#Capcom address Phoenix's trauma

[aceof-stars]

Thinking about AA role-swap AUs and if prosecutor Phoenix Wright would also “choose death” and then I remembered that in Farewell My Turnabout, Phoenix tells Edgeworth it might be time for "Defense Attorney Phoenix Wright chooses death". In the bad ending where Matt Engarde is declared "not guilty", Phoenix literally wanders the streets. Before I played this case, I thought Maya dies in the bad ending which prompts this reaction, but no he doesn't even see Maya again.

The more I look at canon, the more I realize Phoenix is as much of an emotional mess as Miles is, likely even worse. Phoenix's identity has always been so tied to being a lawyer, to saving people. He condemns one innocent person (Adrian Andrews) and he completely falls apart. And honestly, the same would probably happen if he got Matt Engarde "guilty" and Maya dies. Of course prosecutor Phoenix Wright would leave like Miles did.

[schmorpthe]

Nothing hits me like a good post 7yg narumitsu fic with Phoenix definitely dealing with the trauma. How it all fueled his pre-existing (I am a BPDnix truther) and how he has to learn to deal with it in this new context. Bonus points if it also contains him and Klavier becoming friends as they forgive and support each other while they work through their Kristoph trauma.

That or a gut wrenching narumitsu hospital fic.

I do need happy endings though, my heart can't take it otherwise✨

I wish I had the writing abilities or the time to at least attempt to write this stuff lmao

[borom1r]

for the character opinion bingo: maya, franziska, pearl, miles and/or phoenix, + klavier or perhaps apollo? :3c whichever of these sounds more fun!!

bestie ilyyyy i will always do all of the characters shfjjsjf i love Talking and Thinking Thoughts

anyways Maya!!

I DONT HAVE A TON OF THOUGHTS ABT HER BUT I ADORE HER I NEED HER TO BE OK!!!!!! I MISS HER SO MUCH IN THE GAMES!!!!!!

Franziska

I almost put “If anything happens to them I will cry” but lbr she’d be fine. I’m squeezing Miles and Phoenix like stress balls but Franziska and Maya are getting put on my shelves like 2 action figures I’m making kiss

Pearl!!

I ALSO NEED HER TO BE OK. PLEASE. PLEASE CAPCOM IM BEGGING WHAT ARE MAYA AND FRANZISKA AND PEARLY DOING RN!?!?

Miles

Somehow, He Did Not Get A Bingo. hes Everything 2 me. his stressed cat noises and stunted emotions have captivated me

Nick!!!

ALSO no bingo!!! tf!!! he’s so fucking scrunkly I’m obsessed w him. you know Miles’ Phoenix-related stress migraines are so ingrained that he’ll get hit with one out of the blue in Germany and call Phoenix to discover he’s like, gotten hit by ANOTHER car or targeted by the mob AGAIN or fallen out a window or down a manhole or been assaulted by a witness or SOMETHING. and Phoenix just laughs it off. me 🤝🏻 Miles + shaking Nick by the shoulders and shouting @ him that this is NOT NORMAL BEHAVIOR and PERHAPS HE SHOULD TAKE BETTER CARE OF HIMSELF and PEOPLE DO IN FACT CARE ABOUT HIM also MAYBE AVOID MEN WITH FIRE EXTINGUISHERS

Klavier time

HMMM I do not have a Lot of strong emotions abt Klavier but fwiw I genuinely like him!! I would just like to see more of him I think. He n Apollo had such a good dynamic and that all got pushed wayyyyyyy to the backburner w dual destinies. like I’m sorry this is the game series w such iconic lines as “b-bottom?” and “unnecessary feelings” and “maybe YOU should be stripped naked and run out for making a mockery of this court” and “you’re a work of art, Phoenix Wright” BUT AA4 WAS TOO MUCH?????? THATS WHAT MADE U TRY TO NO-HOMO THE LAWYERS????????????? ok. ok I guess. apparently “I’ve never felt like this with a man” was CROSSING A LINE

also I need Miles and Klavier content it’s a widespread joke abt Miles and Nick adopting So Many Children but hello??? hello???? manipulated for potentially their entire lives by someone they thought they could trust, someone in their immediate family, as part of some twisted vengeance plot???? you cannot look me in the eyes and tell me Miles wouldn’t immediately extend a “my office is always open, you’re not alone” to Klavier the SECOND he heard what the fuck had happened w/ Kristoph!!

last but certainly not least, Apollo!

same as what I said w Klavier pretty much. AA4 was going in very interesting directions particularly w it’s characters and then that all just screeched to a halt. NOTHING is addressed. and like it IS the silly lawyer game to an extent but also how much of AA1-3 is about oh idk, your mentor getting murdered or her sister getting kidnapped and/or framed for murder BY HER OWN AUNT or your rival coming to terms with and trying to move past his extremely traumatic past while discovering what it means to be a prosecutor

and like I get they can’t just RETREAD that w Apollo and Klavier so u kinda get a speed run in AA4 with Apollo/Klavier and Kristoph but like. Ok DD, Phoenix gets his badge back, great, what are the ramifications of that wrt Klavier? how is he coping w the fact his brother used him to get a man disbarred? how Does Apollo help him? bc Klavier does spend so much of AA4 helping Apollo in this roundabout, toying way but still steering him towards The Truth. what does it mean for them when it’s turned back around on Apollo and suddenly he IS in Phoenix’s shoes trying to support his rival who IS absolutely mired in emotions and trauma. bc it’s very easy to gloss over what happened with Daryan but like, that was a thing too???? and Klavier is almost assuredly worse abt hiding his emotions than Miles is (Phoenix can read Miles like a book from almost the beginning, while Klavier is a stage performer. he knows how to look effortlessly relaxed when he’s really stressing the fuck out. AND THATS SUCH AN INTERESTING DICHOTOMY WRT APOLLO AND HIS BRACELET ESP CONSIDERING THE WAYS IT DOES MIRROR LAMIROIR/THALASSA AND ZAK????? more “reserved” w/ tension-detecting bracelet(s) vs larger-than-life Performer tm LIKE????? argh.)

