#* it’s a dual act .

[thebrainrotsreal]

Was pondering how Mark’s rigid ass mask/lens is prob a Budget Thing (since squishy, bendy lens are pretty much a mandate for all hero animated series, like JL, BTAS, TNBA, Spider-Man, etc), and then I was slapped with a vision of Mark in a more JL/BTAS-ish style and I had to see it through. I am a genius btw.

[inkperch]

It annoys me when fic writers have Celine be like. Distant and generally non-affectionate to Rumi (and the other two, really)

Like... I know we don't get much of their dynamic, but what we do get is Celine gently braiding her hair while they sing together.

It's only the Patterns Celine couldn't love.

It wouldn't hurt nearly as much otherwise.

[perrigoaway]

hey are your asks still open? if so can you draw apollo and miles first meeting? thank you <3

I think this interaction would keep Apollo up at night LOL, lawyers who wear red 👍

[jynxedshapeshifter]

so apollo's dynamic with klavier is interesting

Hello and welcome to the Klapollo essay I said I was going to write. I mostly decided to write this because I think it's interesting that Apollo goes from "I have to pull that darkness out of him!" in Turnabout Succession to "oh god not him again" in Turnabout Academy, and I wanted to make a post analyzing why (but also I find it weird every time I see someone say Apollo hates Klavier, which doesn't happen often to be fair but is still a bit weird to me because Apollo canonically doesn't hate Klavier. Neither does Ema for that matter, at least in my opinion, but that's a post for a different time).

Part 1: Apollo Has Never Hated Klavier

First things first, Apollo has never canonically hated Klavier. At worst he finds him annoying. The first interaction they have after Klavier has the officer in front of People Park let Apollo and Trucy investigate is during the first day of Wocky's trial, where a lot of Apollo's interactions with Klavier are either annoyed, confused, or both. It's also made clear during the first day of Wocky's trial that Apollo finds Klavier attractive to some degree, as this is where we get the "I'll wipe that smirk off your pretty face, Gavin!" line. Notably, he never really genuinely shows disdain towards him, just annoyance. Like that's literally the worst we see his opinion of Klavier get. Apollo is vocal when he doesn't like something, we would know if he actually didn't like Klavier. From the start most of his comments on Klavier amount to "what the fuck is his deal" or subtle implications that he doesn't realize he's attracted to Klavier in some way which. Relatable.

Anyway, with that out of the way, I would like to talk about every interaction they've had whether it's canon or not.

Part 2: I don't know what to call this section

When I say I want to talk about every interaction Apollo and Klavier have ever had, I very much mean every interaction (although not necessarily in-depth). Whether that be how they interact during Wocky's trial or how they interact during the Gavinners Reunion tour CD drama, I will be analyzing all of it because this is my blog and I do what I want.

Part 2.1: Turnabout Corner

First things first, Klavier's first interaction with Apollo and Trucy. Klavier teases Apollo for staring, Apollo is still a bit confused because Klavier looks like Kristoph, and then Klavier very specifically turns his attention to Trucy, and this is what finally knocks Apollo out of his confused daze (which is really funny. Apollo basically got annoyed by Klavier ignoring him).

Important thing to note here: in at least the first part of Turnabout Corner's trial, Guilty Love is diegetic, which basically means it doesn't just exist as background music for us, the players, but it also exists in universe as Klavier's accompaniment when he's in court.

During the first part of Wocky's trial, which is when Apollo is first able to actually get a proper impression of how Klavier is, this exchange happens:

Klavier: Achtung, baby! Today we play it my way! Apollo: (What's that… noise?) Klavier: Sometimes you have to get on up in order to get down... to prosecuting! Apollo: (This is crazy…)

At this point in the game, Apollo just seems a bit exasperated by Klavier's antics. Like his reaction is basically "I'm the only normal person in this courtroom." A few lines after this, Apollo (internally) asks Klavier if he can speak without the accompaniment. Apollo's exasperation towards Klavier continues throughout the trial. He gets annoyed, he gets irritated, but he never actually gets angry with Klavier. You could argue he gets angry with Klavier when Klavier says "At least one person on the defense team seems to be thinking" but you could just as easily argue he's being defensive. Something also worth noting here is that that line of Klavier's is what triggers him to think "Grr... I'll wipe that smile off your pretty face, Gavin!" which also, notably, is the first indication we get that Apollo finds Klavier attractive.

Apollo continues to, throughout the game, make comments implying he finds Klavier annoying because of how he presents himself (in Turnabout Corner, for example, he says he wishes Klavier would stop being so cool, which seems to be similar to Ema's general attitude toward Klavier but that's for another post). Some more things of note in Turnabout Corner:

Klavier continues to tease Apollo throughout the trial, which mainly flusters Apollo instead of making him actually upset or anything.

