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Once again, brains triumph over brawn!
― Bentley after he defeats Jean Bison[src]
Bentley, the brains, is the deuteragonist of the Sly Cooper series. He is a male turtle with green skin and black eyes which are covered by glasses, which he needs due to being nearsighted.[1] He is best friends with Sly Cooper and Murray, and is a member of the Cooper Gang. His significant other and rival is his ex-girlfriend Penelope.
Bentley first appeared in Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus at the age of 18. His current age is unknown as he was 20 in Sly 2: Band of Thieves and 21 in Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves, but an unknown amount of time passed between that and the fourth game. At the end of Sly 2, Bentley lost the use of his legs, and afterwards uses a highly–modified wheelchair that actually makes him more mobile and powerful than he was while able to walk.
He was voiced by Matt Olsen in all of his game appearances.
Biography
Early life
Operation Cookie Connection has begun!
― Bentley during the Cooper Gang's first heist[src]
As a young turtle living with his family in the swamp he called home, Bentley wandered away from his siblings due to his nearsightedness. A relative of Mrs. Puffin found him and delivered him to the Happy Camper Orphanage.[1] He quickly became friends with Murray and Sly when they arrived. They soon combined their skills; Bentley's knowledge, Sly's athleticism, and Murray's enthusiasm; and created a lifelong bond.
Their first heist was to steal the orphanage's cookie jar from Mrs. Puffin because of Murray's inability to sleep due to constantly thinking about the cookies. Dubbed the "Cooky-Steelin' Plan by Bentley", the plan was for Sly to hide in Mrs. Puffin's trash can and wait until she left for the night. During the heist, Bentley kept in contact with Sly, via an invention he created called the Cupinator, which was two cans and a piece of string. Both Bentley and Murray waited outside the office's window on a tricycle to escape with. Bentley had calculated that they only had 3 minutes and 42 seconds until the janitor came to clean the room. While Sly got into position, Bentley told him that they had run out of time. Sly, quickly thinking on his feet used the furniture to get to the cookie jar from on top of the bookshelf. Sly then heard the janitor walking down the hall. Murray vowed to save Sly by pedaling away from the window while Sly held onto the cupinator, before he could grab the jar. Not realizing Bentley hadn't put brakes on the tricycle yet, Murray crashed it. Sly then told the gang that they were lucky, Bentley wondered what Sly meant as they had failed the mission. Sly then revealed that he managed to store all the cookie's in his cap before Murray saved Sly. The three then began eating the cookie's together. The world's greatest gang of thieves was then born.
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
In the first game, Bentley is portrayed as a timid, shut-in person. Sometimes he even seems a bit stressed and uptight, although he only does this to protect his friends in any way he can. He is shown to be somewhat a germophobe, especially fearing the swamps of Ms. Ruby's hideout. Helping Sly and Murray from behind the scenes, Bentley was essential to the Cooper Gang's exploits in retrieving the Thievius Raccoonus, even though he never stepped out of the safety of the Cooper Van. Bentley did most of the planning, but when Sly fell victim to a gas chamber trap, he put aside his fears and hacked Clockwerk's computer to save Sly's life, as well as the life of Carmelita Fox. Sly later contemplates that he wouldn't have gotten anywhere without Bentley.
Stealing from a forger
Sly: Are you there, Bentley? I'm within visual range of Dimitri's mansion.
Bentley: I'm here. From what I've managed to get out of the security system, the grounds are heavily guarded. I'd recommend a second story entry.
