#I mean neither does maya lol

[gt-daboss]

Nightmares (Part 6)

"What am I going to do..."

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Fun Fact: The Neko's name is Maya, and the Neera's (mouse-folk) name is Misho, Maya and Misho!

[satsuha]

i'm always really interested in how the characters call each other in japanese games, so i laid out a few differences between the japanese and english versions of some ace attorney games that particularly interest me. this isn't meant to be an exhaustive list but it did get really long 😭

i highlighted english nicknames/etc in blue while japanese nicknames/etc are orange just to make reading a little easier

AA1-2

while only playing the english version i liked that maya called phoenix nick, it's a nickname that makes sense and phoenix is annoying to say and write anyway (lol) but the reason maya gives for this nickname in english is that it's what larry uses for him, which pales in comparison to maya in the japanese version opting for how mia used to call him: naruhodo-kun.

to me, this is a LOT more meaningful and informative than the english nickname because it not only is evidence of how much maya heard about phoenix from mia using that nickname, it also gives us a glimpse of maya's personality and her relationship with phoenix. -kun is an honorific that's usually used for either male classmates or for teachers/superiors to use with their students/subordinates. maya falls into neither of these categories with phoenix, but it also lines up with how she acts like the boss of the office a lot of the time. SO LIKE... ultimately the nickname nick just does not hold up in terms of both maya's reasoning for using it, and phoenix's apprehension at her calling him that... which i just think is a shame!! in the same vein, this nickname is passed down to pearl, and again you see phoenix having a Reaction to it which makes sense considering it's funny that a kid is calling him naruhodo-kun...

i don't only want to talk about changes in english that i don't prefer, so i also want to mention that i'm very impressed that they managed to get phoenix and edgeworth referring to each other by their surnames in english to sound natural... because it's also exactly what they do in japanese except there, the idea of male friends using their surnames with each other is a very very normal thing. i AM torn on the fact that in japanese larry also refers to the two of them by their surnames, which means all 3 of them are on equal grounds in that respect. AT THE SAME TIME... english makes larry's "nick" and "edgey" work so well that i really can't say we missed out with this localization, but i do like the relationship between these 3 so i do like that the japanese is indicative of it too :)

AA4

i'm skipping ahead to aa4 because trucy's also a very interesting localization to me... the first time i played aa4 i felt like trucy wasn't sufficiently differentiated enough from maya's character which is like. debatable but those were my initial thoughts anyway. in japanese though she uses third-person pronouns (calling herself by her own name, minuki) which is VERY distinct from maya. there are a number of ways to interpret this choice but i like the one that indicates that it's part of her stage persona. aside from that though, she also has a very normal nickname for apollo (odoroki-san, with -san indicating general politeness) while polly is um well canonically the name of a parrot LOL

i do find it pretty interesting that the above exchange is the first instance trucy uses the polly nickname, because it's entirely different in the japanese version. phoenix says "if this onii-chan over here can't help you..." to which trucy responds by saying "how could you, onii-chan!" this exchange is hilarious to me because phoenix referring to apollo as an onii-chan is pretty normal? it's common to refer to any young man as that and in this case he's also referring to apollo from trucy's perspective. but trucy DIRECTLY calling apollo onii-chan (brother) is just so funny because HERE it's a lot closer to how an actual younger sister would refer to her older brother; there's a difference between saying "this onii-chan" and just "onii-chan". now i'm not saying this was direct foreshadowing because onii-chan is also used between close friends/acquaintances but like... the possibility is there.

AA5

now onto simon because i don't actually have a problem with the localization making him a british weeaboo i think that's really funny but i DO wish the nicknames he uses for the defense attorneys were more... appropriate? the honorific -dono that he uses in english does complement his samurai look but it's usually used in contexts where there's some respect involved, which is... not simon's intention in japanese. i'm admittedly not too familiar with the nicknames he uses in japanese; he uses "[kanji] no ji", while using a kanji from phoenix/apollo/athena's surnames. by searching it in japanese, i'm finding answers that it was medieval slang used by men usually in red light districts and such, and was used to refer to those with equal or lower status to oneself but never to those of higher status. this is kinda the opposite of what -dono is which is used for those of equal or higher status!!

i also find it pretty amusing that despite him using the first kanji in phoenix's name; 成 (turn into, grow), he uses the second kanji in both apollo and athena's names; 泥 (mud) and 月 (moon) respectively. i can only imagine that he did this because the first kanji in their names; 王 (king) and 希 (rare, hope) respectively, were too positive/complimentary for him? LOL

AA6

now i want to to talk about apollo in aa6 because NNGNRHGH i'm not normal about this one. because like, similarly to what i said up there about phoenix, edgeworth and larry's relationship, it's completely normal for close male friends to use their surnames with each other. phoenix, being apollo's boss, refers to him as odoroki-kun (mirroring how mia and maya call phoenix). trucy uses odoroki-san, indicating general politeness and athena uses odoroki-senpai, because he's her senior in their workplace. clay uses odoroki (no honorific), which is the same "level" as phoenix/edgeworth/larry's relationship.

a male character never being referred to as their first name is pretty normal, which is also the case in the aa games. franziska calls edgeworth by his first name reiji which is SUPPOSED to stand out because it's notably impolite/informal for someone who is younger than him, which suits the idea of her thinking of herself as the elder sibling. for additional reference, phoenix is only referred to by his first name by dahlia/iris; ryuu-chan ("feenie" equivalent) and desiree; ryuuichi-kun ("nicky boy" equivalent). so apollo is referred to exclusively by his surname, because there isn't anyone who's associated with him who would feasibly use his first name.

THAT IS. UNTIL we meet datz who is the first (!!) character to use apollo's first name in japanese. this moment doesn't stand out in english because i KNOOWWW datz uses the AJ nickname which is very cute but he doesn't actually use that nickname the first time he indicates that he knows apollo in case 6-3!! phoenix's momentary confusion here is also explained because while he obviously knows apollo's full name, he's never heard anyone refer to him with it!!!

so phoenix's thoughts in japanese here were originally "housuke... wait, that bracelet! that's odoroki-kun!"

dhurke and later nahyuta (during the last moments of the 6-5 trial) also refer to apollo with his first name, which is... really nice!!! they're family!!!! i mourn the fact that this distinction isn't visible in english because most characters just call him apollo but it's special in japanese... it's only dhurke, nahyuta and datz who use his first name.... i'm normal i promise

funnily enough i sort of have the opposite issue with nahyuta, who is generally referred to as prosecutor sahdmadhi in english but nayuta-kenji (prosecutor) in japanese. i'm assuming this is because his name is written with his given name first unlike japanese names, so they just used his given name instead of his surname...? unfortunately we don't have an example of any other foreign prosecutor as reference (i'm excluding van zieks here because they DO use his surname but it's also an entirely different time and place) but i prefer the english here since it also makes it stand out when apollo, dhurke and datz (with yuty hehe) use his first name with him.

but then again... rayfa also refers to him as prosecutor sahdmadhi in english, but just calls him nayuta in japanese. there aren't a lot of characters rayfa refers to by name but generally she's either overly polite (with ga'ran and inga) or overly impolite (with phoenix and apollo). it makes sense that the way she calls nahyuta is a little unique, since he's of lower status than her but not enough to get a rude nickname fdjhja... and then of course at the end of the game she tries to call him onii-(chan? san? sama? we just don't know) which nahyuta interprets as oni (demon) i think the localization here is really impressive actually. they somehow managed to seamlessly fit braid head into the mix of barbed head and horn head (both nicknames that refer to their hairstyles) while braid also begins with the same letters as brother... anyway i think i slightly prefer that rayfa (and ga'ran) call nahyuta by his first name rather than by his prosecutor title, it's indicative of their higher status because of the lack of an honorific but by the end of the game it fits in with the idea of them all being family...

TGAA1-2

you would think that because tgaa opted to leave japanese honorifics in the dialogue that there wouldn't be any differences in how the characters refer to each other but there are... first of all kazuma and ryunosuke are once again male friends who refer to each other by their surnames without an honorific in japanese, but the english has them use their first names with each other instead. i can understand this change because characters using only their surnames with each other feels oddly distant in english, and while it worked for phoenix and edgeworth's relationship it definitely doesn't suit kazuma and ryunosuke's.

additionally, the way susato calls ryunosuke was also changed from naruhodo-sama to naruhodo-san. this is... also an interesting change since it requires the player to have some basic knowledge of japanese honorifics but for some reason decided to change it anyway, despite the fact that susato also uses -sama with kazuma... one thing to note is that susato does use kazuma's first name instead of his surname like she does with ryunosuke, which helps indicate their closer relationship despite her still showing respect with the -sama honorific. in that sense naruhodo-san feels like an interesting middle ground because she's still using his surname but doesn't seem to view his position with her as equal to kazuma's? i assume that was the intent of the localization, similarly to how the way kazuma and ryunosuke call each other was changed to indicate closeness to the english-speaking player

--

anyway while i do prefer the original japanese version most of the time, my general view of original vs localization is like wow! two cakes! i might prefer one of those cakes more, but the english version usually provides enough that i like that both canons exist. because of this i can't agree with the idea that all localization is bad nor the side that believes the original doesn't matter because you're engaging only with the english side of the fandom. both are good and can reveal interesting things about the characters, story and setting!!

