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For those of you who have never played a Sly game....I swear, I'm not exaggerating here! The differences between the original trilogy and the sexist abomination that was Sly 4 really is THIS EXTREME!!
Seriously, when you actually sit down and compare how Sly is characterized in the Sucker Punch trilogy vs Sly 4, the difference is....pretty stark. Mainly regarding the way he treated women.
Just take a moment and think about that speech he delivers to Tsao after that boss fight in the Bamboo forest (if you need to look it up on YouTube to refresh your memory, I'll wait)
That "Jing King isn't property" speech is one of the few moments in the original trilogy where Sly gets visibly pissed off at the person he's fighting (instead of rattling off witty quips before kicking their ass). After Tsao tells Sly that he took Jing King simply because "women are too stupid to know what's best for them", Sly calls Tsao "the worst" of all the bad men he's dealt with.
Remember now, not only has Sly faced a LOT of enemies who have done FAR worse things than act like a misogynist douche, he is also currently traveling with a dude who helped MURDER HIS PARENTS IN COLD BLOOD!!
...so...yeah, I get the impression that Sly isn't cool with disrespecting women (no matter who they may be). And that sexism is VERY high on his personal list of mortal sins.
And I don't think it's a coincidence that Sly started coming around to the Panda King and giving him the benefit of the doubt immediately after he realized what a sexist jerk General Tsao was
Speaking of the Panda King, keep in mind that Sly got angry/upset about the treatment of a woman that, in addition to being a total stranger to him, is the daughter of someone he DESPISES for a very good reason. He has NO REASON to give a damn about Jing King's plight. And, while it may not be entirely ethical, most people wouldn't blame Sly if he had simply said to the Panda King, "
You're a monster and working with you isn't worth the risk that comes with storming Tsao's compound. So save your own freakin' daughter!"So, when you think about all that, it's pretty inconceivable that he would strong-arm the woman he claims to love into doing something she clearly finds humiliating/degrading. And I highly doubt that Classic-Sly would allow even Bentley to spout sexist nonsense at ANY woman without being called out on it (ESPECIALLY if said woman was somebody important to him).
tl;dr the fact that Sly had an entire speech dedicated to the notion that "woman are not objects to push around" in Sly 3 makes his behavior in Sly 4 even MORE appalling. Because no decent man who honestly believes in treating women with respect would essentially FORCE the woman he loves into a sexually degrading AND dangerous situation just so he and his dudebro friend can watch her shimmy around against her will in a bellydance costume