― During their heist of the Venus de Whalo[src]
Bentley and the gang planned to steal a valuable statue called the Venus de Whalo from Dimitri Lousteau during a party held at Dimitri's mansion with his fiancée Beverly D'Oinkeau in Monaco. Sly snuck into the mansion's attic only to find some of Dimitri's guard's forging pieces of fine art, Sly then quickly dispatched all of the guards. He told Bentley that they were switching to plan B. Sly was then ambushed by a member of security, with Bentley worried on the other end of the radio. A group of guards then reported to Ms. D'Oinkeau of Sly's appearance in the attic. Both D'Oinkeau and Inspector Carmelita Fox, who had been invited to the party to protect The Venus de Whalo, rushed to the scene. When they got there, they didn't find Sly but found Dimitri's men tied up and knocked out. Both women then realized that Dimitri was a forger. Carmelita then realized that she had been tricked and rushed back to the statue only to find that it had disappeared, and that Sly's calling card with a beret on it was in its place. The guards that had informed D'Oinkeau and Carmelita were actually Bentley and Co., who were now putting the Venus de Whalo in the back of the Cooper Van. Realizing that they ran 12 minutes and 37 seconds over schedule, Bentley told the gang that they had to wait 45 minutes until another boat arrived to leave. Sly quickly ran off telling the gang that he would keep Inspector Fox busy. Bentley thought to himself that Sly went over schedule on purpose just to see Carmelita again. After distracting Carmelita enough the Cooper Gang escaped Monaco via boat, with the Venus de Whalo in tow.
Sly 2: Band of Thieves
Once again, brains triumph over brawn.
― Bentley to Jean Bison after defeating him
In Sly 2: Band of Thieves, Bentley has changed. Bentley becomes the team's expert in explosives and mechanical variety. Bentley also shows that he's capable of extremely advanced planning, even more so than the first game. Bentley is arguably the glue of all the team's plans and strategies. Accompanying Sly and Murray across the world to recover the lost pieces of Clockwerk, many things change for Bentley along the way. As opposed to the timid shut in he once was, Bentley is now willing to perform field work for the team.
Bentley gets his own moment when Sly and Murray are captured by The Contessa and he is left to fend for himself. At first, he's slightly afraid, but he knows he has to put his fears aside to save his friends. Bravely taking the challenge at hand by himself with the help of his gadgets, Bentley manages to save his friends and seems to gain a great deal of confidence in his ability. This event serves as a great source of inspiration for him, proving that he can do much more than what he reckons.
Bentley continues to greatly help the team, becoming much more forward with the others due to his experiences. In his first official boss battle, Bentley even takes on Jean Bison. Sadly, Bentley's legs are later crippled by the beak of Clock-La as he was removing the Hate Chip. Murray feels very psychologically hurt by this as he wasn't paying attention. Bentley, however, holds no ill will towards his friend, believing that he did everything he could and that it wasn't his fault.
Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves
In between Sly 2 and Sly 3, Sly and Murray recover Bentley from the hospital he was staying in. He shows, however, that he feels insecure with going back and feels like he'd be a "burden" to the team now that he's crippled. Sly has none of that, and the three escape, although Murray later leaves the team because he blames himself for Bentley's injuries.
In Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves, Bentley continues to mature. He plays quite a central role in the third game's story. As well as having to deal with his paralysis, Bentley seems surprisingly brash at times. He has been told more than once he had "gotten devious over the years," since his plans have steadily become more violent and painful for the enemy. At various times in the game, Bentley confronts the villain of the episode by himself and is quite verbally offensive. Bentley has also quite successfully turned his weakness into his greatest strength, as Bentley's wheelchair is loaded with all sorts of technology, making him a force to be reckoned with. Every weapon Bentley has is integrated in the chair, and is clearly shown in the game (e.g., in Binocucom radio messages, while every other character's face is close to the camera, Bentley's is leaning back as the Binocucom is on a mechanical arm). He also made optimizer goggles to see better in dark environments.
Eventually, Bentley finds a love interest in Penelope, a mouse with very similar interests as Bentley. At first, however, she is attracted to Sly, and Bentley shows very subtle but strong feelings of jealousy over this, and even tries to impress her by saying that he is the brains of the outfit. He can't bring himself to hate his friend, but luckily he is able to prove his heroism by saving Penelope twice. She returns the favor, and their blossoming love serves as an inspiration to Sly in his relationship with Carmelita Fox. Penelope is also the only character Bentley has shown even a small amount of insecurity over his disability to, and even admitted during the heist in Dead Men Tell No Tales that he wishes he had all of Sly's abilities, which implies that Bentley feels incredibly inferior to Sly's looks, abilities, and family skills.