I also just want to see Apollo and Miles interact genuinely I think they would be a force to be reckoned with together. Phoenix even THINKS abt getting up to some bullshit and they both fix him with The Stare. Phoenix and Trucy unstoppable force vs Miles and Apollo immovable object (jk jk Trucy has them Both wrapped around her little finger but Miles could absolutely 100% clue Apollo in to Phoenix’s “I am pulling a ridiculous stunt” cues)

(Miles like “and here is how I get him to Stop whatever he is about to do” + Apollo just like “that’s gr8 while you were still in Germany I just started spraying him with a water bottle.” “…like a cat.” “I wasn’t going to get any work done otherwise.”)

[cerealswordbox]

klavier gavin

[fiery-is-in-pain]

Capcom did my man Larry dirty, he could be such a cool character but he's too much of an idiot (and comedic relief character) to be one. Now that I think about it the only character I've personally seen have any development is Edgeworth-

Anyway I drew this with my finger and now it hurts cause my stylus doesn't come until tomorrow

[cosmicfurby]

--AA5 SPOILERS AHEAD--

okay so that's it for dual destinies! let me tell you, this one was a BLAST. my favorite in the series this far

first off, i want to say i understand why many people hate on everything that's not the trilogy. aa4 and aa5 feel very disconnected with each other style and gameplay-wise, whilst the trilogy was very consistent and homogeneous. i can understand that, however, once you start thinking of the rest of the games as standalones rather than part of another trilogy, it's easier to get through

this one... this one was emotionally harsher than any other games, except perhaps that final case in trials and tribulations. maybe it was the fact you already know and love the characters, maybe the nostalgia, but those last two cases were... omg. i cried a lot, they are full with raw emotion and tragedy and angst. they're incredible, there's not much I can say about them.

i was a little skeptical of the 3d models at first, however, i got used pretty quickly to the change. (not to what they did to klavier gavin, that is a hate crime your honor). the voices changing are also something you eventually forget and they didn't break my immersion.

as for the new game mechanic –mood matrix–, i am literally obsessed with it. it feels like by this point in the series they already knew what they were up to when introducing the lawyers' special abilities, and knew what they were doing. the mood matrix is engaging, it's fun and challenging without becoming impossible. i absolutely loved the matrix and was looking forward to in in every trial.

the characters, I'm not going to lie, got to me, and they got to me hard. phoenix working again, with his lawyer's badge on, was particularly emotional, given all he's been through. apollo does not have a particular good time in this game because of his circumstances, however, once he manages to work through that trauma and finally lets go of clay's coat... cathartic, really. good to see him get some fleshed out backstory that doesn't feel that it comes out of nowhere. and athena, oh, athena. my love for athena knows no limits. that poor girl has gone through so. much. shit! and she's still the most adorable, energetic person. her story broke my heart then pulled it back together. and what can I say about simon blackquill? i am obsessed with his character, his story, what he did. thoroughly obsessed. at first i thought what anyone else would've: that he was a jackass who shouldn't be allowed to prosecute. but then, once they delve in all that happened... he spent seven years in prison as an innocent man because he wanted to protect a little girl. that is devastating. seeing him smile in the last case was the most heartwarming thing. I'm so glad he got the justice he was denied for so long. trigger warning, though: very little trucy on this... shameful. just kidding, she does show up time to time and you can tell this was the developers baiting all them trucy fans such as myself. her presence being limited makes the few times she appears ever more important

as for the actual cases and story... wow. just wow. seems to me like they learned from the mistakes made in aa4. backstories and events are foreshadowed in a way i did not expect from Anime Lawyers' Plot Twists: The Game, however the team excelled at this. athena's backstory was handled well so we'd suspect what was going on from the beginning without actually spoiling everything, as well as blackquill's. the final reveal, though it was shocking as any reveal of that nature should be, didn't feel pulled out of their asses: we knew fulbright, or rather whoever was posing as him, was the one to evacuate the space center. it was a matter of connecting the dots, and not just "oh haven't you heard? surprise!!!" as the apollo reveal was. tip of the hat to capcom. this was very well done.

another very important thing to note in this game that sets it apart from the others is that, for the first time ever in the series, trauma is addressed. people show emotional reactions to powerful events in their lives, who would've thought! no more phoenix just going on about his life after his mentor's death, no more apollo just getting over a betrayal like kristoph's. no: apollo gets emotionally scarred after clay's death. so does athena with what happened to her mother and what she thought she did. trauma is there, it's worked through and mentioned, and i think that's a big step forward since the detachment that i often felt in the trilogy. i really really appreciated this aspect of the story and liked how they handled it

final thoughts... the nostalgia, man. pearls comes back! so does edgeworth! they definitely knew what they were doing when they peppered in a casual appearance from our husband <3 getting to see little pearls and edgey again feels wonderful, like a balm for your soul after how much you feel like crumbling down during that last case. they went for the feels for this game, and they did that well.

10/10 would let this game break me again, now let's go to a different land for spirit of justice, rock and roll buckaroo

[daddywright]

I have only recently got into the ace attorney fandom, and this story was the first story I read, and I feel spoiled! I absolutely loved every chapter, so I'm gonna word vomit here and tell you everything I love about this!

"She offers him a smile. It’s small, tentative, but it possesses a strength that makes a hidden part of him twist and burn with quiet envy." the first time we see nick's wish to be as strong as mia!