and thank you for reading if you got this far 🙇 i'm not an expert at japanese so i try to do my research and use multiple sources to get a better view of things, so please let me know if i got anything wrong! i also recommend checking out this post if you haven't seen it already since it's where i got some pointers on the trucy and simon segments

[everybodyloveshippos]

Children of Malice

Vierna, Maya, Briza Drizzt, Nalfein, Dinin

redraw/redesign of the Do'Urden family (probably will draw Malice, Zak and Rizzen next)

design notes/headcanons under the cut

i usually just have thoughts about the character as im designing so for a few things i was like 'oh thats a thought' also yes i know children of malice is a CR thing too haha

-i wasnt originally gonna draw 'lolths embrace' since these are just my own designs not visual dictionary but like....facial markings are really cool and so i ended up looking up various spider markings (i only used those specific realworld spider designs for dinin, who i also gave darker marking as opposed to lighter) and briza

-i also prefer the idea that its not actually anything to do with lolth, its just a genetic marking that some have and some don't. also the proximity to magic/faezress theory (?) was cool so there's not a huge meaning here; though i guess im guilty bcus I didnt give them to drizzt or vierna

-maybe zak doesnt have them and neither do his kids which sorta spurs on the heretic theory when its actually just a genetic thing that has no actual bearing on lolth's favour

-the women wear more gold and the men more silver, however the men can wear gold; they just have to be wary with standing out more than their sisters. any given day could be too much and cause for a beating

-nalfein likes jewelry and decorations/makeup and is more flashy when he's away at sorcere. his ears are marked up from training with/lessons from zak, who frequently would smack his ears when he was displeased with him. they blend in with lolth's embrace and he will cover them with makeup or a glamour on occasion. i just got the sense he was somewhat insecure given how he kept challenging zak and was written off by his family as mediocre. i think he liked being at sorcere more than at the house

-drizzt takes out his braids whenever he can. he likes his hair loose

-so does dinin. i think a lot of his appearance is meant to attract attention and establish his individuality

-i've always given vierna bangs and a ponytail BUT i love her braids in the comic so I gave her those too. her hair is unruly, like drizzts. she has a couple visible scars as opposed to her sisters because she trained more with zak. he felt bad about it but a bit relived when she didnt make a big deal out of getting a bit marked up. malice was angry

-maya has markings on her ears, so she doesnt pierce them. she wears makeup but forgets its there, and sleeps in it and wipes it off by accident. since her hair is shorter she decorates with little spider gold clips

-i will die on the headpiece hill. og drizzt oldman swag

-compared to my older art of them (first fanart of the series! i knew i was in when i drew all the siblings lol) i think i changed nalfein most to be less ...square....i hit him w a yassification beam and gave him eyebrows

[zalrb]

PLL 1x08 Review - As Per Anon Request

If Toby and Jenna really did sleep together and a therapist knows, like I'm not sure what the laws would be with regards to informing the parents if the parents don't know already, and I'm aware that this show doesn't care about the law, but it makes no sense for Jenna and Toby to be in the same house anymore.

Do TVD and PLL share a theme? Their recap theme sounds very much like one of TVD's themes.

"How did he get into an ivy league school?" You can get into an ivy league school and listen to punk, Aria. 🙄

Must've been affirmative action for goths and emos? Really Spencer?

"I wish we could choose the age we wanted to be and just stay there." I bet you thought that was really deep, Aria.

"It's gruesome." No, the correct word would be morbid. It's morbid.

"The fact that is a one pay cheque family." Does your ex husband not pay child support and alimony?

Jason does not look like he would be Alison's brother.

I mean, if I was minding my business and then got blinded because some girls decided to stink bomb my house, I would mess with them too, the fuck.

"How are we going to stop her without looking like bitches?" I mean, you were all complicit in blinding her. We are well past that.

I am lowkey fascinated with how horrible Shay is in this.

Oh yay, an Ezra flashback.

"So Noel's at this place where he wants to ask her but not if she's going to say no." That's a Noel thing, Sean, who the hell wants to be rejected asking someone out?

Also, every time I see Noel in the subtitles, I pronounce it Noël in my head. I guess some French Immersion stuck, idk.

Oh God, Maya and the slouchy beanie. That was my look for a while.

I like how they're "selling stuff online" but won't just work part-time somewhere.

I like when Aria thought that Emily's dad may be sick or dead or hurt she asks "Is he OK?" from the door and doesn't rush over to sit next to her. Details.

Aria and Emily should also never be alone in a scene together, they need a scene partner who can carry them and neither one can do that for the other.

CAN JENNA WEAR SOMETHING OTHER THAN BLACK.

"Do you ever get tired of going after the low hanging fruit?" "Don't ruin a perfect day, Spencer." LMAO.

Oooh A said "I'll be watching just like Tom Sawyer" and Tom Sawyer went to his own funeral so omg it's a cluuuueeeeeee OR IS IT?

Hanna shakes her head a lot because she's trying to emphasize something.

Hanna, REPORT HIM.

"She deserves this memorial and so do we." LOL Spencer's speech would just solidify that I would fuck shit up at hat memorial.

Nothing has indicated to me why they were all friends with her.

"I would write a cheque but I don't trust my cheque booking skills for now" how does that make sense in this context?

Is Aria's dad and Hanna's mom going to be a thing because that would be funny.

"The secrets of the girls cuddled up in Alison's bedroom" what brother speaks this way about his sister or her friends.

I feel like I remember that there's something off about him. Idk.

"Just because I made it up doesn't mean it's not true." Alison, listen to that sentence.

"Aria, the lights in this how are dimming because of all of the energy you're sucking out of the air." HA.

"I mean aren't you always going to be 'The Friend of That Girl Who Was Murdered'?" ... no?

Aria, just go home.

"So I guess this guy was serious." Yes, we made out a couple of times and had the same amount of conversations. And he's a predator.

I like how sterile the interiors of all the houses look. They didn't even try to make it seem like people lived there.

"Don't sell your things." Just get a JOB.

Look at Lucy doing this memorial speech, trying to act.

Couldn't even smash all of the tiles?

[raymurata]

OC Design questions for Paola and Dalia: glance, stature, day, arms, bling and hair

(if you want to answer for Maya and Luca too, I'd love to see it)

Glance: answered here <3

stature: What's your OC's body type? How tall are they? Do they wear clothing to accentuate their look or do they try to mask it?

I created concept art so I could answer this ask visually, yay! Luca definitely accentuates his height with well-tailored suits, and Dalia accentuates her curves and cleavage with well-chosen dresses. Maya prefers not to wear anything flashy, and Paola often wears long skirts that accentuate her height as well (not on purpose).

day: What does your OC wear on a normal day? Why do they default to those clothes? Do they wear similar things, or do they change it up?

Paola wears black on the regular, and a black sombrero as well. She defaults to those clothes because she damn well pleases. Black is her thing, man, what can I tell you? Hehe. I mean, there might be more reasons, but I'll keep some secrets. She does not carry a wardrobe around and is constantly on the move, so she tends to wear the same clothes for a while.

Dalia enjoys wearing bright-colored dresses with pretty patterns or flower embroidery. She has a variety of dresses to choose from, not because she's wealthy but because she takes excellent care of her clothes. Her mother is a seamstress and Dalia learned quite a bit growing up.

Maya wears working clothes. Pants, a shirt, a poncho, goggles. On their time off, they probably wouldn't wear anything too different either, but they'd favor comfort over style. They have some decent clothes and they can match colors, but other than that they don't really care about fashion.

Luca wears suits nearly every day, on account of being a.... lawyer. Yes. One of my main characters is a lawyer. He is also rich, so his suits are tailor-made with fine fabric imported from Tevet (in the old continent). His elegant, leather shoes are also imported from the Cinco Islands in Laus. On the weekend, he'd wear more relaxed clothes -- a silk shirt, comfortable pants, smth like that.

bling: What jewelry does your OC wear? Does it have any meaning?

Paola and Maya wear very little jewelry. I didn't give Luca any in the artwork, but I actually think he'd look great with a necklace and some dangly golden chains, and a few fancy rings. I also didn't give Dalia any earrings or bracelets, but I think she would wear them. She also wears her amulet, a family heirloom, at all times.

hair: How does your OC wear their hair? Does it have some kind of meaning?

Boringly, everyone wears it down, lol. Dalia would switch it up, though, and sometimes wear it tied or in a braid or styled for a play or for a night out.

And the one you just asked me to add :

canvas: Does your OC have any scars, piercings, tattoos, or other markings? Do they display or cover them up at all?

Paola definitely has scars from several squirmishes, though I have to figure them out. Maya might have tattoos. I think they are definitely the type, but I hadn't thought about it so I'll have to rotate it. Luca has scars >3 But I'll keep them secret. Dalia, I'm inclined to say neither, but perhaps I have yet to learn some things about her.

[ladykailolu]

Yo! You want something to angst or get upset over?

One of the biggest pushes Mia had to stop taking her daughter to Daycare (which was something she did when both Mia had a trial with Nick as her legal assistant) was when little toddler Marigold asks her mama.

“What’s a whore?”

Mia’s like, “what? Who told you that word?”

Marigold innocently points her buddy Sarah’s mom and says

“Sarah’s mommy said you’re a whore

“What that mean?” “What’s a Bastard?”

“…mama what’s wrong?”

Btw the way, Marigold said this all out loud before they left the daycare

Mia meanwhile is trying not to cry. So she just takes Marigold’s hand and leaves

Meanwhile Marigold is says she’s sowwy for saying something wrong.

Mia mumbles it’s not her fault.

A lot of the other parents ended up giving Sarah’s mom Shannon dirty looks. But still

Being a single mom can be hard, especially when your prone to being called a “bimbo” (remember when Bratworth said that about her and Mia was like, no u)

Mia may be girlboss, but even girl bosses cry sometimes

I'm pretty sure that Mia would be facing similar comments from her mother's side of the family. I think she doesn't keep in contact with them too much, but she hears some of the nasty things her Aunt Morgan has said about her and the shame she supposedly brought to the Fey family by birthing Marigold.

Mia thought she was safe from all that criticism by holing herself and Marigold up in the office, and she hoped and prayed that Marigold would never hear those hateful words.

Until one day at daycare, Marigold does, and worse still, she remembers those words when she's older and asks Uncle Nick, Auntie Maya, and even Godot about it. All of them are horrified that Marigold came to know such things.

I figured that it would affect Marigold in such a way that she asks Godot why he didn't marry her mother in the first place, and maybe that's when she learns that neither Godot nor Mia knew that Marigold would even exist at that point. Mia didn't find out that she was pregnant until sometime after Godot went into a coma. But you better believe that Godot would put a ring on Mia's finger if he ever knew about Marigold.

Yeah, I remember that comment from Bratworth lol! I think as part of Edgeworth's character development, he would ruminate on that comment he made towards Mia in his first trial and realize that he was in the wrong and treated Marigold kindly and fairly. Hence, his initial hesitation with bringing Marigold onto the stand as a witness to her mother's murder case.

[oracleofsecrets]

VIOLENCE AND BLOOD AND MAKING EVERYBODY MAD. 1, 19, and 25 >:)

SAE 0W-20. Oh oops. Wrote this in notes app so. Here, have my car’s motor oil flavor

Anyway I think I’ll do ace attorney bc that’s the one I’ve been Most aware of its fandom

1 — character everyone gets wrong

There are several,,, but the ones that peeve me the most are Maya and Franziska

Maya’s often flattened into memester burger queen comedic relief who dispenses Romantic advice to make nrmt happen. It’s such a waste when she’s got So much happening and is pretty damn smart

Similarly, Franziska is sidelined even More and is reduced to Angry Meanie and also a prop to encourage nrmt. I find that the average franziska portrayal is really one-note and is just like “Haha she says fool and whips people” which sucks bc again she has So much unexplored complexity in the games And in fandom that people wouldn’t hesitate to explore if she were a male character instead

And also these tend to combine into really boring franmaya just to make sunshine/grump happen. Or again, they’re off to the side or used only as a vehicle for nrmt development.

Or like… I’ve seen ppl think Maya was head over heels for Franziska from Day One like. No??? Wtf? I think Maya had More Important Things on her mind than like. “Ooh that person prosecuting me is kinda hot👀”

I can’t even elaborate Too much bc I’d be here all day but. Also criminally misportrayed is Phoenix. He is not uwu sunshine bleeding heart heart on his sleeve. And neither is Ryuunosuke.

Ok one more salt. Temenos OctopathTraveler2 wasn’t Madly In Love with Crick. Also he is Not as horny/flirty as many are portraying him as…. He outright said staves don’t need sheaths smh my head

19 — smth I’m mad/ashamed I actually kinda like

My lawyer says I don’t have to answer this question

(jk)

Idk if Shame/anger is the word for it. But I want to study kristoph under a microscope and also purposefully zoom in too far so that he gets crushed when the long magnifier breaks the slide glass

It’s more like… I don’t want to be associated w people who like genuinely think he was just misunderstood 🥺 uwuuu he was in WUV, he had a bad childhood. or the opposite, with ppl who go a lot darker in their interpretation bc that’s just not smth I want to think about

Cuz like. Obviously this guy fucking sucks and I hate him but also he’s sooooo pathetic that it’s funny

And also I think it’s interesting to think about like, what being friends (or “friends”) with someone like that for Seven Years does to Phoenix. Bc I lov putting that man through the wringer ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

25 — common fandom complaint sick of hearing

Any apologism and vehement defense of shitty male characters lol

Godot’s shitty condescending misogynistic remark at franziska wasn’t a mistranslation. He calls her a shrew/unruly woman, basically says “that’s enough princess, it’s adult time” (notably using “-Chan”, where Phoenix calls her Von Karma Kenji [“prosecutor von karma”]). This line was translated to “But you can go now, princess. It's time for the big boys to take the reins.” So like…. Where’s the misinterpretation 🤨

And also he says “I don’t like talkative women”. There might be more nuance there that google translate can’t capture but like. That’s Still a sexist thing to say.

Just admit ur horny for godot and don’t care about women

Mvk doesn’t have lead poisoning; he’s an emotionally abusive parent and shitty person. Like u don’t even have to squint at the games to come to that conclusion. Kin memories and brainless analysis won’t disprove that. Sometimes abusers can even do nice things or genuinely love someone, but that doesn’t mean they’re not abusive

Barok van Zieks doesn’t have a Redemption arc from his Constant Indefensible Racism. You clowns are just horny and have bad taste.

[oodlyenough]

I agree particularly about Iris. As soon as we got the twin reveal in 3-5 I felt the writing started to veer towards this meme:

And the difference, to me, was that at least Evil Baby Dahlia makes a fun, compelling character, while Iris suffers from being less flashy/funny and from being attached to a romance Capcom drops as abruptly as they introduce it.

In that regard Iris' writing bothered me a lot more from a feminist POV than Dahlia's did. That we never got to see her and Pearl interact, and especially that the only thing we got of them was ... Pearl being jealous on Maya's behalf of Iris/Phoenix lmao.... urgh. I am much more interested in how Iris relates to Dahlia and the rest of the Feys (and how the Feys relate to her) than I am in Iris/Phoenix, especially in the flat way the game presented it.

I definitely agree that it's impossible for me to imagine them sliding into being best friends; there's a lot of baggage there whether the game was prepared to acknowledge it or not, and while I can sort-of buy there might be an initial desire to hash things out and bury the hatchet/etc, I certainly don't see it developing into a healthy romantic relationship long-term and I don't even really imagine it turning into a close friendship, even before you factor in what's coming down the pipe with AA4. Phoenix is basically an honorary Fey, so I'm sure they'd run into each other sometimes, be friendly/polite, have a soft spot for each other, but that's kind of as far as makes sense for me.

...people feeling the need to push female characters into neat little boxes of "completely and utterly evil" or "perfect sweetheart who's never done anything wrong ever" [...] way people treat often the Hawthornes, especially Iris.

That's very much how I feel, too. And unfortunately the twins are really set up by Capcom for fandom to take them in those exact directions. Iris has been kind of an itch I've wanted to scratch since finishing AA3, in that the writing didn't sit very well for me and on one hand I'm not especially inclined to "fix" it (via fic) but on the other hand it ... just bugs me that it wasn't better. 3-5 had so, so much I loved and then dropped the ball on some things in a major way for me and I find it frustrating. One of those things was how it (under)wrote Iris and Iris/Phoenix.

it's pretty much the only scene where it feels like the game is being somewhat pitying to her story. In other scenes she's pretty much always framed as an evil, wolf-in-sheep's-clothing type of character.

On Dahlia, I agree that she's treated in the story as pretty unequivocally Born Evil. I mean she's literally on the stand in 3-5 like "your honour I was born evil and I died evil and I'm still evil posthumously", lmfao. This... actually doesn't really bother me very much, from a feminist pov, because I think it's comparable to how male villains are treated in the trilogy (neither Engarde or MVK are sympathetic and their motivates are equally or more one-dimensional), and also because the trilogy has many other female characters of varying types and development, so Dahlia doesn't come across as representative the way she otherwise could. Also just because Dahlia is such a fun, lively, memorable character, IMO. No other trilogy villain gets to star in 3 cases! So she didn't really feel left behind by the narrative to me the way Iris does. She appeals to me the same way a character like Gone Girl's Amy Dunne appeals to me.

If I were to rewrite anything in particular about Dahlia's story I'd probably tweak the writing around Fawles. Either make them closer in age or draw more attention to the gross discrepancy. My inclination would be to close the gap, because I think it sucks that Capcom chose a gross enough age gap to overshadow the rest of the story when the story itself isn't interested in that element. (Of course. Look at Turnabout Big Top, lol...) So I also get that some fans are seeing that, seeing how gross the idea of "my teen angel" is, and working from there to address it in their meta/fic. But Fawles is far from Dahlia's only kill and we don't even really have many details there, so recasting her as a sort of Jennifer's Body quasifeminist revenge tale doesn't interest me personally.

But there's places in her story where the basic facts of it mean she might have been more sympathetic, for sure, and I take the comparison to Diego. (Incidentally, I was ... not a fan of how the story framed him, lol.) There are some instances in the story where what Dahlia tells us and what another character (usually Bikini or Iris) tells us don't align -- for eg whether it was Mr Hawthorne who decided to get rid of Iris or whether it was, as Dahlia claims, actually her idea. So I think those discrepancies, intentional or not, are interesting and if someone is so inclined you can ask yourself how much of Dahlia's "born evil" persona is genuine and how much is something she's adopted as a self-defense mechanism. How much is Iris right about her just needing love/support and how much is Dahlia just like that? Nature vs nurture is the classic twin story. AA3 only touches it briefly.