It is hinted that there may be a notion that Bentley does all the real work and Sly takes all the credit. Dr. M reveals that like Bentley, he was the brains of the Gang that included him, McSweeney, and Conner Cooper, and he tries to convince Bentley that Sly isn't his real friend. Bentley himself begins to have a suspicion that he and Murray are simply subordinates to Sly since only Sly is allowed to enter the vaults' superstructure. Murray reminds Bentley, however, that if the two had switched places, Sly would be happy for Bentley because he's something more than credit or treasure, he's a true friend. Bentley's doubt is cleared and he stands by his beloved friends to the end, proving that they have a true friendship the previous gang seemed to lack.
After the final battle, Sly disappears. Bentley finds Sly's cane and equipment as well as all of his family's stockpiled treasure soon after the fight with Dr. M. When Sly doesn't return after a few months or so, the team splits up and goes their separate ways. Bentley and Penelope are the last ones remaining, constructing a new, more advanced Cooper Vault to maintain the legacy. Bentley seemingly inherits the Thievius Raccoonus in the end, becoming the first non-Cooper to write in the book. This emphasizes Sly's statement that Bentley is not a sidekick or lackey, but his "equal;" not only does he get to write in the book like Sly, Sly entrusts the family legacy and the Cooper Gang itself to Bentley.
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
Bentley reprises his role as genius and strategist supreme in Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. He is still confined to a wheelchair and now wears the pith helmet and bulletproof vest from Sly 2. Bentley also outfitted his wheelchair with two robotic arms.
While building his time machine, Bentley notices that Penelope has gone missing. Worried that something was wrong, he searched the area and found that the Thievius Raccoonus was losing content right before his eyes. Determined to save the Cooper Legacy, he gets a hold of Murray and Sly as quickly as he can, and modifies his time machine to fit on to the Cooper Van. They quickly are on their way through time to save Sly's ancestors.
Bentley's personality stays as it was in Sly 3, although he does make many more jokes with Sly throughout the game. This is especially evident in Clan of the Cave Raccoon, when he and Sly have a large back-and-forth with egg-related jokes. He still worries for his friends from time to time and supports them in any way possible, especially when Murray feels saddened when Bob Cooper is selected for a mission instead of him.
In Of Mice and Mechs, Bentley is distraught to find that Penelope's disappearance was really a betrayal of him and the Cooper Gang. She had seemingly sided with Le Paradox. Penelope later affirms that her betrayal was because she wanted Bentley to see that the two of them could be so much greater, and that Sly was really the enemy. Bentley holds the same stance he held in the past against Dr. M, that he and Sly are equals and no one else could get between them. He also realizes that Penelope was somehow self-hypnotized by the belief of power and money, and that she failed to realize that Le Paradox was the one in control, not her. He battled her, each one using a mech, and Bentley eventually won.
Later on, Sly contemplates that Bentley has finally matured into his own self. He thinks about Clock-La and his crippled legs, and about Penelope and his broken heart, but each and every time he came out on top. His trust and pride in Bentley reaches an all-time high at this point.
After Sly disappears at the end of Thieves in Time, Bentley began searching frantically for him. As of right now, Sly is still missing, and Bentley swears to never give up in searching for his best friend. During Penelope's escape from prison, Bentley has recently been receiving mysterious post cards.
Other appearances
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It looks like three black holes have converged and it sucked us through a Worm Hole into another world.
― Bentley in PlayStation Move Heroes
In PlayStation Move Heroes, Bentley was taken to a mysterious world with Sly where they met with Ratchet, Clank, Jak and Daxter. He has one Combustor, one Disc and one Bolt in his Gadgets. At the beginning of the game, Bentley made a rivalry with Clank because of their intelligence.
Bentley also appears in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, where he appears during Sly's level 3 Super Move. He is seen in the Binocucom, telling Sly to "Focus on as many targets as possible" as Sly takes pictures of others to defeat them.
Along with the release of Thieves in Time, Bentley had his own title released known as Bentley's Hackpack. This downloadable game features an arcade, named Bentley's Arcade, where various minigames can be played. Coins are rewarded for accomplishments and can then be exchanged to unlock viewable objects from previous games. Assumingly, the player takes on the role of Bentley as they go into the arcade and play the mini-games. Template:EndNoncanon
Characteristics
Physical appearance
Bentley's outfit in Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus is apparently casual; he wears a red bow tie around his neck, what appears to be a short sleeved dress shirt, a watch around his wrist, and a sweater-vest worn underneath his shell. It is also seen a few other times in the next two games.
