Being a Sly Cooper fan is like, if Spider-man were a character who only appeared in a series of obscure PlayStation 2 games from the early 2000s. And the people who played those games [especially as kids] were like “this ‘spider-man’ stuff has so much story potential! The idea of a fun kid-friendly story about a vigilante animal-themed superhero who has a tense relationship with both the Law and supervillain criminals, a character motivated by the tragic death of his family member forcing him into a position of responsibility at a young age, the superhero origin as a coming-of-age story, the main character’s unique way of effortlessly climbing across rooftops, the light colorful tone that still takes the core of the story seriously, the fun dynamics with other heroes who have their own unique powers, the colorful rogue’s galley of wacky themed villains with tragic backstories, the moody atmospheric art style, the way it gestures at deeper themes while also still remaining colorful and kid-friendly, etc etc.”
But then like…., instead of becoming a massive franchise, spider-man remained a scrappy little series of comic book stories that only you and approximately fifteen [15] other people remember. And any Official attempts to continue the character’s legacy [like the trailer for a movie that never came out] portrayed Spider-Man as a Wacky Loony Hammy Egotistical Joke Character like Crash Bandicoot, rather than a comic book superhero.
Though I do think there’s something sorta special about the fact that Sly Cooper never got franchised into oblivion? I don’t know how other Sly Cooper fans feel, but I’m actually sorta glad the series just Is What It Is. A lot of the media I loved as a kid has become so oversaturated that they’re now just Marketable Plushie Commercials to me [like anything owned by D*sney, lol]. But for all its many faults, Sly still feels a bit personal in a way that bigger “better” more polished kid’s franchises never can. Again, it’s sorta like an alternate universe where Spider-Man was a short series of messy flawed origin story comics from 20 years ago that a couple kids got really invested in, but that got cancelled after a limited run and never caught on with anyone beyond that.
