#trucy and apollo are on another level

[fiendishartist2]

wanted to revisit my favs <3 love these 2 with my whole heart

[thus-it-is-proclaimed]

God but think about the whiplash Phoenix experiences between Miles and Dahlia.

When it’s said and done, and whenever they do finally cut the shit and get together, him being in the midst of feelings and it makes him scared.

Why wouldn’t it? To our knowledge he never has another serious partner (though Dahlia wasn’t exactly a serious one, it can be argued Phoenix in his Young Dumb Obsessiveness absolutely felt like it was) between her and the idea he does get together with Miles. (Kristoph we will put aside for terms of discussion.)

But to imagine an older, more jaded Phoenix who is looking at Miles Edgeworth and feeling that old swell of absurdly strong feelings. The echo of his tendency for reckless devotion, for putting the people around him on a pedestal, the all encompassing love he has inside his heart. Imagining that he feels that swooping sensation before the plummet into immersion and it. Scares the SHIT out of him.

Because realistically? He has almost only ever been hurt by this pattern. He must know it’s unhealthy and dangerous, even on a subconscious level. And despite all he has been through, it’s still there. He can still feel it.

Phoenix Wright, loving Miles so much it hurts, being for once absolutely terrified that it will all come to crash down on him again. He was almost killed, framed, and injured by Dahlia while she was alive. She came back to literally haunt him and cause havoc on his life, threatening those he loves, resulting in the situation that sent him falling through a burning bridge in effort to save his family. Because his ability to LOVE. His willingness to sacrifice everything to protect the people he clings to around him.

Just thinking of this realization, and how Miles can meet it not as a savior or a saint, but proof that even those who have hurt Phoenix at some points could still be eventually trusted with his heart. Miles, who goes through such an arc of growth and maturity, at a point he can promise Phoenix to take care with his feelings. To be able to be trusted, and trust in turn. That though they may argue, may hurt one another, at the end of the day Miles is not another devastating chapter in Phoenix’s list of reasons to never allow himself to show his full heart to another.

He is proof that Phoenix can trust someone who knows of this tendency. Who won’t use it to manipulate or gut him. Who doesn’t secretly despise every breath he takes. Maya and Pearl and Trucy and Apollo and Athena are all people in Phoenix’s growing family, who stick around and support.

But Miles Edgeworth has seen Phoenix through hell, tribulation, and devastating lows on both sides. He knows Phoenix has such intense depth of feeling. And if they come together into a relationship, Miles taking this onboard and loving Phoenix for it. His passion and kindness and selflessness and drive.

[jinxedshapeshifter]

I wonder if different levels of tension have different effects on the Gramarye family. We know they tense in response to other people’s tension, but does how tense they get depend on how (physically) tense the other person is? I mean we only really see how it affects Apollo and Apollo's always tensing in response to minute amounts of tension, which is where his bracelet comes in. If someone was more tense than just "small nervous habits" would Apollo have an easier time detecting it?

For example, during the last Turnabout Succession trial. When Klavier was incredibly tense because he didn't want to believe Kristoph was behind Phoenix's disbarment, two murders, and an attempted murder. Do you think Apollo was just as tense as Klavier every time he looked at him as a result of his abilities as Thalassa's son? Do you think Apollo was struggling to relax himself, potentially making his job harder?

We're told that the Gramaryes' ability is like; their bodies respond to tension by very slightly reacting to tension, which is why Thalassa and Apollo wear bracelets that grow/shrink to fit the wearer's wrist; when their bodies react to tension in another person, that tension is in such a low amount that they can't detect it on their own. There's no indication on whether this is constant or not though (at least in Apollo Justice. I haven't played Dual Destinies or Spirit of Justice yet so if it's elaborated on in DD or SOJ I wouldn't know about it).

For all we know, Gramaryes could very well tense more intensely and just not realize it, writing it off as normal. I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case, because sometimes you don't even realize you're tense (and this is indicated to apply to the Gramaryes too; it's implied the reason Apollo is so much better at perceiving than Trucy is because he has one of Thalassa's bracelets).

Anyway silly thoughts, sorry if this doesn't make sense lol. I'm mentally not doing great and coping with gay lawyers

[box-dwelling]

KLARYAN KRISNIX PARALLELS PLEASEEEEE I HAVE SO SO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT IT TOO BUT I CANT ARTICULATE THEM QUITE RIGHT PLEASE ADD YOUR VOICE TO MY INTERNAL BRAINROT PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

@vexx-ation you also asked so here we go. (As have a few anons sorry this is long and it's taking a while to write everything down)

So my Klaryan take is kinda a mega theory that takes a lot of mini theories into consideration so here it is. This will be long. This will be unhinged. This is my Pepe silvia

Tw for discussions of substance abuse and abusive relationships

1) AA4 parallel foils

Ok so this is semi common knowledge. Every character in AA4 is ment to be a direct foil to a character in aa1. This is well documented and also applies to a lot of the witnesses too. Apollo is a foil for Phoenix, Ema is a foil for Gumshoe, Trucy is a foil for Maya, Klavier is a foil for Edgeworth. This goes on for almost every charcater in the game.

But here's the thing. The trilogy already has foils already. So some of these charcaters end up being massive parallels to eachother. A non relevent example I think about daily is that Trucy and Franziska are very similar but where this is relevant is Klapollo and Narumitsu. I have a post explaining this I'm more detail but basically while far from identical there are a lot of perhaps unintentional but at minimum unexplored parallels between Phoenix and Klavier and Apollo and Edgeworth. This is important.

2) Krisnix as an allegory for substance abuse

So first of my opinion of this doesn't really influence my take on grape juice but it's pretty undeniable that even if you don't think Beanix has addiction issues, hes almost coded to. There's the comment about Ema and the white powder and then the extent to which he's always surrounded by grape juice which at minimum looks like wine. In universe it's easy to see this as a part of his mask and that is my in universe take, he's trying to look in a bad way to hide how he's actually doing.

But I think we can take this further. Miles and Kristoph are superficially very very similar characters however underneath are deeply different and as such have a very different effect on Phoenix's mental state. Miles is absent during the 7yg at his request. And there's a miles shaped hole left in his life that he wants to fill with something that is superficially the same but is in it's effects very different and very bad for him.

Anyone who has dealt with addiction will likely recognise that pattern.

3) Klavier is on some level (whether he's in denial about it or not) aware that Kristoph is in some way dangerous or abusive and was running from him with the band

This is mostly just my take on how he acts in sucession and another very good post that I'll have to find that talks about how similar him joining the band was to the things the other people involved with the Gramarye trial did to try and evade Kristoph.

4) Phoenixs biggest flaw and how Kristoph tests it

So I basically never shut up about this in some places but might not have talked about it here so the tldr of this is that Phoenixs biggest flaw is that he is constantly trying to see the best in people. The final test of this is not breaking the black psyche locks and accepting that just because he's a human being with complexity, doesn't mean his actions are excused or that Phoenix has to forgive or protect him.