Considering the fact that nick didn't have any prominent figure in his life, it makes sense that he would look up to gregory so much

"Phoenix looks up, and starts walking towards Mia Fey

He doesn't stop for two years."

THE RELATIONSHIP THAT MIA AND NICK HAD WAS PRECIOUS AND DESERVES MORE THAN WHAT THE FANDOM GIVES THEM

"Larry’s arms wrap around him, squeezing almost too tight" People forget that Larry and Phoenix were good friends too, and Larry would help his best friend

"Nobody believed him, nobody but Mia" Maya is what Phoenix is to Mia and I adore that

"He wishes, desperately, that he’d said it while she was still alive. I loved you. For everything you did." Not you absolutely breaking my fucking heart

Also the first AA game felt unnatural in the sense of how seemingly unaffected Phoenix seemed at Mia's murder so I'm really glad you wrote it this way

"Expensive. Thoughtful. Too much." SHUT UP NICK YOU DESERVE ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING

Also quick break to mention how I absolutely fucking love your writing style and i wish I was literally half as talented as you cuz the last time I read something that made me feel this multitude of emotions was ocean vuong. And I practically worship Ocean Vuong. So now I worship you too

"You're a stranger to me // When will I stop hoping?" I never really realised just how badly nick musta been hurt by good ol' bratworth before this fic, but now that I have read it, it would have hurt him so bad

"Is this why you never answered my letters? Because I was a reminder? Because it hurt too much?" Honestly what happened to miles and phoenix's friendship hurts so much because it should have never happened, and miles didn't deserve that.

"Maybe Miles Edgeworth is not the man he thought he’d be, either." yo when I tell you this hurt I mean this huRT

Fun fact! My birthday is on the same day as DL-6 anniversary. Gregory Edgeworth died on my birthday. I feel horrible now

"monster. You were nine years old and he's a monster. " No one has made me feel this much emotion for what happened to Miles in a single sentence other than you. I commend you for that

"I love you," he says quietly. He has never said those words to anyone, except for Dahlia Hawthorne.

Maya sniffs in his ear, crushing him tight. "I love you, too."

He has never heard them back.

PHOENIX HAS NEVER HEARD THE WORDS " I LOVE YOU" COME BACK TO HIM ARE YOU FUCKING WITH ME WHY NOW I'M SAD

"Tell me everything. Every detail—" Miles is worried bout nick and why wouldn't he? gods you're so gay miles but tbf if I knew someone like nick irl i'd go ballistic too

"He determined the motive for his own assault...with amnesia. Naturally." My man's smart af and he is king

"Is that what she thinks of me? That I'm like that? That I don't care about who the bad guys really are?" Gumshoe noooo you're hella precious! Also this particular chapter was so well written! loved this soo much!

Also taking a minute to appreciate the pacing! Rarely do I ever come across an author who just hits that sweet spot of perfect pacing and you did! so thank you!

Alright so here are a few thoughts that I felt capcom needed to do which you did for us!

no. 1 - Address the trauma phoenix faced with not only dahlia but also with mia's death

no. 2 - Actually fucking flesh out a good relationship dynamic between larry and phoenix

no. 3 - actually! have! phoenix! be hurt! in bridge to turnabout! istg my man would not have dropped from a burning bridge to a freezing river only to have a cold

AUNT FRANZY AND PEARLS MAN!

THEY CUTE

ok so I have a LOT of feelings for bridge to turnabout and HOO BOY BUCKLE UP

So I always thought that in this fic, miles must have felt fucking awful! I mean he very clearly hates who he was and what that has led to but that must have been doubled over with this case! Phoenix would have died if not for mia and it would have been indirectly miles's fault. I think about that alot

Like he said that he very much regrets whatever he did as bratworth in the phone call with gumshoe but i don't think he anticipated this. poor edgeworth

Also I think this was the final nail in the coffin for miles. Phoenix forgave him, after all the fucked up shit miles did, and that made that man go "how is this guy so fucking compassionate awwwww shit I'm in fucking love with this idiotic brave man".

my main thoughts were "holy shit phoenix must have been feeling awful." like to learn that you were in love with a person who turned out to be a murderer but then not a murderer cuz everything you felt about that was real and just...... it must have hurt. He never fell in love with dahlia. it was iris, always. and WHAT ABOUT MILES DURING THIS!!! Like to learn that the man you love was falsely led to believe that he was in love with a person he rarely met and then learn that his ex who is not murderous might still be in love with him because "that was real. that part was real." like damn. people just gloss over this

also I feel terrible for iris F in the chat for iris lads.

Dahlia literally haunting that courtroom scene. I felt mia's power. I felt her desperation. I felt everything and I am once again in awe of the absolute power your writing holds.

also godsdamn pearls had to go through all that shit huh. also FRANMAYAAAAAA THANK YOUUUU

I too, am a hoe confused as to what I should feel towards diego.