I've been thinking a lot about how fandom attitudes towards female characters shift, and how a lot of the outright hatred that was once prevalent now is replaced by "girlboss" "mom friend" "only braincell" type discourse... and also about the Hawthorne twins and what I see of them in fandom vs canon.

It's interesting to me that I see a lot of what feels like a fandom desire to rehabilitate Dahlia as a character from a feminist perspective, sometimes taken as a given that her canon material was bad, when ...tbqh I don't really feel that she needs it. If I think of characters wronged by their canon text, Dahlia wouldn't make the list. Even a surface-level reading of Dahlia is, imo, a compelling character, with clear motivations, consistent behaviour, agency. She's funny and memorable. You can dig deeper into speculation and headcanon territory with Dahlia (and I totally get the impulse, she's great and there's lots of potential there) but I don't think you need to do that to make her a solid character, I think she already is. I don't think she's any less complex than the other trilogy villains, and if anything she's a lot more complex already than someone like Engarde, and on par with Von Karma.

On the other hand, I think Iris got some paper-thin writing as "the good twin" and, let's be honest, a feeble attempt to set up a heterosexual romance for Phoenix which gets dropped in subsequent games anyway. There are interesting possible complexities to tease out of Iris, just as with Dahlia; Iris facilitates or participates in some pretty messed-up things, but Phoenix and the story are very forgiving, which just flattens her out further into Good Twin. I don't think the canon is very interested in Iris outside of her role as plot twist doppelganger and occasional blush sprite... and mostly it seems the fanon Iris gets in response is to quadruple down on those things. She's pure and kind and sweet, besties with Phoenix, their relationship is cast as something wholesome and innocent, despite the uh objective reality of it.

What about the Iris who helps her sister plan harebrained criminal schemes only to back out at last second, the Iris who fell in love with Feenie despite herself and yet continued to lie and place him in danger for eight months, who watched Dahlia get a death sentence without ever coming clean ... Those things are the aspects that would make her a multidimensional character, imo, but they're ignored and/or glossed over in the story and (what I've seen of) fandom. And I don't say this to mean that she's evil or irredeemable or something, she isn't -- just that the basic fact of her actions is a lot messier than is usually acknowledged, by canon or fanon. For the canon I think the reasons are obvious and not flattering; for fandom, I think the intentions are generally positive, trying to correct for the opposite end of the spectrum (and 20 years ago the attitude was probably quite different), but I still wish female characters were given more space to be complicated in ways that include being kind of fucked up actually.

[cable-knit-sweater]

Hi Maya!!!! How are you? 🧡

For the Spotify wrapped game, 13 + Stucky? 🥰

Hi honey!! 💛💛 I’m good, having a wonderful day so far 🥰 I hope you’re having a great day too!!

#13 is:

And it felt impossible to pick a lyric, because about 80% of this song could work for stucky 🥺💖 but I went with these:

When you wake // I'll be right there, baby // And when you shake // I'll be shaking with you, honey // And when you get tired of this town // Let me know, we can go somewhere brand new // 'Cause when I lay my head to rest // I hope that it's always next to you

And I really didn’t expect it to get this long lol but I hope you enjoy!! 💕

They’re both so tired.

They’ve both been having nightmares, keeping them up at night. Steve doesn’t even want to imagine what horrors Bucky dreams about - the way he wakes up screaming, shouting or making hurt noises that make Steve’s heart clench painfully, are enough for him to know they can’t go on like this.

Bucky hasn’t been talking about what’s happening. There was a moment there, in Wakanda, when he seemed to be okay, lighter. But maybe a week after they stepped foot back in New York, things changed. Bucky refuses to tell Steve what’s going on, doesn’t speak when he wakes up hoarse and drenched in sweat.

Steve knows it can’t be easy - he has his own demons haunting him at night - but he feels helpless. Like he should be able to do more than just hold Bucky tight on a night that happens, do more than staying up with him until he feels calmer, safer. He just isn’t sure what that is.

It’s about 6 months into this, when they’re both exhausted - because of lack of sleep and mentally - that Bucky seems ready to talk. But what he’s saying…Steve doesn’t want to hear it.

“I think it’s better if I leave,” he says one morning, the two of them blearily drinking coffee in their kitchen, even if it does nothing for them. Steve blinks.

“Leave?” He says, not fully awake to process the meaning of what Bucky’s saying.

“You look like you haven’t slept for weeks, you never go out anymore, and I know it’s because of me Stevie. So I think it’s better if I leave.” His voice is calm, face stubborn. Steve instantly feels more awake when he finally understands what he’s saying.

“No. No Bucky, you don’t get to do that. You don’t get to blame yourself,” he says, angrily - more so with the situation than his boyfriend, angry with himself when he sees how Bucky flinches. He sighs, voice much softer when he speaks again. “I don’t think it’s better if you leave at all. Do you really think that’ll make me sleep better Buck?”

Bucky just shrugs. “Maybe.”

Steve stares at him, can feels his eyes start to burn thinking about what he has to say. “I- if you really want to leave I can’t stop you. I won’t stop you.” He reaches over the kitchen island, grabbing Bucky’s hand. “But can we talk about it first? Promise me you won’t just leave,” he asks, begs.

Bucky squeezes his hand, eyes a little wet. “Promise,” he croaks.

It takes another week for Bucky to talk to him about it. In the meantime, they dance around it. Steve hates it. When will they get a fucking break?

They’re on the couch one evening, a movie playing neither of them is paying much attention to. “I don’t think being here is good for me,” Bucky says suddenly.

“Here? Here as in…” Please god let him not say he means with Steve. He doesn’t think he can survive that. He feels guilty enough as it is that he can’t do anything to make things easier for Bucky.

“I think being in the city…” Steve lets out a rush of breath he wasn’t aware he was holding, “I thought it was a good idea, to go home, go back to normal. But what’s normal even for the two of us right now?”

Steve doesn’t have answer to that, so he says nothing.

“I think…being in Wakanda was good for me,” Bucky says.

“You wanna go back?” Steve asks. He’ll get them on a flight tomorrow, tonight, if that’s what Bucky wants, needs.

“I- I don’t know. I don’t think it’s a magical cure to everything but…the peace and quiet…maybe it’s…” Bucky trails off.

“Yeah, I think I get what you mean,” Steve says, thinking. Bucky turns back to the tv, conversation apparently over.

When they go to bed later that night, Steve sends out a couple of texts before turning off the lights.

It takes another week for everything to be done. They wake up on a Saturday morning, early, after a night full of interrupted sleep. Steve waits until they’re having breakfast to tell him.

“I- I probably should’ve asked you about this earlier,” he says a little sheepishly. Sometimes he’s such an idiot. He got caught up in his plans for them so much he didn’t even ask Bucky first.

Bucky frowns at him, shaking his head. “What did you do?”

“I- well, you don’t have to say yes. But if you want to…” he trails off, opening his texts with Tony to show Bucky what he’s been working on. “Sam can be here in an hour to help us pack. If you want.”

Bucky stares at Steve’s phone for a while, and when he looks up, there are tears in his eyes but a smile on his face. “Yeah. Yeah, I want to.”

Steve smiles back, probably a little too long. He’s just so relieved. “Yeah,” he says, “yeah, okay, I’ll text Sam.”

They’re on the road, most of their belongings packed in the van Sam rented. They’re not taking any furniture, the place comes furnished - thanks to Pepper, who calmly listened to whatever Steve rambled about wanting, who just said she’d get it done, and did - and they’re not too attached to most of the things they have.

It’s not too long of a drive to upstate New York. Before they know it, the bustling city and traffic make way for quieter roads and small towns, until they leave even those behind them, and there’s mostly forrest and farmland.

When they pull up to the house, Steve doesn’t even notice, eyes on Bucky to gauge his reaction. Bucky doesn’t say anything, just looks out the front window of the van, mouth gaping open. “This it?” He finally asks, quietly.

“Yeah Buck. It’s ours, for as long as you want.”

Bucky nods. They sit there for a little while, in silence. “Okay.”

They get out of the van, leaving their things in it for the moment, while they go explore. It’s a renovated farmhouse, with a small piece of land attached, surrounded by forrest. The only sounds are those of the nature around them. It’s not Wakanda, but it’s peaceful. It’s quiet, and it’s theirs, and it could be home.

They walk through the house, going from room to room, Steve following Bucky around, holding his breath a little. When they’re back in the living room, Bucky turns to face him.

He’s smiling. “I- I love it.”

“Yeah?” Steve asks, unable to keep the relief out of his voice.

“Yeah,” Bucky says, pulling Steve in for a hug. “Thank you,” he murmurs into Steve’s neck. They stay like that for who knows how long, just holding each other tight, before they make their way back to the van to bring their boxes and suitcases in.

They pack away half of their things that same day, and by the time they have dinner the place feels even more like theirs. When they fall asleep that night, both tired of the move, it’s one of the easier nights they’ve had in a while.

It doesn’t magically change everything. But going away was the right move. A fresh start. He can feel things change. He can see Bucky opening up more, slowly making his way to being ready to talk about the things that haunt him. He can see how the both of them are more at ease, here, just them. Just them, and eventually, cats and dogs and chickens and goats.

Bucky starts to go to therapy - over zoom. They settle into a new life, a new home, taking care of their animals, learning new hobbies, relearning about themselves and each other.