So this is where we can start bringing it together a bit.

Klavier and Phoenix are both very similar characters and both victims of Kristophs abuse. Phoenix has a relationship that exemplifies his harmful behaviour after the trial, it's pretty interesting to explore the same thing happening to Klavier.

Especially when we start to compare Daryan to Kristoph and find that they're superficially very different even if both of them turned out to be murders. Kristoph is reserved, Daryan is brash. Kristoph is classy, Daryan is flashy. Kristoph is well spoken and poetic, Daryan is straightforward. You get the idea.

And isn't that fucking fascinating? That Klavier ran to someone who was the complete opposite of his brother but ended up being just as dangerous? And also is it not really interesting that as Phoenix has to learn to accept Kristoph's humanity doesn't excuse his actions. If we take Klavier running to Daryan in this way to be him refusing to acknowledge the human side of his brother, that but running to the superficial opposite and not recognising what truly did make Kristoph dangerous, he fell into the arms of a murder.

And of course, the person he then falls for, is someone who is Apollo. Who is genuinely a good person but was Kristophs mentor and is very similar to him in a number of superficial ways. He has to stop running from his trauma and confront it head on.

Basically this interpreation means the klaryan/ Klapollo and Narumitsu/Krisnix love triangles function as basically a microcosm for how these two handle their trauma and how they have to over come it and each is a direct mirror of the other.

My take on Daryan

Ok people might have seen me joke that he's straight. Here's the thing. I think he definitely has been sleeping with Klavier. They are in some kind of relationship. Buuuuut, I do not think the feelings he has about the relationship are ever well traditionally romantic or sexual. I think it's driven from his side primarily by envy and rage that Klavier gets the spotlight more than him. He can never upstage Klavier on stage, but he can posses him. He can make him feel like shit as revenge.

My General Klayran timeline

They start whatever their weird thing is during the 7yg.

After 4-1 Klavier spirals a lot and it puts intense strain on their relationship because Daryan does not care about this bitch and does not want to support him

4-2 Klavier meets Apollo, sees him in court and kinda starts to develop a big old crush. He realises that Daryan is making him miserable and breaks it off after the case

4-3 newly broken up and it's taking its toll. Then we'll 4-3 happens and that's the end of them.

[schmorpthe]

I see a lot of debate on this fandoms found family obsession and I want to add my two cents and headcannons that no one reaaaallllyyyyy cares about.

I think there's a balance of it that's good. For example, I think interpreting Maya and Phoenix as siblings is just as valid as best friends. Siblings can be best friends, my own sister is literally my best friend. It works with the dynamic of them both feeling like they're taking each other in after Mia's death, and I see their banter and can relate it to how my sister and I treat each other.

On the other hand, I don't like it when people give Phoenix and Apollo the father-son dynamic. I think there is a level of protectiveness from Phoenix, coming from seeing some of himself when he was younger in Apollo, as well as knowing he's Trucy's brother. But Apollo is an adult who looked up to Phoenix when he was younger, just his trust betrayed. At first it's a case of never meet your idols for Apollo. He also finds him irritating. I think there is a point where those two can get on good terms and Apollo forgives Phoenix, but they aren't family. It's a different type of love and care. They are mentor and mentee. Apollo will always find Phoenix annoying too, he just gets used to it and that irritation no longer is from a place of resentment, just Phoenix pushing his buttons.

As far as Athena goes, I haven't played much of DD yet because I started as the new trilogy got announced and decided to wait, but I think it's another case of Phoenix being protective but not quite in an adopted kid sense. He sees a young girl who needs some love, care, and guidance. You can love and care for someone a bit like a daughter without going all the way into they are my daughter territory. Trucy and Athena? Best friends. You know how so many of us have best friends that are basically like a sibling but we don't literally feel like siblings? That's them. They are an unstoppable duo.

As far as Edgeworth and Kay goes, I haven't finished AAI but I do see a little bit of adopted father-daughter dynamic, but not as intense. Kay is very self sufficient and made it through her teen years without her own dad or Edgeworth in her life. They are bonded over the shared trauma of losing a parent at the courthouse and Edgeworth is protective of her and his door is always open for her in the good and the bad. The paternal instinct is there and he would help her through anything. I feel like Kay called him Dad by accident one time and that did make them more like family, but apart from emotional times or jokes, he is Mr Edgeworth.

On the note of Edgeworth, I'm not keen on the adopting basically the entire prosecutor's office. I just don't feel like that's Edgeworth. I do think he softens yes. I do think he cares about his employees, but it's the vibe of a good boss being on professionally friendly terms. They can go to him for help, sometimes not work related. He can be a mentor. But he's their boss first and foremost, and in a more Edgeworth sense than Phoenix. More by the book. So yes he cares about them and can sometimes be protective, but not in a family way.

I do like Edgeworth eventually becoming Trucy's other Dad, but it takes time. For a long time he's Uncle Edgeworth and it takes him a long time to adjust to that even. Eventually he starts treating Trucy like a daughter, Phoenix pulls him up on it, he has a bit of a crisis. This is after the 7yg when Phoenix no longer has to live in the shell he did before getting his name cleared, therefore being able to officially be with Miles. Point being it's not immediate. He does immediately live Trucy but his instinct isn't familial for a while.

Honestly me explaining this hasn't completely gotten what's in my head across about I hope you get what I mean.

Also, at the end of the day everyone can have their own interpretation of the game. People will make it what they need it to be and that's okay. As long as what you are going with isn't illegal or straight up gross, go ahead. These are my own conclusions I've come to and it's these interpretations I look for in the media I consume, but whatever fuels your love for this series is what matters ✨

[leeeeeeef]

still thinking about the similarities and differences between miles edgeworth and trucy wright's upbringings,,, like i get that its no big secret that miles and trucy both lost their biological fathers in the courtroom in incidents regarding forged evidence and wrongful convictions and that their adoptive guardians were somehow involved in gregory/zak's disappearance and that miles and trucy both may or may not have played some role in their disappearances as well (whether it's perceived or unintentional)

but also i think its kind of interesting how trucy didn't become a defense attorney like phoenix did, but rather stuck with being a magician like her bio parents and grandfather. and phoenix supports her in all of her endeavors!!! phoenix loves trucy regardless of her occupation, and it's such a stark contrast to how manfred completely shapes miles's career, personality, etc. miles ended up not following in gregory's footsteps, and it's completely different to how trucy was allowed and even encouraged to continue her family's business.

also i love how phoenix brings trucy and apollo closer together even before they find out that they're half-siblings. and even more, trucy and pearl are almost like sisters to each other (capcom please give us more trucy/pearl interactions pleaseplease please) and since phoenix was a friend of the fey clan long before he met trucy, there's no doubt he had a hand in their friendship. anyways what i'm trying to say is that phoenix puts effort into making sure his daughter has a vivid social life - an extensive support system that she can rely on.

on the other hand, miles and franziska's siblinghood is entirely different. as much as i love their dynamic, it's pretty clear to see that a big part of that dynamic is their rivalry. franziska doesn't want to fall behind miles; she becomes a prosecutor at around the same time that miles does, even if she's seven years younger than him; her entire motive is to beat phoenix in court as a way to surpass miles; and in aai1 fran and miles are competitive with each other (albeit in a sibling way but still). and i get that this is pretty much completely speculative but i cant help but think that maybe manfred had some hand in that?? perhaps pitting them against each other as a way to isolate miles from any sort of familial connection,, i like to think that fran and miles seeing each other as siblings shows how they free themselves of manfred's polarizing influence. 

and i haven't watched the anime but i heard that manfred makes miles study in europe for a while?? in a country where he can't understand anyone else (at least until he learns the language),,, and compared to trucy's upbringing, miles had been so isolated from everyone, from his sister, from his childhood friends, and that isolation was in no small part due to manfred's influence.