Ok anyways we jump to disbarment now

"He just winks at her and says Maya has other talents, and if Mystic Maya overhears, she puffs up at him like the fish from the aquarium she saw once, the one with all the spikes and silly eyes."

you know what constantly amazes me? your ability to change tones so effortlessly. When writing from edgey's pov, the language is sophisticated. precise. when writing from pearly's pov your language is simplistic, child-like. from phoenix's pov it's natural. grounded

"She never knew anybody who made faces like him, growing up in Kurain, and it’s one of the things that makes him special." Yo phoenix is the most amazing uncle ever and we all know it ok he's brilliant

I'M RUNNING OUT OF CHARACTER LIMITS

PEARLY CALLING EDGEY AT FIRST SIGN OF TROUBLE I'M SOFFFFTTTT

“I think I did something really bad." trucy baby no it's not your fault

pearl and trucy bonding supremacy. my girls would fuck shit up

"She’d meant to do this properly, one day." Thank you for giving importance to maya's feelings. thank you for treating her like a real human being. thank you

“Everything that happened...for what? It’s only gotten people hurt. Pearly. Our mother.” Me. Me." I felt so bad for maya here. I wish I could tell you in precise words about how this exact framing of the sentence is what broke me. "me. me" maya deserved more, but mia did all she could

"What do scared kids need? ...Food." not you breaking my godsdamn heart again. phoenix just knows what's it like being a helpless child, and he'll be damned if he ever lets anyone face that again

“‘Course, Pearls,” he says reflexively, before frowning. “What for?” reflexively. if every man in the world could be like phoenix wright then the world would be worthy of the gods

"Another one?" give it 2 years edgey she'll be your daughter too

"after countless hours creating the man’s living space in his mind from the background snatches he’d seen in the man’s ridiculous video calls." NOT ONLY DO THEY VC FOR NO PARTICULAR REASON BUT ALSO MILES ACTUALLY SPENDS TIME TRYING TO RECREATE HIS ROOM?? BECAUSE HE WOULD ONE DAY LIKE TO BE IN IT??? good gods these bitches gay. good for them

"because just as day is light and night is dark, Phoenix Wright is an honorable man." damn straight. you love to see it (it being a 27+ year old man pining for another 27+ year old man)

also hey miles! how do you feel about the fact that the man you love changed his fucking major and degrees halfway through college just so he could see you again only for you to be incredibly rude to him and make him end up in jail! (i bully edgeworth cuz i love him)

"Wright finishes, shrugging like it’s nothing, like his commitment and belief isn’t the most extraordinary thing that Miles has ever faced." it's more than pining at this point. it's incredible faith and trust. Miles had someone who cared about him even after all those years despite him having changed so drastically, ofc he would be surprised. Miles loves phoenix and so do i.

also HOT DAMN YOU WRITING IS JUST * MWAH *

Also the whole segment where they kiss is just !!!!! miles wants! it's beautiful! THEY'RE IN LOVEEE

receiving poisonous bottles which your ex tried to kill you with. My man can't get a break huh

Miles being chivalrous and protective and absolutely stealing my godsdamn heart (and phoenix's too)!

Klavier being the absolute king that he is we stan

The hostage situation section? gods miles must have been terrified.

Phoenix not being able to promise pearly that he'd always come back home and miles hearing it and like... ouch. my heart. you didn't need to do that (but i love your for it)

GODS THE CLIMAX WITH KRISTOPH WAS SOOO SATISFYING AND LIKE MY MAN PHOENIX REALLY PUNCHED THAT BITCH HUH

klavier baby I am so sorry

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL!

and thus my comment ends. I believe I have almost used up all of my commenting limits and i leave with these few parting words : HOLY SHIT YOUR AMAZING AND I LOVE YOU!

also I made a playlist on spotify for this fic! here's the link : https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3k8lRHiO8ZXQDLpiTUL7SN?si=fc3b35b4ab064867

gods this was long huh

GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY....WHERE DO I BEGIN...THE FACT THAT YOU BROKE THE CHARACTER LIMIT ON AO3 AND MADE A PLAYLIST? WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS?

thank you so much for all the amazing things you said....i am crying on a Wednesday morning knowing my writing was appreciated this much. thank you!

[neon-sunsets]

do you ever go into hyperfocus and come out having written a whole ass essay about how one of your favorite characters got fucked over by the narrative of the thing they’re in

anyways there’s a 728 word essay about why klavier is underappreciated below the cut

Throughout the narrative of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, the rival character Klavier Gavin is explicitly stated to be a prodigy. This statement is further reinforced by his behavior and dialogue within the game; his arguments are coherent and understandable, and despite his quirks he is a skilled orator. Despite this, Klavier and his potential development are routinely underestimated and dismissed, both within the game, by certain groups of fans, and by Capcom itself. This dismissal is a disservice to the complexities that could be explored within his character and backstory, especially considering that Klavier is a first for the series — he is the first prosecutor who starts off valuing the truth above perfection, and also the first prosecutor who never shows animosity towards the defense attorneys.  

In order to understand why Klavier is so commonly dismissed by the narrative, one must first understand how his character is minimized and why this is important. During Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, which will be abbreviated as AA4 for the purpose of this essay, the titular character correctly implicates his boss, defense attorney Kristoph Gavin, for a series of crimes. Kristoph is Klavier’s older brother, and AA4 details how Kristoph used and manipulated Klavier to both cover up his own crimes and get Phoenix Wright, another defense attorney, wrongly disbarred. In addition, another person close to Klavier is exposed for a separate crime during the course of AA4. The events within the game are consistently and deeply traumatic for Klavier’s character, and yet they are not addressed at all within the rest of the series. 

This lack of follow-up to or consequences for character trauma is not an uncommon occurrence in media, and would not normally be surprising. However, Ace Attorney as a series tends to address the trauma its characters experience, and especially when it comes to the characters in the “prosecutor rival” role. Miles Edgeworth’s trauma from the first game and subsequent development are important parts of the second and third game. The main prosecutor of the second game, Franziska von Karma, is afforded similar treatment and development. Even Godot, the third game’s main prosecutor, is given the kind of backstory that many culprits in the series are not. 

And yet, the consequences of Klavier’s trauma, as well as his role in the disbarment of Phoenix Wright, are never addressed. In fact, he only makes one more major appearance after his role in AA4. However, his backstory and character have the potential for a lot of interesting conflict and development. The question becomes, then: why is Klavier’s character so ignored?

