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Davis Motomiya & Ken Ichijoji BT17-084 Alternative Art from BT-17 Booster Secret Crisis

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Why I ship Snufpollo (and you can, too!)

So I have been writing this strange crossover ship like a dog running out of time. Why is that? Hopefully, this manifesto can explain my vision when it comes to these two characters.

First of all, who are these guys?

Snufpollo is my portmanteau of Snufkin, from the Moomins series, and Apollo Justice, from the Ace Attorney series. Snufkin is a seasonal traveller, spending three out of four seasons with his beloved friend, and Apollo is a lawyer dealing with, frankly, far too much bullshit.

You'd think they'd be incompatible from their professions alone. Snufkin is, after all, some flavour of illegal in most depictions of him, owing to his grudge against the Park Keeper. But Apollo has a talent for dealing with wild rebels, being raised by them as a child and all. So the two fit together better than you'd expect.

It really helps that they're very much similar characters. I was thinking of the song Lemon Boy by Cavetown, a shoe-in for Snufkin (he's name dropped in the song!!), but realised it worked well for Apollo also. And mashing those two thoughts together led me to make connections between them, which then led me to write a fic where Snufkin is Apollo's childhood friend, and from there it very much spiraled out of control.

How can they be alike?

Apollo and Snufkin are two sides of the same coin. Apollo is Heads, Snufkin is Tails. They're both guarded and snarky, orphans who were abandoned who make the most of their lives, and truly desire to help others. Their differences make them easy to pair up as well; Apollo is put-upon by his protagonist status and not afraid to show it, Snufkin tries to keep his tone light despite being just as upset at being the focus. Both of them express their trauma in similar but vastly different ways, Apollo moving past it bitterly and Snufkin moving past it without thinking too hard on it. When they have so much to discuss with one another and clash over (this fear of abandonment tying them together can make them butt heads in the best and worst ways), it's very easy for me to plop them both down into a situation and let their dynamic guide me through the scene.

But, really, Verse said it best: Apollo is a coconut and Snufkin is a peach.

Apollo has a multitude of walls and barbs keeping others from his soft and sweet insides. He seems like a hard nut to crack, and he will be if you go at him willy-nilly. But he's also easy to give in when you hit the right points. He's incredibly vulnerable on the inside and does his best to coat over it, to guard his soft heart, because of everything that has happened to him in his life. He's outwardly brash and rude, but he's genuinely interested in solving cases and helping others. He'll moan and complain about it being a bother the whole time, but he won't abandon others who need his help. He will straight leave if he's not having a good time or doesn't want to be there. Once you start looking for that hard exterior and soft centre, it's easy to see how his mind operates and what sorts of actions he'll take.

Snufkin, meanwhile, is outwardly soft and disarming. He seems far more approachable than his counterpart, seems amicable and easy to get along with, even. This is, of course, a complete farce. He is holding everyone at an unfathomable distance so you cannot even come close to seeing his true self. You can think you know him, since he is soft and friendly on the outside. But there's a high chance you'll never get close enough to see even a glimpse of his true face. The closer you try to get, the more his hardness reveals itself to you. The more you get nicked and stabbed by his barbs and venom crafted carefully to hide his centre. He will fight you every step of the way, taking precautions such as running when it gets to be too much or being the one to bite first to make you back off. As friendly and polite as he can be on the outside, he keeps his true vulnerabilities closer to his chest and hidden beneath a mountain's worth of defences so you will never see a fraction of the true him.

This dynamic, so similar and yet fundamentally different, makes them so fun and fascinating to place together. Especially when taking into consideration my final point which cemented their dynamic to me.

Snufkin is Apollo's Clay Terran (childhood friend whom he is so attached to that he will go feral if anything happened to him) and Apollo is Snufkin's Moomintroll (childhood friend whom Snufkin returns to see every Spring and leaves every Winter).

What does this mean??

Well, to put it simply: I see Snufkin as fulfilling similar if not the same roles for him that Clay Terran does, while also seeing Apollo as filling the same roles for Snufkin that Moomintroll does.

Snufkin is the one who is going to leave Apollo (/has been leaving Apollo). Snufkin is the wanderer who, on first appearance, has his heart set somewhere far beyond the cosmos. He's someone who can help temper Apollo's abandonment issues, but never really resolve them. He's suffered the same as Apollo (no parents, a troublesome and unwanted orphan, desiring independence and self-sufficiency above all else) and therefore can be a sympathetic hand, an empathetic shoulder. He can pull Apollo out of his comfort zone, being wild and free and prone to adventure, as well as be an emotional drain on their shared heart. He has to leave to be on his own, Apollo knows this, yet it never truly stops hurting. It never truly stops being a fear that he'll leave for good and never return.

Meanwhile, Apollo is Snufkin's anchor point. Apollo is the one he returns to every Spring, whether he wants to or not. Apollo is his heart, his whole reason for sticking around as long as he does. Apollo is the reasons he acts polite and friendly as he does, for Apollo's love of the world and want to do good pushes Snufkin to mimic that behaviour. Apollo is the embodiment of the joy of Spring, the heat of Summer, the melancholy of Autumn, and the solitude of Winter. The world is a vibrant and lovely place, but it means nothing to Snufkin if he can't return to his friend. Apollo is the embodiment of yearning, of everything left unsaid in Snufkin's breast. He is a home, a place to put roots, and Snufkin hates that more than anything despite being unable to cut himself free. Apollo is both freedom in its absolute form and shackles which deny Snufkin any form of freedom. He is someone whom Snufkin would defend to his last breath, yet he also continually chooses to leave every Winter in spite of this.

