Honestly, To Me Manfred Seems Like He Would Be Too Rational To Spend Time On Hating A Group Of People

perfectionist (pt. 2)

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tag as ship for an instant block theyre siblings you freaks

I love this so much oh my god, why is Mia Fey so neglected sometimes in this fandom. You've given me a lot to think about, thank you.

I noticed Mia's bitterness when I played through 3-1 for the first time. She is so brutal in insulting Phoenix. And she reacts quite strongly when she finds out Phoenix had been lying on the witness stand.

The fact that both Mia and Phoenix react very poorly to betrayal or to what they think is betrayal... I need to personally analyze all of this under a microscope.

"Of course she told him to fake his smile, or he can't do anything. She's been doing that since she was ten years old." I'm sobbing.

Is it just me or is this piece of advice from Mia, "for a lawyer, the worst of times are when you have to force your biggest smiles", really sad?

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing inherently sad about it. I get that it's about not giving up, pushing through impossible odds and rock bottom for your client. Because for most people, being a lawyer is a just a profession.

But for someone like Phoenix? Someone who hides their pain behind saving others, who never talks about their trauma, who (subconsciously or not) considers being a lawyer not just a job but their entire identity...? All of a sudden, Mia's advice isn't just about the courtroom anymore, because for Phoenix being a lawyer was always about being good enough and able to save people. To Phoenix, Mia's advice is about pretending you're fine, not letting anyone see how you truly feel or else you can't save anyone.

something's gone terribly wrong

(you're all i wanted)

#i feel like i'm gonna get thrown tomatoes for this but#he's terrible for that but honestly i get it #it's the courtroom. not a therapy session #on my replay #i got to that part yesterday and i thought it would make me mad but as someone who's similar to adrian... #being slapped with reality like that works in waking you up sometimes #like yes it deeply hurts when things like that get unearthed but by ignoring it and refusing to talk about it........ it's more damaging yk #but ofc it's different for everybody #idk man.... bc considering he's also suicidal.... well. Well. it has certain implications #and imo he didn't mean it......he just wanted the truth out of her rather than telling it himself i guess #not defending him tho. irl that's unredeemable in my eyes lol <-- previous tags

No, no, you're right! And that's pretty much what I was trying to say. Ruthlessness is not inherently a good or bad trait. What Miles did was hurtful... but it was necessary in the end. And I truly love this part of his character, how he's so adamant about dragging the truth out and dismantling people's delusions. I wish this side of him was acknowledged more in the fandom.

(tw: mention of suicide) Did we, as a fandom, just collectively forget how ruthless Miles Edgeworth can be sometimes? And I’m not just talking about his demon prosecutor era, I mean also after his redemption arc. Because I was just playing through Farewell My Turnabout and watching him reveal Adrian Andrews attempted suicide in court after she begged both him and Phoenix not to… I was sitting there with my mouth open thinking: damn Edgeworth, was that really necessary??

And you know what, I love it. I love how he was ruthless in getting a guilty verdict in the past, and now he uses that ruthlessness to find the truth. Because I'm not just here for the traumatized, socially awkward, emotionally constipated, caring Edgeworth. I'm also here for the ruthless, intimidating, competent, morally grey Edgeworth. I'm not here for a watered-down version of Edgeworth. He wouldn't be my favorite character if he didn't have this nuance.

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.

Something I'm fond of saying is "The villain drives the plot but the hero sets the tone." Something that's very important about this is that the resolution to the conflicts presented need to match the hero's tone. If your story doesn't believe problems can be solved the way the hero wants to solve them... why is this the hero?

If you want your problems to be solved with brutal catharsis, then your hero should be someone who believes in brutal catharsis.

If you want your problems to be solved with forgiveness and reconciliation, then your hero should be someone who believes in forgiveness and reconciliation.

They don't have to begin there. This can be something they come around to over the course of the story, as they grow and change per their character arc. But by the time of their ultimate encounter with the villain, their values should be the values that drive the story forward.

There's this thing in D&D that some DMs do. Where, when you roll enough damage to deplete the monster's hit points, they'll turn to you and say, "That's a kill. Describe for the group how you take the monster down." And you're allowed to come up with some cool maneuver or something that your character did in order to deliver the finishing blow.

The hero's ultimate triumph over the villain is a lot like this. More than any other part of the story, this moment is their apotheosis. It should be a celebration of everything they are and everything they stand for.

You have defeated the villain; Now describe for the group what form that victory takes.

I'm sorry but as much as I love and ship narumitsu, Miles's "unnecessary feelings" line is primarily about him questioning his morals and methods as a prosecutor. Miles who was believed he was doing good and enacting justice by getting guilty verdicts for all defendants, who lost faith in finding the truth because he couldn't trust anyone anymore. He was shown that the truth is not so unobtainable by Phoenix, and he began to question if he was truly doing the right thing all along. That's why I love the "unnecessary feelings" line so much; it marks the start of Miles's redemption arc.

Of course you can headcanon the "unnecessary feelings" line to have romantic implications. But Klavier gets my vote in this case.

Finally did the WrightWorth sketch session with Zeet Studio! (Just in time for Valentine's Day!) This was so fun, I had a huge grin on my face the entire time

Currently halfway through Bridge to the Turnabout and no one told me I'd end up feeling bad for Larry. I feel like the developers made it their mission to hate on him specifically. And honestly out of every Ace Attorney character with trauma that gets unaddressed, why does it feel like Larry gets treated the worst by the game.

Everyone thinks he's useless and annoying. But I think the judge was correct when he said Larry has "quite a severe inferiority complex". Larry casually drops that he's been physically abused by two of his ex-girlfriends, but seems to think it's perfectly fine. He seems to believe he's utterly worthless and that he makes people "eternally unhappy". But he never changes because he suppresses his trauma so hard that he forgets about them. He actually feels so bad for screwing up in The Stolen Turnabout but instead of genuinely working on himself, he adopts a new identity because he can't stand himself probably.

But AA1 clearly shows that Larry is not "useless" or a "nuisance". After all Phoenix also wanted to repay Larry for defending him during the class trial. And not to mention Larry saved Edgeworth with his testimony in 1-4. Oh Larry you'll always be a part of the signal samurai trio.

What I really want is a case where Phoenix's client is truly guilty of the crime they’re being accused of and there isn’t anyone blackmailing him to get an acquittal.

Farewell My Turnabout is the only case where a guilty verdict is the good ending and the only case that challenged Phoenix’s entire worldview. (Correct me if I'm wrong though because I haven't played the Apollo Justice trilogy). I wouldn't change anything about that case but I still think another case could have been taken further. Because 2-4, at the end of the day, is still about saving someone; it's about the value of trust and partnership in fighting for the truth because that is what will save someone.

But I want a case where there really isn’t anyone who can be or needs to be saved. Phoenix’s client is guilty, and there are no kidnapped loved ones or anyone forcing him to get a verdict either way. Even better if the defendant is a sympathetic killer like Acro. And there is no huge impossible decision/moral dilemma about who to save, it’s just realizing that doing the right thing means accepting a loss.

I always found it ironic that Edgeworth taking a loss in the name of truth is seen as an important sign of his redemption, but Phoenix almost never does the same thing. I know Phoenix gets to choose his cases and Miles doesn't but it just seems kind of hypocritical to me.

And I still want the case to have a happy ending because Phoenix still helped his client by giving them a proper defense. I don’t want Phoenix to come out of this demoralized. I just really need a case to finally hammer home to Phoenix that he should not be hinging his entire worth and motivation for being a defense attorney on if he can save people (because clearly 2-4 did not do that).