#BLACKQUILL CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

[kbots]

big chunky character development chapter!!! go read right now!!! or later if you're busy, whatever works for you <3

[prosecutor-artemisia]

I am the ultimate Simon Blackquill method actor I started doing his tic weeks before I knew I would be voicing him

[baratrongirl]

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom.

B - I don't have a lot for Ace Attorney because most of its ships are very obvious. I did however discover a fondness for the very rarepair Maya Fey/Simon Blackquill after reading a fic about them. She is a spirit medium who is going to become the leader of her village, and is also obsessed with the TV series The Steel Samurai. He is a raging weeaboo and/or British man with Japanese ancestry who wields a spirit katana and wants to be a samurai. They are even the same age! They are absolutely perfect together!

K - Urgh, see, this is the thing that Ace Attorney is very bad at. The games are good at showing 50-75% of a character development arc and then giving up. Like, AA4 is all about Klavier Gavin receiving trauma after trauma, and you'd expect him to need some time to process everything that's happened to him - yet he pops up in AA5 as if nothing has happened at all. Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth both have development, but even then you don't see the trauma being processed. In fact, the way Phoenix flips back to his old self in AA5 ignores all of the changes that happened to him in AA4, and seems false.

I actually think one of the best development arcs I've ever seen in a game/game series is Martin Septim in TES IV: Oblivion. He goes from being the priest of a town attacked by Daedra (TES version of demons) to the Emperor of Tamriel, willing to give his life to stop the Daedric invasion. Each time you return to Cloud Ruler Temple on the main quest, he's a little more resigned to his fate. He goes from giving an awkward speech to the Blades where he says, "I know you all want me to be Emperor, but this is very new to me" to leading a major battle dressed in the Emperor's heavy armor. When did he learn to fight in heavy armor? Before that, he's only worn priest's robes. A lot is happening to him behind the player's back, and it gives him life.

W - I agree with you about hating soulmates and Hanahaki Disease, unless those tropes are subverted. I am quite fond of the idea of "soulmates" which simply means that the person will be very important to you - not necessarily your one and only partner, but perhaps your best friend forever. And I find it interesting when people write Hanahaki Disease as a chronic illness which affects people who love too easily and deeply. I've often felt that I'm a person who does that, and it's brought me emotional pain. Why not have physical pain to go with it?

The tropes I REALLY hate though are "Pair the Spares" and "Everyone is Gay".

Ace Attorney has a juggernaut F/F ship of FranMaya which is Miles Edgeworth's adoptive/foster sister Franziska Von Karma paired with Phoenix Wright's best friend Maya Fey. But there are plenty of other options for both of those women, both F/F and M/F. I feel they get paired together despite their wildly different personalities and interests simply because Phoenix and Miles do, and I really dislike that. I don't even hate the ship! But I LOATHE the idea that they are together BECAUSE of their brother/best friend's relationship.

When the trope is subverted, and FranMaya get together years before WrightWorth, then I like the ship much more. Though I still feel that both characters have plenty of other interesting ships available to them.

"Everyone is Gay" bothers me when it's literally everyone being GAY as in exclusively same-sex relationships. Especially as three characters are about as close to canon bisexual as it's possible to be! Others have strongly headcanoned sexualities which are part of fanon (e.g. Miles Edgeworth being homoromantic demisexual and Kristoph Gavin being aromantic homosexual). But other characters are more flexible, e.g. I've seen Ema Skye written as lesbian, bi, straight, asexual, aromantic and acearo!

By all means, make everyone queer. But recognise that a trans woman might date a man, that a lot of bisexuals end up in relationships with people of different gender, that heteroromantic asexuals are still queer, and that acearo people likely don't want partners at all. And all of that is okay.

[sammywolfgirl]

Eh screw it ok let’s get down what I got

Simon Blackquill Investigations (au thingy)

So uh spoilers for DD ahead duh sooooo

Timeline wise I’m thinking this place at least after SOJ, at minimum post DD, but leaning towards the former.

Plot wise, still a bit wip but the overarching case is that Simon and co are trying to gather evidence to take down the spy ring that the phantom worked for, arresting the handlers and any employers they can get. The cases will all be unrelated murders that will tie into this investigation.

Ie- a case about some talk show host being murdered connects to the big case because turns out the producers were employing spys to get blackmail material or soemthing. (Idk if all them connect So directly but that’s the idea)

Plot and case stuff is still being developed (I got like two and this is gonna have 5 cases god save me I got nothing T^T) but I got the ‘gameplay’ ideas.