It’s six months later. Steve’s just coming inside from locking up the animals for the night, kicking off his boots in the mud room and hanging up his coat. He hears sounds from the kitchen, the tap turning off as Bucky finishes doing the dishes from their dinner. He goes to him, wrapping his arms around Bucky and pressing his chest to Bucky’s back, his head in the crook of his neck. He can feel Bucky smile against him.

Eventually, they let go, going to the couch to watch a movie. They’ve found a couple of new favorites they often rewatch - a lot of them animated movies or set in space - but they try something new all the time, and tonight, Bucky puts on a romcom and they curl up together on the couch. Steve misses half of it, too busy staring at Bucky, who’s completely hooked on the story, laughing and cringing and giving running commentary.

He just looks at Bucky, at how beautiful his face looks when he laughs, thinking about how in awe he is of him, his strength, his ability to feel and express so much joy after all they’ve been through. Steve doesn’t think he’s ever been this happy, this at peace. He thinks it’s probably true for the both of them.

When the movie finishes, they get ready for bed. Maybe Steve is as much of a sap as Bucky accuses him to be sometimes, feeling a rush of emotion come over him when the realization sets in that this is their life now, while they’re brushing their teeth side by side. Working on the farm, cooking, drawing, reading, dancing, watching movies. Just all the domestic things he never thought they’d have, not like this, not as peacefully or as joyfully as it’s been in recent weeks.

They’re both a little tired. The good kind, the one after a long but satisfying day.

They fall asleep easily, that night, every night - heads on the same pillow, completely intertwined.

[trashlie]

Nol & Alyssa’s Past

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about what happens when Nol and co find out about Alyssa’s past with Shinae. I, and I think a lot of fandom, have kind of always assumed that it will cast her in a bad light and could be a big breaking point for Nol, assuming he’s still with her. It would especially be jarring for Dieter and Soushi to learn, because they seem to have enjoyed her companionship (feels weird to call it friendship lol) in the past - especially Soushi who has always seemed to harbor a crush on her. Nol finding out that his girlfriend was entangled in a bad way with Shinae in the past and neither told him seems like the kind of thing that would upset him -- which got me thinking. 

Firstly I think it’s important to acknowledge that when it’s revealed and the circumstances really matter. The closer to the current point of the story, I think the worst it could blow up, but this is just because of the thoughts I’m about to ramble about. I think we already will see some contention between with Nolyssa based on his guilty verdict, depending on if it’s ever leaked that they’re together, but that’s a whole other matter. Nol right now is still somewhat rash and emotionally reactive and I think learning about their altercation - and that they kept it from him - would be upsetting, and it’d be like he’s learning about a side of Alyssa he never knew about (or maybe that he ignored). 

Even though Nol has made it clear he’s walking away from his friends, how much would he care that someone he’s dating hurt someone he clearly cares a lot about? Some might argue that Nol cares more about Shinae and his friends than he does Alyssa, so would he be able to stomach being with someone like that? 

It’s very important to note that we also this way because we view the altercation through Shinae’s memories. Even thinking of it as an accident (which, for the record, I think it is; I don’t think Alyssa at all intended to hurt Shinae), we know that she had already turned on Shinae to fit in and we know the ramifications of that fall. Even though it was an accident, it left Shinae with a vast, physical scar and heaps of trauma she’s yet to work through. We also can believe, as we’ve been given no indication otherwise, that Alyssa never actually apologized to Shinae. Part of Shinae’s trauma with that is that she herself never gained closure - she doesn’t know why Alyssa treated her like that and she has insecure and fearful feelings regarding the incident in her memory. If Alyssa never apologized, Shinae never made peace, and she never really moved on. This is really evident during the Black and White Formal Arc, when Shinae comes face to face with Alyssa for the first time. Shinae’s uncomfortable unease and attempts to ignore the elephant in the room just feel so much like she never resolved her feelings. Later, when Maya and Shinae go shopping, Shinae spots Alyssa on a coffee ad and there’s no feelings of anger - which would be well and good had Shinae confronted those feelings already, but she hasn’t. She continues to compartmentalize and shove her feelings away to fester, rather than face them the ugliness that comes with.

As readers, we know this, so we are inclined to dislike Alyssa for this. We also bear witness to her wishy-washiness, the way she has treated Nol, we are aware that she is a person who operates first and foremost for her own personal gain and that sometimes this has hurt other people. 

I point this out because it leads me to my main question: how would Nol actually feel to learn this piece of history? He once said he can’t expect his girlfriend and his friends to actually be friends - but he doesn’t really know how far from it is he is. 

I think as readers we want to believe that Nol would defend Shinae. Even if he doesn’t say it, it is very clear that Shinae means a lot to him and that her friendship is not something easy for him to let go of, and that it’s because he truly does not believe himself worthy of people’s friendship and that he can only drag them down that he does. Which is what actually got me thinking... as someone who thinks lowly of himself, who believes he has caused at least two incidents of trauma, as someone who literally created a whole persona and hid so many truths from his own friends... would Nol actually see Alyssa in a bad light? 

This is what I mean by I think this depends on when and how Nol learns of their history. If it comes out later, when he’s a little more mature, when he’s maybe come out on the other side of this whole jail thing, when maybe he’s been able to change his image, he could look back on his own past and go ah... sometimes we make mistakes but those mistakes do not define us, we can still become better versions of ourselves. (Of course maybe by such a time Nol would have grown and learned that the things he blames himself for never were his to blame but regardless, I think that sentiment would remain.) It’s debatable if Nol and Alyssa would ever be together still in such a point in the future, but this whole thing is hypothetical anyway. 

I’m not saying that in the future he WOULD think this way, but rather, I think there’s potential for it. Often, the characters do not react the ways we immediately expect them to. We like to think that Nol, a person who believes people should be treated fairly, would be upset to learn about the kind of person Alyssa has been. But... doesn’t Nol kind of already know? He knows why Alyssa is with him. He’s watched her dance with famous men when she’s too tired to dance with him. He’s watched her brown-nose a woman who instills actual fear in him. Nol knows all of this and he’s still with Alyssa for the sake of their agreement. And given that he already thinks of himself as a person who has made mistakes, I think there’s even a possibility that he might think he even suits someone like her. 

This doesn’t rule out the possibility that he’d be upset to find out about this, of course! More upsetting than Alyssa causing such a serious injury would probably be how she responded to it - that, as far as we know, she never made amends and how she treated Shinae when they first met up, as if they used to be such good friends and nothing at all ever happened (because she clearly was trying to save her image). Beyond that, he feels immense guilt for Shinae’s fall in the pool, and is haunted by that, with the fear that he will only hurt those he cares about, so Shinae’s side of things could sway him more. It’s one thing to cause an accident - he believes he did, too - but another thing to be the cause of so much trauma for Shinae, to be the reason it was so difficult for her to open up and trust people treat herself with patience and kindness. Granted, Nol isn’t necessarily likely to know these things, so maybe thtat’s a moot point. 

Anyway this is very rambly but I thought it kind of interesting to explore this thought and how I don’t think we ever consider much the likelihood that Nol’s own situation and experiences very well could give him a different reaction to that news than we expect. I’m curious to hear what other people think, though! 

(Going to try to post a shorter more concise version of this to reddit lmao so enjoy this ridiculously long post, it’s been a while lol) 

[peralta-guaranteed]

Got you some hcs to distract you lol (although not sure if these have been asked before): 1) Family of four's first vacation together 2) The kids refusing to leave their babysitter (either someone from the squad or the grandparents) 3) The different "child friendly" phrases they have to use at home (e.g. "adult juice" for alcohol) 4) Also, do you think they carry the same allergies as their parents, or do they only/also have new ones?

1) the first vacation apart from the Santiago Cabin is to some cute little upstate town with a nice beach and forests to take walks in and explore nature (not that Maya or Mac will remember it much because they're still so little, but Mac does love collecting both sea shells and cool sticks). They rent an Air-BnB apartment that is connected to a bigger house with an older couple as the owners who absolutely love having a young family in and keep giving them recommendations and feeding them dinner and kid-snacks. (They actually offer to babysit to Jake+Amy can have a datenight but as lovely as they are Amy doesn't trust anyone with Mac+Maya alone who hasn't gone through her Peraltiago-family-training.) Amy loves exploring the little shops in town too and buys souvenirs for everyone the same way she did during their honeymoon. Holt gets another novelty t-shirt which is 100% Jake's idea.

2) Getting Mac out of Rosa's arms when Jake comes over to her place (they're finally allowed to know where it is so she can babysit) is almost as difficult as getting him to leave Dada in the first place earlier that day. He's throwing a full-blown tantrum and clinging to RoRo, who just shrugs. "Guess your kid likes me better than you, Peralta. I better keep him." "Oh sure, if you insist. I'll bring over all his extra diaper-stuff, and the medicine from his last stomach bug, and the anti-flea-shampoo in case his daycare has another outbreak, and the blender Amy preps his food in, and-" "Alright, I get it, keep the kid. Babysitting's hard enough, I really don't need the parenthood-guilttrip." "You're a wise woman, Diaz."

3) I never thought about that! Adult juice = alcohol of course! Not that they really need to censor that, because Mac+Maya both aren't really interested and know it's just for grownups when Daddy has a beer sometimes. But they also need to rename all sweets and snacks to 'raisins' and 'oats' so they can actually eat them without constantly being begged for it. "Can you bring me some oats from the kitchen babe?" and sometimes Amy is mean and actually... does bring him some oats. Also, Title Of Your Sex Tape turns into Title Of Your Paperback Novel (in a hint to those raunchy lady novellas). One time Jake catches himself too late and his rant about a 'douchebag' turns into a 'doo-delsack..' (German for bagpipes) 🤣 luckily Mac doesn't catch it and asks for an explanation. Amy refuses to swear in any way in front of her kids, so there are a lot of creative alternatives in the middle of a sentence. Jake has got a list of it on his phone and loves to tease her with it during adult conversations.

