#this follows my bigger theory that beanix wasnt actually useless and broke for seven years

[longdeadking]

by the way, i dont think the card from turnabout trump was actually forged.

i dont think thats something phoenix would do. its so out of character. he wouldnt put apollo's career at risk, he wouldn't stoop to the level of forgery, and he wouldnt ever use trucy as a pawn like that.

a lot of people cite this as evidence that aa4 phoenix (or post-7yg phoenix as a whole) is ooc, but i have another explanation:

the card wasnt forged. it was real.

more under cut

phoenix meant the card to be two things: a test and a wakeup call for apollo.

it was a test, a way to guage apollo's reactions to a mentor presenting false evidence, and a mentor betraying him. also it was a test of apollo's faith in phoenix.

when apollo punched phoenix for saying the card was forged, it answered the first to questions: he was willing to accept that someone he trusted lied to him, but he wasnt going to let it slide without retaliating.

(this is what phoenix needs. if apollo had been shy, hesitant, or even on board with false evidence, he would have never been able to take down kristoph.)

and still, apollo keeping his mouth shut and not reporting the false evidence proved to phoenix that despite everything, apollo trusted him to make the right calls and be upstanding, even when it was possible that phoenix broke the law (very important for a future employee of the WAA).

and as much as it was a test for these reactions, the card was a warning to apollo that these things could happen. mentors could betray you. evidence could be misleading or fake. courts could overlook injustices while letting honorable people take the fall.

phoenix needed apollo at his best. he needed him distrusting, suspicious, constantly analyzing everything and refusing the believe something is true unless he sees it with his own eyes. and by pretending that the card is fake, phoenix put apollo in that position.

i am of the firm belief that the card is real, that it happened how phoenix claimed, and that he lied about it being forged. is it still kind of a shitty manipulative thing to do? yeah. but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.