#trucy is the best aa char

[craseycazy]

whoever at capcom came up with phoenix with a daughter im kissing you on the lips with tongue you are a genius i love you

[kar-krashew]

what's your favourite aa character in the games, and what's your favourite aa character to draw? wondering if they're the same one or not! personally i looove drawing blackquill, but he's not my top aa character overall. just curious 🥰 (also if you can't decide on one i'll take top 3 haha)

full disclosure im still only on. aa3 case 1 so i dont know that much ab blackquill but his design goes soo crazy LOL so very valid. my favs both char/drawing wise are the same ! number 1 gotta be trucy because shes my darling girl my lovely girl she goes tee-hee!! the shapes her cape and scarves make are very fun to draw and i can add so many swoops to her hair and live my best life. 💖

my other fav is mr attorney himself 🫡 phoenix is the whole reason i got into aa in the first place he is so beautiful and i am in love with him..... his hair is fun to draw but it takes about. a million years to get the final sketch down if its front facing🥴and his eyes are even worse if its an angle im not used to. his nose is fun to draw though, mostly because i dont really give him his canon nose. i also really like drawing his little eye bags. he has bewitched me what can i say!

[ID: rough sketches of phoenix and trucy wright, both smiling. phoenix is drawn with considerably less detail than trucy. trucy's eyes are closed as she sticks her tongue out /end ID]

[onceuponalegendbg]

Top Ten Ace Attorney Games

So this seems appropriate given recent announcements. Note: I’ve never played the Professor Layton crossover so it will not be on this list. Can’t really rank something you never interacted with, you know? Also, goes without saying but all opinions expressed in this are fully subjective and should be taken with a grain of salt. Like, seriously, guys. I’ve warned you.

10) Apollo Justice - Okay, so I just want to say that AA4 is not a bad game, but good lord is it the one I have the most problems with. Good things first, however. I love the dynamic between Apollo and Trucy. Their banter is so fun. I like this version of Phoenix. Really seems like he’s grown a lot in the time between games due to circumstances. I feel his relationship with Trucy could have been explored more but what we do get is good. Ema’s back, and I’ll never say no to that. Klavier is a good rival for Apollo. All that said, man do I remember barely anything about any of the cases of this game. Outside the main cast I remember Lamoire, Kristoph, and that a couple of Gramaryes are in this one. That last case also just... gives me a headache if I think about it too long.

9) Justice For All - Oh boy. So outside of introducing my favorite Prosecutor of the OG trilogy, JFA is a bit meh overall. Don’t get me wrong, Case 2 with all the Fey Drama is very solid and the final case... Come on, do I really need to say how good the Engarde Case is? I don’t even hate the Berry Big Circus case as much as most people (except for the very uncomfortable love triangle, that I detest) but even I can’t deny it’s one of the weaker cases in the series and the first case is... the whole amnesia device is more annoying than clever. Again, I’m sure I’m not saying anything new here.

8) Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright - Man, I wonder if this is some form of sacrilegious putting the first game this low on the list. Honestly, there’s not much to truly criticize with this one. It’s a very solid first entry into what would grow into such a beloved franchise. But I also just don’t have a ton of things to say about it in general? At least not many that haven’t already been said by more articulate people than I. It’s a good game. Solid starting point. Weakest case is the first one but... It’s the first case. So. To be expected.

7) Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth - Admittedly, this is only so low because I love the other games more and the last case is.... unbearably long. It was brilliant of Capcom to take what is likely AA’s most popular character and give him his own games, and even better to give us characters like Kay and Lang while also giving us Tiny Franziska. We did not deserve Tiny Franziska but they gave her to us anyway. A very enjoyable foray with a new game-play style.

6) Trials and Tribulations - Oh man, I am going to get so much crap for this one. Before anyone comes at me! Yes! T&T is a near flawless entry. Genuinely, the writing for this one is insane and Dahlia is such a well used antagonist. The through line for this game is masterful. Even the third case, which is indeed the weakest case, I find some charm in. So don’t get me wrong, I’m well aware that objectively this probably should have at least been in the top three. But this isn’t an objective list. This is my list. And while I do love T&T, I just adore the games in the top five more.

5) Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Path - An improvement from the first Investigations in almost every way. While I do think that the last case is still a bit too long, I think it’s overall more interesting than the first’s. More of Kay, Miles, and Gumshoe having the best dynamic. The addition of Ray, Sebastian, and Justine only making the cast all the better. Again, I’m a sucker for Justine being the best mom ever and her dynamic with John (and even Sebastian) is something I wish we’d had more of.

4) Dual Destinies - I don’t care what ya’ll say, AA5 is a fun addition and Athena is an amazing new character. I freakin love Athena. Like, I’m sorry but any character that has been through that much crap and still manages to smile and cheer up the people around her even when she’s feeling the absolute worst is a good character and I will die on this hill. Not to mention Blackquill being an equally fantastic rival for our protagonists. And that reveal in the last case while Aura is forcing them to do a retrial for her brother! “Oh but Phoenix is back to being goofy and it’s like AA4 never happened.” “Oh, but Apollo is angsty for no reason.” Sorry, doesn’t bother me. Like, I’m not even willing to call these things nitpicks because they’re just such non-issues for me. The only thing I’ll say is that the models do look a little off sometimes. This is a good game, ya’ll are just mean.

3) Spirit of Justice - So confession, SOJ was the first AA game that I saw from start to finish. I’d tried before but I’d never found the right let’s play of the AA franchise. Then I did find one, and I watched SOJ through start to finish. And I really enjoyed it. I love the setting of Khura’in, Rayfa, the final boss looking like a Power Rangers’ villain. Also, while we do get a lot of father son stuff, I’m such a freakin sucker for the mother daughter stuff between Rayfa and Gharan and Amara. Also, the Magical Turnabout is just... such a fun case? And of course, Maya can’t be in a game without getting accused of murder. But her growth as a character is great. I just really really enjoy this game, guys.

2) Great Ace Attorney: Adventures - I’m sure this comes as very little shock to anyone who knows me. The first GAA game is astounding. I love this cast of characters so much. Susato, Ryu, Sherlock, Iris, Barok, Gina, Toby, they’re all great! The new mechanics with the jury and multiple witnesses on the stand are great. The story is great. Yeah, the first case goes on for too long, but at least it feels fresh due to the new setting and characters. I feel like I can’t properly articulate how much I love this game. Which, speaking of...

1) Great Ace Attorney: Resolve - Yeah, yeah. Predictable, I’m sure. But what can I say, this took everything I loved about the first game and just made it better and expanded on it. The story takes so many twists and turns and it takes the characters and their bonds from the first game and makes me love them even more. WE LOVE THE FOUND FAMILY TROPE! Kazuma comes back and he becomes such a fascinating character. Rei, Courtney Sithe, Esmeralda Tusspells, Drebber are only some of the memorable new characters for this part 2. The fight against Stronghart (Vortex is still the cooler name) is such a triumphant moment! And playing as Susato in the first case!? That was amazing! And Ryu’s growth throughout all of this!? Like excuse me! I love this boy! 

[detrevniwrit]

AA, ableism, and mental illness

I've been replaying AA to determine what's my fav case (since my memory is shit and I don’t trust it) and obviously I’m critical of anything I love

As far as my opinion goes for AA1-AA2 Rise from the Ashes has the best villain and the Engarde case has most interesting MC char development--though I think better than fav case it's a lot easier for me to determine fav arc: i.e., between the Skye case and the Engarde case.

If I had to choose a case though it'd be the Engarde case bc I love Adrian and it's such a significant pivotal point for Phoenix+Edgeworth as lawyers and for the proceeding lawyers after them. And ofc as with all things I love I have to be critical about it.