4) I think both Mac and Maya are also allergic to bees, because that's both pretty common and pretty strong allergy-wise. Of course they find out in the worst way with both of them during summer trips and days in the park. But thanks to Mac+Jake they're already well-known in the ER anyway, and neither of the kids react to bees as strongly as Jake would (no anaphylactic shock right away, just a lot of swelling). Amy is so glad that neither of them is allergic to dogs because they love playing with Cheddar, but Mac turns out allergic to cats instead. So their pet-options basically turn to turtles or guinea pigs. (Or tarantulas, Jake offers, but Amy stares him down right away) You can imagine which one Mac asks for :D

[askaceattorney]

These are letters regarding the situation that recently transpired. After this, we will no longer be answering any letters regarding politics. All of us agree that this blog needs to strictly stay out of politics. In truth, politics should never have been the center of this blog. After this, any letter regarding politics or the situation will be deleted.

This is a blog that focuses on answering letters to Ace Attorney canon characters. It does not discriminate anyone or any mod based on race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, politics, etc. and such actions are not tolerated. If you believe one of our mods is discriminating for whatever reason, show solid evidence and we will handle this privately. A support for a former or current president of a country is not proof of discrimination and neither are political memes posted on a personal account.

(More Politics Ahead)

Dear rogertheegg,

Co-Mod: Nope. Everyone’s welcome here, regardless of political leanings.  I’m afraid I’m as clueless as you are about what exactly happened with the two former Mods (they didn’t even say anything to me about it), but it’s all water under the bridge as far as I’m concerned.

Mod Edgeworth: Absolutely not! I have never tolerated political discrimination. You are allowed to believe whatever politics you want.

Dear kunaiman,

Co-Mod: High five.

Mod Edgeworth: Thank you very much for your support.

Dear Mistakes,

Mod Edgeworth: I’m not going to go into anything else regarding my politics, but I will state my reason for outing myself: I’m doing this for Co-Mod.  I do consider him a friend of sorts and I do not wish for him to have to suffer this blowback alone. So, if you want to state your grievances, go ahead.

Know this though, I am still the same mod you have met and have never hidden my character from any of you. My politics do not define my character and neither does Co-Mod’s politics define his character. The same goes for anyone else. I’m just someone that leans Conservative and voted for Trump. If that makes me a bad person, even if I do stand against any discrimination, then I will gladly accept it.

Co-Mod: So, here’s the truth about me, Donald Trump, the MAGA Committee, etc. (and this is from the horse’s mouth, so anyone who says otherwise is lying) -- I’ve never been a huge fan of the guy, but I supported the good things he did and wanted to do during his presidency -- creating jobs, draining the political swamp, promoting patriotism, and so on -- and for that, I feel no shame.  I also wished he could’ve kept his big mouth shut about a lot of things, but overall, I saw him as someone who stood up for people who’d been largely ignored before he came along -- namely, middle class Americans. If you see him and his presidency differently, I won’t hold anything against you for it, so I respectfully ask that you do the same for me.

Dear Anonymous,

Mod Edgeworth: Don’t worry, I know who you are. You maybe under anonymous, but when we receive your letter, it isn’t anonymous lol. What we do is place your letter in photoshop and get rid of all your identity. Thank you for your support and I agree.

This blog will continue, even if it’s under a very few of us. I will allow everyone to display their grievances in the comment section. They have just as much right as Co-Mod and I do.

If there’s anyone I wish for you to support, it’s Co-Mod. He’s the one being the most effected by all of this. I don’t believe politics should have been involved or that we should have to justify why we believe in our politics. Neither have to do with our love for Ace Attorney.

Dear I’m still surprised,

Mod Edgeworth: I’m guessing this is for Co-Mod, because it doesn’t seem like you’ve read my own defense. I literally stated that both Co-Mod and I support LGBT and that the letters deleted because of shipping had nothing to do with any political beliefs. Beyond what I stated in my defense (despite what Co-Mod states below), I won’t say anything more. Non of us have to justify why we support a former president. I have my reasons just like anyone else. It doesn’t make me a terrible person and I will forever stand for everyone’s rights to believe whatever politics they believe.

Co-Mod: It’s a shame I have to say this on an Ace Attorney blog of all places, but where is your proof that I or anyone on my side of the aisle takes any enjoyment in seeing anyone dead or oppressed, whether in a minority or otherwise?  I can only assume you’ve been listening to some skewed sources, or that there’s something huge I’m missing, because I’ve yet to see any right-wing groups reach that level of hatred.  (And if you know of any, please fill me in.  I mean that honestly.)

As for why I left same-sex attraction out of this blog, it’s simply because I see it as a divisive topic rather than a simply controversial one, (i.e. the death penalty, game piracy, etc.).  I’ve also proven several times that I’m not very good at addressing it without people getting rubbed the wrong way, so I decided to play it safe and not discuss it at all.  I’m happy to talk about it anywhere else, but a blog about Ace Attorney didn’t seem like the right place for it to me.  On top of that, there are plenty of blogs about peoples’ same-sex ships all over Tumblr, so why complain about this one?  If there’s a rule stating that Ace Attorney-themed Tumblr blogs are required to include those ships, I sure haven’t heard it.

I’ll admit this much -- like Phoenix, it’s something I can’t claim to understand, so maybe I still have some learning to do about it, but if I’m going to be accused of bigotry, I’d like to see some solid evidence of it.  Assumptions don’t count in my book.

Dear Dailystir,

Mod Edgeworth: Thank you. I’m not going to address anymore than I already have. I will not and refuse to mention anything else on my politics. Just like how you said, I am more at the center in the political world. I lean more Conservative, but I am Independent. I consider both Republicans and Democrats to be two different wings from the same bird.

I’m also glad you do not consider being a Trump supporter to be in the same basket as being a racist, bigot or any of that. These days, I can declare myself as a supporter of Andrew Jackson (I’m not btw) and not be against Natives, even though he was the reason for the mass genocide of thousands of Native Americans. I can openly support Martain Luther King, yet not be considered homophobic, even though he was against LGBT. I can consider myself a Bill Clinton supporter and not support raping women, even though that’s what he did in office. Yet, the moment I declare myself a Trump supporter, I’m automatically Anti LGBT, a bigot, a sexist, a racist and a phobe of some sort, because Trump supposedly is? What a world we live in! I can’t remember the last time supporting a political figure or celebrity made you a terrible person.

As for Mod Vera and Mod Maya, I still wish they could’ve said something to me or Co-Mod, if they truly felt uncomfortable. I’m still willing to talk to either of them and hear them out. I don’t blame them for doing what they did. I don’t know them or what life they live in. I have talked to someone, who had faced bigotry  and hate from Trump supporters in their area to the point of fear. I’ve even seen a Trump supporter bully an Anti Trump Supporter and I ended up reporting the bully, then calling them out for their behavior. I can say from experience that when you face real discrimination, it puts you in a state of fear to never express yourself or your identity. My family faced that and so did I. It’s the reason I’ve never revealed my race, gender or sexual orientation and can understand where Mod Maya and Mod Vera are coming from.

I think the real takeaway is to not judge anyone based on their politics, but also to not hate anyone who does. You will find bigotry on any side of the political spectrum from any group. To say there is none on any side is spouting ignorance.

Dear Anonymous,

Mod Edgeworth: It is sad, though even if I do understand where Mod Vera and Mod Maya are coming from, I still can’t justify them not talking to either of us first. They never spoke to either of us and assumed the worst out of both of us. They never asked us anything or mentioned their concerns. I’m certain, even now, they’re still assuming things.

Had they mentioned their grievances, I would have been willing to talk with them and work things out, but we were never given that chance. It kinda hurts, because they said they understood when I told them I was staying out of politics and was willing to admit that I supported Trump and am an Independent Conservative. Then, they pull the rug from under us and claim we are against ethnic minorities and LGBT. That’s why I wish they could’ve said something.

I’m still willing to talk to either of them, but I doubt they’ll want to hear from me. No amount of context is going to change that. If it did, they would’ve talked to me about it before leaving.

-The Mods

P. S. Co-Mod: As ugly as this can of worms is, it’s been a fun practice in defending my beliefs and decisions.  Never underestimate that skill, everyone.

Mod Edgeworth: I still can’t believe this was brought out at all. I’m so sick of politics!

