#turnabout reclaimed

[shitpostingkats]

Diversity win! This law-breaking aquarium veterinarian is aromantic!

[box-dwelling]

Sure it got his fucking boyfriend off why not try it a second time

This case is worse than Polly. By a considerable margin. MVK was playing dirty, Simon's not. He's just like this. There are so many steps of insanity that lead here. Not checking who his client was, fully just accepting he was defending an orca and actively having to fight to get a trial. Then this. My god man

Of course athena is supporting this

She's so ride or die and so unhinged. Absolute best girl.

[brodorokihousuke]

THOROUGHLY RAMMED ? ??? ??? ?

[loz-the-noob]

can you draw pearlthena friendship?

Analytical psychology doesn’t work on penguins </3

[distant-traces-of-beauty]

When you've got an orca murder to solve but you've also gotta make sure your niece has a great time at the aquarium

Thanks to @sammywolfgirl for creating Poppy Fulbright! I love this kid and her uncle very much so I caved and drew them of course :)

[halfawillowtree]

Ace Attorney 5-6 Cases be like

[inbarfink]

I really just love “Turnabout Reclaimed” as, like, the Big Moment of Phoenix’s Return to the Courts. Specifically because the whole thing in the ending where it’s like

I mean, you know, not 100% literally. It seems like Marlon Rimes did go to jail for a little bit, but it is still thanks to Phoenix presenting Evidence in Court that he got off relatively easy and found his happy ending just a few months after that.

Because, like… As a Murder Mystery, ‘Ace Attorney’ as a series obviously cares about Finding the True Culprit and Bringing Them to Justice - that is the climax and the implicit motivation of like 90% of all AA Narratives… But it’s also very important to me that Phoenix Wright is often much more emotionally involved in the idea of defending innocent people, rather than simply just stopping the bad guys.

Like, obviously this isn’t universal for his character. With the plots of AA cases centering, like I said, on Catching the Bad Guys, there are plenty of times where Phoenix declares or thinks about his desire to Prove the Bastard Guilty….

But it feels like it’s much more common for him to focus on just proving the innocent guilty and saving them from going to jail for a crime they didn’t commit, and it’s just that Proving the Bastard Guilty is the only way to do it within Japanifornia’s Legal System. And he’s not just more likely to think of it in these terms compared to other Murder Mystery Protagonists, but also compared to other Ace Attorney main characters!

Like, this is what being a Defense Attorney means to Phoenix! Between the Class Trial and his life mission to save Miles Edgeworth and the Dahlia Trial and taking on Maya’s defense… it has always been to him not just about finding the Truth or bringing people to justice, it has been first and foremost about helping people, saving those who have no one on their side! This is Phoenix's core value.

(I would say the one AA Character who is just as dedicated to Defending the Innocent above all else like Phoenix is…. Athena, who is also heavily featured in “Turnabout Reclaimed!)

So it only makes sense that his Grand Return will end with a reaffirmation of his ideals. First, through the entire case Marlon insinuates and then states directly that Phoenix cannot save both Sasha and Orla at the same time. He has to choose, the human or the Orca. And Phoenix managing to prove them both innocent is him proving and reaffirming that he really cares about defending everyone who needs his help. And then when he goes out of his way to help out Marlon, to save him from the harsh punishments of the legal system and his own guilt, that just reaffirms it even farther - that Phoenix Wright is a Defense Attorney so he can defend anyone who needs his help.

And it also works interestingly as a mirror to his downfall in “Turnabout Successions”. Like, it seems like Zak hid the Actual Diary Page from Phoenix even though it wouldn’t have just foiled Kristoph’s schemes, it would have helped Phoenix prove him innocent with his hand behind his back…. Because he was afraid that if he was proven innocent in that manner, then his lawyer would work to make sure Valant would be found guilty instead.