I know this is gonna be a fic but like we can have a few gameplay elements as a treat <3

So typical investigation style gameplay but here’s the stuff I add/tweak because Simon is the lead. Just assume if I don’t bring it up then it’s unchanged from the game.

Mind Chess is replaced by Mind Duel, generally has a similar function gameplay wise but the framing is more like a samurai duel where Simon cuts down defenses via aggressive action or passive (using psychology like more than just for intimidation) until he reaches the secret being guarded. And yes the segment ends with the classic samurai sword cut thingy because ITS FUN.

Now for the investigation partner system. This gets added because (drumroll) there’s more than one party member!

Here’s the pitch, case 1 it’s just ‘Bobby’ and Simon, play it straight like any investigations case, but case 2 Athena joins in and that’s when the party switching occurs, case 3 adds in Poppy Fulbright (because au) and that’s the max we get here.

When you have more than 1 party member there’s an option to switch them out (idk if it’s a button and they all follow or whoever isn’t in the party linger nearby and you talk to them to join) each investigation partner will have their own little ‘ability’ and types of hints they provide.

Bobby/Phanny- gives the most logical and puzzle focused hints. Probably helps more with the logic puzzle pieces thing. Uh I don’t have what ‘ability’ he’d have, still working on that one.

Athena- gives the most empathetic/emotional related hints. Would help the most with hints regarding a Mind Duel or what to show a witness to get more info. She has her Mood Matrix (gameplay wise maybe we get some modified mood matrix sections, but at least she would be helpful with questioning people who are nervous or whatever)

Poppy- she’s a kid so her hints are more connected to who you should be asking instead. But if you missed a spot when investigating she would probably point out that you missed it (maybe even pointing in the direction idk) ability wise is uhhh Taka. Taka can be directed to collect stuff out of reach or something. She’s like 14 she can only do so much.

Simon- I will note that ability wise he is the player character but also has his sword and Mind Duel so yeah. Also Logic but like it’s an Investigation game everyone has logic.

During a case the party can be split up for some sections, ie simon and athena are focusing on a section while Bobby is idk getting held up by Interpol that sort of thing. There is at least one idea I have where I split the party and you play as someone other than Simon for a section but I’m keeping that to myself for now ;3

Idk the idea is there’s a little bit more of a puzzle element with multiple people being here to assist but to balance it out one person at least (poppy probably) will give a lot more direct hints to point you in the right direction. But I do like the idea they each give direct hints to various gameplay elements (Logic, Mind Duel, and Investigation) though the actual testimony stuff has the usual system. This is just for the walking around gameplay

Uh okay what else?

Well fluff dialogue is fun because at most you’ll get four different people commenting and it’s really fun banter. And like o said before sections of the investigation will split the party or lock who you can have as a investigation partner for sections, but ideally I’ll make it work plot wise. This is thinking more as a game than a written fanfic by this point.

Hm…

Oh! Okay this is something I’ve thought of too.

Case 1 Settup. I don’t have the case plot itself but I have how I want to frame it.

We play it straight, like this is the actual Bobby Fulbright, Simon is being his usual self as he quipped with Bobby and nobody is even mentioning the spy, but as the case progresses we get hints that add up to suggest that this isn’t like the original Bobby who was found alive and well, no that’s the phantom. So the question becomes “Wtf are you doing here and why are you still being Bobby??”

And by the end of the case you get the full context. Phantom isn’t free but does get some supervised freedom in exchange for helping take down the spy ring (they also gave a lot of information before this)

Idk the idea is we build up various hints like Simon being a bit too snappy, Bobby making a comment about handcuffs being uncomfortable or referencing spending time in a cell, just that sort of thing. The nature of this game fic means we can’t really have a ‘assume this is someone’s first game’ thing but I think that’d be a fun thing.

For people not in the know the reveal that this funny cop man is a arrested spy is fun, and for those who know it’s the question of what’s going on. You see the vision?

Uhhh anyways final thoughts on this uhhhhhhhhh Taka is a gameplay mechanic. (Poppy or Simon can direct him) athena gets to be here because I said so. And Phanny gets bullied yippeeee

Also I’m loosly playing with more a writing intermission between cases where we jump to either Poppy or Athena’s pov to get a sense of what they’re up to. Outside perspectives and all that.

Also agent Lang is here. For the whole game in some form. Kay also gets a camio in at least one case, after that idk who else gets to show up, maybe Franziska? I’ll play it by ear.

I’d appreciate any thoughts or ideas honestly I’m struggling to brainstorm case ideas I got like 1 and 1/2 and that’s being generous.