In Sly 2: Band of Thieves, Bentley wears what appears to be a bulletproof vest along with complimentary knee and elbow pads, showing humorously that Bentley is a safety first type of guy. He also wore a pith helmet on his head.
In Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves, as well as being confined to a wheelchair, Bentley now wears what appears to be bicycle safety gear and a blue bicycle helmet.
In Thieves in Time, he once again dons a pith helmet and a bulletproof vest, along with a gray button-up shirt underneath his vest. His wheelchair has also been further modified with robotic arms and boosters. During some missions in Go West Young Raccoon, he also dons a fake mustache as a disguise.
Throughout all four games, Bentley wears glasses and gloves.
Personality
Bentley's personality changes throughout his life. As a child he was very quiet, shut in and a bit of a know-it-all. As he grew older, one constant is his germaphobia, as he constantly worrying for his own and his teammates' health and well-being. He also gets paranoid at times and is more realistic than optimistic. He is always shown to be utterly sure of his great brain power, even in moments of doubt among the rest of the gang. He usually says things like; "No code can stand before me!", and, "Don't I always". No other members of the gang even try to match Bentley intellectually and like him have no shame in admitting he's the smartest.
Bentley also is less confident with coming up with plans on the spot, which Sly and sometimes Murray are able to do, and tends to panic when he doesn't have "all the facts" as stated in A Friend in Need.
In Operation High Road Bentley implied he's asthmatic and in the 3rd game he stated he was allergic to tomatoes and lemons. The first and last of these statements can't be true as Bentley never has asthma attacks or uses an inhaler (and would never be able to handle the tasks he does if he had asthma) and if he were allergic to lemons he never would have survived the lemonade drinking contest (he may have just made it up in an attempt to get out of having to drink the lemonade).
In the first game he appears happy to help Sly retrieve his family's book but is still panicky, nervous, and uptight. Nonetheless, he manages to pull through in the end and gains some level of confidence from it.
At the start of the second game, he seems nervous and uptight as ever but is nonetheless willing to go out into the field. This nervousness eventually fades as the game progresses; after the capture of Sly and Murray, he is left to fend for himself, subsequently turning over a new leaf for his mannerisms. After pulling himself together and saving his friends, he appears more confident and relaxed than his previous self, even gaining a sense of sarcasm to rival Sly's, often countering Sly's remarks with his own quick wit. He was able to use this to tick off Muggshot and bait him into getting arrested again.
Even after his tragic confinement to his wheelchair, Bentley is still quite confident in his abilities, using his wheelchair to the fullest extent. He is also, as pointed out by Murray, now very devious after all those years. This is backed up by some of Bentley's missions which require many guards killed.
In the fourth game, Bentley's confidence peaks when he defeats his ex-girlfriend Penelope, representing his independence and ability to get over any obstacle. He sank into a deep depression after finding out she had betrayed them, refusing to talk to anyone, even his lifelong best friends.
Abilities
Bentley's greatest and most primary ability is his intelligence. He proves this through all four games by planning every master operation. He is also extremely skilled with technology, upgrading his wheelchair with various weapons and gadgets as well as inventing numerous devices. He also utilizes a large variety of bombs and darts with different effects.
Bentley is also a master hacker, mathematician, clue decipherer, inventor, gadgeteer, chemist, biologist, tactician, pickpocketer and a demolitions expert. He also has a keen eye for secrets hidden in art work, is capable of fighting numerous guards and can hold is own in vocalization against opera master Don Octavio. All of this can contribute to Bentley actually being a polymath.
Despite getting top scores at the Lumberjack Games Bentley is the least physically able member of the gang. As such he can take the least amount of hits from enemies and dishes out the least amount of damage with his standard attacks. During the lemonade drinking competition he drinks his slowest and spills quite a lot. However his gadgets, which can significantly damage (or have other effects based on the used gadget) multiple opponents or ensure a quick escape from battle, more than make up for his limitations.
Gallery
Trivia
Appearances
- Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
- The Adventures of Sly Cooper
- Sly 2: Band of Thieves
- The Adventures of Sly Cooper Issue 2
- Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves
- Timing is Everything
- Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
- Bentley's Hackpack
- Playstation Move Heroes
- Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale