#layton’s mystery journey

[8trackaxolotl]

There’s a diabolical lack of Marina and Luke art

[solstere]

Wouldn’t be a very good assistant if you weren’t decent at solving puzzles!

[gobookiii]

[101flavoursofweird]

The thing I love about Kat and Ernest’s relationship

Kat grew up not just in the shadow of her father, but her older sister (the Golden Apple, Professor Layton’s protege), her older brother (who became a police inspector), her uncle Luke (Layton’s apprentice), Emmy (Number One Assistant) and Desmond (Azran-expert Professor Sycamore), etc. etc… 

Basically Kat comes from a family of clever, cool, sophisticated, capable characters, and it would be so easy for her, as the youngest child, to feel overshadowed. (Not that her family would purposely make Kat feel like that! But it’s probably inevitable when your father is THE Professor Layton!)

It’s possible little Kat appeared in the papers alongside her father— if the Professor was even taking on new cases at that point… but any fame Kat did have would be in connection to her father. Then, Layton and Luke disappear when Kat is ten. Would the public even remember the name of Professor Layton’s youngest child? (How many archaeologists can you remember by name? Not fictional ones. Can you remember the names of their children?) 

By the time Kat opens her detective agency, at he age of 21, no one (outside of her family and close friends) seems to know who she is. You’d think people working at Scotland Yard would know  Kat— her older brother works there— but the average police office like Inspector Hastings doesn’t recognise Kat when she first turns up at his office. (As seen in Ernest’s flashback!) In fact, Hastings seems to resent her! 

When Madame Gretchin Doublée requests the assistance of a ‘Layton’, she expects the Professor himself to arrive at her house— but instead, she gets his young parvenu daughter. 

We see a similar incident in the first episode of the anime, when Simon Light turns up at the Layton Detective Agency, insisting he wants Professor Layton’s help… much to Kat’s irritation.

It’s safe to say that before she opened her detective agency, Kat was just a nondescript girl in the eyes of the general public.

Sherl is Kat’s first ‘client’ when she opens her detective agency, but before that… Kat helped a young man accused of theft at Gressenheller. 

Ernest is a complete stranger to Kat. When they first meet, the only obvious connection the two share is their association to Gressenheller. Ernest mentions that he often encounters bad luck (which, I suppose Kat could relate to with her family) but other than that, Ernest doesn’t recognise Kat or her last name. He claims he chose to attend Gressenheller because his favourite professor (Dr. Ohm) taught classes there— and I believe that. I don’t believe Ernest masterminded a whole plan where he would bump into Hershel Layton’s daughter and she would expose the dragons for him. (Though, this is a cool take and I’d love to read something like that!) Maybe Ernest started developing his plans to bring down the Seven Dragons— keeping his intentions hidden from Kat— when Kat was taking on cases from the Dragons… but his first meeting with Kat was complete coincidence.

The day they met, Kat’s sole pure intention wasn’t to help Ernest out of the goodness of her heart. She was on her way to the university anyway, so she let Ernest accompany her. She may have solved the case partly to boost her own reputation and to stick it to Hastings… but she was still kind was kind to Ernest and, in the end, she cleared his name. No wonder she left such an impression on him!

After that, Ernest decides to drop everything and dedicate himself to the girl who saved him. He pronounces himself Miss Layton’s assistant and seeks her out at her detective agency. Yes, Ernest can be a little obsessive and Kat tells Sherl she doesn’t need an assistant, but actually… she really could use an assistant. Ernest makes her tea. He solves puzzles with her. He reminds her to pay rent. He carries her bags for her. He compliments her outfits. He’s indulges Kat’s wild theories. He’s like her personal cheerleader.

Kat— the overlooked, youngest Layton— LOVES this. She loves having someone to hype her up. She loves how someone (outside of her family) finally recognises her worth. She loves having a friend, who would do anything for her. 

Yes, she would be hurt by Ernest’s deception, but she forgives him. When Ernest tries to resign as her assistant and leave her forever, did he really believe Kat would let him go, after the losses she had experienced in the past? (Her father, Luke, Alfendi in hospital…)

Nope. 

[working-dreamer]

I have seen the new Layton trailer and I have thoughts!

It’s interesting that they made a point to say that in this American town Layton is just an anonymous gentlemen while Luke has been solving mysteries and growing his reputation as a detective. Makes me wonder how that will affect their dynamic. On one hand I think Layton would be happy to see Luke has thrived on his own but I also think Layton will feel sad that he missed out on watching Luke grow up.

Will Layton feel oddly out of sorts because he’s so used to being well known? Or will he revel in the anonymity that this town brings? Will Layton wonder why Luke invited him since he seems to already have a handle on solving mysteries?

The website character portrait has new things to say about the characters. On Luke’s side it says he has become a detective. On Layton’s side… it says he has been acting on his own. Does this mean that Layton hasn’t done much of anything since the ending of Unwound Future? I mean it definitely makes sense because the ending of Unwound Future could naturally have left him depressed- what if that’s partly why Luke invited him to come solve a mystery in America? What if Luke just wanted see how Layton is holding up and to be there for him if needed? It probably won’t be that dark but that would be an interesting story right? Oh my heart!

I don’t think this game retcons Kat’s story. This game takes place one year after Unwound Future. Kat’s adventure takes place years after. I have yet to see the whole anime so I don’t know if Layton says he hasn’t seen Luke since Unwound Future but if so that might be the only detail that’s changed.

Can we have a cameo from Phoenix Wright? Come on, that’d be perfect!

Those sketches thooooo!!! Flora has grown up too!! Or maybe it’s Luke’s future wife?? Either way I’m excited!

On one hand it’s kinda funny that the ending card featured bullets and two bullet holes because ‘haha of course they would include guns in America’ but on the other hand…. They included guns. Real guns. Real bullets. IF LAYTON OR LUKE GETS SHOT I’M GONNA GO FERAL!

Overall I am so excited for what the future holds! Game looks good! Big excite!

[probablygayattorneys]

(Sobbing into my hands softly)

[justkillingthyme]

Sherl <3

[saltwater-sails]

Our favorite Mr. Triton

[souriz-e]

Join Layton twt if you havent already =|:D !!!!!!

It’s super small bc I just made it the other day, but with twitter communities being introduced, i thought id make one for us since the fandoms being (finally, rightfully) revamped :3

[profiction-edits]

Layton’s Mystery Journey userboxes for anon!

[sunnyskies281]

HELLO????

[quibbs126]

So I’ve started watching a playthrough of Mystery Journey, and they’re talking about a metal thief around London, and my immediate first thought was “Descole, what did you do now?”

[teenytinyapprentice]

annoying little sister (affectionate)

[101flavoursofweird]

Kat, arrested for punching some guy who insulted her outfit:

Alfendi, who intervened and got arrested with her:

Flora, who has to bail them both out:

[working-dreamer]

Is Layton Brothers Mystery Room considered to take place between the ten year gap between New World of Steam and Layton’s Mystery Journey? Cause I just had a thought.

I’ve wondered how baby Alfendi would fit in the timeline of the story but what if Alfendi wasn’t adopted as a young kid? What if he was adopted in his late teens? Say later on after Kat was adopted? Two years after New World of Steam Layton adopts Katrielle. Maybe when Kat was 7 or 8 Layton adopts an 17 or 18 year old Alfendi? That could explain why he wasn’t around earlier because Alfendi could have been in university studying to be in the police force while Kat was being taken care of by Rosa when Layton disappeared.

Unless Alfendi gets lore in New World of Steam I like to think that Alfendi became adopted later in his life and Layton could have helped him get an education. Then Alfendi’s story in Layton Brothers Mystery Room happens (which gives more context to the spoiler call at the end of the credits of that game) because Layton would be considered publicly missing at this point if it takes place during Layton’s ten year absence referenced in Layton’s Mystery Journey.

The lore adds up y’all!

[probablygayattorneys]

So I just heard someone say that some promotional material for Layton confirms that Unwound Future takes place in 1963. If this is the case, I’ve attempted to do some math (as someone who never learned to count, quite difficult, and please grant me some room for error) and I think I have some numbers that are interesting.

He’s 34 in Last Specter. If we add four years for the events of the trilogies and say he’s 37 in '63.

Then if we add thirteen years to get him to 50 (how I got fifty for that number is a sidebar that involves Luke’s ages so I’m not going to get into it now) when he goes missing and we’re up to '76

Add eleven to account for the time he’s [redacted for spoiler purposes] and then that’s when Kat’s game occurs, and for the sake of simplicity, say Alfendi’s is set either concurrently or right around the same time, then Mystery Journey and Mystery Room take place in 1987.

Which gives us birth years for the Layton’s as Kat was born in '66, Alfendi was born in '58, and the professor was born in '26.

We can also use this math to do a really interesting thing which is place the flashback sections in Miracle Mask as '43, meaning that all of that happened smack dab in the middle of World War II.

So….. do with that what you will, I guess.