[the-bar-sinister]

Big List of Completed Longfics

X-Men: Re-Evolution (116,992 words): 2020s era ‘reboot’ of X-men: Evolution. It initiates its own continuity but keeps many of the themes, situations, and characters from the original show. Completed: 2021-11-15

The Departure of the Great Returned Soul (29,488 words): After returning from the war, Bunny Manders' pseudonymous publications have made certain that the villain AJ Raffles was dead, in the mind of the public, giving the genuine article just the wiggle room needed for he and his companion to disappear from the eyes of the law. Completed: 2024-02-05

Drawing the Line (17,060 words): Otto doesn’t know whether Norman’s (the Goblin’s?) attempt to pull him into a kiss was a ridiculous prank, or a genuine pass at him. Worse still, the Goblin drags him out on a duo heist while the rest of the Six are busy. Its not a date…. is it? Completed: 2022-06-06

The Primrose Path to Hell (94,161 words): In the days leading up to what would be the first outbreak, STARS captain Albert Wesker draws young and naive rookie Rebecca Chambers into his twisted web one step at a time. What develops between them is a gordian knot of twisted emotions; desire, devotion, love, trust, duplicity, control, manipulation, and ultimately, surrender, which threatens to drag the entire S.T.A.R.S. team along in its wake. Completed: 2023-01-14

In Justice We Trust (163,083 words): With Simon Blackquill and Athena Cykes assigned as their psychologists, the Phantom and Fulbright must grapple with their identity, their deeds, their future, and their love for the twisted samurai whom they betrayed. Completed: 2024-04-26

Chains of the Dragon (69,630 words): It takes almost four months for Apollo Justice's on-again off-again boyfriend Klavier Gavin to find out why he hasn't seen his favorite herr forehead–or their forensic investigator– in town in a while. When he discovers that Apollo has moved to Kura'in without so much as a goodbye or a phone call, the rockstar hatches a plan with Trucy Wright to swoop into action and rescue the derelict lawyer from his self imposed exile. Completed: 2024-07-09

A Song for Ragpickers and Urchins (42,622 words): When a small-time band of young rogues and thieves take in a lost and lonely fallen noble their twisted star finally begins to rise. Urchins, vagabonds and slaves take up a scoundrel's life under a common banner— the jolly roger Donquixote— to claw their way to something like happiness in the miserable, cold-hearted factory towns of the North Blue. Completed: 2025-01-09

Fire in the Belly, Spirits on the Tongue (86,979 words): Luffy was right when he said that Ace lied about having no regrets. Ace had so many regrets. His spirit was restless. He wasn't ready to die. Sabo promised that he wouldn't leave the Revolutionary army, but what will become of the three of them now that Ace is awake and alive in his heart, and more importantly, his body? Completed: 2025-04-14

Deicide: Onigashima Aftermath (66,368 words): In the aftermath of the raid on Onigashima everything changes. Luffy is hearing the voice of a god, and he wants it out of his head but has difficulty opening up to his friends about his fear. Kid takes on new crew members, and puts his ego aside to find a cure for his first mate while Law searches for a new path forward after his long-time goal becomes a memory. Completed: 2024-08-19

Bleeding, Broken, Mended (91,671 words): Law is certain that he was 'rescued' just so Doflamingo could kill him himself, but Doffy has other plans. As far as he's concerned, Law's decade-long quest for revenge was nothing more than a sad misunderstanding. He wants to remind Law how things used to be. He wants to find a way to bring Law back into the fold-- back to him-- forever. Completed: 2024-09-14

Deicide: Red Shift (113,890 words): A mysterious signal is drawing ships across the Grand Line to a place called Elegia for the first ever concert by the rising star singer, Uta. Following the signal are the Straw Hats and their captain Luffy, who hasn't seen Uta since they were both little children at their idol Shanks' knee. Perhaps this meeting was ordained by fate. Perhaps, in the end, there was only ever one tragic outcome possible. But Luffy has other plans. Completed: 2025-02-03

Deicide: New Horizons (83,190 words): New courses must be decided on. Luffy and the Straw Hats spend some time getting to know their new allies in Cross Guild. Ace works to reform the Spade Pirates. Caesar, Chopper, and Sanji plot with the Donquixotes and the Vinsmokes to bring Ace and Monet, back to life in their own bodies, as well as to save Bonney's dad, Kuma. Shanks reconnects with Buggy and Mihawk after finally regaining his confidence. The Beast Pirates and the Charlottes deal with the aftermath of Wano, and forge a new goal together. Tashigi, Smoker and Zoro all deal with the revelation of Tashigi's past, and Vivi, Buggy and Masked Deuce all finally show up in the same room. Completed: 2025-04-29

Gaia Incognita (37,190 words): The past and present intertwine as Veld and Vincent try to discover what the horrible dreams of a darker Midgar have to do with the life and love that they built together in the aftermath of Hojo's mysterious and untimely demise. Completed: 2025-04-08

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PROPAGANDA

ATHENA CYKES (ACE ATTORNEY)

1.) Despite supposedly being the MAIN CHARACTER of the game she was introduced in, she somehow still always ends up playing second fiddle to Phoenix and Apollo, to the point where she isn’t allowed to take the lead on even so much as a single case. Instead of the senior lawyers standing to the side in a mentorship role like they do for literally EVERY OTHER PLAYABLE CHARACTER, Phoenix and Apollo keep stepping in to outright take over for her. She literally does not make it through even a single case without needing some male character or other to swoop in and hold her hand every step of the way, not only Phoenix and Apollo but once even Blackquill, her rival prosecutor, as well.

Why? It has nothing whatsoever to do with her competence level. It’s a video game; her competence is determined by the player’s, just like everybody else. It seems like the writers just couldn’t STAND the thought of her doing anything on her own, or thought that the players would walk out en masse if it wasn’t the Phoenix and Apollo Show every second of gameplay. (And yeah, it DOES sometimes take me some time to warm up to new characters, but that was the case for Apollo too! At least give me the CHANCE to judge her on her own merits rather than assuming that I’ll immediately write her off!) Like, why did you even WRITE this character if you think so little of her?

2.) WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN. She’s introduced in the middle of a male characters “trilogy” (Apollo justice) so the story is never about her. She appears in aa5 only to NEVER headline her own case IN HER INTRODUCTORY GAME and always fail unless a man comes in and saves her. Her own story is sidelined for Apollos. Next game, she only really appears in one case that’s a throwaway and still can’t do shit on her own. Ugh. She deserved to be treated better, more competent, etc.

3.) my girl is an attorney and a practicing psychologist at age 18 (youngest defense lawyer in the series) & is often shown to be more competent than her male colleagues, and yet is constantly pushed out/sidelined/generally treated like an assistant character rather than a lawyer (the assistant position in these games is usually reserved for characters who don’t have law degrees/are generally not educated enough to understand the courtroom proceedings to their full extent. athena is none of those things but she gets treated the same way by the game because. well. we know why.) Instead of being the main playable attorney in her debut game, the story is taken over by her male colleague (WHO ALREADY HAD A WHOLE GAME DEDICATED TO HIS BULLSHIT BTW) & her development is ignored in favor of his in both her debut game AND her second game. Even when her backstory IS explored it’s done via a male family friend of hers, meaning even when her OWN story is being told it’s not even about her it’s about simon’s lame ass. for extra context here in her debut game she is only the playable attorney in one case out of five, while the other (male) playable attorneys were playable in all or all-but-one of the cases in THEIR debut games. capcom hates women sooooo bad

KOTORI MIZUKI/TORI MEADOWS (YU-GI-OH! ZEXAL)

1.) first: ygo zexal is directed (and partially written) by known misogynist shin yoshida who is on record as saying that he would Never write female characters if he wasn’t being forced to by higher-ups. kotori’s voice actor signed a legal contract forcing him to include her character in Every Single Episode. she gets no duels that aren’t tag duels (2v2 duels), one of those is interrupted in the middle and all others she both loses, aren’t even shown in full, and all happen in the same episode. she is literally contractually required to be a major character and the dude in charge still point blank refuses to do anything with her despite the fact that she’s supposed to be the female lead of the series. please take pity on her for being handed to one of the worst people in the world and how despite the active attempts by other people to make her relevant in the story she was still denied that

2.) She only dueled once in the whole show and it was when she was brainwashed. Her main role is to only cheer the male protag on and say his name during his duels I guess.

[junoverses]

I love being the defender of games that end up being kinda polarizing in their respective communities. I fucking adore Zero Time Dilemma for how stupid it can be, Nirvana Initiative might be my personal favorite Somnium Files game (at the very least until we maybe get that third game,) Danganronpa V3, for all its problems was extremely fun to see develop. I think the "Apollo Justice" Ace Attorney trilogy is a lot of fun (extremely generous name aside) and introduces probably my favorite character in the series with Blackquill. I feel like people focus on a game's supposed quality more than they do about how much fun they have with it. I get that quality (or lack thereof) can very much affect how much you enjoy something, but did you have fun with it though? I think it's important to at least try and interact with something on its own terms for a bit, to take it seriously as much as it wants to be no matter how silly, because games are supposed to be a fun experience, whether it be a satisfying gameplay loop or theorizing about and analyzing a game's narrative and individual plot points

[mushygreybrainmatter]

I finished The Monstrous Turnabout last night and I'll be so real I'm relieved that it's over.