When Klavier meets Apollo and Trucy outside People Park the second time, the first thing he does is have Apollo wave at his fans, once again flustering him (but notably not making him annoyed or anything, just confused and flustered). After this, he slips some pretty important information regarding the case to Apollo and Trucy.

Klavier helps Trucy and Apollo throughout the trial as much as he can. A lot of it comes off as him being a dick but he is genuinely helping Trucy and Apollo.

So to summarize: Apollo's attraction to Klavier is implied as early as the first trial day for Wocky's trial, and Apollo is, at worst, irritated by Klavier's antics.

Part 2.2: Turnabout Serenade

Apollo tending to be more annoyed than anything else with Klavier's antics continues in Turnabout Serenade. Apollo reacts worst to Klavier, in his eyes, not taking LeTouse's murder seriously. When Klavier asks him what crime he's referring to (the multiple thefts Klavier's a victim of or the murder) Apollo goes "The murder, what else?!" which is the most annoyed he gets with Klavier specifically in Turnabout Serenade. Apollo actually spends decent chunk of Turnabout Serenade sassing the hell out of Klavier.

Apollo also mentions that Klavier is "cool" in Turnabout Serenade which is something he's jealous about, and immediately tells himself he'll never admit it to Trucy. Here's the specific bit of dialogue:

(To be honest… …he was kind of cool. And I'm kind of envious. Not that I'd ever admit that to Trucy.)

Apollo continues to be jealous of Klavier multiple times after this in optional dialogue by the way.

When you present Apollo's badge to Klavier after The Guitar's Serenade portion of the concert:

Klavier: ...... Herr Forehead. Apollo: Y-Yeah? Klavier: Understand that I am not Prosecutor Gavin now. I am lead vocal of the Gavinners. That badge sings a different song… on a different stage. Apollo: Right… (I wish I had an alter-ego to hide behind sometimes.)

When you present the lyrics sheet for The Guitar's Serenade to Klavier:

Klavier: I wrote those lyrics, you know. Though it was Lamiroir who gave them life. Trucy: Wow… That's beautiful! Apollo: (Grr. Maybe I should try to write some lyrics someday.)

When Klavier gives Trucy and Apollo the aforementioned lyrics sheet:

Apollo: What's this…? Klavier: A lyrics sheet. It's yours. Signed by myself and Lamiroir. Trucy: Yippee! Thanks so much! Apollo: (All I ever get to sign are client defense agreements.)

Onto the trial itself, Apollo sasses Klavier a lot. Not even teases him, he just straight up bullies him. The instance of this that immediately comes to mind is when Klavier's talking about Daryan and Apollo says "That's nice, but it has nothing to do with the matter at hand." but he has a few other instances of just being a bit mean toward Klavier too (keep in mind that this very much feels closer to Apollo giving Klavier a taste of his own medicine than any actual malice or anything). Notably Klavier's still a bit of a bitch about how Apollo makes his case in Turnabout Serenade, but he's still willing to help him get to the truth of a situation if needed (as seen when you talk to him in his office).

Part 2.3: Turnabout Succession

Unlike in Turnabout Corner and Turnabout Serenade, Klavier isn't seen in Turnabout Succession until Vera's trial starts. The trial goes perfectly fine until the Gramarye commemorative stamp comes up as evidence, at which point not only is Klavier on the verge of snapping, but Apollo is concerned about him, and this concern stays into the next trial day, where Klavier's fawning aggressively in response to Kristoph. Trucy and Apollo both get really concerned about Klavier at this point. Let's also not forget that Apollo mentions that Klavier looks like he's in physical pain and immediately follows it up with "That darkness… …I have to pull that darkness out of him…" and by that point his goal isn't just securing a not guilty verdict for Vera, but also in some way helping Klavier break free from Kristoph's control.

This isn't subtext or an assumption on my end, Apollo is literally why Klavier broke free from Kristoph's control. Had Apollo not been the defense attorney on Vera's case, I don't think Klavier would've ever broken out of Kristoph's control honestly. Klavier's "Let's clean out the family closet, eh, Kristoph?" comes after Apollo's comment on pulling the darkness out of Klavier. It's Apollo proving Drew's link to Kristoph that breaks Klavier free of Kristoph's control (as Klavier very specifically says "Just… prove it! Clear up these doubts now, or I swear, I'm off this case!" There's something poetic about two of the victims of Kristoph's emotional manipulation coming together to make sure he's found out for murder and attempted murder.

Anyway, Apollo shows so much concern for Klavier in Turnabout Succession and I don't think he would if he didn't care a lot about him, and we know Apollo has a tendency to care about people even if he just met them or doesn't know them all that well based on his interactions with Vera, Trucy, Wocky, Machi, Juniper, and Rayfa (and probably others that I can't think of off the top of my head). Like Apollo cares so much about other people and I feel like it isn't really acknowledged a lot.

Part 2.4: Turnabout Academy/The Magical Turnabout

Turnabout Academy is the reason I wanted to analyze Apollo and Klavier's dynamic in the first place honestly. The reason is because Apollo's behavior around him going from quite concerned to annoyed between Turnabout Succession and Turnabout Serenade.

Apollo and Klavier's dynamic in Turnabout Academy is incredibly similar to their dynamic in Turnabout Serenade. The primary differences are that Klavier's a bit more mean and we're not seeing Apollo's attitude toward Klavier from his perspective. We're instead seeing it from Athena's perspective. We can also assume that Turnabout Academy is where Athena first noticed that Apollo gets prickly any time the topic of Klavier is brought up, because Turnabout Academy takes place around 6 months before The Magical Turnabout and The Magical Turnabout is where Athena mentions Apollo getting prickly any time the topic of Klavier comes up (and she specifically notes that she's noticed that "for a while").

Klavier's really funny in Turnabout Academy though because he focuses so much of his attention on Apollo specifically which means Athena's third-wheeling Klapollo for a fair amount of the investigation. I also acknowledge that I might be the only one who got that vibe from Turnabout Academy but for me that vibe absolutely exists.

Additionally, let's go over the exchange about the roses Klavier sent Trucy again.

Athena: Oh, these are from Prosecuter Gavin. Apollo: Roses, huh? How like him: pretentious. Athena: They might be pretentious, but you know what? He makes it work! Apollo: Hmph. Athena: Apollo, I've noticed this for a while, but… …you get awfully prickly when it comes to Prosecutor Gavin. Apollo: Y-You think so? Athena: I mean, don't hate him just because he's beautiful. Apollo: Th-That's not it at all!

I'm not just mentioning this because it's funny. Even assuming Athena did catch on to how annoyed Apollo gets about Klavier existing immediately in Turnabout Academy (which is likely considering her whole gimmick), this implies the topic of Klavier is regularly brought up around the Wright Anything Agency. Unless Apollo and Klavier regularly faced off in court between Turnabout Academy and The Magical Turnabout, there is no reason for this implication to exist. It makes me wonder who's bringing up Klavier and why. Does Klavier just show up at the WAA on a regular basis to fuck with Apollo? Do Phoenix, Trucy, and Athena regularly invite him over because Apollo's reactions are funny? Why has the topic of Klavier come up when Athena's around enough for Athena to notice that Apollo gets prickly when it comes to Klavier, let alone enough for her to assume the reason for it is because Klavier's attractive? What goes on at the Wright Anything Agency off-screen lol

Part 2.5: The Gavinners Reunion Tour CD Drama

(This isn't important and I'm not arguing its canonicity, I just think it's cute and want to talk about it. You can find the audio with English subtitles here)

The Gavinners Reunion Tour CD drama is genuinely one of my favorite non-game pieces of Ace Attorney media. I'm so emotionally attached to it. Before I go into the Klavier and Apollo parts of it, I need to mention that Phoenix invited Ema and Apollo to Klavier's revival concert thinking they'd be excited for it. Idk, it's really funny to me. Also, Klavier gave Apollo and Trucy a bigger discount on tickets than he gave Phoenix. I think Klavier has favorites lol

I also need to point out that Klavier completely ignores Ema and Phoenix when he mentions how good the concert's gonna be. He specifically mentions Apollo when he mentions how good the concert's gonna be. Apollo is also the one to suggest that he, Phoenix, and Ema go with Klavier's manager to get his drugs candy before he goes on stage. Now, to be fair, that could absolutely be more over concern for Klavier's manager than Klavier but Apollo was still the one to suggest it. Apollo is also the one who encourages Klavier's manager to keep looking for the aforementioned candy.

Anyway near the end Klavier invites Apollo to sing an acoustic duet of Guilty Love. It's adorable and I love it. Right before that Apollo mentions actually enjoying the concert (Apollo tells Ema this is specifically because he's faced off against Klavier so many times in court that his music feels similar to facing him in court which implies he'll only ever enjoy rock music if it's Klavier's. gay) and Klavier says "Even I never managed to imagine I'd be able to win your heart!"

