop does still have to stay behind. Joins the boys for the hangar raid, pulling more than her fair share of weight. Gets outed as Le Paradox's ally, then refuses to rejoin him. Helps defeat Miss Decibel.

Paris Epilogue:

Deja Vu All Over Again (Penelope): Leads the blimp raid. Starts the final boss fight. Refuses to rejoin Le Paradox again. Also ends said boss fight and wins, even saving Sly one final time in the process.

Thieves In Time Redux Meme #12

Sly, Bentley, and Murray after the events of the story...

Too bad the second half didn't happen in canon...

Thieves In Time Redux Characters

Other than Penelope, our other heroes go through their own personal character arcs as well.

Sly learns that maybe ditching his friends on Kaine Island wasn't the best idea.

Bentley becomes less overprotective and more supportive towards Penelope. He'd be humbled after she saves him multiple times over the course of the story.

Murray doesn't go through much of an arc. He spends much of the story being a good older brother towards our heroine, and making her look good. If anything, he shows he can step back and let others take his spotlight.

As for Penelope, our main protagonist... She realizes what's truly important to her: Her friends.

I'm not touching whatever Sly and Carmelita are doing. Not here. Their fighting actually gets worse until Episode 5, when they realize they've been acting like children.

Isn't this so much better than whatever happened in vanilla?

Ask me anything relating to my Thieves In Time rewrite, and I'll be happy to answer.

Reblog if you'll PUBLICLY answer anything in your ask right now.

Im game

Thieves In Time Redux Meme #11

You knew he'd try again...

And maybe zoom out to reveal Sly and Murray also not amused...

Thieves In Time Redux Progress Meme #2

I can't wait to share everything I picked out. So I will.

As you may have already seen, each episode, including Episode 0, has a piece assigned to it. All of these are from Paper Mario: The Origami King.

Paris Tutorial: Musée Champignon

Turning Japanese: Toad Town Ghost Town

Go West, Young Raccoon: Toad Town Red Streamer Removal

Clan Of The Cave Raccoon: Toad Town Blue Streamer Removal

Of Frogs And Mechs: Toad Town Yellow Streamer Removal

40 Thieves: Toad Town Purple Streamer Removal

Paris Epilogue: Toad Town Green Streamer Removal

Aftermath: Title Screen

Yes, I'm also giving the boss fights music as well. Not everything will be from Origami King.

The only boss I haven't assigned anything yet is Miss Decibel. Any ideas?

Here are my boss selections...

El Jefe: Boss Fight + Thinking (Paper Mario: The Origami King)

Toothpick: Vellumental Battle + Thinking (Paper Mario: The Origami King)

The Grizz (Phase 1): The Shifty Sticker + Thinking (Paper Mario: The Origami King)

The Grizz (Phase 2): Battle! (Ash) (Pokémon Masters EX)

Robo-Penelope (Phase 1): Battle! (Wally) (Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire)

Robo-Penelope (Phase 2): Battle! (Wally) (Pokémon Masters EX)

Sir Raleigh (Phase 1): ???????????

Sir Raleigh (Phase 2): Chain Attack (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

Miss Decibel: ?????????

Le Paradox: Battle With King Olly + Thinking (Paper Mario: The Origami King)

Thieves In Time Redux Meme #10

This happens during the events of Jail Break (Episode 2).

And the best part? Penelope not only gets what she wants, she also gets to see a dark future for herself and Bentley through what happened to Sly and Carmelita.

The boys are confined separately unlike canon so Penelope and Carmelita can individually save their boyfriends. Tennessee, meanwhile, gets stuck with saving Murray.

Thieves In Time Redux Meme #9

For context, we see this happen midway through the El Jefe boss fight.

Before the boss fight, Penelope ran off towards the blimp without anyone seeing her. She has a decision to make when she sees Sly and El Jefe having their duel...

Yes, she does end up doing the right thing. She provides aerial support for Sly.

The others are fully aware she's gone missing. Yes, she does get scolded for running off when she comes back... primarily by Bentley. Though she is partially let off the hook for helping Sly.

The fact that she's being targeted by kidnappers doesn't help her case in the slightest.

At least she's only scolded for running off. That definitely beats getting reamed for the act of betrayal... That secret is still safe, BTW.

Thieves In Time Redux Meme #8

We all know where we want her to go...

One path leads to an epic redemption quest.

The other... Well, the less we say about that, the better.

Thieves In Time Redux Meme #7

During Something's Fishy (Episode 1), instead of a hacking segment, we get a "protect Bentley" segment...

What Bentley thinks happened: Murray took out most of the guards. He's sure Penelope got at least a few of the smaller ones.

What actually happened: Murray and Penelope each took out half of the guards. Murray swears she took out a little more than half.

Is Murray trying to make his little sister look good? Maybe. But both of them did pull their weight. Too bad Bentley didn't see any of it...

Moral of the story: Don't underestimate this mouse girl. Sadly, that's a lesson Bentley won't fully learn until Episode 2's Jail Break...

Thieves In Time Redux Van

Remember the view of the van's sun visor? Those three photos it had? Instead of the Bentley/Penelope photo, we get this...

And at the end of Episode 4, it's replaced with a new photo starring these four as they are now, with Murray picking his brothers and sister up from behind. Cuuuuute!

I'd love to see someone draw that. Have Penelope sandwiched between Sly and Bentley. She is the main protagonist of my fanfiction, after all...

I'm assuming Carmelita takes the picture for them...

I'd draw it myself, but I'm no good at drawing art. Again, I'm just a writer with big ideas.

The other two photos can stay the same.

Thieves In Time Redux Meme #6

Episode 2, for context. This happens just before Cooper For Hire.

Bentley's a bit overprotective, isn't he? And you can't blame him. His girlfriend did run off on her own last episode... The fact that she's also being targeted by kidnappers doesn't help, either...

He does agree to her request, though. Mainly because Murray's also going to be there.

I gotta say. Sometimes it's way more fun writing memes for my fanfiction than actually working on it.

Thieves In Time Redux Meme #5

Our four heroes after Episode 5. All Rolled Up.

The worst part? The truth comes out right after our heroine starts feeling like she's part of a family again.

Writing the end to this episode is going to be so painful... because we get to watch all that trust Penelope built up come crashing down.

Don't worry... She will redeem herself.

Thieves In Time Redux Progress Meme

Because the fun stuff is in the later episodes.

I'm still working on Paris. Just... at a slower rate than before.

Thieves In Time Redux Meme #4

Here's Episode 4 in a nutshell...

And the best part? She does it all without any of the other heroes figuring out she was behind the Black Knight's creation.

And everyone ends up absolutely adoring her. Especially Bentley. He's gonna be so proud of her... The reason? She started this adventure not even wanting to go. To see her going this hard is damn impressive.

Writing this episode is going to be so much fun...

For extra fun, imagine this playing during the second phase of Raleigh's boss fight.

And this for the second phase against Robo-Penelope.