It's standard for Ace Attorney cases to have like. 2, 3, 4 twists in them. Normal. Expected. Enjoyable. What is not normal is having 2, 3, 4 twists in every section of the case. By the end of it I was just exhausted, not entertained.

The case's concept is really interesting! I enjoyed Jinxie and Damian as characters. I loved their relationship as a father and daughter. Filch was kind of funny (even if his sprites were a tad disconcerting to me) and L'Belle was comedically vain and I had a blast doing voices for him! (My roommate told me I was getting too into it lmao)

Overall, though, the way the case developed and unfolded felt simultaneously overly convoluted and terribly simple. Not once did I feel the need to save before presenting evidence. But the number of times a character was like "But wait!" and proceeded to rattle off some new previously unmentioned and confusing thing or ask for proof of something that's already been proven was kind of absurd. There were too many moving parts, I guess, or they were just poorly handled.

A lot of the complications in the case were attributed to poor memory, which I'll even admit is an interesting concept, and it opened up more opportunities for Athena's Mood Matrix gimmick, but by the end of the case it felt tired. I'm also kind of on the fence about the Mood Matrix in general. I don't like it as much as the Magatama or Perceive. Maybe it'll grow on me, but right now, I'm not sure about it. I could write another whole post about the use of multiple protagonists in this game and balancing multiple gimmicks.

Simon Blackquill is still a blessing to mankind, though. Thank you Simon Blackquill!

On a final note, it is good to know Apollo is still thinking about men and being a hater. Stay true to who you are, Polly!

[thevideogameshutterbug]

During Turnabout Revolution...

Welp, we have another contender for "most traumatized kid in Spirit of Justice." Which is proving to be a surprisingly populated category. Sarge / Armie Buff developing crippling agoraphobia, pyrophobia and regressing into a fantasy, then legit having a massive panic attack in court after losing both of her parents and having to relive the memory of her father to the point that Athena has to coach her back to lucidity and remind her who she's speaking to) is really something.

The bonus dialogue you get when you present the photo of Apollo's father to her a second time, where she breaks character and timidly asks Apollo to come visit her from time to time, is one of the sweetest, saddest dialogues in the entire franchise imo. Is there some way the next game could have Phoenix adopt both Ahlbi and Armie, somehow? If Blackquill can set a hawk on people during trial, surely the defense could have a drone or two.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: Manfred von Karma

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

The Ace Attorney series has no shortage of iconic prosecutors going up against Phoenix Wright in court, but most of them aren’t really Psycho Analysis material. Edgeworth, Franziska, Nahyuta, Blackquill, and even Winston Payne are all simply antagonistic and ultimately are revealed to be good people when it comes down to it, while Klavier Gavin is outright a nice guy—it is his defense attorney brother who’s an irredeemable monster. There are only a small handful of legitimately villainous prosecutors who will be covered, and one of them is the epitome of an anti-villain. But this guy here that I’m reviewing now? He is easily one of the biggest bastards in the entire franchise.

Manfred von Karma is a prosecutor obsessed with the idea of perfection, and he seeks to achieve it both in and out of the courtroom. He’s ruthless, unscrupulous, and will do anything to achieve victory, be it by manipulating and destroying evidence or orchestrating an over-complicated revenge scheme. And on top of it all, he is one of the single most important antagonists in the series; in fact, he kickstarted the entire plot with his actions.

Motivation/Goals: Von Karma is absolutely obsessed with the idea of perfection, and to this end he concocted the most absolute, perfect revenge against the family that tarnished his perfect prosecution record. Gregory Edgeworth got him penalized back in the day, so von Karma seized upon a golden opportunity and murdered him in cold blood, which turned into the DL-6 incident—something that pretty much set the stage for the whole series.

But that’s a bit too mundane for a man like von Karma, so he didn’t stop there! He took in the son of his most hated rival, warped him into becoming a ruthless prosecutor, and then on the eve of the statue of limitations running out on DL-6 manipulated events to get his protege framed for murder, be it that of Hammond or his own father. Von Karma is just incapable of settling for something simple and clean, the man wants to completely and utterly decimate the Edgeworth name’s respectability for the slight against him.

