#acro doesn’t deserve to be in turnabout big top

[doopn00p]

Look at these couple of cards

[youngbounty]

When it comes to Turnabout Big Top, I feel alone with this one. Not only did I love and enjoy Turnabout Big Top, but I consider it my favorite case in Justice For All. I’m not going to say it didn’t have its flaws, but I had so much fun playing it and even the story itself was something to behold. I read blogs and watched videos from those that did like this case, including NicoB, but I’m going to express my love for this case.

Before I start my praises, I will get what I didn’t like about it out of the way: the investigations were a pain in the ass, the cape flying thing didn’t make any sense, Moe was annoying as hell and, even though this was made in Japan, the love triangle thing went way too far. Since there is so much hate for this case, I think everyone pretty knows the reasons why I didn’t like these. So, I will just leave it at that. Now, to express my love for Turnabout Big Top.

Let’s start with the characters. Aside from Moe, I absolutely love the characters. Max and Ben were the only okay characters. I liked how, even despite Max being completely full of himself, means well in what he does. You can tell that, even though he thinks he’s the best in the circus, he has a reason to believe that and is trying to help everyone become as successful as him in his own way. Ben is very awkward, which is why I absolutely love Trilo. He’s the one that steals the show, especially during his testimony. He is an asshat, but he’s the likable asshat you love to hate. Regina is absolutely adorable. You can see that she’s always bright and trying to make everyone’s lives better. It makes sense why Max feels so connected to Regina more than the other circus members. She’s completely devoted in her abilities and knows that, when it comes to performing and bringing the wow in the audience, you go big or go home. Her passion comes from putting smiles in everyone’s faces. Even when tragedy hits, she tries to see the bright side to the situation. Acro is someone, who is patient, kind and wants to see the best in everyone. His only downfall was allowing his grief control his better judgement, though the same can be said for Regina. 

The entire circus as a whole, even Moe, are a family and it’s clear from the way they treat each other. Sure, they may get annoyed or downright jealous of each other, but they still love and care for one another. It is when the entire circus begins recognizing Max’s innocence that they gift him with cartons of milk. At the end of the day, they’re still family and always have been. The fact you have unlikable characters like Moe and maybe Trilo shows that no one is likable. They can be annoying, jerks or downright stupid at times. But, when push comes to shove, they have each other’s backs. Just take away the awkward love triangle and you have a very excitable bunch that can be a roller coaster of ups and downs.

Having a circus like this with a murder case like this is a great parallel to the overarching conflict to Justice For All. During this game, Miles Edgeworth had left a note declaring his death before disappearing without a trace. Both Phoenix Wright and Franziska Von Karma are grieved by this. Phoenix Wright deals with this grief through anger and blaming Franziska and her father for their corrupt beliefs leading Miles Edgeworth down a suicidal path. He also is angry at Miles Edgeworth for being a coward and giving up on life. Franziska also deals with her own grief through anger and blaming Phoenix for defeating Miles Edgeworth, claiming that to be the reason he left the suicide note. Like Phoenix, she is also angry at Miles Edgeworth for being a coward and giving up on everything he worked for, considering how much she looked up to him. Just like Phoenix and Franziska, Regina and Acro deal with their grief for Bat’s tragedy through emotion: happiness. Regina uses her happiness to deal with her grief like how Phoenix uses his anger to deal with his own grief. The same can apply to Acro. Like Franziska, Acro blames Regina for his brother’s accident and takes all his grief out on her. He knows that they were very close, perhaps even had puppy dog crushes on each other, but still allowed his grief to swell and took it all out on the very person his little brother cared about the most. The same can be said about Franziska, whether or not you consider Miles Edgeworth’s relationship with Phoenix Wright romantic or platonic. There is no other case I can think of with such complex connections and parallels as close to the overarching story as this one did. 