(another note: i feel like trucy's and miles's differing social skills show this disparity even more; miles is a lot more socially awkward and standoffish due to how isolated he is while trucy is very comfortable and friendly with others, possibly due to how trucy has had a lot more opportunities for socialization. i can see why someone might chalk it down to trucy working as an entertainer but miles's profession also requires a level of social adequacy in the form of persuasion, so it's probably more than just their jobs)

i think it ultimately comes down to how manfred and phoenix perceive miles and trucy. im pretty sure manfred says at one point (im too lazy to find the screenshot to cite it..) that his treatment of miles served as a sort of revenge against gregory, corrupting him from a young age to completely purge gregory's influence. he sees miles as a vessel of his hatred towards gregory, almost like an extension of gregory himself. meanwhile phoenix sees trucy as,, well... a person - his daughter, with all of the wants, personality traits, and idiosyncrasies that make her /her/. and even though zak has done so much to hurt phoenix, phoenix doesn't let that get in the way of his love for trucy. hell, it's even reflected through their surnames; miles keeps his father's first name, showing that manfred doesn't really see miles as an adoptive child, while trucy changes her last name, showing that she and phoenix truly are father and daughter.

also. like. im sorry for tying this back to wrightworth but it's kind of poetic that miles ends up holding phoenix in such high regard. it's as if phoenix represents a life that miles might have had a long time ago; a symbol of security and warmth and unconditional love that was robbed from him at such a young age. it's especially apparent since phoenix and miles are childhood friends, like phoenix is a literal remnant of miles's past.

but there's one monumental similarity between miles and trucy that i've neglected to mention, and it's how they both learn to use the influence of their predecessors for good. although manfred had made miles a prosecutor as a way to get back at gregory, it's clear that miles still holds the values and morals that gregory had instilled in him close to his heart. and with phoenix's help, miles eventually learns how he can help others as a prosecutor. miles remains a prosecutor, just like manfred, and even retains many of the same mannerisms and fashion choices. however, his motives and morals, as well as the impact that he leaves on others, are undoubtedly his own, with the compassion and conviction that he had held since he was a child.

and it's no secret that troupe gramarye has their own history of scandals. but the heartless, manipulative way that magnifi, zak, valant, and even mr. reus treat both members and outsiders of the troupe,, it's nothing like trucy's brand of magic. her magic is so much kinder (yes, even the knife dances and catching bullets between her teeth) and she has so much more respect for the other magicians she works with. even when she inherits the troupe, her shows are traced with cheerfulness and wonder. she performs magic simply to put smiles on faces, even after the death of (as far as she knows) her only remaining biological family, even after being held hostage, even after being accused of murdering someone she had so much respect for. and that's probably more than anyone else in the troupe has done.

[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.

[cryptidwithacopiccollection]

-points at you with delight and glee- FELLOW MARINE BIOLOGY/OCEANOGRAPHY ENTHUSIAST!!! hi I love your mer-attorneys and all the sea creatures you pick it delights my inner fish immensely

FKJHSAJHKSDKHSD THANK YOU!!

This whole AU would not have been possible without @original-character-chaos, who contributed to like half of the creature picks for the mers. It started out as me making a joke that if Miles Edgeworth was a mer, he'd be a frilled shark. Nox then asked if Gumshoe would be an octopus. Then I decided Franziska would be a sixgill because I love sixgills. We promptly spiraled out of control from there.

And when I say spiraled oh boy do I mean it. Under the cut is several paragraphs of infodumping.

First was our basic criteria: only deepsea animals.

Next came picking out deepsea animals for everyone. At this point we had Mia, Maya, Pearl, and Miles figured out, but we needed something for phoenix. At first I tossed around the idea of a coelacanth, since they're both blue and incredibly persistent, but they aren't able to swim very deep (only 700m down, mia would have had a 6,000 meter lead on him). Then I was looking up deep sea sharks. and one name stood out as odd to me. The basking shark was on there. Which was weird, they're surface dwellers. They literally have "basking" in their name, why would they be deepsea. Then I found out that they can dive up to 2,000 meters below the surface. for reference, that is as deep as GIANT SQUIDS.

And then it clicked that of COURSE Phoenix Wright, of all characters, would make a great deepsea mer to have basking in it's name. A few other factors, such as basking sharks being able to breach and being warm-blooded (just think of the cuddling possibilities), sealed him in.

Not only did we decide that we were only allowed to pick deepsea animals (reaching the twilight zone, aprox. 200 meters below sea level minimum, preferrably closer to the midnight zone at about 1,000 meters), but each character, save for identical twins, would be a different species. The specificity has gotten to the point where all mers in the Fey family have to be in the order scyphozoa, aka "true" sea jellies, and ON TOP OF THAT their bioluminescence directly correlates with their spritual power. So Mia, Maya, and pearl are all bioluminescent, but Dahlia and Iris aren't. Similarly, while we decided to give all characters distinct species, we also wanted bio family to show some relation to each other. So while Apollo is a thorny whiplash squid and Trucy's a vampire squid, they're both red cephalapods, and their common root, Thalassa, is a blanket octopus. Nox and I were kinda loosing our shit trying (and failing) to cross-reference the depth range of the gelatinous blanket octopus (Thalassa), which is different from a the shallow-dwelling rainbow blanket octopus, and even after digging up actual research papers our findings were unfortunately inconclusive. Another less complicated example is Manfred vonKarma, who we lovingly gave a greenland shark for the fact that he's old as fuck and also full of poison. Then of course Franziska had to be a shark too, so I said bluntnose sixgill because they are so fucking cool, and everyone sleeps on them.

And I mean it. Look up the largest sharks in the world. #1 will be the whale shark, for obvious reasons, the largest we've ever accurately measured was over 60 feet long. #2 will be the basking shark, which also checks out, their largest on record was over 40 feet.