The first potential reason for this is the way Klavier is presented as a character. He manages two careers, one as a prosecutor and the other as a musician. Thus, he keeps up a rockstar persona, and his quirks and mannerisms makes it easy for him to not be taken seriously. Beyond his easygoing nature, Klavier is less visibly impressive than the other “prodigy” characters in the game. His dedication to the truth means that he lacks the perfect record of characters like Miles Edgeworth and Franziska von Karma. Additionally, although he became a prosecutor at seventeen, most of his appearances are of him as an adult, which makes him less traditionally prodigal than the other characters in this same category. 

The second reason comes not from anything within the game, but instead from the behind-the-scenes development of the game. The writer and creator for the original trilogy, Shu Takumi, felt that the series was properly wrapped up after the first three games. However, Capcom wanted the series to continue, as it was extremely popular. Reluctantly, Shu Takumi wrote and developed both AA4 and the character of Apollo Justice. After this game, however, the development of the main games was transferred to a different writing team. This would explain why Klavier’s character doesn’t make many appearances after AA4 and why his backstory and trauma are never resolved. 

Whatever the reason may be, it is unfortunate that Klavier’s character is not resolved within the series. He had the potential to be an interesting narrative foil for several characters introduced in later games, as well as continue to be a valuable supporting character in terms of his relationships to Apollo Justice and Phoenix Wright. And considering the fact that his brother is one of the best villains in the series, it’s especially disappointing that he never quite gets to reach his full developmental potential. 

[isdisorigionalenoughforyou]

Super sexy aa7 ideas that will never happen

*puts on my clown shoes

Themes: “the worst times are when lawyers have to smile their brightest, but you can’t be a lawyer 24/7” “sometimes (esp now) the system is WRONG”

CASE 1

Klavier Gavin prosecutes, because society has progressed beyond needing Paynes

And if the widespread complaint is that he’s too nice, this position is perfect

Make a witty remark abt feeling demoted >:(

Athena and Trucy dream team girls

Murder took place at a theater/has something to do with acoustics, to ~fit the characters~

Maybe Lamiroir was there 👀

Phoenix is once again a witness, but hes less infuriating. But still fucking funny infuriating

He mentions his college degree, vaguely. Pressing him reveals nothing.

Also address that TRUCY AND KLAVIER PROBABLY HAVE SOME TRAUMA FROM MURDERS AT THEIR PERFORMANCES

Defend a rando

The twist: the murder only could’ve been committed by someone with superhuman hearing, so Athena’s senses are vital here!!

End: the culprit tries to psychologically fuck with everyone, but Athena stays strong, maybe uses some noise cancelling headphones, and corners the SHIT out of them

Also, there’s a new judge. A higher judge than your normal judge, who is a boomer. BOOMER JUDGE

Post-trial: a comment about all them missing Apollo…

CASE 2

Athena vs Franziska von Karma

Athena calls her out on the whipping if that’s still a thing

[Maybe Trucy is there again for extra spice,,,] but Solo Thena would be EPIC

NEW FRANZISKA DESIGN

Maybe we can bring Maya back here, but NOT ACCUSE HER FOR MURDER

Or accuse her at the scene but quickly disprove it

Idk also address her trauma

Wow this is turning into ATHENA CYKES- ACE THERAPIST

Put Simon there too because he’s hilarious

Maybe him and Maya are casually attending Comic-Con for the Steel Samurai panel

Defendant: some toxic celebrity with DRAMA

the twist: the murderer was targeting several high-profile ppl, but only killed like. A janitor instead. They aren’t found OR arrested, but you get a not guilty by… indicting their accomplice. And it HURTS but you have to or its your not-guilty kinda-a-dick client that gets guilty

New judge plays by the written rules, so u can’t ague ur case

Franziska is skeptical of the Accomplice’s guilt, but she lets the verdict go because your client is innocent.

Athena cries to Phoenix about how she feels like she fricked up b/c she empathizes with the accomplice but also everyone, Phoenix does his best dad comfort—this is the truth that’s allowed in the confines of their court system.

CASE 3

NARUMITSU DATE

Open with a call from Maya. She loudly thanks the god/the holy mother for this

MURDER!!! AT THE VENUE  

Kay and Sebastian are there

GUMSHOEEEEE (OLDER SPRITE??? Higher salary?? Maggey too?)

Classic Wright vs Edgeworth

All the options are flirty

Everything is an innuendo

Trucy co-council is embarrassed by ur Old Man Flirting (NEW SPRITES)

Lampshade conflict of interest what with dating opposing council. Gloss over it completely

Phoenix’s college degree is vaguely mentioned to be helping him. This is Not elaborated on

The murder is some crazy shit that basically parodies the whole series

TWO SETS OF EVIL TWINS

3 cross poisonings and with INTERESTING results of chemicals mixing (Ema: 👀)

All the dying messages were faked

Handedness contradiction.

Some gross old guy appears, but you can punch him

The murder weapon goes from bloody knife with defendants fingerprints on it to glass shards of a broken bottle to an icicle to an overly spikey piece of hair

EXTRATERRITORIAL RIGHTS

For extra funnies: BOOMER JUDGE IS NOT USED TO THIS. They are the straight person of this comedy clown case.

For extra feels (the twist): Phoenix actually has an emotional breakdown on one of the investigation days. Maybe Trucy gets put at risk again, or something with poisoning, or even something with Kay or Seb (to show how much Phoenix cares, in general) and we address all the shit that he’s gone thru

Awkward comforting by miles

HUG SPRITE/ART

CASE 4

(shoves Klavier into Khura’in) GO FAKEGERMANBOY GO

Play as Apollo (khura’inese clothes sprites)

KLAVIER CO-COUNCIL (CASUAL SPRITES?? Put his hair up in a bun capcom im begging)

ADRESS AA4

Maybe at the end of one investigation, theres just. A heartfelt talk.

