Sexism in gaming & A review in comic form: "How it feels to be a girl playing Sly Cooper 4"

[brendala]

Very few male Sly fans seem to understand why this game bothers me. This comic was my attempt to illustrate it in a way they might understand:

Comments

[earthstar_moon]

After playing all three games, I can totally understand your rage and now I'm mad too. (It's really got me geared up to do more with the AU idea. XP)

And you know, honestly, even if you ignore the unneeded female fanservice her (seriously, did no one think it was a bad idea to have her dance for coins?) the story lines of Penelope and Carmelita don't match up with what you see in the first three games.

It really makes no sense for Penelope to turn evil at all, given with how much she cared for Bently in Sly 3. (I'm still amazed that within ten minutes Stu and I came up with a better reason for her to turn evil then what Sanzaru thought of.)

And Carmelita has proven she's a professional cop, you would think she would put her anger aside to focus on the problem at hand. Also, her flirting with Sly's ancestors? Even if she was angry at Sly, how is flirting with thieves from the past any different than flirting with Sly who is also a thief? Double standards much? @_@

[brendala]

Yeah. I had to quit the game for a few days after the Penelope boss fight because the domestic violence overtones were just THAT strong and unsettling. Basically, Bentley tries to talk to her for a minute, she says "fuck off", and he proceeds to punch her with a mech suit until she passes out. And while he's beating her up he's cracking jokes, taunts, and pop culture references!

Also, keep in mind that the boss fight happens right after she's revealed to be a traitor. And the only time you see her before that is in a flashback where she and Bentley are happily working together in their lab. There's ZERO proper build up or foreshadowing before "The Twist" happens. So the audience (and the characters) get virtually no time to process this change before it's time to grab the controller and have her boyfriend beat her unconscious. And Sly and Bentley's conversation after the fight is basically....
--Sly: Wow, dude! I'm sorry your girlfriend turned out to be such a raging bitch!
--Bentley: No, I'M sorry, Sly! I was wrong to express pain

[earthstar_moon]

By the way, For the Sly 4 AU idea, I was wondering are any of the Sly 4 villains worth trying to salvage for our version or should we just come up with completely new villains

[brendala]

By the way, For the Sly 4 AU idea, I was wondering are any of the Sly 4 villains worth trying to salvage for our version or should we just come up with completely new villains? All the Sly 4 villains were lame. Two of them had some redeeming qualities (Grizz was funny and Miss Decibel COULD have been a great tragic character if Sanzaru hadn't spent so much time reminding the audience that she's a "gross fat chick" :P), but not enough to be worth salvaging

[theidolhands]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. Go you. Good use of art skills on your part.

I mean, fair is fair, if one gender gets smexy make-overs, so should the others.

[brendala]

Thank you!

[earthstar_moon]

For the Paradox villain, Stu and I were actually thinking the villain could be the sister of Sly's mother (we're calling her Lucinda, don't ask me which, the name just came to me) and same reason she wants to wipe out the clan since Sly's mother was killed.

Basically, the idea was that Sly had heard of having an aunt but he never met her cause at the time his mother and her weren't on speaking terms. (She didn't approve the marriage between Sly's parents) and thus when she dies decides to try to wipe out the whole clan together.

Stu also got the idea that Lucinda did consider going and taking in Sly, but didn't because she saw him during the steal the cookies business and realize "He's always so much like he's father."

Also, we're thinking she's a librarian who can remember every book she's read. Thus, that's why it takes her longer to create a time machine than Bently, but she does so by reading every single science on time travel she can find. XD

[brendala]

Having the villain be Sly's aunt is the idea I liked best (I'm pretty sure you suggested it before). Mainly because La Paradox was super lame and I'd rather just leave him out than re-work him.
However, since this project is just for fun, I might just scribble both ideas and just put them out there for the hell of it. XD

As for Sly's maternal family, I figure they're France natives (mainly because Sly 1 and 2 start out in France and Sly seems to consider it "home").
In addition to being put off by the cookie thievery, I also think a big reason Aunt Lucinda (I like the name, too :)) shunned Sly was because he resembled his father and didn't look one bit like his mom. So all she saw when she looked at Sly was the smarmy bastard who dragged her sister into a shady lifestyle that got her killed.

Speaking of Sly's mom....do you have any ideas about what kind of animals they'd be? I draw a total blank every time I try to design them. ^_^;

[earthstar_moon]

Oh good, I'm glad you liked the name too. I don't know why but Lucinda seems to fit. And I do like your second big reason for why she didn't take Sly in. It would make sense.

You know what, we could keep Paradox around and he could be one of Lucinda's hechman/minions and reveal that he did have a crush on Sly's mother too, which is one of the reasons he decided to join Lucinda. Or just toss the guy, either works for me.

Speaking of Sly's mom....do you have any ideas about what kind of animals they'd be? I draw a total blank every time I try to design them. ^_^;

I'm glad I read this before I went to work, gave me something to ponder on while the store was dead and I was bored.

I think since Sly and his dad are raccoons, Sly's mom and Lucinda should also be tree climbing animals. Why should Sly only inherit climbing skills from his dad? ^_~

I'm thinking either squirrel or red panda for Sly's mom, but I'm leaning towards squirrel. Just imagine the busy tail she would have. XD

[brendala]

I still don't know if we should bother coming up with names for Sly's parents or just leave them as "Mom&Dad" because it's funny. LOL

I like the squirrel idea! It makes sense and it's an animal type the series hasn't used yet (at least as far as I know).