But then you check for the next on the list. Now, weight-wise, the results do look different, but we're specifically focusing on the length of the shark from snout to tail-tip for this. And it's also where I start wanting to throw hands. On base reaction, most people would say the great white. A good record on measurements is this article, but they unfortunately appear to have fallen for the Great White propaganda, claiming the largest one on record was 23 feet. Wow, that's big! Sure would be cool if it was true. The largest great white that I can reliably find measurements on is Deep blue, who clocks in at just over 20 feet. There are unconfirmed reports from several hundred years ago of whites that were well over thirty feet... that I don't believe were actually great whites. See, they bear a striking similarity to the harmless, much larger basking shark, and I'd bet actual money on these reported catches just being very unfortunate baskers, sorry guys.

So, great whites only grow to about 21 feet MAXIUM, and most average 15-16 feet. Why have I spent so much time tearing them down over sixgills? WHEHEHEELLL. Buckle up. The largest recorded bluntnose sixgill shark was

26.

feet.

long.

Unlike great whites, a sixgill has no larger relatives to be mistaken for.

AND while I'm at it, I would like to add that the average size for this species, 11-14 feet, isn't nearly as well documented as other shallow-water sharks, and is based on when the shark reaches sexual maturity; sighted sixgills often reach well past 18 feet. Submersibles have encountered massive ones, such as this gorgeous beast, and because I'm so very normal, I did the math. It's stated in the extended cut of the exploration that her head is about 3 feet wide. And based on this reference, i measured out a sixgill's head width as about 1/7th of their total body length.

3 x 7 is 21, so that shark is, give or take, about 21 feet, possibly longer. Since they are deep-sea sharks, with the adults sticking to deeper waters, it is entirely possible that the largest ones are just chilling near the seafloor having never seen a submersible or ROV. Even discounting that, we have a (albeit roughly) measured sixgill who is as big as Deep Blue, if not bigger, and google is a liar.

They also are responsible for trying to eat underwater ethernet cables

So yeah. that's a lil bit of lore for Law of the deep, the silly little deepsea mer au for ace attorney! Thank you so much for the ask, again :D

[midnightbrightside]

hiiii this isn't the number prompt thing, just a random Krisnix question:

In an alt timeline where Kristoph doesn't give himself away and Phoenix can't provide any proof of his crimes, how long do you think they'd keep up with whatever the heck krisnix is? imo kristoph was fully prepared to keep up the charade forever, but I think it would make him insane eventually. and I'm like 50/50 if Phoenix would stick around and they would have an epic gay marriage and subsequent divorce or if he'd just find a different way to make Kris have an ace attorney courtroom breakdown?

oh yeah i fully believe kristoph was willing to keep up the charade forever, whatever weird tango they had going on kristoph liked it and wanted to keep the status quo without getting rid of phoenix- he wasnt initially planning on framing phoenix for zak's murder after all, he was gonna let olga take the fall. and i kinda hc that he killed zak to cut off another one of phoenix's leads so that they could continue as they were for just a little bit longer. seven years is a long time, if he's made it that long then he's comitted for life.

the only way he'd end it is if he got tired of phoenix, or felt that phoenix was on his tail. but that's exactly why phoenix only confronted him in the courtroom, so that he could get rid of kristoph before kristoph got rid of him. "that's why i decided to bring this case to court" he knew it was dangerous to confront kristoph alone, on anything.

and phoenix side? ur right it's so hard to say exactly what he'd do but i dont think he'd let it go on. he was already working on the mason system behind kristoph's back, by that point he knew what kris had done and he wanted to fix the system that hurt him and so many others. if this was a universe where kristoph still killed zak- he just was more careful about it- then phoenix would find some other way to catch him out.

just look at the bloody ace in 4-1. phoenix stooped to kristoph's level and became exactly what everyone had been calling him for years: a liar, a cheat, a forger. he didnt win fair and square at all. he betrayed his promise to following  the truth and risked apollo's badge because he was that desparate to put kristoph behind bars. so yeah, he would find some other underhanded way to prove kristoph did it, and if kristoph is still declared innocent and olga was sent to jail then phoenix would work tirelessly on the mason system until he could call for a retrial.

in the meantime he wouldnt let kristoph around trucy or other ppl he cares about, because kristoph killed a man. i dont think phoenix was aware that kristoph was capable of murder until that night and the idea that the man he has let into his house and home for the past seven years is a killer would make him sick to his stomach.

he already knew kristoph was dangerous and a villain and the one who ruined his life and that was hard enough to come to terms with at the time. but he thought that was it: he's just some mean and petty twink who abuses the justice system. that's bad on it's own- definitely a jailable offence- but not an immediate danger to his loved ones, he can afford to play house with him until the mason system is off the ground if that's all kristoph did.

but it's not all kristoph did. and every night phoenix would wonder how hands that have held him so gently were the same hands that took another man's life.

[hazyla]

Woah woah, okay. So I just finished spirit of justic except for the special episode. Current thoughts from a foggy memory:

realizing this post is super long so it’s under the break, also soj spoilers

Implied that Phoenix and gumshoe correspond on their own when Phoenix mentions something to Edgeworth. When he’s questioned about it he just says something like “I have my sources…” and Edgeworth tells him to inform his source of a paycheck cut.

Even though Athena got a case of her own to do I feel like she didn’t have as strong of a presence and idk man balancing three lawyers kind of a crazy move

I found rayfa oddly charming because of her silly insults

Not utter dogshit but I see why people generally dont like dual Destinies and spirit of justice as much

My mom misses gumshoe

I did not call the queen being powerless like at all

if there’s another ace attorney game I want a dedicated scene about Apollo and Trucy getting told the truth

Hard to pick a favorite case but I think I liked case 2 and turnabout storyteller just bc it was pretty fun. Also can not believe Athena’s case was the super short filler one!

would’ve appreciated more Maya

cannot believe they just added on characters that were never previously mentioned. Oh yeah, there’s a secret fourth group gramarye member. Apollo? He actually has a brother and was left behind by his foster father at about fifteen or so.

Did the archaeologist guy just… steal a bunch of shit from Adrian’s exhibit? He had literally everything. Good god I wonder how he felt about that scroll having gravy on it

on the plane ride back why did Trucy sit (and fall asleep on) Edgeworth instead of idk her father. What did Athena really want to sit there or something. It’s very cute but also why

Actually Maya and Edgeworth should’ve sat next to eachother on the plane so they can debate about plumed punisher. “You gave away your one of a kind steal samurai themed watch FOR A RIPOFF KEYCHAIN” and then he throws her off the plane (personally, of the belief he would throttle ms inmee [not actually])

about that, it’s so funny to me that he ranted about the show to Datz, a guy he just met and is a revolutionary

Need to mention that Edgeworth’s cravat gets attacked by a dog, I don’t even have a comment I just need to iterate that fact

The breakdown scenes were fun and dynamic but idk I didn’t care for them that much

kind of thought they were gonna channel Apollo’s dad Jove fucking justice

It was funnier when I, for a split second, assumed that since nobody knew the name of his father that Apollo chose his last name to be Justice.

just now realizing that Apollo who shares a namesake with the god of music has two musician parents now

I am so happy that the 3d sprites look better than in dual destinies I don’t know if I could take it if they looked like that again

My mom’s favorite character design is Rayfa’s (but her favorite character is Susato who has nothing to do with soj)

Maya should get an “I survived TWO kidnapping” shirt because everyone wants leverage over Phoenix.

