Cooper Clan

The Cooper Clan (クーパー氏族, Kūpā Shizoku), is a group that appears in the Sandiego Cooper series. It is the most successful lineage of master thieves in history. Numerous grand heists have been performed by various Coopers, occasionally by assembling other thieves and experts of their fields around them to form a Cooper gang.

Notably, the Cooper Clan is also one of the most honorable lineages of thieves; Coopers steal only from those undeserving of what they possess, due to underhanded dealings or more sinister arrangements. A pervasive code of honor binds each Cooper, as the general ethos of a Cooper heist is to deprive the real criminals of their possessions — there is "no honor, no challenge, no fun in stealing from ordinary people." As INTERPOL Inspector Carmelita Fox puts it, the Coopers and the police work towards the same goal on different sides of the law.

The Cooper Clan often clashed with criminal organizations due to its honor code, including the Fiendish Five and the Klaww Gang. They have also had encounters with rival thieves, such as Clockwerk or the Le Paradox Clan.

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 * —About Cooper Clan.

Living members

 * Sly Cooper – The most recent master thief, Sly is the son of an honorable Cooper that went down fighting while protecting his family and the Thievius Raccoonus. After the death of his parents, Sly was placed in an orphanage where he met his pals, Bentley and Murray, who he would later create their own Cooper Gang with. He defeated Clockwerk and Cyrille Le Paradox, two major enemies of the Cooper Clan. He also defeated Neyla, a corrupt INTERPOL agent who planned on becoming immortal, and Dr. M, a member of his father's gang who attempted to steal the fortune within the Cooper Vault.

Deceased

 * Bob Cooper – The first known Cooper, Bob was a thief from Gungathal Valley, 10,000 BC. He stole pterodactyl eggs as food for his tribe. His major contribution was the invention of the tool that became the very first cane. His special ability was being able to climb on icy surfaces, but could not do common Cooper moves such as the Ninja Spire Jump or Rail Walk.


 * Slytunkhamen Cooper I – Sly's ancestor from ancient Egypt circa 1350 BC, he was the father of Slytunkhamen II and the creator of the Thievius Raccoonus. His signature ability was to turn invisible to aid in stealing from corrupt Pharaohs and greedy noblemen. He was the first known ancestor before the Cooper Gang's escapades in the Ice Age.


 * Slytunkhamen Cooper II – He was Sly's ancestor from ancient Egypt circa 1300 BC and supposed creator of the Cooper Vault. He had two canes that bore a striking resemblance to the Egyptian Khopesh. He was skilled at creating the traps that were used in ancient Egyptian tombs.


 * Salim al-Kupar – Sly's ancestor from Arabia, 1001 AD, Salim is said to hold the stealth of forty thieves. His weapon was a sword with a curved, hooked blade sporting a scimitar-like look, but with a much thicker blade. Naturally, he wore a turban in his Cooper Vault portrait. He has perfected a move called the Cobra Climb ability and owned a magic flying carpet.


 * Sir Galleth Cooper – Sly's ancestor from the Medieval age, 1301 AD. He was an honorable knight and cunning thief who fought with a lance featuring a hook point. In Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, it is shown that he perfected the wall hook climbing technique. He was also able to smash through barriers to get to his next point using the Catapult Crash.


 * Slaigh MacCooper – He was Sly's ancestor from Scotland. The strongest of all of the Coopers, he could break any lock with a single blow using his large stone cane. He was the Cooper who created the wall-edge sneak.


 * Rioichi Cooper – Sly's ninja ancestor from Feudal Japan, 1603 AD. He created the Ninja Spire Jump and implemented Japanese artwork of himself in his part of the vault. His weapons were two small canes, resembling hooked sais. He used the Spire Jump to sneak into heavily fortified castles in Japan. He was also responsible for the creation of the Ninja Spire Jump and Leaping Dragon Technique, allowing him to jump far distances from a ninja spire point.


 * Henriette Cooper – She was a female ancestor of Sly who sailed the seas circa 1616 AD and stole from other pirates. Originally wielding a hooked dagger, she lost a hand and replaced it with a hook shaped like that of the trademark Cooper cane.


 * "Tennessee Kid" Cooper – He was Sly's outlaw ancestor from the western United States, 1884. He carried a six-shot revolver with a hooked handle. "Tennessee Kid" also invented the Raccoon Rail Walk and Rail Slide. He used these to his advantage, due to the fact that there were many train rails all over the land.


 * Thaddeus Cooper III – He was a Cooper from Victorian-era London, 1839 or 1893, who was the most "gentlemanly" thief and a master of disguise. He had a cane similar to Sly's; the only difference is a red ruby-like gem at the end of its hook.


 * Otto Van Cooper – He was an ancestor of Sly from Germany who was a genius mechanic and skilled fighter pilot, much like Penelope. Due to his physical ineptitude, he used his talent to pull off heists with his machines facilitating his thievery. He kept some of his technical blueprints in the Thievius Raccoonus. The propeller blades of his biplane were shaped like the trademark Cooper hook.


 * Conner Cooper – He was Sly's father, who used the same cane that now belongs to Sly. Before being killed by the Fiendish Five, he pulled heists with Jim McSweeney and Dr. M, and created a technique to slide along lasers. He is seen as nothing more than a silhouette throughout the series. He did not write his "Laser Slide" move in the Thievius Raccoonus; rather, Sly learned the move while in the Cooper Vault.