Breakdown: Befitting the final boss of the game, von Karma’s breakdown is absolutely spectacular. Once you finally reveal him as the killer of Gregory Edgeworth because of that bullet he carelessly left embedded in his shoulder, he lets out a massive screen-rumbling roar as images of DL-6 flash onscreen.

Then he smashes his head on the wall, all while ranting about Edgeworth. It is incredibly satisfying to watch this smug bastard fall apart after being so thoroughly trounced by our rookie protagonist, and it really seals the deal on Wright's character development over the course of the game alongside Edgeworth's.

Final Fate: Von Karma is in a very small pool of Ace Attorney villains we get a definitive word on the ultimate fate of, with most others only getting ambiguous demises at the hands of the judicial system or otherwise imprisonment. By the time of the third game, he is explicitly stated to be “gone from this world.” Whether he was executed, killed himself, or simply died from natural causes is of course left to your imagination, but it’s still reassuring to know the bastard is dead after everything he put the heroes through.

Evilness: On the surface, Manfred seemingly pales in comparison to later villains like multiple murderer Dahlia Hawthorne, professional killer Shelley De Killer, or international espionage master “The Phantom,” as he only ever killed a single person (albeit a very important person, with the killing done out of spite). A single murder isn’t really enough to get a high Evilness score, no matter what the reason is.

But then you think about his decades-long prosecution career where he did literally everything he could to get a conviction. How many innocent people did the Demon Prosecutor send to an early grave despite their innocence? And look at how he adopted the son of the man he killed and warped him into his antithesis just to get one over on the man who put a mark on his perfect record; that shit is beyond diabolical. That’s not even getting into how he treated his own daughter.

I think it’s honestly wild how even with all that to consider, he’s still not the most evil guy in the franchise. He’s a 9/10 on the evil scale, a truly nasty, monstrous piece of work who is theoretically responsible for dozens upon dozens of deaths of innocents, and is most definitely a warped, vindictive bastard.

Final Thoughts & Score: Von Karma is one of the best Ace Attorney villains, but I think he kind of suffers from how the game he appears in is structured. Like this dude is monumentally important to the entire plot, the whole series wouldn’t have happened at all without his actions, and yet he appears in one single case at the end of the game, which doesn’t leave a great deal of time to expand upon him the way the other prosecutors of the series get expanded on. By all accounts, he should be just as pitiful as Redd White is

The thing is, though, that von Karma manages to cram so much personality into his limited time onscreen that he becomes unforgettable for all the right reasons. Unlike White, we get several courtroom segments where we have to contend with his manipulative antics and none of the battles with him disappoint—fitting for the man who taught Miles Edgeworth. And again, unlike White, von Karma manages to have a meaningful impact and presence beyond his only appearance; his daughter is the antagonistic prosecutor of Justice For All, and he pops up in a couple of cases in the Investigations games, one of which is a flashback to the case where Gregory Edgeworth gave him his one and only penalty.

I think what really helps von Karma stand out is just how vindictive he is. Frankly, the sheer insane lengths the man goes to for his revenge is utterly disturbing for something so incredibly petty. So many killers do the deed for equally petty and self-servng reasons, but outside of Kristoph Gavin none of them are as terrifyingly shallow as von Karma and none of them go to the same insane, absurd lengths he does to crush those who he views as having wronged him. He is one of the single pettiest bitches in the entire series.

I think von Karma manages a nice 9.5/10. He’s really only held back slightly by his extremely limited screentime, but he certainly makes the most of it whenever he appears. It’s honestly pretty amazing that the first game managed to have both an excellent significant plot-relevant villain and a pathetic significant villain who barely makes a splash, but any flaws White brought to this game are easily forgotten when Manfred shows up. He’s just a great final boss, plain and simple… or he would be if it weren’t for the bonus case. But that’s a Psycho Analysis for another time.

[oodlyenough]

aa6-5 turnabout revolution

finished 6-5 over the last couple weeks, which means we've only got the DLC left for soj and the main series of games.