From what I saw online before playing the game I thought nahyuta would be super insanely awful, and then they introduce him as a level headed guy. Then I think oh he seems okay, and then he tells Apollo to go to the depths of hell and that he’ll be reincarnated as a piece of shit

When investigating phoenix tells Edgeworth that he think’s he’d like a gaudy house, to which Edgeworth is offended. And then Phoenix makes fun of him for his bright red sports car in his mind.

Would’ve loved a reference to some older characters, like Iris who is just like never brought up again. Anyways, what’s with spirit channeling families and being super fucked up

i am so sorry to say that Apollo looked like really good in that one cg with his hair antenna down (the one where he almost drowned) (not my best moment)

How in the world did Apollo survive as a teenager? If dhurke left him 10 or so years before this he’d be about fifteen? Did he just get dropped off at a boarding school, who the hell took care of him and how did he become a lawyer.

Why didn’t Amara just resume the throne herself? Idk if I totally missed something but isn’t she still a rightful heir

Khura’in spent EIGHT HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS ON A LIE. THEY WERE DONATIONS. AND FIVE YEARS OF LABOR (Amara’s tomb)

So funny to me that nahyuta drags Ema around everywhere like a little ragdoll back and forth country to country

The pun names in this one were wild 🤪 (suggested emoji)

oh god what if Edgeworth and rayfa were to talk about plumed punisher

Yeah we’re back to this, edgey’s sitting in a rebel hideout with lizards hanging from the ceiling and he watches the plumed punisher??? I kinda forgot the timeline but either Maya is currently kidnapped or dhurke’s in jail “oh okay I’ll stay behind” “let’s turn on the tv” “what the fucj is this”

One time phoenix’s phone went off and I jumped out of my seat because I also have the steal samurai theme as my damn ringtone

I get that it’s just fun sprite stuff but where does nahyuta get all his necklaces? How does his floating ribbon work?

In aa4 with my vague recollection, there’s a scene that kind of made me assume Ace attorney definitely took place in some weird fantasy land that coexisted with real world. (It was something that had to do with the founding fathers? And apollo “yes I know what America is” justice, like they currently don’t live there. It was some exchange during the case where klavier’s guitar blows up). Guess how surprised I was when oh golly now they’re full blown Americans!

since I mentioned aa4 and I already got off track everytime my mom hears that song (which Apollo made his ringtone) she complains about it and gets bad flashbacks. She told me everytime she hears a piano arrangement she thinks about the case. Maybe it wore off by now but it was her version of blue badger

Uendo was my favorite witness

Yeah I don’t think I have anything else to say, what a nice note to it on.

Nope I remembered something, queen ga’ran made me want to use the royal we.

[painted-kneecaps]

Pride and Prejudice and Turnabout

The morning after

•

Phoenix yawned and stretched his arms, shoulders popping before sliding into his seat at the breakfast table. “Morning, kids.”

“Morning, Daddy,” Trucy greeted him sleepily through a mouthful of toast. The rest of the table followed suit with a chorus of “Morning, Mr. Wright,” with varying levels of grogginess and enthusiasm. The effects of the previous evening seemed not to have fully worn off for anyone- Trucy ate with her chin propped on her elbow, Apollo’s arms were folded on the table with his head rested atop them. Athena swayed a bit in her chair as she picked at her food, her head lolling slightly to the side. Pearl seemed the most unaffected, but even her eyelids drooped as she chewed.

Phoenix poured himself a cup of tea, stifling another yawn, and Maya hummed from somewhere down the hall. She breezed into the breakfast room, bright eyed and fully dressed, her hair pinned back neatly, and plopped down into her seat on the end opposite Phoenix.

“I hate you,” He grumbled groggily.

“Good morning to you too, mister ‘barely tolerable’,” she said smugly, piling her plate high with bacon and scrambled eggs.

Athena choked on her orange juice, and Apollo lifted his head off the table, brow pinched in confusion. “What?”

Phoenix sighed, resigning himself as Maya leaned forward on her elbows and knit her fingers together.

“Nick got jilted last night,” she grinned deviously, relishing the gossip “By Mr. Edgeworth.”

“What?” Pearl shouted, her face contorting in anger. Trucy gasped.

Athena groaned and covered her ears.

“What do you mean, jilted?” Apollo asked, finally sitting up in his seat. “Mr. Wright didn’t dance, he was chaperoning.”

“Exactly, thank you Polly,” Phoenix said, pointing his fork at him.

“Yes, but Mr. Edgeworth didn’t know that,” Maya continued “Athena overheard him and Mr. Gavin talking. Mr. Gavin was trying to get Mr. Edgeworth to dance with Nick, and Mr. Edgeworth called him ‘barely tolerable’.”

“Not in those exact words,” Athena muttered, but her voice was lost beneath shrieks of outrage from Pearl and Trucy.

“Trucy, please,” Apollo groaned, clutching his head and grimacing.

Phoenix smirked. “Too much champagne, Polly?” he asked, his tone unsympathetic.

“You could say that.”

“I can’t believe Mr. Edgeworth would say that about you, Mr. Nick!” Pearl cried, distraught at the injustice of it all. Trucy nodded emphatically.

“Why not?” Apollo said, massaging his temples “He’s a rich prick who probably dances with royalty every day. Why would he look twice at Mr. Wright?” he winced and shot Phoenix an apologetic grin. “No offense, Mr. Wright.”

“None taken.”

“And yet,” Maya mused, one eyebrow raised as she fixed her eyes on Apollo “his associate seemed to take quite an interest in you, Polly.”

Apollo’s blush was immediate, and he took a long sip from his teacup in an attempt to hide it as the table erupted in giggles.

“I’m trying,” he huffed “to get him to invest in our firm. I thought we agreed on this!”

“You agreed on it,” Maya corrected him, grinning “it was your idea. I said one of us should marry rich, and right now, that’s looking like you, Polly.”

“Wha- I am not marrying for money, Ms. Fey!” Apollo protested, his face as red as his favorite jacket, before hastily adding “I’m not marrying at all!”

“Poor Mr. Gavin,” Athena sighed, attempting to keep a straight face “he’s going to be heartbroken.”

“Why are we talking about this?” Apollo spluttered “We literally just met last night. We danced two dances, and we talked about work, and I spilled punch on his jacket and that’s it. That’s all.”

“You spilled punch on him?” Athena giggled.

“You danced two dances?” Phoenix grinned “Scandalous, Polly.”

Apollo’s shoulders stiffened, hunching to his ears as he crossed his arms and glowered at his teacup like it had personally wronged him.

“Can we- can we please not discuss this anymore?” he asked, his voice small and exhausted. His shoulders slumped as he rubbed at his forehead “I just- I don’t-“ He sighed. Phoenix frowned.