Minor deceased

 * Slytunkhamen Cooper III – He appears in the opening cutscene of Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, shown stealing from corrupt Pharaohs, much like his father and grandfather. His cane is very similar to Sly Cooper's cane. He was presumably born between 1300 and 1280.


 * Drake Cooper – He created the Dive technique. The main use of this is spinning the cane while lunging forward.


 * "Old" Sally Cooper – She was a female member of the Cooper Clan. She created a mobile move, the Raccoon Roll, which is only available for Sly in Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus. Later, it was upgraded by Kelle McCooper so that it could project an electric field around the user.


 * Dev Cooperinda – He is the creator of the Slow Motion Jumps. This move is dubbed "Slow" in Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, and "Thief Reflexes" in Sly 2 and Sly 3.


 * Chris Cooper – He invented the coin-collecting dive technique by modifying the Knockout Dive. The move comes standard in all three sequels, however, after Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, it no longer collects coins as it makes its impact, rather relying on its brute force to daze or stun enemies.


 * Karin Coopergiwa – She invented the Coin Magnetism technique. The name "Karin Coopergiwa" is a reference to the name of Karin Yamagiwa, who was one of the level designers for the Sly Cooper series.


 * Rob McCooper – Responsible for the creation of the Mine technique. He is named after Rob McDaniel, who can be seen in the credits for Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus.


 * B.F. Cooper – He is Sly's hyperactive ancestor who invented the Speed up the Clock technique, an ability that not only allowed security to go faster but himself in addition. He could be described as the opposite persona of Dev Cooperinda. Bentley said that he might have used it to speed up long stakeouts.


 * Suzanne Cooper – She had a strong aversion to water, and to counter this, she designed and documented Water Safety, a move that allowed her to jump out of water without losing a Lucky Charm. Sly used the move to his own advantage during his battles against the Fiendish Five.


 * Sir Andrew Cooper – He created the thief replica, or "Decoy" technique. This allowed one to distract guards, giving the user the chance to slip past them. This trick is only used in in Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus. Seeing as he was known as "Sir" Andrew Cooper, he likely lived during Medieval times, and might be directly related to Sir Galleth Cooper.


 * Kelle McCooper – He was a member of the Cooper Gang who discovered how to harness the electromagnetic field created by rolling, and augmented Sally Cooper's rolling technique with an electrical aura.


 * Bruce O'Coop – He was an expert hacker, and was known as the smartest of all Coopers. He presumably lived in the 60s or later, due to his hacking abilities.


 * Matthew de la Coopeur – He was French and the slowest Cooper, creating the perpetual slow motion technique. This is available in all of the Sly games, but renamed "Thief Reflexes" in Sly 2 and Sly 3. In Thieves in Time, Bentley wondered if he was influenced by the Thief Costume's ability to slow time.


 * Huckleberry Cooper – Taking after the famous fictional Huckleberry Finn, he was the inventor of the ability to move, albeit slowly, while invisible. The technique itself is available in all of the Sly Cooper games.


 * Colonel Reid Cooper – He was the inventor of the Stun move. The freeze move is in the first game and works on all guards including bosses.


 * Sir Augestine of Cooper – He was the inventor of the ability to briefly Defy Gravity. It is an incredible power that will let Sly fall in bottomless pits without losing a horseshoe. It is even said that Augestine could levitate for days on end and not even break a sweat; while at it, he could rob anyone he chose blind, and they wouldn't even know where he went because of the lack of tracks. This move also proves helpful when accidentally falling off of large edges and cliffs.

Thievius Raccoonus

 * Main article: Thievius Raccoonus

The Thievius Raccoonus is an ancient book in which every Cooper Clan member since ancient Egypt has recorded their thieving escapades, in addition to instructions on their various moves. It was created by Slytunkhamen Cooper and was then passed down through the family for generations.

Cooper Vault

 * Main article: Cooper Vault

The Cooper Vault was home to all of the members' treasure and the deceased's weapons.

Notes & Trivia

 * The circumstances resulting in most of the Coopers' deaths are unknown, but it is not out of the question that Clockwerk may have killed them. Sly once noted that "if you saw Clockwerk's wings silhouetted against the night sky, it was already too late for you, especially if your name was Cooper."
 * There are some cut audio files in the final release of Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus that contained information about three cut Thievius Raccoonus pages with master thief moves from cut Cooper Clan members — Caroline Cooper's Short Range Teleport Power, Okey O'Cooper's Bizarre Spacial Relocator and Della de La Coopeur's Special Clue Collection Technique.
 * For unknown reasons, major Cooper ancestors such as Salim, Sir Galleth, Rioichi and Tennessee had mastered other techniques related to the move they pioneered, but didn't catalog them in the Thievius Raccoonus. These include Rioichi's Leaping Dragon Technique for the Spire Jump, Sir Galleth's Catapult Crash Technique or Tennessee's ability to switch rails during a Rail Slide while maintaining his forward momentum.
 * In the Jampack Winter 2002 Sly Demo, there were three cut Cooper members whose techniques were later removed from the first game. These were: the Short Range Teleport Power, by Caroline Cooper; the Bizarre Spacial Relocator, by Okey O'Cooper; and finally, the Special Clue Collection Technique, by Dell de La Coopeur (likely meant to be a direct relative of Matthew de la Coopeur).