This case was also the one that showed the best out of Franziska and Phoenix, especially in court. We begin understanding why Franziska is angry at Phoenix and that the connection is with Miles Edgeworth, not her father. We see Franziska’s devotion to her job is not as corrupted as Justice For All built her up to be. Unlike with Turnabout Samurai, where Miles Edgeworth showed this by asking for more testimony from Dee Vasquez, despite knowing he would lose the case, Franziska shows this by thoroughly searching throughout the entire circus to the point where Acro was forced to hide the murder weapon in his wheelchair. Even though Franziska will withhold evidence from the Defense, she’s also a devoted Prosecutor willing to search for the truth by whatever means necessary. She’s not one to allow a loss keep her from moving forward. She’s someone that is used to losing and being the underdog and Turnabout Big Top clearly shows that. This also shows one of Phoenix’s biggest flaws, that being how unempathetic he really is. Despite Franziska grieving over Miles Edgeworth’s loss, Phoenix shows no empathy for what she’s going through and treats her like trash. Franziska is the first and only prosecutor that Phoenix does treat unfairly. It makes sense why Franziska doesn’t learn the error of her ways, until Miles Edgeworth returns back her whip.

Speaking of trials, I consider the trials to be the best part of Turnabout Big Top. It really challenges you and pushes you to your limit. Even the magatama parts know how to continually keep you guessing. Yes, they’re hard, but that’s why they are good at how they push you. The trials challenged you to think outside the box and look over each testimony and evidence carefully. Do I press on this part of the testimony again? Do I need to find a contradiction? Even the witnesses like Moe, Trilo and Acro are unique in their own way. Even though I got annoyed at Moe, unlike with Lotta Hart and Wendy Oldbag, Moe’s testimony didn’t feel like a waste of time. It showed his entire character arch from an annoying, obnoxious clown to a responsible leader. Trilo also shows the best of himself and how he can allow his jealousy to take over his common sense. It’s especially hilarious when you find contradictions to his statements. Acro shows himself as someone that will challenge anyone to take leaps of faith. It’s part of his character and who he is. He was willing to dive in to save his brother and challenges anyone to do the same. He’s also the only murderer to admit to feeling remorse for his actions in attempting to murder Regina. Also, Phoenix never once had to ask Mia for her help with this one. 

I can understand why so many people hated this case, but I also think it gets too much hate than it deserves. Sure, there are a lot of issues with it, but there’s a lot of good with it too. I will certainly remember most of the jokes and testimonies from this case than any other case. This was a case that took a lot of chances and pushed the player to their limit. I can’t name any other case in Justice For All that did that, other than maybe Farewell my Turnabout and even that one didn’t push you all the way.

What are your thoughts?

[jake-marshall]

5, 9, 12 (can be a case, a game, an arc, whatever), 19 (go for it :P)

I can’t believe I have to put a disclaimer but I know how this fandom is with snooping around, so I’ll make one: these are my opinions, and boy are they salty.  As such, I’ve tried to slash out tags of ever ship mentioned in here (regardless of positive or negative speak of it), so let me know if anything shows up in the tags and I”ll go back and block it, because I”m not trying to spread hate; I’m answering questions for a friend who enjoys my saltiness >:pIf you don’t agree with my opinions, that’s fine, good for you, i don’t think everyone has to agree with me, just as I don’t agree with everyone.   Don’t try to engage me in a conversation about it because you can not possibly imagine how much I do not care.

 Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?*I’ve already talked before aboutKl/apol/lo being the main answer for this (more so than Nar/u/mitsu Iguess because at least I understand where Nar/u/mitsu comes from) soI’ll mention these two:I wouldn’t say that the fandom hasmade me dislike La/namia, but it’s really disheartening that there’sso much content of it that’s either blatantly bisexual erasure(“they’re lesbians sorry i don’t make the rules!” shit likethat) and/or is less about celebrating the pairing and more of avessel to spread hatred of Godot (and very occasionally Jake).  So asa result I don’t actively seek out content for it the way I do otherships I like, which sucks, because  I don’t get to enjoy it as muchas I want to.  It’s my fave f/f ship after Junith/ena, mostdefinitely.As for a pairing I was originally indifferent tothat the fandom has soured me on?  Lmao Simon/Nahyuta anyone?  Backbefore SoJ came out and this was a crack ship that was born out of“omg Simon would think Nahyuta is so anime bishie! ^_^”(because they were aching for a male character to ship Simon with,I’m sure), I was just like “whatever.  Immature and side-eyeinducing, but ultimately, whatever.” Now, after seeing their purely negativeinteraction in SoJ treated as “omgz sexual tension!” when,if it was a heterosexual pairing, I GUARANTEE it would becondemned/considered wildly unhealthy (Kl/ema is the closest thing Ican compare it to?  Like, can’t bitches just dislike each other???),I can not possibly roll my eyes hard enough at this steaming garbageship and the idea that Yuty’s precious luv will heal Simon’s abusedbroken baby birb soul! And omgz they’re so hawtttt together i hopedem boiz maek out xD! It just reeks of “yaoi” fandom (andyes I mean that in a derogatory sense).  Oh, and don’t forget thatFulbright isn’t dead now, because he’s not even treated like he was alive in the first place! he’s just a plot device for Simon to angstover even more so Yuty has more chances to soothe him!  Ew.I mean, I guess it boils down to, Iwouldn’t dislike this ship so much if it was actually acknowledged asa silly crack ship instead of being extolled and placed on thispedestal as if it’s some pinnacle of how a relationship should be. Because ah, no, as a legitimate pairing it really is total andcomplete shit.Most disliked character(s)? Why?GOD well my most hated characters arecharacters we’re supposed to dislike, and/or love to hate?  I sayKristoph a lot for this since Klavier is one of my faves, and becuaseof how innocent Vera was.  Gant and MvK too, because of (likeKristoph) how long they were willing to be so self-serving anddeceitful and manipulative and had no guilt over their crimes?  But Imight hate Kristoph the most because, like Dahlia for you, Holly, Isee him get a lot of apologists, which is gross.

 I see this a lot for Phanty too, theapologists and humanization of him when he’s nothing but fuckingtrash, and I hate the fandom for it? but I don’t care about Phantyenough to really hate him (opposed to hating a certainship involving him COUGH COUGH). He’s just like some meme to me; Ilaugh at him and would rather spend my time focusing on Fulbright andhow much I like him because he’s the one who deserves my time, notthis loser^.   

Kristoph, however, was a betterdeveloped/written character. Even though we don’t know what’s behindhis psych-locks, and granted his motive was petty, I think that’swhat makes him interesting and creepy and realistic, and therefore heevokes a stronger opinion from me.

Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

I really like TUrnabout BIg Top a lot, because I generally like ensemble casts such as this, and Acro is one of my favorite murderers.  I definitely understand why it makes people uncomfortable but I also have to wonder if people dislike it and JfA in general for the reason that there is little interaction between Nick and Edgey.   I don’t think Moe is as annoying as the fandom generally thinks he is, either, I honestly find him pretty sympathetic in many ways; it’s just his testimony that’s frustrating, as the player.

 It puzzles me when this fandom whines for poc/disabled characters and then we have Acro (even though he assumably wasn’t born physically disabled considering he was a professional acrobat but) and lmao no he’s boring.  But wait, actually, it doesn’t puzzle me…  because..... (see below)

What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom?

Oh there’s more than one thing, and it’s certainly not exclusive to the AA fandom but:

If you think ANY character (other than a commonly hated one like Godot of course) is white OR cis OR straight OR neurotypical you’re a horrible person who doesn’t support marginalized folks! 

Along that vein, if you don’t ship X popular gay ship/do ship x het ship, you obviously are just a homophobe! and should kys because you don’t ~respect the source material~ 

Also along that vein, a character is ONLY interesting if you slap on random labels re: their sexuality/gender identity/mental health because that’s what defines them, of course!

Female characters can do whatever the fuck they want and can not be criticized for it, because it’s always justified and they’re always the victims but if you like a morally grey male character (or even just find him interesting as a character!)… that’s right!  You’re awful!

On a more personal note:  It’s perfectly acceptable to develop an AU where Dadworth lives, or where Mia lives, or where Clay lives, or Jove lives, or literally any character not named Fulbright lives, but if you ship (ACTUAL) Black/bright  you’re an idiot who isn’t following canon, how dare you!I hated this fandom going into it so I’ve kind of been like… resilliant to letting it get to me too much, and I have made some wonderful friends and it’s really reinvigorated my love for writing, which is important.  BUt on a whole, it’s a shit fandom and I advise against people getting too involved in it, if they have any opinions on the games/ships/characters that might mildly differ from the majority.