“Alright, Apollo,” he said, trying to keep the worry out of his tone as he locked eyes with Maya, silently begging for a change of subject. She lifted her chin slightly in recognition.

“We’re getting off topic,” she said loftily, steepling her fingers “We need to decide how to deal with Mr. Edgeworth and the blow that he has dealt to our family’s pride.”

“Oh God,” Phoenix sighed, suddenly wishing he had prolonged Apollo’s torment a bit longer “Here we go.”

“It’s simple, really,” Trucy said cheerily, biting into her toast for emphasis “Just ignore him. Never ever dance with him, even if he does ask. Jilt him back.”

That should be easy enough, Phoenix thought.

Pearl banged her fist down on the table, and Athena nearly fell out of her chair beside her. “Swear it, Mr. Nick!” Pearl shouted, he’d face a mask of righteous anger “swear you’ll never dance with him!”

“Alright, Pearls, I swear,” Phoenix chuckled, lifting both hands in surrender before pressing one over his heart. “Scout’s honor.”

“Pinky promise, Nick,” Maya said coldly. Phoenix did, Stretching over the length of the table and knocking the flower vase over in the process. He and Maya solemnly locked pinkies, and the deal was done.

“Good,” Maya said, her hands clasped together and resting atop the table “now that’s settled, this breakfast is adjourned.” She banged her spoon down on the table like a gavel, causing both Athena and Apollo to clutch their heads and wince.

[characteroulette]

A study on prosecutors -- (previous) (next)

Nahyuta Sahdmadhi. Hoo boy.

You want a hard sell? THIS guy is a hard sell. A pretty boy who continuously forces his own views onto us for a pretty unfunny bit. Someone whom we don't even really see the true face of until the very end of the game. And yet I found myself liking him anyway.

Again, sorry if I get any of the events of Spirit of Justice wrong here. I played it through once and am waiting to do so again, so some of the details are less clear to me than the other games in this series.

That being said, I do remember we get a pretty standard buildup to Nahyuta's presence. Ema mentions him being actually reasonable, that she's gonna do her best to try and talk him out of the worst for Trucy. (Also Trucy is on trial here. This is definitely not gonna haunt Nahyuta later for spoiler reasons.) Apollo has an odd hitch, too, but he's back to refusing to say anything about himself so we're left to wonder until the end of that first investigation day.

...is what I WOULD say, if there wasn't a one-time opening cutscene introducing Nahyuta to us in a really confusing way. See, Spirit of Justice is unlike any other Ace Attorney game because it has a special cutscene it plays when you boot up the game for the first time. This cutscene is kept in the extras content, so you can view it later, but it literally only naturally plays when you boot the game for the first time. Wild decision. In this cutscene we get a nice little view on where Phoenix and his lawyer kids are now, including a mention of Maya being off in some other country. She calls Phoenix up and then the restaurant she's in gets attacked and who else saves her but one Nahyuta Sahdmadhi?

This cutscene is bonkers for several reasons. For one, I was thrown off completely when the first case begins proper and Phoenix is so chill. Like, didn't we just see you rush off because Maya was in danger? Is that no longer an issue?? For two, I legit thought there would be some building romance between Maya and Nahyuta because of that cutscene. He saves her and her expression is pretty anime language of being hit by the shoujo sparkles is all I'm saying. But nope! I was wrong on all accounts!! This is probably from some of the early promo material for the game, if I had to guess. I don't know why it's here or implemented into the game as it is, it's very confusing tonal whiplash for everything that follows.

But anyway. Back to the actual narrative of the game. The first proper look we get of Nahyuta is him sitting beneath a tree and surrounded by animals like a real Disney princess as Ema approaches to talk to him about the situation. He seems to recognise Apollo's name, just as Apollo recognises him. He also calls a butterfly a restless wandering spirit which is a good setup to his whole thing, at least, but it did make me think he had more to do with butterflies than he really did. Just like another well-known Ace Attorney villain. (I was wrong but uh maybe be careful there what sort of image you want to build with symbols all ready in play.) (Unrelated side note, shoutout to Apollo sticking his hand into a dude's back pocket in this case. Apollo the only attorney who gets to grab ass and he's arguably the least interested in it, I love it what an insane detail to just throw in there.)

Then the trial begins and what a disaster that is.

Nahyuta's running gag, as we learn, is assigning us increasingly ridiculous levels of hell. He also throws around his prayer beads to restrict our big gestures, but I take less umbridge with that one. His soft-spoken, calm and collected front is interesting, but he falls apart pretty quickly as the trial goes on. I'd say he falls apart as fast as Franziska does, and this owing to Spirit of Justice's strange structure of one day trials only. We have to get his intro in and his breakdown as we prove him wrong all in a single trial day. A tall feat, but not one wholly unfamiliar to this series.

I appreciate though that he does seem to genuinely hold a deep respect for Ema and what she does, going so far as to even request she accompany him back to his home. That's really sweet, a small insight into his less cold nature.

Unfortunately, I can't say much for any intrigue they wanted to build between Nahyuta and Apollo, as they have Apollo act in his pretty standard way during this trial. They could have built up more to the strange connection Apollo and Nahyuta share instead of just dropping it on us at the end of the trial! But I have issues with the implementation of every idea in this trial in general so I can't really hold that against Nahyuta in particular. He certainly does his job of making us want to defeat him right out the gate! They did that real well, so points there.

Ah, right. That ending of the trial scene. We win the case and Trucy's innocence, and then Nahyuta comes to spirit Ema away. Apollo's language towards him, specifically his "you've really changed", was a bad choice. I'll say it. It calls to mind the same way Phoenix and Edgeworth reacted to one another all the way back in the first Ace Attorney game, which is *most definitely* **NOT** the vibe they wanted to go for. Because it had me (and my sister) both asking ourselves, wait. Is this guy Apollo's ex-boyfriend or something?? Like, I get they wanted to show that he and Apollo have some kind of history together. And it's even a fun little nod towards what happened with Phoenix! But these are the absolutely wrong vibes to set up hi yes I hate this. To be fair, this could just be me reading too far into things. I am, after all, too invested in these silly little lawyer games. But I stand by my literary analysis brain getting thrown for a loop because hey why did you use the Narumitsu language for Apollo and Nahyuta brothers?? It's weird, please tell me it's very weird.

Either way, we head on into case 3 and start really rolling into Nahyuta's long week of no sleep.

First off, it's great to see Maya again, even if we have to defend her once more. Nahyuta being her prosecutor makes sense, since he's our main one of the game, and it only furthers our dislike of him for threatening to convict yet another of our best girls. First Trucy, now Maya?? They really did a good job on the front of making us want to defeat him right out the gate. And they have the gall to allow him to basically win on that first day, too! If not for Maya being accused of a second murder, she would have been sent to jail after that first trial day. We lost. Nahyuta beat us into a corner we couldn't fight our way out of. Strike three, you're out.