Ok ill make it heavy (b/c if its lighthearted these fuckos will never talk about their feelings)

LAMIROIR IS HERE TOO??

TRUCY ALSO- im sorry truce im shoving you everywhere because I want you to develop

maybe she and Klavier are like, performer bros

Apollo is happy that Trucy is but also feels alienated, like AA6 totally pulled him from his AA4 roots [COUGH]

CASUAL TRUCY SPRITE??? I would cry capcom

Nahyuta, Rayfa, and Apollo being awkward but trying (and mostly succeeding) siblings, Amara being a scary but p good queen momther

FRANZISKA INTERNATIONAL PROSECUTING??? Idk it’d be epic tho

She roasts Klavier so bad

Though he is very smart so she just roasts his terrible German

Resolve the Gramarye siblings here?

Include something with gender dysphoria to contrast how they butchered Robin Newman???

This is huge headcanon territory here tho

The Twist: realizing that this case cannot POSSIBLY be resolved in 3 fucking days. Also that Apollo is so backlogged that hes stressed and he probably needs help

Also someone tries to frame Klavier with his Gavinners-brand shoeprints

End: answer yes/no to Klavier working at Justice Law Offices. The choice affects his dialogue with Apollo in 7-5

CASE 5

Some fuckin. International level scandal

Elaborate on whatever the fuck “the phantom” was spying for? btw is the same that the culprits froms 7-2 and 7-4. maaybe 7-1?

And it involves MORE AUDITORIUMS

Open w/ calling Trucy, whos in the states. She mentions that Klavier casually got a Japanifornian defense attorney badge. Cue exasperation/fondness/incredulity (I promise this is relevant)

In Khura’in

Starts small- like a robbery, which leads to an attempt on Thalassa’s life. Again

Athena gets to therapy her

Then someone high-profile actually fucking dies

Athena (co-council Apollo) vs FINAL BOSS FRANZISKA

Lots of investigating with them

Talk about space center and grief

The twist: a person with low emotional output is framed, but they are innocent because LOWER EMOTIONAL REACTIONS DOESN’T MAKE YOU FUCKING EVIL

The other twist: Bring in 7-2 framed person for a character witness, show that they’re innocent. Athena is panicking because of Fear(?) so Apollo is determined to Do Something, and points out how this only happened because the system is Stupid and calls Klavier and Trucy

BECAUSE:

At the same time, there’s a stateside investigation. some botched, continued interreference at the Space Station

Klavier can pull an Edgeworth and investigate with Trucy

With parently narumitsu

Klavier talks about Apollo a lot, Trucy calls him out on it

Nahyuta is prosecuting this case

Depending on the relations between Klavier and Nahyuta established in 7-4, this will be hilarious or disastrous

Protective Yuty route: makes scathing comments about petty parts of Klavier- a petty-off

Teasing Yuty route: brings it up whenever Klavier talks about Apollo. Rlly funny banter. Klavier showing more human emotions sprites!!

Revisit the Space Center and get emo. Simon is here, arguing with Nahyuta

Because the cases go to trial simultaneously, the comment about the wrong conviction in 7-2 can be brought to the Japanifornian courts by Klavier and Trucy

They argue that Athena was forced to do that to spare an innocent and press HARD for legal reform

They call in Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth for reforms??

They also start a twitter war (that can be investigation minigame) and get public opinion up abt it

Yuty vouches for change, w/ khura’in as evidence

SO AA4 CAN GET KINDA RESOLVED!!

DUNK ON BOOMER JUDGE

BONUS: CASE 6: TURNABOUT CHILLOUT

Phoenix vs Franziska

Larry time

Scruffy time

Idk man. No more international stuff, just good old fashioned cleaning up ur shitty dad’s messes amiright

Resolve things with the Shelly card?

oldbag cameo but you file a restraining order

help trucy and pearls with college

TLDR: Athena actually tracks an international conspiracy that has weight, the AJ gang once again changes the system, Phoenix gets emotional resolution, Franziska helps international stuff AND gets emotional resolution, and i finally stop trying to throw hands with capcom. 

[zombolouge]

⭐⭐⭐!! I'm behind on catching up with Indefensible (bc I am also in the US and have been Big Overwhelmed too, so sending positive mental health vibes your way as well), so I will leave it to you to pick a part of a fic that you are most dying to discuss!

AH bb take your time catching up, there’s no rush!! It will still be there whenever you’re ready <3 I will send some positive mental health vibes right back at you, lord knows all of us in the US really need them lol 

Okay, so my pick for this...hmmm, why don’t we talk about TRAUMA. I’ve had a lot of people comment about how I handle everyone’s trauma in the series, so I figure that’s a solid point of interest :)

I knew I was going to be writing this fic before I had actually played all the games, which gave me a bit of an advantage from a writing perspective because I actually took a HUGE amount of notes while I played. The most important of these notes were pages that I called “Lists of Trauma”. And I had one for every character. I would set them up every time I saw something in the games that would have been potentially traumatic, including backstory stuff that came to light. Then I’d write down what the trauma was, when it occurred, and how I felt it would affect them (both immediately and long term). 

Pretty much everybody gets that Miles Edgeworth is traumatized. The game does a decent job of showing some of that, by giving him PTSD and mentioning his fear of elevators, using his recurring nightmares as a plot point, etc. But Miles is by FAR not the only one in the series traumatized. Pretty much every case is enough to send someone to therapy for a hell of a long time, but it’s not always highlighted as much as Miles, and I think it’s easy to brush everyone else’s trauma under the rug because their coping methods were a little more understated. I do think the evidence is there in the games, but it’s not obvious (Capcom puts a lot more subtlety in there than I initially would have expected. Either that or I’m adding subtext on my own and giving them too much credit. EITHER WAY, it did give me a lot to study and pick apart.)