He thought that if this trial were to go ‘properly’, then he would have to choose, himself or Valant, he can’t save both at the same time. And indeed, since Kristoph created that Fake Diary Page before he was dismissed as Zak’s lawyer…

It seems like pinning the blame on Valant was indeed his plan. And although Zak sensed (or rather Perceived) his Bad Vibes, he still didn't have full trust in Phoenix either. He hid the true evidence of his innocence and planned the Disappearing Act because that was the only way he could see both himself and Valant going free, he couldn't believe his Attorney would ever fight as hard to prove Valant innocent as well. And these two decisions played an incredibly huge part in Phoenix Wright's disbarment.

So in a way, Turnabout Reclaimed, being another case focused on shows and performances and other ‘murder mystery’ where no one was actually murdered, where Phoenix defends and saves not just two different Defendants but also the ‘culprit’ - guilty of trying to frame someone but not of trying to kill the victim … shows us what would’ve happened if only Zak had put his trust in Phoenix fully and just told him what happened outright from the start. It is not just a reaffirmation of Phoenix’s values, but also a rejection of Kristoph’s dirty tricks and of Zak’s cynicism and lack of trust in Phoenix Wright.

Or basically….

[greyhound-with-a-mega-wizard-hat]

You never realise how much Athena Cykes growls in the special episode of DD until you're playing as her at 11pm and your flatmate is loudly walking up and down the corridor.

Girl what is your fucking problem? Why are you growling at the 6'4 beefcake murderer who breaks metal with his bare hands???? He could kill you easily! Stop it!

[trlvsn]

of course phoenix's second "first" case is helping the performer girl with the diamond-shaped earrings who forces smiles and sort of tricks him when they first meet. i mean. what else is there to say (i'm going to say a lot, this is a long post about the orca case and it's references to aa4)

i'm going to talk about sasha first, though, even if the similarities between her and trucy might be coincidental rather than intentional. here is a somewhat full list of them:

1. diamond-shaped earrings and a big hat they wear at all times

2. perform for an audience for a living and are genuinely passionate about it

3. the "smile during showtime" attitude being not only something they use on the clock, but a motto overall (buckler tries to keep a smile and cheer phoenix and athena up in the detention center: see image below list)

4. have a persona with a moustache that they use in their performances (see image below list)

5. their first encounter with phoenix is an unintentional deception on their part: trucy gives him forged evidence and buckler, well, doesn't tell him the client is technically an animal and isn't even considered to be someone who can be brought to court for a trial

6. phoenix chooses to help them out after a trial ends unexpectedly (zak dissapearing, buckler being accused)

7. does a dead "father figure" count? i feel like it might.

you get the idea. again, i'm not claiming this was intentional: i am simply pointing it out.

btw. you know what he does right after taking the orca case (accepting the "deception")?

he goes to the pub o'danger, a place totally different from the, oh, i don't know. the borsht bowl club. intentional or not, this is a nice blast from the past, because we get a lot of his beanix personality showing throughout the case. a good example is the bloody "trump card" he presents:

basically, a bloody piece of evidence that turns the case around and gives him a chance to prove the truth turns out to be not what it seems. this case is one of those very rare times aa5 doesn't completely erase phoenix's aa4 (and trilogy) personality, i think. just look at the way he starts straight up manipulating people at some points:

it's very much like beanix: well-intentioned and careful pressing of the right buttons. i enjoyed that a lot.

speaking of phoenix's personality, a thing he does a lot more than he used to is staying silent. his thinking sprite while he does that is one of the only aa5 ones that have traces of his aa4 self in it: he is looking to the side, relaxed, calmly examining everything he has so far. at a certain point in this trial, athena actually gets to scream "objection" before him. she says she heard it in his heart that he's not willing to give up yet, so she spoke for his heart instead.

honestly, athena is a walking metaphor for phoenix's badge in this case. athena and phoenix get frequently addressed as the blue and yellow duo by deplume, which you might as well call phoenix and his badge; phoenix wears his badge like one wears a heart on their sleeve, and this entire case is his journey of learning trust and hope again (but i will talk about that later for a nice conclusion).

the case also has a sub-plot of sorts: specifically, the TORPEDO system. oh, you know the one with the capital letter name that is illegal in japan but would actually help a lot and work really well and is introduced to us by some shady guy who we think is a criminal... what do you mean that's MASON. like a jar?