But we do manage to defeat him the second time around. We prove Maya's innocence on both accounts and it's not even satisfying to rub it into his face. Granted, the end of THIS trial is uh. Distracted, what with Dhurke showing up out of the blue, but you get what I mean. We don't really get a moment of relief, a moment to consider hey what the hell is up with this guy?

He doesn't really get a chance to relax, either, as he heads straight back across the sea in order to start case 4.

Now, however, we get to the good stuff. Nahyuta is dead tired by this point, he hasn't slept in like two days, and it's immediately apparent. He's so goofy in this trial! He's goofy and cranky and he pushes Athena into a near panic attack (boo on him, what a bastard move) and he's actually starting to be kinda a fun opponent. At least, I thought so. He's still his mostly calm and collected self, but his being so refreshingly goofy adds a great layer to his character, even if it's borne from how exhausted he has to be.

This case isn't really about him, though. It's about Athena and Blackquill being fun siblings. That they made him a mostly fun addition though is great, it went a long way towards endearing me to this otherwise infuriating priest.

When we roll into the final case, another shocker: Nahyuta isn't our opponent for the first trial. It's Phoenix. Nahyuta doesn't even appear until we have to book it back to Khura'in, and that's when his character really starts breaking through.

I will never forget this moment he and Apollo have against one another where Apollo accuses him of lying, knows he's hiding something, and Nahyuta throws all of his anxiety on at full force. This guy just weaponises his anxiety against us to shut down this line of questioning! Iconic, really. His avoidance of telling the truth is both really sad and really good.

He's not even our opponent in this last trial, either. It's Ga'ran. Nahyuta gets to act her supporter for a bit until she tells him to confess for all the crimes she's committed. The wide swing his role has taken works really well, I think, because even if I wasn't 100% sold on him yet, I didn't want him to continue suffering, either. His relationship with both Apollo and Dhurke ended up so complicated and got me invested, damn it! I couldn't just let Ga'ran get away with taking his chance to reconnect with his brother away from him!

(Spirit of Justice's finale is excellent, I cannot stress this enough. It has so much going for it and Apollo is squarely at its core and I really love it a lot.)

Once we convince Nahyuta to fight back, once we reveal the whole truth, seeing him stand up is excellent. The way he throws his glove off to reveal his dragon brand, his dragon heart, it's so good. I was finally sold on him right here as he made the same declaration as the rest of the dragons. His reveal as Rayfa's older brother certainly sweetened the deal, though the two have a long ways to go before they reach a comfortable understanding with one another.

Anyway Nahyuta took a while to get to me but gosh darn it he sure did. I hope you can understand my perspective on what made him such a hard sell at first.

[butchgrayson]

3, 4, 12 and 24 for dick grayson our beloved

dick grayson our beloved <3 i am about to be so fucking annoying about him

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

Joke-ish answer everything from TT nightwing (and rebirth nightwing in general). I just ignore its existence tbh.

Real answer I had a lot of difficulty answering bc i loveeeeee dick's flaws i love it when he's a cunt i love it when he self isolates i love it when he is a hypocrite the tension between his bad traits and his love for people/his friends, his dedication to heroism his intellect all of it is what made me fall in love with his character <3 BUT THEN. i remembered cop dick grayson. who i have almost completely wiped from my mind bc i hate it so so so so bad. it just doens't make sense with him as a person, like whyyyyyy would he ever go and join a police force more corrupt than gothams?????? its so anathema to who he his/his character history that my blood boils whenever i reread nw96 or see that era mentioned in fandom spaces LMAO whatever. im not even mad. in my own personal dc universe that lives in my brain and the personal wiki i have on my laptop the bludhaven cop era was an extended undercover/infiltration strategy. dick's true career calling should be being a bartender/doing seasonal work <3

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

ACE ATTORNEY !! i have an extended dc ace attorney au that i will post about someday but even outside of that it would be soooo fun to see him as either a protag (esp given that the defence attorneys in aa have to do all of their own detective work) OR as a supporting character. i think he would fit right in with the main cast of the series too, especially trucy (fellow circus kids !!!) and apollo <3

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

Another one i had a difficult time w just because how can i pick there r so many. BUT i saw a post earlier that reminded me that i am a dick grayson occasional smoker truther. i understand why most people would NOT agree w this but its a little self-indulgent i fully admit. on the one hand like yes he is a high level athlete/why would he do anything that he knows have bad health impacts but i can say as a former (semi) high level athlete i think that is the demographic i have known that has the highest proportion of smokers LMAO i think he picks it up in the ntt era originally as a social smoking thing whenever the titans would party or whatever (another self indulgence is i think he picks up the habit from donna) and it eventually turns into a very rare (as in, goes through a 1.5 packs a year) stress management technique when shit with bruce/the family/the titans/a case gets bad. he's filled with a lot of guilt over it but this does not stop him.

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

See there are so few characters with the specific brand of neuroses/issues that dick has that i was stumped on BUT while it is very much not a one-to-one i draw soooooo many parallels between him and declan lynch from the raven cycle series. ESP DURING THE ERA WHERE BRUCE IS "DEAD". pov you are the eldest child of an emotionally unavailable man who has involved you with his underworld/vigilante dealings since you were far too young to be doing so and so you take up the burden of it and incorporate it so deeply into your sense of self that you don't know how to be a real person anymore. and when your father dies it is your job to look after your family and protect them even when theyre estranged from you and you are the inheritor of something that you must keep going even if it kills you to do so <3 i think this parallel also works especially well with declan&ronan compared to dick&jason (<- am drafting a post in my mind about this whole topic as i type all this btw)

tysm for sending this in it was v v fun to answer !!!

character ask game

[ritzcuit]

1, 8 for ace attorney?

1; the character everyone gets wrong

oh boyUm all of them#$^#$ no.. thats not fair...... well it's hard... bc strictly speaking aa is not a very detailed game.... ummm ummmm

i think everyone who makes klavier a sexy whore slut is like. crazy. that is the most prudish man ever. honestly klavier is such an undefined character that everyone's A Little Wrong about him, including me, but the urge that everyone wants to turn him into a genderqueering rock slut is like. ...well no! i mean. not to me anyway. smiles. you can do what you want.

klavier is a very "haha you fell for the false facade that the character put on!" character to me, though again, aa4 doesn't really give us a LOT to work with.. so it's not like people can be "wrong" really. but i have my preferences. ...regardless i can't imagine klavier being a rulebreaker. you saw that man strangle daryan over One Missed Cue and you think he's showing hole? UNLIKELY!

also everyone is wrong about yuty because yuty is so awesome and everyone is wrong to hate him yuppp. oh i love that thing.. the yute

8; common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

all of them im KIDDING i cant go on another soj rant bc that's like. well you get it. you and i are on the same level...