Hopefully, this explains a fraction of how insane I am about this dynamic haha. They have really become everything to me and I will keep shouting about it from the tops of the mountains because I love them so.

Wait, so the appeal is just the same as Claypollo or Snufmin?

No, not even slightly. Haven't you been listening.

More seriously, there are definitely similarities there that I've built up. Clay and Apollo are practically the same character because Clay canonically has like three traits and all of them relate to Apollo in some way. (The fact that you have to build Clay's character yourself really doesn't help.) Snufkin and Moomintroll are THE classic yearning forever and pining purgatory duo. But the devil is in the details, just the same as it is when it comes to differentiating Snufkin and Apollo themselves.

Apollo has more teeth and anger than Moomintroll usually does. Snufkin is colder and more of a fully formed character than Clay could ever be. Apollo and Snufkin's friendship gets to start when Apollo gets abandoned, meaning they get both the childhood mischief and innocence as well as the adulthood pining and messiness. It's the best of both worlds with so much more to explore and dig into. At least, I've worked very hard to build it up as such.

There is so much I can do with their dynamic, from disagreements where their barbs rub too hard against one another to the softness of their love for one another. Sure, Clay has the advantage of being written as a fridge for Apollo to go insane, but I can easily twist that towards Snufkin. Sure, Moomintroll has the advantage of being the sweetest guy around whom I adore whole-heartedly, but I can lay on the pining and parallels so much thicker when it comes to Apollo. It helps that they're two of my favourite characters, bar none, also.

So what is their dynamic, exactly?

Here's a tl;dr for ya, since you're so insistent:

Snarky, reluctant protag Apollo Justice gets to have his seasonal, wandering friend whom he is very unwilling to talk about because he is a private person. Barbed but pleasant Snufkin gets to have his anchor point whom he is pining ridiculously over but is unwilling to break past that barrier of friendship and so will just devote himself to his sunshine dragon despite also wanting to tear himself from this tie. They're easily seen as being similar to one another, from their penchant for leaving situations they want no part in and their guarded handling of others, but their differences make them come together in softness and in clashes in equal measures.

Anyway, recc time. Because I have written like 30+ fics of these two and have made my argument in those as well.

Lemon Boy is the very first! And while also technically not Snufpollo (it is Klapollo ultimately), it does showcase them coming together in their childhood. (For more on that, see Savoury and Bittersweet.) This one also continues in The Tramp and the Sun!

For a more focused Snufpollo experience, I've got A Tune of Sunshine as well as Hand in Hand, Your Heart in Mine! Both small little fluff pieces where these two see another again in the Spring.

And then for my money, You Cannot Possess the Sun is the best unhinged Snufkin I have ever written. Take that as you will.

Anyway, thanks so much for reading about my silly crackship!! Glauxspeed to y'all!!

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( just follow the script. )

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Curly Talks: To Anya

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Live Phoenix Wright Reaction.

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Ok so like. I'm busy scouring those HD playthroughs for screencaps I can use for the Layton onion headlines right.

And I notice a detail I never noticed before until I looked at the HD version of this artwork.

Hershel is supposed to look ANGRY here.

I never clocked it, (especially because this is a zoomed in version and the real shot is more distant) I just thought he was looking at the papers with a look of shock, a mindset of curiosity. The brim of his hat kinda obscures the look in his eyes.

But no, he's PISSED when he discovers any coverage about the accident is being suppressed. Like. Visibly pissed. Hershel Layton outwardly showing anger levels of fury.

This version of Hershel seems like he's definitely about to do something about it. And honestly it puts the assault that happened directly after into a whole new perspective for me.

Layton didn't JUST get his ass beat for inquiring, I think it's safe to say he was confrontational about it. For the first time he had let himself be in ages, he probably told someone what was what.

And then he is immediately bestowed with such a harrowing experience as his reward. Which might actually be the reason he avoids confrontation like the plague from then on more than anything else, because being direct almost cost him his life.

Yes it's also about being a gentleman and the social ettiquette of things, but it's probably motivated by a deeper fear of rubbing someone the wrong way and being repaid in pain.

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Your Throat Feels Raw

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Wish you could louder?? Well. Try tlaking into 🎤 the michaelphone.

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[ID: a screenshot of the “Almost Christmas” Ace Attorney meme behind a slightly transparent stock image of an ice cube. End ID.]

it’s defrosting

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Pepper Steak // OFF (2008)

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happy klapollo day. what if they had an engagement twitter scandal.

(thank you to @u3pxx for all the art <33)

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sinner, you better get ready

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doubt

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"It seems you've had quite a life..." - Ema Skye, 6-5 Day 1 Investigation

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mea culpa!

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katrielle (not elaborating)

Katrielle

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okay I was gonna doodle more but then I got an idea and also kfc dropped the second half of his fic so I have to go read that and be a bit more insane over this au so just take this. snufkin is absolutely not jealous why would you think that

(og tumblr post under the cut)