"but, in some cases, lives can be saved by breaking the law. do we simply allow the lives of our animals to be lost whole we wait for the laws to change?"

if aa5 actually had the jury system happening in the game, this would make so much more sense. unfortunately, i'm not sure if this was an intentional parallel, but i'm sure going to talk about it regardless. it's illegal means for the greater good, introduced to us by the guy we are totally meant to suspect and misinterpret as the audience, just like we are meant to be put off by beanix in aa4-1. we later learn that ms deplume is trying to change the law and make the system legal in japan, and dr. crab won't be getting into any serious trouble for it, too.

we honestly learn a lot of new information that contradicts our prejudices that the game purposefully creates. a lot of people in this case can be suspected even based on their design - ms deplume in her shady glasses and shady attitude, dr crab with his twenty-something dead girlfriend (wasn't actually, btw. purely platonic situation there, which is surprising for ace attorney) and actual motive, and, of course, rimes. turns out, for the first time in forever, none of them did it. wasn't a murder.

phoenix, though, like the player, has no choice but to suspect. he doubts, he recharges the magatama, he changes theories and he, at the end of it all, gets his faith and trust back by saying "hey, actually, rimes didn't do it, it was an accident", despite rimes staying silent. i honestly think rimes is a mirror of sorts for phoenix's character - the guy who is, at his core, tired of being too "weak" to help anyone, so he doesn't speak up much for himself, and isn't that what phoenix did in aa4?

phoenix didn't try to defend himself when the diary page was revealed to be forged. phoenix didn't try to defend himself seven years later, saying "maybe i did it, maybe i didn't". phoenix didn't even create the jury system to redeem himself.

how can ya trust a creature that can't speak, indeed.

in this trial, phoenix is the orca and is the rimes and is athena the fire and i am the forest and i am the witness watching it. he is defending the creature that can't speak, and the man that didn't mean for this to happen, and his own right to wear his badge. he loses his voice at times, but his heart speaks up. it takes him two trials to get back at his rightful place, the trial for orla and for buckler - just like it took the trial of aa4-1 and 4-4 to get justice. hope has returned, and no one did it, and you can trust them all.*

* - trusting them all really would make much more sense in the presence of the jury system. forever mourning her.

[probablygayattorneys]

And all things considered, my money’s on her

[shitpostingkats]

"Real lawyer plays Ace Attorney" but it's just me playing Turnabout Reclaimed, and instead of being an irl lawyer, it's just me pointing out all the animal resort violations in Shipshape Aquarium

[box-dwelling]

Cinematic parallels

Good to know Nick's technique for dealing with no human witnesses hasn't changed at all in the decade between these two cases and will continue to just yell at them as though the actually understand him

[brodorokihousuke]

An unused texture left over in Dual Destinies' files, seemingly once tied to the DLC case thanks to its file naming convention. Additionally of note, this file in particular was pulled from the US release, the untranslated text being even more indicative of its unused nature.

The circles on the side would likely have been placed onto the texture and/or moved around on top of it, perhaps to indicate the position of people or things.

Clockwise from the top the islands are roughly named "Tree Island", "Fire Island", "Earth Island", "Gold Island", and "Water Island"

[quailfence]

[Image description: Screencaps of the text history in Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies Blackquill: During the recess, I ordered the body to be re-examined. Something started nagging at me during the course of the trial, you see. ............Here. Judge: I take it you'd like me to read it? Very well. "Cause of Death... Thought to be from 65-foot fall"! Shipley's Autopsy Report updated in the Court Record. Judge: B-But this...! But this is decisive evidence that substantiates Mr. Wright's theory! End description.]

So was anybody going to tell me that Simon also updated the autopsy report, or??

[distant-traces-of-beauty]

Turnabout Reclaimed AU where everything is the same except Rifle the penguin looks like this

[cryptodendrology]

dispatches from vet school: introduction to law and veterinary medicine

just to make note of the historical precedent