i gotta say ... i liked this finale a lot more than i expected to. i thought it was fun, and in turn that elevated SOJ overall. by far not the best ace attorney game i've played, but definitely not the worst. from the way fandom talks about this game and especially the finale i expected something awful, but i thought it had some fun ideas with mid execution, which is how i would describe ... basically every AA game after the og trilogy lol

anyway. more specifically (spoilers)

the first half of the case -- apollo vs phoenix -- is way up there on the "great idea, mid execution". i was immediately willing to assume phoenix had undisclosed reasons for doing his thing so i was immediately willing to let it slide, lol. "maya is kidnapped again!!!" is not the most compelling angle they could've done, but, whatever. also NPC nick seemed to have a brain in his head unlike player-nick, so that was nice

i also got a huge kick out of phoenix playing (essentially) the role of the prosecution and doing every dirty trick the prosecutors have done to him for 6 games: hiding evidence, leading the witness, manipulating the judge, etc. this prosecuting shit is easy!!! i imagine him making pointed eye contact with edgeworth in the gallery every time. also the idea of edgeworth and phoenix creeping around off screen for the first portion of investigation day 1 was awesome lmfao.

the fey lore was ???????????????? but i guess we can assume paul was lying about most of it lmfao so ... i guess. i WAS very annoyed by the kurain storyline mostly being about dudes and i did spend the whole case certain we were building to a reveal that the crystal of ami fey=the founder's orb bc ami=the founder. but uh. no i guess not. whatever

dhurke is a character i knew to be relatively popular in fandom but i can see why, he really cracked me up. actually his whole return out of the blue and apollo's extremely prickly reception are one of the relatively rare moments of interesting and competent character writing in these later games imo. i thought their relationship was handled pretty well and quite interesting. i mean, i suppose i find it a bit unreasonable that apollo got over 14 years of abandonment in like two days but lots of things in AA happen in hyperspeed

over in khurain i still found that case pretty good and even the trial days kept me pretty engaged, something SOJ had struggled to do to that point.

nahyuta is a bit of a weird one in that i find him overall underwritten and a little dull but i absolutely cannot fathom why fandom hates him so so so much while loving others lol, esp blackquill whose motivation is the same but more inexplicable. is he my favourite prosecutor? not by a long shot, but his circumstances were insane and his motivations were clear by the end and i ultimately just felt kind of bad for him. i liked him much more than blackquill or godot lmao sorry fandom.

but i still cheered when he was not the prosecutor for the last case LMAO bc i LOVED garan and her crazy anime transformation lmao, finally khurain delivers the True Fey ancestor experience: insane sisters who hate each other. chefs kiss. rayfa + garan + the dhurke/amara drama was very interesting imo. i knew that chick couldn't channell!! maya for queen tbqh

rayfa's a good character and i enjoyed her a lot. i was frustrated in the end that they tried to make it seem like her big development/inspiration/etc was apollo ... like ... it should definitely be phoenix, who spent more time with her and investigated with her and started trying to show her other ways of thinking etc. plus she just lost her parents and is clearly searching for guidance and it makes way more sense for her to find that in phoenix than apollo who showed up 2 days ago. i guess they're trying to 1. use the player character 2. push the dhurke connection, but it was stupid when shes obviously more attached to phoenix and/or nahyuta lol

jove "jangly" justice is the funniest name i've read maybe ever and i assume apollo's middle name is jangly. it's so funny how they build to doing his divination seance only to spend almost no time on him fhgkghhklg

anyway in conclusion i liked 6-5 a lot more than i expected. i thought it was pretty fun. i don't really get why fandom is so negative to this game, like even way moreso than DD, when this game is better by any possible margin from gameplay to animation to story coherency imo.

stray other thoughts:

-apollo's backstories are such a meme but i thought his backstory in this game made sense enough with aa4 (where he had no motive/little backstory at all and wasn't much of a player in his own story), and the characters implicated were real characters we got to spend time with and interact with. unlike clay.png

-edgeworth is there for No Reason At All (fanservice) and i find that deeply hilarious. he's nick's +1 and he had to sleep on the floor with a bunch of strangers and crawl through the sewer. hysterical.

-for maya fey's big return game i sure thought maya was going to get to do stuff besides what she always does in a finale, be absent for plot reasons. sigh. oh well at least i got a laugh imagining her and edgeworth spending the rest of the trial arguing about the plumed punisher while nick and apollo are held at gunpoint

-athena cykes sweetie i'm so sorry your role in this game was a fucking embarrassment. so insulting that they turned it all into impressing simon and shit, fuck off man!!! my earlier criticism of this game being sexist even by AA standards remains. even phoenix is like well i can't have you risking your life you're too young (reasonable) and then "simon would kill me" which she acquiesces to???? hfjhgkjg

-nahyuta bamboozling apollo's perceive power by being like "thats the secret... i'm always anxious" was so goddamn funny

[phantomquill]

i guess another possible interpretation [to why the phantom does all of that] could be that the phantom doesn't really distinguish between the priority of their own tasks. as in, that they consider their tasks as "bobby fulbright" equally as important to execute successfully as their assignment to blow up a rocket.

