#somebodyyyy fucking stop me from using parantheticals and footnotes. SORRY….. 😥

[frogs-in3-hills]

@elytrafemme WELL. LMFAO. imagine me as the meme of the guy in front of the corkboard with the red string and all ok. so like, aa4 is at its core about manipulation & agency to the point that apollo (ostensibly the main character) feels rlly disassociated from his own story, right. that is very intentional but structurally jarring and perhaps not fully expanded upon, so it’s both a uniquely compelling aspect of aa4 and a disappointing one. aa4 is kind of in conversation with the trilogy in how it handles trucy and klavier, how they fit into and subvert the constructed roles of assistant and prosecutor. while (some of) maya’s journey is about finding self worth as someone who doesn’t have much power in the courtroom (the site of all the most important developments!), trucy is the most active non-lawyer assistant in the franchise. while previous prosecutors have all had serious hangups regarding their relationships with justice/lawyerhood, klavier is already on the exact same page as apollo about what it means to seek the truth. this means aa4 is giving itself the work of redefining what these roles mean, and it chooses to play apollo, trucy, and klavier as the chess pieces in phoenix and kristoph’s game, and attempts to set the groundwork for these characters (esp apollo and klav*) to leave the board.

basically ithink there’s a lot of room for apollo and trucy foilage that would strengthen this narrative and isn’t rlly capitalized on. by placing apollo and trucy instead as the daughters of thalassa, we can align them more closely. in apollo being a woman, suddenly this concept of agency becomes gendered (btw transfem klavier is not necessary to #My Vision but it does help here), and we are not just dealing with nick and kristoph’s insane black hole toxic yaoi, we’re dealing with patriarchs—fathers and brothers!! now apollo and trucy are sisters in a thematic sense, which helps us built up narratively to the reveal (and also puts them in close parallel with franziska and miles, with trucy as the big-little sister). there’s a stronger thematic justification for the reveal that they are BOTH found-siblings through a patriarch, AND blood-siblings through their mother.

this illustrates a duality between family and self that is a direct evolution of similar themes in the trilogy. both their journeys of regaining agency are tied to the symbols they inherited from thalassa, as they navigate their complicated relationships with family and reclaim their individual identities thru those symbols. trucy has already done a lot of this work and we can see that thru her wearing her mother’s/phoenix’s colors, embodying that duality proudly. and, as is frequently discussed, she’s reclaimed her role as phoenix’s downfall by intentionally and trustingly (!!!!!) choosing to set up apollo with forged evidence. apollo is actively doing this work throughout the game with her bracelet as she/the audience simultaneously learn to associate it with her new family (trucy, and apollo’s power**), her new identity (as a lawyer), and her gramarye heritage (unbeknownst to apollo). while apollo and trucy (and klav) are being swept up in nick and kristoph’s game, they’re also forging their own identities within the classic aa framework of “family influences us deeply, and when family hurts us, instead of trying (and failing) to reject our ingrained familial influences, we can reassume them in new and valuable ways”.

so by making apollo a woman, it opens the story to a feminist read, which in turn presents apollo and trucy as following the same path of independence, which would make apollo’s arc in aa4 work better as a standalone. this is the first time i’ve sat down and tried to put this idea to words though so i think it’s a little inarticulate for the moment. i also am not really considering dd and soj here because i think they’re attempting to remedy the issues of agency w aa4 in other ways and they are unfortunately so unfocused in their approach i honestly have a hard time breaking it down into a coherent arc 😐 but i think girlpollo (if you will) just takes the ideas that aa4 already presents and clarifies & heightens them a bit, in a way that appeals to my specific taste in family and femininity as ideas/themes in fiction :3

* trucy is both a chess piece and an active character because she is choosing to be on the board—for her, leaving the board means winning the game, which isn’t opposed to apollo and klavier’s needs but the difference is worth noting as it changes the way we understand her relationship w phoenix vs apollo’s relationship w phoenix

** apollo’s relationship w trucy and apollo’s power are of course deeply intertwined narratively thru trucy’s role in apollo learning to loosen up and embrace fun -> apollo embracing pseudoscience in the courtroom despite its obvious shiftiness and the embarrassment that causes her LMAO. and also bc trucy teaches her to perceive

community poll i know the people love transmasc apollo for good reason but i’m curious could you also imagine transfem apollo. for the purposes of the poll “no because he’s transmasc” is not a valid answer please try to fit both in your heart