Conner Cooper

"Haste makes waste... and gets you wasted."

- Conner Cooper

Conner Cooper was a member of the Cooper Clan and the leader of the Original Cooper Gang who ultimately met his demise at the hands of the Fiendish Five in 1992. He was the father of Sly Cooper and was married to Sly's mother.

Background
Before the birth of his son, Conner traveled the world with Jim McSweeney and Dr. M, the former of which he was very close friends with, conducting robberies and showing amateur thieves "how things were done." One heist in particular, where Conner stole the world's largest diamond, made him legendary. What Conner was not aware of, however, was that Cyrille Le Paradox's father was after the same diamond and attempted to frame him for the crime, but Conner got to it first, resulting in the skunk getting arrested when he threw a fit long enough for police to arrive.

When Sly was three years old, Conner and McSweeney met at a museum in Italy, where the former entrusted the latter with the map to Kaine Island. At some point, Conner made his own journey to the Cooper Vault and added his own knowledge and wealth to his ancestors', including a technique developed by him that allowed one to slide across lasers.

Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
Conner raised Sly to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors. He told him about the Thievius Raccoonus, a book detailing the Cooper Clan's skills and accomplishments, and how Sly was to inherit it when he turned eight.

On the night Conner was to bequeath the Thievius Raccoonus, five mysterious visitors, known as the Fiendish Five, invaded the Cooper home. He fought but ultimately failed to defend himself and Sly from the villains and was killed along with his wife. The Fiendish Five located the Thievius Raccoonus and divided it among themselves before leaving.

Sly was the only one left alive from the attack on his home. He was taken to the Happy Camper Orphanage, where he met his future partners, Bentley and Murray. Together, they formed the Cooper Gang, mirroring Conner's trio of himself, McSweeney and Dr. M. Ten years later, Sly avenged his father's death by defeating each member of the Fiendish Five and their leader, Clockwerk.

Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves
Three years after that, when Sly explored the Cooper Vault, he came across his father's section, where he learned the move he invented: the laser slide.

Physical appearance
Conner Cooper resembled Sly in almost every fashion, wearing a similar shirt, belt, gloves and hat as well as using the same cane. In his downtime he enjoyed wearing slippers and smoking a pipe, though he was seen smoking this pipe during a heist in a cutscene near the end of Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. This was also the first time his face was seen, though nothing particular can be determined about it due to the stylization, other than it resembled Sly's face.

Personality
Little is known of Conner's personality, though McSweeney claimed that he "was a good man" and that "he was one of a kind." Dr. M, on the other hand, felt that he was nothing more than a sidekick to Conner, a sentiment that he exploited in an attempt to turn Bentley against Sly. Dr. M also noted that he was headstrong after noticing the same trait in Sly.

Abilities
As a member of the Cooper Clan, Conner was a thief of many talents. He was also very physically able, being able to battle the Fiendish Five by himself (despite losing in the end). He also developed a technique for sliding on lasers that he did not write inside the Thievius Raccoonus, a move that Sly later learned during his venture through the Cooper Vault.

Several of his other specialties were also shown in the objects he left in the Cooper Vault. By his cane pedestal was a microscope, implying an interest in science, and a computer he left in the vault showed "Hello World..." on its screen, implying an interest in computer programming. For how clever Conner was, Sly once mentioned that his father was not a big fan of grammar or English. His interest in science is likely what lead him to create his laser slide technique.

Trivia

 * He was first named "Conner" in the Disney Adventures Game Time Special Magazine in 2002 .It was considered unofficial until BradyGames' The Sly Collection Official Strategy Guide in 2010.
 * His face is never shown in the first three games; all that is ever seen is a portrait of him with Sly sitting on his lap with the top part of the portrait hidden or missing. A cutscene near the end of Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time shows Conner, but because of the stylization, nothing can be determined about his appearance, other than he resembles Sly.
 * He seemed to be in a sort of competition with the Le Paradox clan of thieves. Cyrille's Father had planned to steal the world's largest diamond and frame Conner Cooper, but the latter got there first, leading to the former's arrest. This caused Cyrille Le Paradox to have a great hatred for the Cooper Clan.
 * Conner is one of six characters in the series to smoke, the others being "Tennessee Kid" Cooper, Muggshot, Dimitri Lousteau, James Barkley, and El Jefe. Conner is the only one that smoked from a pipe, while the others either smoke cigars, cigarettes, or both.
 * He is one of two smoking characters not known to stop at some point, along with Barkley.
 * Although pictures of Conner from the first three games depict him as wearing gloves, he lacks them in the stylized version of him from Thieves in Time.