One of the biggest themes in my writing is addressing and processing trauma (lol can you tell I have trauma I have worked on processing? hahaha). I tend to lean towards doing it in healthy and productive ways, as well, so I was HYPERFOCUSED on all the events happening to each individual character. By the end of the canon storylines, I had a pretty solid idea of what people still needed to work through and how things were holding them back, which is honestly how I arrived at some of the plotlines I did. They’re all engineered to be ways to push the characters where they need to be in order to heal. Or at least to grow (full healing is gonna take decades and y’all I can’t be writing this for the rest of my life haha)

In some cases, like with Phoenix and Miles and their relationship, I knew that it was going to involve a massive breaking point to get them anywhere. It’s been decades in game-time and they haven’t taken very many steps forward, which tells me that repression is so ingrained you basically have to make them completely snap and land in a place of “nothing left to lose” before they’d take any more steps. Hence the remote location and the cold temperatures and them working together and the closet scene and the hot tub scene and the spit-take scene and the obvious trap and...etc. Really had to slam their damn heads together repeatedly for this one. 

But their trauma, while being some of the most obvious, wasn’t the only kind I wanted to address. Like, seeing everything play out with Apollo and Dhurke, I just kept thinking how fuckin badly that would mess someone up, and that isn’t even considering what he’d gone through BEFORE that (former boss was a murderer, and the ways he found out weren’t the softest. Best friend murdered, and the circumstances around it ended up with him getting physically injured TWICE. There’s a lot going on with that poor boy.) And Maya, who is forever cheery in the games, always struck me as someone who hid any negative emotions at all costs, and holy shit she has to have a few. She’s been accused of murder, manipulated by family, her sister was murdered, she had to raise her cousin from a young age, she’s been kidnapped MULTIPLE TIMES, had her body taken over by someone that DEFINITELY wanted to kill her and her best friend. On top of that, the first games make it pretty clear she has some inferiority issues, and alllll those traumatic situations would have only fed into it. I think she got really good at covering that up rather than really good at feeling confident. 

Pretty much all the characters got trauma’d at one point or another, and the timeline over the span of canon basically meant that nobody ever had much time to recover before some other bullshit was happening. It’s why many of the characters in Indefensible, sometimes more than once, have opined about it being neverending or how they were losing hope that they’d ever have a whole year that was just normal. 

I’ve included so many scenes where they are just breaking down and talking about feelings, because holy fuck they all need to. lol It’s also why I ended up jumping on the FranMaya bandwagon so hard because the way that the pair of them are traumatized and how they handle it is very complementary to each other. I think they’re both able to pull the dark out and soothe it within one another, keep each other from overthinking things, and provide a sudden rock to lean on when things get difficult again. If they didn’t have each other, I think the second half of Indefensible wouldn’t work as well, because Franziska absolutely would have snapped irreparably. But, uh, that won’t make as much sense until later. ;)

Anyways, this was long and rambly and I could probably make a separate post about each individual character’s trauma and how the fic is designed to shine a spotlight on it and get them to start processing it. I THINK ABOUT THIS STUFF A LOT, OKAY? 

Link to the fic if anybody needs it: Indefensible 

[aquilamage]

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Favorite character: Kay!

Least Favorite character: who’s the asshole with the puppet in turnabout big top. that guy. I don’t think about him much and there’s other characters I actively dislike more often and hate with a stronger passion but at least a lot of those are interesting on a character-writing level. he’s both shitty as a person and miserable as a character to interact with

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): farafey, yumikyo (klavier/sebastian), byrnebadd, klapollo, and uhhh maybe aurametis

Character I find most attractive: probably Aura. hot purple science lesbian

Character I would marry: Mia? I mean, she’s cool and pretty and has the kind of personality where I think we could get along well and she’s not quite so chaotic that it would stress me out being with her all the time, but still has a great fun attitude

Character I would be best friends with: I don’t know if we would actually get along but you know what at least conceptually I think being friends with Simon Blackquill could be fun. he’s a big nerd and he has a bird friend and he likes swords, what else could you ask for

a random thought: something that’s been in my head a bunch lately is thinking about the kinds of parallels you can make between aai and aa5 especially centered around Metis and Byrne’s deaths. which is. fun

An unpopular opinion: I probably have something more interesting but not that I can think of so - overall, I think I like the investigations games more than the main series (and apollo justice is my fav of those). Which I’d be willing to guess is at least not the majority view so. uh, yeah

my canon OTP: you know, there aren’t actually that many explicitly clear canon romantic relationships in the series (at least I can hardly think of any) but uhhh the DeLites are kind of adorable. not really an otp but I like them, let’s go with that

Non-canon OTP: farafey!

most badass character: if we’re thinking of it in terms of cool and tough and competent etc which I think is what makes the most sense, there’s a bunch of characters that fit it in a traditional sense but can I just say Maya. because she’s been through so much shit and still manages to stay strong (also capcom doesn’t address her trauma as much as they should but let’s ignore that for now huh). And in those and other desperate situations there’s so many times when it’s her cleverness and out-of-the-box thinking that makes solving things possible.

pairing I am not a fan of: listen there are uhhhh lets say, a few. but you know what I’m gonna say kay/sebastian. because that’s one of mine where there’s nothing wrong with people wanting to ship it, I just super don’t like it, personally

character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): I’m only allowed to pick one? Well since I just recently finished aa5 can I say…the Phantom. Because he was a cool concept, having gone in knowing the basic twist it really flavored the scenes with Fulbright to the point where I was expecting this awesome reveal (in the same way as with the mastermind when I played aai2). And then it just…..wasn’t. I didn’t know how the end of the last case went exactly before I played but most of that part I was just going….what. Very sad.

favourite friendship: there’s a lot of good friendships in canon, and also a lot of characters who I want to be friends with each other who never met, but definitely one of my top ones that we see is the Kay-Gumshoe-Miles trio. I love them they’re so fun together.

character I want to adopt or be adopted by: I joke to myself a bunch that “I’m sebastian’s dad now”and in spirit that’s accurate but in reality I don’t necessarily think I’d be a good parent sooo. oh well.