i do think it's still more interesting to think that the phantom really has some sort of absurd fixation on justice or develops one, even if/where the original bobby fulbright might not have worried about it that deeply, but -

you could read them as someone who cares more about fulfilling objectives (any objective) than staying in-character, or being self-preservative. if they genuinely believe "upholding justice" and "reforming simon blackquill" are assignments they must follow just as much as they've got to blow up the space center, they would have to break character at points (because they know more than bobby does, and they have a different relationship to what is right and wrong than he does), and risk drawing suspicion (in order both to make sure simon isn't executed unjustly, and can reintegrate into society, they'd have to somehow un-incriminate him).

i (like to) think the phantom shows much more of their own personality and beliefs than they think they do, and i don't think the places aa5's writing kinda falls apart are really intended reading of their character either way, but you could interpret it literally as the phantom just straight up following any order they're given and trying to fulfill their tasks to their best ability, even if/when this requires out-of-character knowledge and actions on their part.

[blackquillchillin]

Always back and forth on if I want Bobby Fulbright to be a complex character that discusses how power can twist even the well intentioned, but learns what consequences his actions lead to by working with Simon Blackquill,

Or if I want him to be the Busy Town of Richard Scarry version of a cop, who directs traffic and helps old ladies across the street, and helps kids get their kites out of trees, and is horrified by how other officers treat Simon.

My greed really is my undoing lol. Character development is a thing though, why can't I have both......

[sarcastic-pasta-games]

The very first scene in The Twin Turnabout, which is Case 3 of Ace Attorney: Truth and Consequences.

Summary: Athena Cykes is surprised to be contacted out of the blue by Simon Blackquill, whose friend from prison has been accused of theft. But Athena gets the sense that there's far more to this case than meets the eye, and the theft might just be the least of her problems. Can she, Trucy, and Apollo solve this case and save Blackquill's friend, or will they fall victim to whatever is going on behind the scenes?

This Athena-led case features the return of many fan favorites from both trilogies and many new characters as well! It will also be incorporating some new uses of the Mood Matrix and explore the psyches and development of the major characters, both old and new.

[loregoddess]

1, 4, 19 and 36 for the Ace Attorney ask list!

1. Favourite Ace Attorney game? Technically AAI2, but I got so hung up trying to divine the mysteries and unresolved plot threads of AA4 to a point where honestly it looks like my fave game (you know that post something about "you will eventually run out of things to say about something that is very good and completed, but something that is mediocre and incomplete--but has the potential to be good--will haunt you forever?" yeah).

4. Favourite prosecutor? I'm basic and boring and Miles Edgeworth is still my fave prosecutor, and honestly he's one of the few characters who's character arc feels complete and was really well-written and fleshed out. I was and still am to some degree very unhinged about Klavier Gavin though (re: the mysteries, Capcom give me the forbidden Gavin lore I need to know if my 500 thousand insane theories are right or not). Also technically Kazuma Asougi bc he's my favorite DGS character and I was and to some degree still am also very unhinged about him.

I also really like Blackquill and just never talk about him, but he's such a weird and wild character, like, the exact inverse energy of Victor Frankenstein archetypes (saw a scene that would have made several other fictional characters go "oh god, what a monster this child is" but instead of reacting that way was like "oh yeah, based on her life experiences so far, that is what she would do, I now have to die to protect her bc everyone else is going to think she's a monster if they know the truth"--insanely gallant but unhinged thing to do sir).

19. Least favourite witness? Honestly can't remember off the top of my head? Maybe Moe the Clown? But dunking on Turnabout Big Top seems like the easy way out...

36. Do you like where the franchise is heading or did you prefer the atmosphere in the original trilogy? Well, considering Capcom hasn't done anything aside from port games for the past few years, I would like it if the series got literally any new content at this point.

But all that aside, while I think the overall writing of the original trilogy is very strong overall and more cohesively tied-together than later gams, I do still hold a lot of love in my heart for the newer games and like, the story/characters would have to be butchered a lot worse (than anything I've ever seen Capcom do with any of its game series I'm familiar with) to really put me off.

I mean, I'm a huge fan and have lots of love for far more poorly written/executed games than anything in AA (and have also put up with far worse or more frustrating developments in other game series despite actually not liking the new story/character direction; not AA, completely different series, don't worry about it). So really, all my quips or jokes about the current state of the series mean nothing. I know in my heart I will probably enjoy anything new. Unless it's an open-world game, then I would be a bit disappointed probably.