well this is a lowblow but i don't agree with "phoenix being a dad figure for apollo" like im so over it. that's his boss. they met as adults. like it's fine. i know phoenix raised trucy but he doesnt know abt trucy and apollo until so recently, and neither trucy nor apollo have any clue, and again, apollo and phoenix Are Adults when they meet, like it's FINE he can just be a mentor/boss figure IT'S FINE! NOT EVERYTHING HAS TO BE FOUND FAMILY...!!!!!!

im serious though bc apollo has enough dads! i think it can do apollo a disservice. he has his bio dad who is just a giant question mark, and he has dhurke who he feels burned by (lol), and now he's an adult. i don't like the feeling of "solving" apollo's weird dad feelings by just giving him a Good One so it's all fine now ^_^.hey. let him have conflict. ok? phoenix is his mentor who he idolized as a teenager and then quickly had those feelings destroyed. that's a relationship worth exploring in its own right, so i never really enjoy ppl being like "um that's his dad x3" omfg You only know how to analyze media through quirky popular tumblr posts and it SHOWS

this opinion is not uncolored by my feelings on soj, though, so in a sense i did go on a soj rant. it cant be helped

[purenguyening]

Some assorted thoughts now that I'm making a bit more progress replaying Ace Attorney 4 and Ace Attorney Investigations:

(Warning none of this is really organized and most of it might not make much sense).

Ema specifically says "And I hear he gives up the defense attorney life", the wording suggests that Phoenix quit. But I don't think Phoenix lied to Ema, rather, I think if he did talk to Ema at that point he just said something more closer to "I no longer practice law." and Ema came to that conclusion on her own. I personally think Ema came to the conclusion Klavier is connected to Phoenix's disbarment in 4-3 and that adds more fuel to her disdain (on top of her own frustrations with her personal career).

I mean, on top of the fact Phoenix is keeping her in the dark about the circumstances to how he got disbarred, I start to really understand with a lot more clarity why Ema is so irritable.

Something I forgot about is that in 4-1 there was a reveal that Phoenix recorded his phone conversation. It just invokes a similar feeling to Phoenix using a recorded conversation between Mia and Maya during 1-2. I can't help but always look at Phoenix's actions in the 4th came in context to Mia.

It really feels like he's invoking a lot of the same decision making that Mia did with her investigations but with an higher level of paranoia and caution because of how deeply scarred Mia's death weighed on him. I think even when Trucy mentions she had to change schools a lot in 4-2 is also Phoenix's paranoia acting up, trying to avoid having Trucy make too many close connections because of fear. I also feel like the him being in borderline poverty might be a bit more deliberate as a form of "laying low", but I think this might be still a stretch, but I'm more than willing to buy into this is his thinking.

(Basically, I'm willing to buy a lot more into Phoenix's behavior compared to the average fan, I was like this before, but now that it's fresher in memory, it feels like that's how I should read it, but I digress).

On that matter, I wonder if the reason Apollo has a hard time buying into the idea Trucy and Phoenix are daughter and father is because the game wants the player to presume that Trucy is his biological daughter of Phoenix. Which you really cannot presume from the way Phoenix speaks. He just simply say that Trucy is his daughter but never elaborates any further. It hits differently give that Spirit of Justice reveals Apollo's been living in various foster homes. It feels like in retrospect Apollo knows what a fostered dynamic looks like because he's experienced it and he senses something's "off". It feels like it's meant to mislead the player into thinking he is a bad father (I'll be the first to admit Phoenix makes some really questionable choices in allowing what his daughter to do), but I wonder whether or not in context to just Ace Attorney 4, you were just meant to have doubt Trucy is Phoenix's biological daughter.

The rough overarching theme of the first Investigation Theme feels like a broad one, about how the law is bound by arbitrary constraints but logic and truth do not recognize those boundaries.

It's a little hard for me to pinpoint but the fact that Prosecutor Portsman tries to cover up his own crime, a murder taking place on an airplane as its in transition from three different countries, and how Earnest Amano uses his influence to obfuscate Lang and Edgeworth's investigation, feels like that's what the game tries to get at.... I do roughly remember the gist of the fourth and fifth case and both required a lot of effort such as the reveal the Yatagarasu has a member in the Prosecution, Defense Attorney, and Detective (to make for the three legs)....and in context to the fifth case diplomatic immunity becomes a roadblock to get at the truth in the fifth case....

And finally, I have mentioned it before in another post, but I'm kind of convinced Lang is illiterate. Often times he has Shih-na reading documents for him and when he pulls out a scroll, his face is specifically covered so you never get to see his eyes actually scan the page. This might be my most insane interpretation if I'm being honest....

[tinyredlawyer]

"I don't need a costume," Apollo vetoed immediately -- knowing full well that if one existed, he wouldn't be able to stop Trucy from forcing him into it and onto a stage. "My regular clothes are fine. My badge alone looks as magical as three Trucys already!"

(Well, nothing could be more magical than Trucy Wright, but it felt like it. Especially when he popped his lapel to show her, and it caught the sunlight.)

His heart warmed, to an almost embarrassingly excessive extent, when she spoke like him handling her future contracts was a matter of course. It wasn't as if Apollo was that hard to figure out, but being her top choice to do boring, nit-picky legal drudgery made him feel understood and appreciated at a deep, core level. "You'd better not trust anyone else with it."

Her stare put him on the spot a bit, but he didn't try to mask his expression. "W-what? I'm just saying, you need to give me some warning, first. Either I'll need to study for the bar exam in every stop on your world tour, or I'll need time to build a Trucy robot to annoy me while you're gone. I don't think I can go back to working in a Trucy-less office -- I have Stockholm Syndrome, now."

And so he breathed a little sigh of relief when Trucy explained her intention to graduate first. There was time to emotionally prepare, still. "Yes, you do have to have that diploma." Her education was another thing that wasn't Apollo's place to insist on, but that didn't stop him from having strong feelings about its importance. "But you know, if you ever need help on your school projects or anything... apparently Mr Wright and Athena will be dumping less of their work on me, so I have plenty of time."

««

Trucy pouts, exaggerating the motion for her audience of one. "Aw, and here I was already trying to decide on how your Troupe Gramarye costume would look..." She'd offer to help pay for those loans, but she and her Daddy were still on something of a shoestring budget. Most of what she made either went into rent or to her next show.

She'd be lying if she said she hadn't considered finding a way to sneakily take his measurements, though, and crafting a costume for him, whether he wanted it or not...

"You say that like I'll trust anyone else to help me with contracts!" She could ask Phoenix to do it, yes, but it felt better with Apollo somehow. Trucy was insanely proud of her father for getting his badge back, but...maybe it was better to not dump too much on Phoenix's plate just yet. And...well, why wouldn't she ask Apollo to help her with all that?

She blinks at his question, turning to study his face--to really study it closely, her own expression turning hard to read. It was true that she had been dreaming of tour plans since getting the rights to the Gramarye Miracle, and she'd already had to dodge Phoenix giving her soulfully sad looks any time she mentioned such plans. Not Apollo too...

She turns away again, shrugging. "I'm still only a junior, so I think anything further than county lines are off the table for now. Have to have that diploma, or something like that."