#and my mom...... has not played a video game since like. mario kart 😭😭 bless her soul.

[dolotonglo]

most of my irl friends know or vaguely know of ace attorney (gay lawyer game is how i explain it to them) so their reactions have been pretty neutral, but. about a month ago i went home to visit my parents. at the time i was simultaneously working my way through ajaa and replaying super mario 64, so i was switching between playing them. my dad knew i was playing sm64 and was obviously very pleased by this fact, because he kept telling me to play on the tv so he could watch (we played sm64 a lot when i was a kid so its prety nostalgic for us).

over the course of the weekend i had made significant progress in both games, and by sunday i was halfway through turnabout succession and very adament on finishing it. my dad had been watching tv for a while so i asked if i could have the tv so i could play. he agreed, probably thinking i would be playing sm64 (he hadn't seen me playing ace attorney before because i'd been playing it late at night lol), and when i pulled up ace attorney he was SO affronted and it was so funny. he was like "what is this. this isnt even a game. how is this a game this is just a story you're not even doing anything 😡😡" i was BAFFLED

by this point, my mom had entered the scene and decided to join us, and she was much more invested in my father but thoroughly, thoroughly confused. i was skipping through the dialogue pretty fast, and she kept going "how are you reading that fast?!" and "what's happening?? i don't understand..." she was very entertained by the character designs ("why is he dressed like that..? i thought he was a lawyer??" < in reaction to klavier.) after i finished the case i tried to give her a brief breakdown of all the characters and the trial and she tried so hard to listen but it looked like her brain was going to explode ("who's the lawyer? is she the lawyer???" < in regards to trucy. no, mom, i explained, she's a magician, and the lawyer's assistant, and also the daughter of the other lawyer who's currently not a lawyer and yes he adopted her, her actual dad was the other magician guy who died back in case one, let's move on please). she did noooot get it lol. but she let me infodump anyway tho haha thanks mom

ace attorney fans: what are some of the funniest ways your offline friends have reacted to seeing you play ace attorney?

mine are:

1. my partner at the time shouting "HE'S 23?!?!" and going through all 5 stages of grief upon learning that aa1 miles edgeworth is not, in fact, in his 40s

2. i showed my IRL bestie kristoph gavin and mentioned he was a villain. without skipping a beat they said "well of course he's a villain. he's blonde"