Anyway go listen to the Gavinners Reunion Tour CD drama, it's absolutely wonderful.

Part 3: Conclusions or Something

I don't know what I'm concluding here. The last half of this was written over a month after the first half so I don't even really remember where I was going with this but basically, Apollo doesn't hate Klavier. He doesn't even see Klavier as a rival:

Athena: Look! There's your rival over there, Apollo! Apollo: Who, Prosecutor Gavin? We've battled it out a few times before, but I wouldn't call him-- Athena: No, not him. I meant that speaker over there! It can output massive blasts of sound that rival your Chords of Steel! Apollo: I have better things to do than compete with a speaker, so just forget it. - Dual Destinies, Turnabout Academy

Apollo even extends the "I can, will, and do worry about anyone and everyone I come across whether I know them well or not, with the exception of if they're a horrible person" attitude he has toward Klavier. He cares a lot about Klavier. That's canon. He cares about Klavier to the same (or at least a similar) degree that he cares about Trucy, Vera, Juniper, and even Wocky and Machi. He doesn't extend that to people he doesn't like. He finds Wocky annoying, but he doesn't seem to really dislike him. He gets frustrated with Machi, but he doesn't dislike him. Apollo cares so much about everyone who crosses his path who is worth his time and Klavier isn't an exception to this. The only time it's obvious is in Turnabout Succession, but that's because that's where Klavier is at his most vulnerable and we're playing as Apollo.

Additionally, we know based on AA4 that Apollo prefers to keep his feelings about Klavier as a whole to himself, and masks them by acting standoffish, which is why he comes off as prickly to other people. This is why Turnabout Academy is so interesting to me in terms of how Klavier and Apollo's dynamic is written. It's the first time we're viewing their dynamic as an outsider and not as Apollo. I'm quite sure that Apollo was worried about Klavier. Klavier's mentor had just been murdered, after all. Apollo was concerned when Klavier was in the same courtroom as Kristoph, it'd frankly be out of character for Apollo not to worry about Klavier in Turnabout Academy. Apollo just has a tendency to mask his feelings regarding Klavier, so it's not obvious to an outsider that he's worried (and I'm quite sure this was the case for Trucy in Turnabout Succession too. I don't think she realized just how worried about Klavier Apollo was for a bit because so much of Apollo's concern is made obvious to the player through his thoughts).

Anyway, TL;DR: Apollo cares so much about everyone he surrounds himself with (including his clients) and Klavier's not an exception to that. Apollo doesn't hate Klavier, he doesn't even see Klavier as a rival. At worst, Apollo finds Klavier a bit annoying at times. Saying Apollo is bitter or disdainful toward Klavier is an objectively wrong reading of their dynamic. Whether you ship them or not, Apollo does care a lot about Klavier. It's an incredibly important part of Turnabout Succession and saying or acting like Apollo doesn't care about Klavier to the same degree he cares about Trucy or Vera or Lamiroir or Juniper is just ignoring canon. Apollo has so much love and care in his heart and whether romantically or platonically he extends that love and care to Klavier too.

[rooolt]

the curse of having been very Normal about s2 of dndads is that at any point I can remember real and true facts about the kiddads and feel genuinely sick in my body

[brodorokihousuke]

brother you just face tanked an explosion and endured a concussion you need to r e s t

[lgbtlunaverse]

While I think the moment in cql where Meng Yao– still bleeding from a stab wound in his chest btw– realizes Lan Xichen is in danger and decides to save the man who was so kind to him in cloud recesses is cute and all, nothing will ever beat the book for me. Little bookkeeper civilian Meng Yao, who has not had a serious chance to make his dreams of being a cultivator come true in fucking years, out of nowhere gets the fucking sect leader of Gusu Lan dropped right in his lap?

It's such a great example of Meng Yao's multilayered motivations to me. Because is civilian Meng Yao thinking of all the ways he can use this? Of the fact that having a great sect leader in his debt is the best thing that could happen to him? Duh. Obviously.

Is he very purposeful about appearing to Lan Xichen as a kind young man full of untapped potential, brave and willing to put his life on the line even though he really doesn't know so much about about cultivators, no sir, except a little he picked up here and there, because you see his father– 👉👈 Of course he is!

But the way through which he does that is... by actually saving Lan Xichen's life, at no doubt significant personal risk. The way he makes Lan Xichen believe he's kind and selfless is by... being kind and selfless. Just because he's doing it on purpose doesn't mean he's not doing it.

Is it lying if you want people to think you're nice and so you're nice to them? Isn't that just called being nice? Yes, he is very purposeful about how he appears to people, and very carefully crafts an image based on what he wants them to think of him, but most of the time he does that simply by... actually being the kind of person he wants to appear as. He still did the kind things he did, regardless of his motivations for doing them.