[no-hetsplanation-for-aa]

thoughts on ace attorney: dual destinies

wow, surprisingly it’s only been two months and we’ve already blazed through another game (faster than last time!!). i went into this one expecting the worst, but it turned out very differently. more about that under the cut: 

-everybody said this game was going to be bad. like....really really bad, but nearly everything that i’ve seen criticized exceeded my expectations, for once. i was super impressed with this game, i think it’s easily one of my top favorites now

-the graphics are one of the aforementioned criticisms, and honestly....it’s not so bad?? like at all? like, i’m a sucker for the classic pixel sprites, and i’ll stick by my preference for them, but regardless? the 3d models are nice. i like that they’re stylized to look like fully-rendered drawings, with the shading already painted on and cartoon lines. plus, the animations are so expressive!

-i really miss being able to investigate every area!! i suppose it would have been a bit excessive to have to make every single room rotatable, but part of the charm of ace attorney games is getting to point and click EVERYTHING you can find

-the music was alright. some of it was charming, some was just okay. i think aura’s theme was my favorite, though

-this game had a significant amount of filler, but overall felt both necessary for establishing characters, relationships and setting up the main storyline. the fillers were extremely fun--my favorite was turnabout academy but every case had a cast of lovable characters you just get attached to

-story progression-wise......even though there was setup in the fillers, it basically did what aai did in terms of every other case being a flashback and leading up to the present case (which were the first and last two cases). i’m personally not a fan of setting up the story this way, i kind of wish we could have more linear cases with a few flashbacks but it’s not a huge problem. just me being picky

-I MISS YOU, BOBBY FULBRIGHT. I’LL NEVER FORGET YOU YOU FUNKY LITTLE DETECTIVE

-smiles mcgoo

-capcom spoiled us so much with lesbians in this game, like it wasn’t even subtle: juniper and athena, juniper and robin, trucy and jinxie, aura and metis......sasha too

-but speaking of things that aren’t subtle, another thing i love about this game is that it’s more obvious/up front about mental illness and neurodivergency! athena’s (at least, in my eyes) very meant-to-be autism symptoms aren’t addressed by any particular name, but we have schizophrenia and anxiety addressed by name here, as well as acknowledging the character’s deep traumas. it’s really, really great. we got a little taste of this sort of thing back in the first two aa games, but they weren’t afraid to say things here, and i’m glad for it

-i am seriously tired of the trucy’s panties joke, also can we please just ditch this gag??? i’m begging you it’s not funny or appropriate

-i’m also upset that trucy wasn’t given more lawyering time in this game!! like, it makes sense story-wise, since the entire reason she couldn’t always be present/shut down and had flashbacks mid-trial was because of her trauma and fear of courtrooms as a result, but......it’s sad that in a game mainly about her we still have to have phoenix take the spotlight. i like you a lot phoenix but like, we can have someone else be the star now

-aura and metis’s story broke my heart....not just because i’m a lesbian, but hearing how much aura cried over her death made me feel something in the pits of my heart and. ow

-i wish clay’s history with apollo, or just his story was fleshed out just a little bit more. i have nothing against the character, but compared to metis’s death, and the rest of 5-4 and 5-5 it felt like small potatoes in comparison. i don’t feel like we got enough time to get attached to this character enough to care about him

-the phantom/”bobby” had one of the most awesome breakdowns in the entire series. i was a bit miffed because i had this part of the game spoiled a long time ago (which is my fault for not using a blacklist, though), but the payoff was still worth it

anyways....that’s all, i think. i hope you enjoyed the latest wacky attorney adventure, and that you’ll tune in very very soon for my next playthrough!

[ladyloveandjustice]

Of course flashbacks mean we get to see Morgan be abusive to Maya as well as Pearl, oh fun! This scene is pretty expected, the games heavily imply Morgan probably behaved this way towards Maya growing up, she was never exactly good at hiding her spite, but seeing it just really hammers into me once again how much Maya’s been through, all the burdens and responsibilities she’s had to bear alone at such a young age, but how she always fought and defended her family and stayed so loyal and loving. She sticks up for the people she loves even against Morgan’s horribleness, she believes in them so hard, almost desperately.

Aaaaaand it just annoys me the games don’t go into this and how it would affect Maya, they continuing piling more loss and trauma on her and continue using that as a plot device. The moment at the end of the third game where Phoenix wonders how Maya can be still standing there after all she’s been through and Maya says she’s doing it for Pearl and for the people who helped her survive is sweet and powerful but...I wish the games could have let Maya be angry or resentful or just ANYTHING because it would be impossible for her NOT to be on at least some level. She can be strong for Pearl and still deal with her own feelings.

When Miles, Phoenix, Franziska deal with trauma and tragedy and abuse, THEY get to express bitterness, but Maya...we don’t ever really get anything about what she feels towards Morgan at the end of it all, she doesn’t get to resent her Mom who definitely kinda deserves it, etc etc. 

Anyway. Just thoughts that will never be addressed by Capcom ever! 

As a further note on the abuse. wow, I also hate how Morgan manages to punish Pearl while pretending she’s not by making it clear Maya will suffer when she steps out of line and putting so much pressure on her. so much to hate.