The biggest thing I'd criticize about the Engarde case is that mental illness is treated (to a degree) as acceptable collateral in court. I mean sure he got a slap on the wrist for it but the way 'truth' is emphasized makes it seem like it was ok for Edgeworth to reveal Adrian's attempted suicide with or without warning, without her consent. Even considering Edgeworth might've thought that the truth would save her from self-harm like it did for him the fact remains that he was willing to dismiss her mental illness, risk triggering her and risking her life on ideals that suited -his- situation, not hers. I can't justify that in a real life scenario let alone one that's been fictively constructed. 

I enjoy the case bc I’m invested in the characters but I need to state for the record that the least Edgeworth could’ve done to salvage this ableist narrative was to show he understood what he did was damaging, and apologize to Adrian for his actions (note that in light of actions, the recognition of wrongdoing and apologizing is what matters, not whether or not Adrian would’ve forgiven him). It still didn’t happen. To be fair to Takumi at least Edgeworth was treated as overly cruel and cold-hearted to do that to Adrian in AA2...on the other hand she just forgave him in the end without further note. 

(I wonder how Takumi would've written Athena if he'd been in charge of AA5-6? It's too late to tell if his handle on brain matters would've been better or worse at that point.)

I'm relieved at least some fanfic writers get that AA, which has integral (if not explicitly stated) narratives about mentally ill characters, could be better if it had a stronger understanding of mental illness. I’ve read fic where Edgeworth faces the stigma of mental illness himself and through therapy comes to understand that it -is- a significant issue, and uses that understanding to recontextualize how he handled Adrian’s attempted suicide. I’ve read fic where Adrian is able to give sensitive, empathetic publicity advice to someone else struggling with suicidal feelings and a failed suicide attempt, and it is so, so powerful and validating. Note to self to cite some of these fics later.

Someone brought up how interesting it is that AA1-3 deals with Phoenix and Miles working their way towards upholding truth while AA4 has Apollo and Klavier upholding that principle from the beginning. It got me thinking about how standing by the truth saved the protags of AA1-3 while AA4's protags faced harsh and realized repercussions for doing the same.

Bad stuff affects Apollo and Klavier just as strongly as they believe in their principles--it’s evident in Klavier’s adoration for Kristoph, in Apollo losing his job by indicting Kristoph, in Klavier hiding his face when he realizes he’s going to help reveal Kristoph’s guilt, in Apollo punching Phoenix for making him use forged evidence. But its rare that the bad shit is acknowledged to as large or extended of a degree as Phoenix and Edgeworth's, who got several arcs dedicated to exploring their feelings on trauma, by anyone in-game (including Apollo and Klavier themselves). 

I blame this partially on the writer change and external pressure to make Phoenix a primary character again, but even in AA4 there could've been more dealing with the repercussions of the new lawyers’ character arcs. AA1-AA3 dealt with Miles and Phoenix’s changing views about the morality and the law and about each other---why couldn’t AA4 have included a moment where Apollo addressed Klavier’s feelings about Apollo jailing Kristoph, then Daryan? Or even some kind of moment of solidarity at the end where Apollo and Klavier come to terms with how they sentenced someone they once looked up to? Why did Phoenix never address how he risked Apollo’s career and integrity for his own ends and didn’t even offer Apollo a choice in other people he could work for afterwards (like pls Phoenix totally could've reached out to his connections for that)? What was Trucy’s feelings about her biological dad disappearing in between her years with Phoenix? How could Apollo trust and forgive Phoenix so easily for using him, especially considering how hard it was for him as an orphan to even get into law and make a living? Even a sentence or two could’ve been enough, and yet.

It’s really to late to make any changes but I’m still mourning how AA could've vastly benefited from validating narratives about mental illness, poverty, abuse, the works. AA has such potential for setting up and validating these narratives and obviously makes some attempt to include them--it’s disappointing that, are often than not, it can’t seem to follow through on delivering these narratives frankly or appropriately.