For my final pick of Silly Scoundrels month, we’re going back to the Sly Cooper series for a look at Dimitri Lousteau. I’m almost certain Dimitri the money-laundering lounge lizard was meant to be a one-off character. Everything about him screams “kooky minor villain,” yet he wound up proving surprisingly popular with the Sly Cooper fan base. So much so that he made a return in both Sly Cooper 3: Honor Among Thieves and Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. Maybe it was his garish fashion sense that endeared him so? Or, perhaps his crazy manner of speech and inexplicable self-assuredness? Either way, he worked his way into our hearts and managed to stay there.
Dimitri started life as something of a joke villain for Sly and the gang to get an easy win over. Nothing about him gave us a reason to take him seriously. He spoke a unique version of broken English and never acknowledged it. He proudly wore the loudest clothes you’ve ever seen. His “master plan” was literally to just print money, sell bad paintings and run his club; club music quite literally followed him everywhere he went too! Nothing about this character is serious…which might be a big part of the reason why he was able to work his way onto the Cooper team eventually.
He doesn’t even seem to hate Sly the way just about every other villain does in these games. Even in the very beginning, he just seems more irritated by him than anything else. Heck, he even tries to bring Sly into his racket as a partner rather than immediately trying to kill him. It’s almost as though he didn’t really understand who Sly was and why he was bothering him at all. You almost kind of feel bad about beating him up and leaving him for Carmelita to bust.
His strange haplessness continues in the other games. It’s not that he’s incompetent. He was able to run a nightclub, distribute lots of (bad) forged paintings and run a money printing/laundering operation before Sly broke it up after all, but he still just inspires no confidence whatsoever. When he returns, his whole thing is diving and underwater operations. Looking at him, you’d think that he has no right to be so confident about…anything he does, yet he manages to always get the job done. I guess you really can’t judge someone by outward appearance and mannerisms, eh?
I remember being so thrilled (and confused) when Dimitri reappeared in Sly 3, since he was my favorite “villain” ever since I first met him in Sly 2: Band of Thieves. I remember absolutely loving all the bizarre things he’d say and wondering how it was that I was still able to understand what he was talking about! (haha). It was funny seeing him in Thieves in Time too, but I think they took him just a little too far then, as if they were forcing his character a bit. So, I’m really hoping we get a bit more of the original, just plain goofy version of the character should Sly 4 ever see the light of day.
Well, those are my Silly Scoundrels picks! Stay tuned for Cary and The Ducks final entries and let us know some of your picks down below! Also, tell me what you think of Dimitri! Is he fun to you or just annoying?
Image by The Duck of Indeed
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