Thinking About AA Role-swap AUs And If Prosecutor Phoenix Wright Would Also “choose Death” And Then

I don't know if this has been talked about before, but I really disliked the way the Careers were characterised in sotr. They felt like more of a caricature than in thg1, even if they were the minor antagonists in both. But they seemed more believable in thg1, although they had less lines. More competent? Like, if they trained for the Games for years, why would they be so airheaded? If it were up to me I'd make sure my volunteers were both strong and bright. And teach them how to prepare for the interviews!

And them always being the bully stereotype misses out on really interesting topics. For sure fame is one of the motivators, they're teens made to believe the Games are the highest honour, but why do they always have to be fame seeking brutes? Why don't we ever see them from the angle of training to protect the younger or sick kids from their district, even if it's just implied? If someone is guaranteed to volunteer each year in the career districts, the non career kids have stress-free teens (unless there's a QQ twist, I guess). They can take all the tesserae they need because it doesn't really matter how many times your name is in the bowl, their parents need not worry, no one's starving...

Idk, I guess all these things can be implicit because we know the system, and it makes sense they're minor antagonists because we seem them from a non career pov. But. I feel like there's a lot of missed opportunities world building wise when it comes to Career districts; not in a way that woobifies them (they're not the most oppressed district if such a thing can be compared, although, they're still district yk) it's just!!! interesting stuff that makes sense and I wish it was more present. I have more to say but this post will be more of a jumbled mess than it already is lol.

I love this conversation so much.

It's clear in RFTA that Phoenix had an idea of how Edgeworth was supposed to heal after this. Kill the prosecutor in your OR let it help you grow... But Edgeworth did both. He had to kill off his old self before he could truly heal.

Do you think this conversation haunted Phoenix before Edgeworth came back

Intro Post ✧

I'm revamping my intro post because it's been a few months since I started this blog and some things have changed.

Hello! My name is Jen and welcome to my fandom blog :) Feel free to DM me to talk about any of my interests!

I'll mainly be posting analysis/meta about whatever my main obsession is...

Ace Attorney ⚖️

Favorite characters: (1) Miles Edgeworth, (2) Phoenix Wright, (3) Franziska von Karma, (4) Manfred von Karma

Favorite ships: (1) Miles/Phoenix (Mitsunaru), (2) Manfred/Gregory (Shingou)

Favorite game: Justice for All <3

I am also a fan of over-villainized/neglected characters, like: Franziska von Karma, Manfred von Karma, Dahlia Hawthorne, Larry Butz, Viola Cadaverini.

My AA related tags:

#jen's aa rambles (just me ranting or gushing about ace attorney)

#jen's aa analysis (actually formatted analysis/meta/arguments about ace attorney)

Other Interests :)

Typology! mainly MBTI (cognitive functions!!) and enneagram

The Legend of Korra (Kuvira, Baatar jr, Baavira)

Avatar The Last Airbender (Azula, Katara)

Genshin Impact (Kujou Sara, Arlecchino, Raiden Shogun)

Other fandoms I'm in (feel free to talk to me about these but I doubt I will post anything about them in the near future): Kpop (but mainly Dreamcatcher), The Hunger Games, Divergent, Six of Crows.

I love that phoenix is a bit of an asshole like he’s the most character ever

but i will not stand for goofy dumbass pathetic Phoenix erasure.

Bro canonically says “YEOWCH!” when he gets stabbed or hit.

He grabs the back of his neck and chuckles when he’s feeling sheepish.

He called himself “Sherlock Holmes II baby!” when sherlock holmes never existed. A HERLOVK SHOLMES DID

He gushes when something is cute or romantic. “You’re too cute to call you just pearl!” “*actively crying at the delite’s love story* thats so romantic…”

He copies his friends’s mannerisms bc he loves spending time with them. (also bc he has adhd. No this is canon and i’m correct about it no one fight me)

Feenie copies a lot of Larry’s mannerisms

Phoenix copies a lot of Mia’s mannerisms

Beanix has a lot of Dahlia’s mannerisms which i wont look into bc i value my mental health

In the anime he copies Ron Delite when he was yelling and that was so funny

theres more but i always write these when i’m half asleep

He loves to gossip with Maya, (like when gumshoe got a crush)

He loves to argue about pointless shit as well like ladders, which kinda leads into him trying to purposely be difficult bc he thinks its funny

idk i feel like people forget that this is the same dude who got amnesia twice and still went to work (once as his actual job: attorneying and once as a friggin baker 😭😭)

theres a TON of goofy cartoony shit that phoenix does! Yes he can be sarcastic, but he’s also a giant loser who is REALLY good at improv.