[startagainaprologue]

i like to occasionally toss the idea of isa and odile dual loopers but everytime it quickly devolves into slapstick where their favorite game is hitting eachother over the head with a hammer in my brain

[magicalgirlfia]

Dual Rulers episode seven spoilers

Viewers of the latest episode may ask “How did Unika know that Bridget was injured before she was even brought into the White House?”

To answer your question, it is a phenomenon known as “Yuri Telepathy”, an ability inherent to all sapphic people which allows them to communicate their emotions and thoughts to other sapphics over long distances.

This power is also seen in “Guilty Gear Xrd Sign Chapter 9 Maelstrom B” when Dizzy intuitively knows Ky got hurt after he was shot in the back as karmic retribution for being French.

[merethessc]

/not a ship/

[redrobin-detective]

My favorite part of my Adventure Time binge is I pick what looks like the most silly episodic episode with a weird title and a plot that seems pretty open and shut and it goes in the most unexpectedly painful and lowkey horrifying direction that leaves me shook. I expected shenanigans and got an existential crisis instead.

[satsuha]

another scene i'm very ??? about in the english localization of 4-3... in this scene apollo originally gets coffee instead of water. he's a coffee drinker!! i also like the subtle differences in ema's lines here so rough translations below

EDIT: i've been told that this is most likely because the US/western countries don't sell coffee in vending machines! that makes a lot of sense but it's still a bit of a shame those versions missed out on canon coffee drinker apollo

JP

Apollo: Come to think of it, I'm feeling thirsty. I should drink something. Ema: Tea for me. Apollo: ...... I think I'll go with coffee. Ema: Tea! Apollo: Please buy it yourself. *ka-tonk* Apollo: (I got hit by a karintou...) Ema: Tea.

KR

Apollo: Come to think of it, I'm feeling thirsty. I should drink something. Ema: I wanna have tea. Apollo: ...... I'll have some coffee. Ema: I said I want tea! Apollo: Please buy it yourself. *ka-tonk* Apollo: (I got hit by a karintou...) Ema: It's tea, not coffee, alright?

these two are mostly similar but i really like how blunt ema is in japanese lol she doesn't even say "i want" or anything it's just. tea. tea! meanwhile in korean i think it's cute that she specifies that she Doesn't want coffee...

really wonder why they decided to change up apollo's choice of drink tho... there is a big difference between someone who decides to drink water and coffee (?) so i think it's a bit of a shame... just for fun i decided to check the other languages since i've heard that the european localizations follow the english localization and sure enough, they do in this scene as well! both traditional and simplified chinese have coffee just like in japanese

[jynxedshapeshifter]

I feel like a lot of people boil down Aura to being bitter over Metis's death and completely ignore that she's ALSO bitter because her little brother is on death row. And no, I don't think it's fair to boil down her entire motive in Turnabout for Tomorrow to her being bitter over Metis's death. Remember that Simon essentially voluntarily went to prison to protect Athena. Of course Aura doesn't like Athena, she sees her as the reason her younger brother is in prison. While I don't think Aura's actions are justified, as an older sibling I understand why she did what she did.

And let's also keep in mind that the reason Simon takes the blame for Metis's death in the first place is because if it wasn't him, it would have to be Athena. Presumably, Aura knew this, and that's why she blamed Athena for Metis's death; if it wasn't Simon, which she firmly believes, then it had to have been Athena. Remember that Aura releases her hostages in the middle of proceedings once Simon's innocence is proven and before anyone's said Athena for sure killed Metis. Her focus was on making sure Simon was off death row and once his innocence was proven she removed herself from the situation.

Aura didn't just lose Metis to the HAT-1 bombing. She lost her little brother too. Had Simon's sentence been carried out, that would've left her with nobody.

So of course she's hellbent on getting Athena tried for Metis's murder. If it wasn't Simon, it couldn't have been anyone else, and she knows it wasn't Simon.

It's not fair to Aura's character to boil her down to one dimensional angsty lesbian. It's an important part of her character, yeah, but that ignores how much she also cares about Simon and the fact that if Simon gets executed, Aura's lost everyone. Obviously she's going to do everything she possibly can to not lose her younger brother too.

[maybe-boys-do-love]

And what if I saw so many reasons to headcanon Boston as audhd??? What then??????

[sickosdotjpg]

honestly think one of the hottest things a person can do is sneeze into the cowl/collar of a turtleneck sweater or similar

[brodorokihousuke]

Is this only now occurring to you