[maxbernini]

Im really going to see Lola and Maya date other people, they will probably pair Maya with some of the girls who were introduced for season 10 or some random and you know I think they're going with the Lola x clement route like I know he was kissing sasha but thay doesn't matter also they already have some kind of backstory and the way he was deliberately mentioned in the s9 press release like we thought it was just to make Maya jealous but now... mm thinking thoughts

That would also explain why ayumi and flavie were kinda done with the couple cause they know what's coming and also those spoilers saying that they indeed are with other people next season...

i was just talking to someone about this like...it’s not *confirmed* they’ll have other love interests, but debbie confirming no s10 endgame does basically mean the options are just:

a) one or both of them end up single. so, the only character/s who don’t get happy romantic endings (because you know anais is getting one lmao, and no way they’re breaking tiffax/jolal up) are not just the only queer ones, but easily the most traumatized and mentally ill ones

b) one or both of them get new LIs. but because this is a sole POV format show and neither are central characters (nor even in the main friend squad), it’ll occur in the background with zero development and 2 secs of screentime. so whilst every other couple secured their endgame by the end of their own season and then got seasons of healthy development, they just got three seasons of ~toxic incompatibility set up before a last min, background endgame with new people.

that’s also what annoys me so so much about them going for the fundamentally incompatible route, because the nature of endgames on this show means whoever you end up with at the end is your ~true soulmate. so their soulmates aren’t each other (despite all their narrative parallels, backstories, symbolism setting that up), they’re...two randoms we’ve never met before but we’re supposed to believe are the loves of their lives? alright. like at least bring june back bc that’s someone we actually know and is fairly well matched with maya.

(and then there’s the very, very, very minor chance she was lying to not immediately invalidate what just aired like ‘dw!! s10 endgame is happening!!’, but that’d still just mean a rushed last min endgame in a single clip with zero development when they had a whole season to focus on them and wasted it lol. like idc if they kiss at the end of s10!! LET THEM TALK.)

[zalrb]

PLL 1x19 Review - As Per Anon Request

Honestly, I feel like the opening theme would be more effective to play after the recap and before the actual episode starts.

Shay. Can't. Cry.

What IS this?

"He told her to come closer ... ... and she did." LOL, Great dialogue there.

There is no tension in these interrogation scenes it's so funny.

What is Spencer's jacket? Is she a nutcracker?

"Whoever said 'the truth will set you free' never met A." "Jesus. Jesus said it. It's from the bible." Emily, WHY was that necessary? Like ... what kind of contribution to the conversation is that? They don't actually need to know WHO said it.

"You know, sometimes telling the truth does more harm than good." "Who said that?" Not Jesus. "Alison." Clearly the opposite of Jesus.

"Hey, Emily." "Garrett??" "You're a cop now??" Who is this person.

I don't have siblings but beefing with your 16 year old sister is insane. You're a grown ass woman, Melissa.

"I don't want to go home until my parents get back." WHY WOULD THEY LEAVE? THEIR SON WAS ARRESTED ON SUSPICION OF MURDER AND THEIR CHILDREN HAD A SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP UNDER THEIR ROOF. WHAT IS GOING ON?

"You never talk about your parents." OK but does he actually have any??

ooooooooh the convenient and contrived revelation of 214.

Hanna, why would you tell Caleb to come upstairs when you know your mother is home? And would it not make more sense to bring him food to the basement and collect dishes?

And Caleb really does act like this is house.

"I know guys like Caleb. He's a tough guy." HOW? HE JUST WEARS A BEANIE AND THEY ALL DO, IT'S THE 2010s! You are the actual criminal here, get a GRIP.

I swear to god if a plot twist is that Jenna actually isn't a high schooler and has been lying about her age I would be like, that is the one thing in this show that makes sense.

"What's her story about?" I know that Ezra is already crossing every boundary that matters but don't talk about another student's work to your child bride, you dick.

"I'm waiting for a manager to call me back." Are you not the police?

"Mr. Fitz isn't seduced by controlling characters" Aria, please. Also what the fuck kind of English teacher is Ezra? 1984, Animal Farm or Brave New World should be on that reading list.

20 dollars? You didn't even haggle.

"Jenna's glasses. This is her room." She just has a standing room at a motel she doesn't stay at or live at?

Hanna, you and your mom just had a conversation about Caleb because he left the toilet seat up in a house he's squatting in because he acts like he actually lives there and you don't even think to check to see if your mom is home first? Because she probably is. The plot's gotta plot.

"Mom?"

Remember when you stole money?

I don't even remember what Emily's side quest is.

Emily just deciding to move on from Maya is lol. Because she sounded happy in one phone call?

Maya was nothing like Alison. Alison is a psychopath.

"Welcome home, honey." I don't know if I just think Aria dresses more childish than the others because she's with Ezra and the clothes themselves are just regular clothes but the whole dynamic of them is like, she's clearly a teen, she dresses like a teen and you're an adult, or if it's that plus the fact that they just give Aria more girl-like clothes and by girl-like I mean, like, little girl-esque. It's obviously not Lolita fashion but you get it.

"But out here you're Dora the Explorer? You have any other personalities that I should know about." Her personality didn't change, Caleb, she just has other skills and interests.

Neither Hanna nor Caleb are good enough actors for this scene to be as poignant as it should be but it works better than anything else, so.

Are you two going to have sex in that tent.

I love that they probably couldn't afford a Pink song so they just have Paige butcher it in karaoke.

Spencer and Toby scrabble scene is my favourite scene of theirs so far. "Thanks for the 'g' I was waiting for it."

They need to keep it at that energy of meeting your match. The intense longing stares don't work imo.

So Maya gets cut off because she sounded happy one time but Paige tries to drown you and it's makeout time?

Spencer being the big spoon tracks.

"We might see people we know there." You're on a picnic in the woods everyone goes to, Paige. Caleb now lives in those woods.

Gossip Girl (and AtS) is the only show I can think of that takes place in a city, like a big city like New York. Can you think of any others?

"I like you too." Even though you tried to drown me.

If I ever did what Hanna did, the door would be locked if I tried to come back. Oh, the lives of teenagers in teen dramas. The freedom. The audacity.

"There's a chance that you'll never look at me the same way again." I like how his response is just "Aria..." like he didn't commit one way or the other, girl.

Also, he's a predator.

I hate how Toby speaks: It wasn't ... ... ... a complete wash. *speeds up* Tobehonest ...

Oh wow, the kiss happened way sooner than I expected.

Idk make up your mind. Is Toby awkward and hesitant or is she assertive?

Also, I feel like Caleb is supposed to have some kind of charisma and charm and if that was the case, instead of asking if he could take a soda, he would warm himself up to Hanna's mom by offering to help her cook dinner. Like, all of you can say whatever you want to say about Dean in Gilmore Girls but he learned the traditions of Rory and Lorelai, he knew Lorelai was important to impress.

Ezra and his serial killer eyes.

"Thank you for looking at me tonight the same way you did yesterday" You're sixteen, Aria.

I keep wanting to call Hanna's mom Melissa even though her name is Ashley.

*gasp* CaLeB wOrKs fOr A????

"Honey, they know that you were seeing Ian" so then why is SHE being questioned? SHE'S THE MINOR. Jesus Christ. And why would she be a person of interest just because she was "seeing" Ian? That has nothing to do with Alison if they don't believe that he was seeing Alison.

[inmyarmswrappedin]

How does SKAM build a LI?

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and even gave speeches to my long suffering friends about the topic. Now that we know what happened to Josh to make him the way he is, I feel like I can finally post about the way SKAM built love interest characters. 

When it’s good, SKAM is a very tightly written show because every clip, and every storyline, advances the themes that make the main character vulnerable. I would call this their “shame” but DRUCK fans don’t like that term because the show is called “pressure” and not “shame”. In the end, whether a character’s issues are internal (”shame”) or external (”pressure”) is irrelevant to what I want to talk about, so let’s just call those themes a character’s vulnerability, shall we? 

How does SKAM make every storyline relate to the themes of the season and what makes a character vulnerable? Well, one way it does that is to make the love interest the personification of a character’s fears and issues.

To wit: In season 1, Eva is called out on having no opinions of their own. If you read @skamenglishsubs‘ culture and context posts, they have listed every instance in which this theme is portrayed by having Eva follow someone else’s opinion (I recommend you do this, because there are way more instances than I picked up on!). So, who is Jonas? Jonas is an extremely opinionated person who feels he’s not a follower at all. 

In season 2, Noora is afraid of opening herself to a boyfriend, both emotionally and sexually, because when she was 13 she had sex with a guy she thought she was in love with, who then dumped her as that was all he was interested in. Who is William? William is the school’s fuckboy who dumps girls after having sex with them, and doesn’t seem to care about the girls’ feelings, but rather is just interested in them advertising his sexual prowess via hoodies. 

In season 3, Isak’s strained relationship with his mom makes him believe that it’s impossible to have a functional relationship with a person who has a mental illness, because they’re not in touch with reality. Even has bipolar disorder.

And then, in possibly one of the most simplistic ways to perceive one’s own character, in season 4, Sana is a hijabi out to prove she can do everything a ~normal Norwegian party girl~ can do. Yousef is... not a Muslim, lol. (Note that the Yousef storyline was not originally planned by Julie Andem, and in fact came about because of feedback she received from Muslim fans that they wanted Sana to have a LI. Sana’s main storyline isn’t so much about her religion, but rather her furious desire to prove the haters wrong.)

In general, most of the SKAM remakes have not tried to reinvent the wheel, and have more or less stuck to these character profiles in order to build their own seasons. Most of the changes remake stans will point to when they talk about a remake season don’t really qualify as changes (under this definition) because they don’t change the conflict between the main and the LI. 

I was pretty interested in whether the remakes had picked up on this way to build a LI, and most particularly, how the remakes that have done original seasons built their LIs. Thoughts on these after the read more.

Out of all the seasons that remade SKAM’s four seasons, I would say there are only four that didn’t stick to the character profiles as outlined above. In my opinion, it’s these seasons:

Eva’s season in SKAM España changes this because Jorge is never set up as an opinionated person. He’s a good guy, for sure, a good friend to his friends like most Jonases, but you will never catch Jorge acting like his opinions are better than Eva’s. He never calls Eva out on not having opinions of her own. Their break up scene doesn’t deal with this, and most importantly, Eva could never get the upper hand in that last conversation like the other Evas have, because Jorge is the only Jonas to kiss Eva first.