Phoenix is just as weird as everyone around him. He’s also a goofball who happens to be a big hater.

Iris is a personal fav for me!

Azula's Motivations in ATLA

I haven’t been in the ATLA fandom long enough to know how popular this opinion is, but I think at her core, Azula wants to be accepted, to be loved, to belong.

I think you can tell a lot about a character by finding out what breaks them. Looking at goals can be helpful, but a lot of the times goals can mask true desires.

What truly begins to break Azula is the betrayal from Mai and Ty Lee. She's also strangely bothered by the belief that her mother thinks she's a monster. In the scene where she hallucinates her mother, Azula only breaks down and shatters the mirror when her mother says she loves her. As if Azula desperately wants it to be true but can't believe it, so she lashes out.

In the finale when Ozai leaves her behind to go destroy the earth kingdom, she says: “I thought we were going to do this together” and “you can’t treat me like Zuko”. She’s desperate to belong, to be accepted by her father. And even though she’s had his approval for her entire life, she’s immediately afraid of being cast aside.

While she is pretty obsessed with succeeding at everything she does and doing things perfectly (ie “almost isn’t good enough”), I think the real reason she’s so obsessed is because she believes she must earn her worth in order to be accepted.

Azula hasn't had many experiences with healthy relationships as a child so she makes people stay by instilling fear and proving her worth. Power and success aren't what she truly desires. They are more so a means to an end.

I also think in the last Agni Kai, she breaks down not just because she's defeated, but because Zuko and Katara defeat her together. A painful reminder that other people have support they can rely on, but she has no one.

It's also really interesting to compare her to Zuko because I don't think Zuko has the same motivation at his core. Yes Zuko became obsessed with chasing the Avatar to be accepted by his father, but really it was about his honor. Zuko saw acceptance in the Fire Nation as a means to an end for his own worth and honor.

And that's the reason Zuko isn't satisfied when he's back to belonging in the Fire Nation again in season 3. And he's not satisfied in the Earth Kingdom with his uncle's support, nor satisfied being accepted and trusted by Katara in that cave.

I'm not saying Zuko doesn't care about or want acceptance from people, just that there is something deeper motivating him.

When Azula pushes people away, it's defense mechanism. When Zuko pushes people away, he's yearning for something more.

Here’s our girl

Still not very good at digital art but I don’t mind how this one turned out :)

Click for higher res

This aligns exactly with what Edgeworth said at the end of Turnabout Goodbyes.

“For the longest time, I thought that I might have killed my own father. I thought I might be a criminal. I became a prosecutor in part to punish myself”

Edgeworth projected himself onto every defendant he prosecuted. It was probably the only way he could live with himself.

replaying 1-2 and it’s finally clicked that edgeworth thinking phoenix could murder mia was less about phoenix and almost entirely about him, who’d been living with the knowledge he killed his father despite loving him, idolizing him, and constructing his world view around him. edgeworth indicting phoenix for his mentor’s murder was one of the biggest signs he’d been carrying a guilty conscience for the past 15 years of his life.

I have to save him.

Comparing some quotes from Farewell My Turnabout to AA1, you start to realize what Miles Edgeworth’s redemption arc is really about…

Turnabout Sisters: "Innocent"...? How can we know that? The guilty will always lie, to avoid being found out. There's no way to tell who is guilty and who is innocent! All that I can hope to do is get every defendant declared "guilty"! So I make that my policy. Versus Farewell, My Turnabout: It doesn't matter how many underhanded tricks a person uses... The truth will always find a way to make itself known. The only thing we can do is to fight with the knowledge we hold and everything we have. Erasing the paradoxes one by one... It's never easy... We claw and scratch for every inch. But we will always eventually reach that one single truth. This I promise you.

Rise From the Ashes: But in order to fight crime on my own, I'd need a "weapon." It's scary, but I've known that to be true for quite some time now.  Versus Farewell, My Turnabout: Working together is the definition of teamwork. It's the power to find the truth.

Edgeworth’s redemption isn’t about him gaining +100 morals. He turns his cynicism that used to blind him from seeking the truth into unflinching realism. He goes from being detrimentally independent to understanding the importance of teamwork. 

Miles Edgeworth is just as ruthless and unrelenting, but decides to use it to try to do good. He’s still overly focused on a singular goal, but instead of guilty verdicts, his goal is the truth. He’s still an insensitive prick. He acts condescending to the people he wants to help. He doesn’t fully comprehend how much his actions hurt the people who love him. But he does everything he can to help Phoenix save Maya. And he sees through Phoenix’s and Franziska’s misbeliefs when it comes to practicing law, and does his best to help them find themselves too.