Moneybags (Spyro)

"WHAT?! No?! What else are you going to do with all those gems? Buy flying lessons? *laughs* That's a good one!"

- Moneybags

Moneybags is a bear from Avalar and a neutral character from the Spyro series. He is an upper-class conman who is known to charge Spyro fees, paid in Gems, in order for Spyro to advance in the game. Despite being neutral, his actions do make him don't feel like one.

He was voiced by Neil Ross from 2000-2002, and Jess Harnell from 2004-2005. In Spyro Reignited Trilogy, he is voiced by JB Blanc.

Why He Doesn't Deserve Money
Note: The players are expected to hate this character.
 * 1) As mentioned before, Moneybags charges Spyro fees. Not just any fees, exorbitant fees. The thing is, Moneybags is only satisfied when Spyro gives him tons of gems.
 * 2) He is shown to lie in some form; one notable example is when he describes the price as a "small fee", yet he still makes Spyro pay vast amounts of gems, sometimes as many as 500, which isn't really a "small fee" when you think about it.
 * 3) * Another example occurs in Spyro: Year of the Dragon. Moneybags makes Spyro pay him to learn the password to open a tomb, but then says the password is "gullible" and admits that he was actually standing in front of a wall switch. So gems aren't the only ones that are used for lies. This alone costs Spyro 800 gems!
 * 4) * This includes a "small toll" just to raise some steps in Charmed Ridge (that "small toll" by the way is 600 gems!)
 * 5) He only cares about gems rather than the most important things in life. This is prominent when he was keeping Sheila, Sgt. Byrd, Bentley, and Agent 9 imprisoned for the Sorceress (whom Moneybags was working for) and still made Spyro pay large quantities of gems for their releases (300 for Shelia, 700 for Sgt. Byrd, 1,000 for Bentley, and a staggering 1,300 for Agent 9).
 * 6) He is shown to force Spyro to get more gems just because Spyro doesn't have enough money. He once said "Dad gummit, Dragon. Just cough up those stinking gems and I can go home", proving that he is impatient.
 * 7) There are times where he would pin the blame on Spyro for not having enough gems, thus accusing the purple dragon for "squandering all his gems on knick-knacks and junk food" and "spending all his money on flirtatious fauns in Fracture Hills". This is proof that Moneybags pays Spyro such big fees that he won't even settle for small change.
 * 8) Not only has he treated Spyro like crap, but also other characters as well such as how he would say things like "Sheila won't stay in jail forever. The Sorceress is thinking about having her executed next Thursday". Other examples include selling mayonnaise to the Sorceress (you know, his employer?) instead of sunscreen, and even bribing the Frozen Altars cat hockey team to throw their next match against the Rhynocs (the latter of whom he placed a wager to win)!
 * 9) He even found a dragon egg (the main collectible for the Spyro: Year of the Dragon) and planned to sell it for a fortune. This led Spyro to chase Moneybags around Midnight Mountain.
 * 10) Sometimes, his reasons to why he wants to get gems from Spyro turn out to be excuses such as saying that a gem can "help him to write his poetry" according to what he just said in Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly. How can a simple collectible grant Moneybags good poetry skills?! Writing skills doesn't come from treasure.
 * 11) Moneybags is grossly ungrateful and continues to act like a greedy prick. In Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!, Elora wanted to give Spyro some gems as a reward for helping Avalar due to Moneybags paying him a lot. What does Moneybags do? He refuses to hand them over just as a greedy person would do (though Hunter pounces on Moneybags to allow Sparx to give Spyro his rightfully earned gems).
 * 12) He ends up denying the fact that his payments are expensive (even if he refers to them as "small fees"). Basically, he refuses to handle the truth about his so-called "inexpensive fees".

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Sometimes, Moneybags does have a proper reason to why he wants gems such as having a condo in Hurricos and a Lizard Burger shack in the Skelos Badlands.
 * 2) He gets his comeuppance in a Year of the Dragon minigame, where Spyro has to chase him down to recover his gems.
 * 3) His design for a bear does look pretty good, and is very fancy as well, since he wears a monocle over his left eye.
 * 4) His voice actors Milton James, Neil Ross, Jess Harnell, JB Blanc, and Masuo Amada did a good job voicing Moneybags.
 * 5) In later games such as Spyro: Shadow Legacy, he has started a family and is more friendly. Instead of charging Spyro fees at various points in the game, he has opened a proper business and has his sons sell goods to Spyro. Hence, this shows a slight improvement for his characterization.
 * 6) Some of his quotes are often pretty hilarious (e.g: "WHAT?! No?! What else are you going to do with all those gems? Buy flying lessons? Hahaha! Ha! That's a good one!").
 * 7) His greedy ways normally get the better of him.
 * 8) He's certainly supposed to be disliked because of his greed and for how much of a time (and money) consuming nuisance he is.
 * 9) As stated above he gets his comeuppance in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! when he refuses to give Spyro his gems back.