Matteo’s season in DRUCK changes this because while Matteo is afraid that his mom won’t react well if he comes out to her, we have no idea what he thinks about having relationships with people with a mental illness, as a general rule. We don’t know because David doesn’t have a MI (that we know of). He is trans, and DRUCK wisely avoided making David’s gender identity the personification of Matteo’s issues (gvgvvh imagine how shit that would’ve been!!). Matteo and David’s major conflict is that Matteo has abandonment issues and David a tendency to peace out when things get hot.

Cris’ season in SKAM España changes this because Cris’ mom doesn’t have a mental illness. In fact, Cris doesn’t know much about MI in general. While Cris does have some internalized ableism, it comes from ignorance and buying into societal prejudices against MI, rather than personal experience. Cris’ vulnerability isn’t her ideas about MI. Her issue is that she has bought into the idea that she’s an unintelligent party girl who can’t ever be responsible or dependable.

Nora’s season in SKAM España both keeps and changes the conflicts as presented in SKAM. Nora fails to trust Alejandro because he’s a fuckboy who would have sex with girls and then mock them for getting their hopes up. But, unlike Noora, Nora’s issue is that her lack of trust in Alejandro throws her into the arms of the seemingly ideal boyfriend despite the red flags, whereas Noora’s lack of trust in William made her withhold sex. 

As you can see, all Sana seasons so far (Amira N.’s included) have kept the original conflict by having a non Muslim Yousef. Under this definition, Martino’s season in SKAM Italia isn’t a subversion, because while he does live with his mom, he doesn’t think he can have a functional relationship with her. Aside from Eva Vázquez, all of the Evas kissed their Jonas first. However, I should note that while SKAM Austin kept the Eva/Jonas conflict, they’re the only other SKAM that doesn’t open with Jonas’ essay. (Which I chalk up to facebook not wanting their show to open with a blatantly anti-capitalist speech lmao.) 

Now, how did the remakes with original seasons build their LIs?

Arthur’s season in SKAM France is an interesting example, because Baguettes picked up on the LI personifying the main’s vulnerability. If Arthur is vulnerable about his (lack of) hearing, Noée embraces it, takes pride on it and bases her identify around it. So far, this is exactly how SKAM/Julie Andem built her LIs. However, Arthur rejects Noée and mocks her language. Noée disappears after s5. Alexia has no hearing issues, or any disability.

Lola’s season in SKAM France similarly picks up on the concept. Since Lola is an addict, Maya’s father was one as well. However, this conflict isn’t really explored amidst the thousand other ideas that were thrown at the wall during this season. It’s fair to say Lola and Maya’s clips don’t develop the theme of addiction throughout the season. Unless you want to count Maya telling Lola that Lola is Maya’s addiction, I suppose. 

Kato’s season in wtFOCK (oh yes I’m going there) could be said to have picked up on the concept, although not in any real elegant way. Because of fan feedback for Moyo to get a season (which they declined to do for super valid reasons I’m sure), the team decided to have Moyo be the LI and worked backwards to build the main. It is similar to how SKAM approached Sana’s LI.  Moyo is a black guy, so Kato would be a racist! Genius!

Given these precedents, I was really curious what Nora’s season in DRUCK would do with their first 100% original love interest (so, not counting David). If they decided to go with SKAM’s standard way of building a LI, there were several possibilities. Nora’s mom has addiction issues, and this is a vulnerability of Nora’s. Would that mean that Josh would have substance issues? Or maybe his dad? His mom? Nora has a mental illness. Would that mean Josh would have issues around mental illness or therapy? Would he maybe have a mental illness himself? Nora was set up from the start as a liar. Would Josh be honest to a fault? And so on. 

In the end, it seems like DRUCK has taken the same approach they did with David. That is, Nora doesn’t have to accept something about Josh that she has preconceived ideas about (Noora, Isak, Sana), neither are Josh and Nora extremes in one character trait (Eva and Jonas). With this clip, it appears that their conflict is that Nora has a problem sharing her vulnerabilities (reminder: she didn’t come clean in English class out of a desire to be vulnerable, but to prove a point) and Josh has abandonment issues that make him prefer to try to change a person or even be hurt, rather than be left behind. 

DRUCK’s approach to building a LI in s5 (and probably beyond) might end up making the season less cohesive than SKAM seasons were. On the other hand, you can argue that the way SKAM built LIs could end up being too predictable (Isak is afraid of MI so Even has a MI, Sana is a Muslim so Yousef isn’t, Noora is afraid of being used for sex so William uses girls for sex, etc) and perhaps lowkey reductionist. And that’s without getting into the issues of making a character’s mental illness, religion, gender identity, sexuality, ethnicity or race, etc... the source of another character’s vulnerability (or “shame” or “pressure” if you will). This is particularly clear in the hands of lesser writers, as seen on wtFOCK and SKAM France. 

I will also get yelled at by @dusuessekartoffel if I fail to acknowledge that DRUCK is now doing original seasons and, though based on SKAM, should therefore become its own thing, develop LIs how they will, without taking SKAM as a model for anything. Iiiiii... think that DRUCK still owes a lot to SKAM even in this generation, and I kind of feel like the way SKAM built LIs is like the real time aspect of SKAM, something that is embedded into the very concept of the show and not something you can just discard when you buy the adaptation rights, but this is certainly up for debate.  

[timoswerner]

this is a long post that is just me rambling about this season lol ignore it

this season.... was a ride. after the ucl final i really thought we were gonna do a bit of a liverpool, you know lose the final then improve the next season. we bought tanguy and gio and i was though yeah this is it!!!!! and.... it wasn’t

the champions league run had really papered over the cracks and i had definitely ignored that our form since Christmas that season was like. relegation level. something had gone wrong somewhere. the players were done. poch just lost it, whether it was all the talk of him going to united or the final broke him. whatever, we took the bad form in the new season. honestly that week where we lost to colchester, bayern and brighton was truly embarrassing. bayern and brighton definitely should not have happened like that. the players gave up.

i love poch, i always will. but honestly... he did need to go. i know thats probably controversial but i’m gonna stand by it. i was gutted at the time and i was SO vocal about not wanting jose lmao i was full on having a breakdown at work the next day when he was announced. but looking back... yeah it had to happen. the team we’d grown to love was done, poch was done. personally looking back he should have left after the final, like that would have been a nice end to the cycle. i’ll always love him, i’ll always be thankful for everything, but all good things come to an end.

anyway, i know people are probably never going to love jose or even like him. i get that, he’s a... character. but fuck who ever would have thought we’d be in a position that JOSE MOURINHO would come and manage us.... things started well, got a bit shaky, getting knocked out the fa cup and the champions league was definitely shit but neither was as embarrassing as the fucking colchester/bayern/brighton week so you know. but he’s taken us from 14th to 6th. i honestly don’t think poch would have pulled us out of it. i think we’re finally seeing the players respond to jose (aside from today lol i started typing this last week) and quite frankly i don’t give a shit if the footballs boring if it means we’re winning games. playing ‘nice’ football at the end of the day got us nowhere in terms of wanting trophies (i still maintain that trophies aren't the be all and end all of football but when you get so close so many times it starts to get frustrating). in hindsight i definitely feel like we a bit too much of an underdog mentality, so when we weren’t winning those semi finals or whatever it was ‘well we weren’t expected to anyway’. which is yeah true, but jose isn't going to settle for that, obviously what he’s said about winning europa might come back to haunt us but god that’s the mentality we need. the manager and players both need to believe they can do it.

looking back at our summer signings.... well..... we got who, according to every journalist, poch wanted. we did spend money. gio, well, what can i say. every time someone says put him in the 16/17 team and we’d have won the league i want to cry a bit.i don’t know why poch wasn’t playing him, like it was always kinda frustrating how he didn’t play new players because they needed time to settle or whatever but the fact that he forced us to buy him in january by absolutely taking responsibility and playing for his life. yeah, we’ve got a good one there. tanguy... i don’t even know. i want him to do well, obviously. and he’s got the talent, you see it in flashes. but god it’s so frustrating like is he lazy? does he have an attitude problem? or like can literally only do it in bursts? is jose just being a cunt? i just don’t get what's going on honestly. i hope whatever it is, that it gets sorted quickly because if he is a real talent we don’t want to waste it and if the problem is tanguy then we can't afford to have passengers. kinda feel like his season has summed ours up quite well. i feel a bit sorry for sess, he’s had injuries and it’s not really a great time for a young player to come to the club. he’s definitely still got a lot of potential so hopefully he can kick on next season. jack clarke... literally don’t know. 2 loans and wasn’t playing much (i don’t know how much he was playing for qpr by the end but i know at first he wasn’t getting a game) but my estimations went down about him after finding out he called maya jama a slag that dont sit right with me anyway thats actually irrelevant lol but theres a chance that only 1 of our signings is gonna make it and that, quite frankly, isn’t good. whatever happens, we have to look at our recruitment because it hasn't been good for a while now.

but yeah, its been a weird season. it was write off before poch even left so to get 6th is beyond good, let’s be honest. god knows what next season will bring, but i’m interested to see what jose will do with us with a full season and hopefully refreshing the squad