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#and I can’t WAIT to get to aa4 so I will finally know who he is and can fucking run full force into fandom content
hext00ns · 2 years
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Just. So everyone knows. These tags for this rb by @musashi is about me. And nothing in the world is fucking funnier than the legacy of Mike Bean
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Image by @echoing-sounds
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ot3 · 3 years
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had some 'thoughts' on an au where mia/lana and phoenix/edgeworth's narrative arcs are swapped (aka mia main protag lana main antag, phoenix mentor) and dumped over 1000 words on the subject in the groupchat today. here you go.
lana -
she and mia strike up a childhood friendship after the skye parents use the khurain channeling method to talk to lana and ema's grandparents. at this stage in life, lana really wants to be a detective because she believes that proper like collection, treatment, and handling of evidence is the Key to making sure everything in the world turns out fair and just and righteous. i think rather than less than one year she and mia have a few years of being friends like this, but don't see each other every day like phoenix and edgeworth would have at school. lana just makes the trek up to khurain village whenever she can and they call on the payphone etc.
then, the skye parents die in a car accident and she completely ghosts mia and drops off the face of the planet. the parents were killed by a drunk driver and gant is the detective assisting the prosecution with this case. the defendant is successfully imprisoned. lana goes on to become a detective under the tutelage of gant, who recognizes lanas potential from a young age and takes the skye sisters under his wings a la manfred and edgeworth. eventually he pushes lana into pursuing prosecution instead because he wants a pawn in the prosecutors office and he does this by telling her that he collaborated with the prosecutor of her parents' death to forge evidence and testimony, otherwise the killer would have gotten away with it. so she becomes the demon prosecutor.
mia -
meanwhile stays in khurain and continues her training for the most part. since there's no dl-6 nothing happens to misty and theres no reason for mia to leave, but one day shes watching her mother perform a channeling for someone and the person being channeled turns out to have been someone lana had falsely imprisoned who was subsequently executed. mia is like. hey holy shit that doesn't sound right. one, lana's supposed to be a detective, not a prosecutor, two, she wouldnt do that. i have to go find out what the hell happened and see what made her this way.
so mia leaves the village and attends law school at ivy and it's really her first time out of the village for any significant stretch of time and so she's very country mouse in the big city. dahlia spots her at the courthouse when she's pulling Her whole shtick and is like OH MY GOSH HEY CUZ YOU REMEMBER ME RIGHT (: (: (: (: (: SO CRAZY BESTIE BEEN SO LONG SINCE WE'VE SEEN YOU I HAVE A GIFT FOR YOU ((poison necklace)) and obviously there's not the dating identity swap i dont know about the specifics here but. mia gets involved in dahlias hijinks from Trusting Family too much and phoenix ends up defending her in court, which is where she meets him and eventually she begins working at his law firm with him
phoenix -
he and edgeworth were friends through childhood and when edgeworth started at themis to study as a defense attorney their friendship continued. phoenix spent enough time going over edgeworths schoolwork with him and serving as a filler in after-hours mock trials put on by the more enthusiastic students or bumming around in the art club because eventually they stopped kicking him out that eventually edgeworth started to realized phoenix kind of had a knack for the whole lawyering thing, and convinced him to give it a try. phoenix was very easily swayed by edgeworth telling him he was smart and good at something. he and edgeworth both started practicing as defense attorneys at the edgeworth law offices, with phoenix lagging a bit behind edgeworth in terms fo passing the bar and whatnot. maybe by a couple of years. did they date in this timeline? yes. absolutely. idk when though. some awkward high school stuff for sure and then probably some more serious stuff as adults.
he and lana face off in the fawles trial and the whole affair ends with fawles suicide and ray getting godot'd with the poison bottle. also something mysterious happens to edgeworth and he's suddenly cold and distant, leaving his fathers firm to pursue a career as a prosecutor. phoenix can't bear to be there without edgeworth so he leaves to open his own firm. here's where phoenix starts getting the idea that maybe the way the law functions needs some changing, so he starts doing some side research on the jurist system while he takes a break from cases. he keeps getting stopped everywhere he goes and everyone he talks to, and eventualyl finds out that one man currently owns pretty much all of the justice system: redd white. so phoenix begins looking into white trying to take him down as a prerequisite for judicial reform. this does not work and phoenix gets bludgeoned to death in his office after mia wins her first case. RIP KING !
edgeworth -
becomes a defense attorney at his father's firm as established. pretty much what you'd expect from a no dl-6 au edgeworth. but then. the twistening: this is also something i haven't really ironed out the specifics of but whatever it doesn't really matter. MVK has been eyeing revenge on greg. in a sort of parallel to the sl-9 incident, greg - with edgeworth as co-counsel - had been defending someone accused of a serial killing, and it REALLY started to look like the prosecution was not going to be able to put the case through. there's one final confrontation where the prosecution is interrogating the defendant, and the defense team is waiting outside. power outage, scuffle, blah blah blah, long story short it ends with mvk killing the defendant and setting the scene up to make it seem like greg killed the man (either accidentally or in self defense?idk) which, yknow, killing your defendant is sure to ruin a defense attorneys reputation
so mvk blackmails edgeworth into switching teams and becoming a prosecutor. in a few years, he's chief prosecutor like lana was. since mvk works internationally he cant keep the position himself, but having edgeworth there as a pawn works in his favor and of course edgeworth is wholly miserable
ema -
sort of in fran's place. becomes a detective at an incredibly young age and pops up after mia gets gant arrested. she's got more of her aa4 bitterness going on here because gant was basically like forensics is fucking stupid (whihc she now realizes is because forensic analysis makes fucking lying in court a hell of a lot harder) and is embittered because she essentially had her dream beaten out of her to be used as someones pawn. she spent all this time trying to live up to her sister and help her sister when her sister wasnt even doing anything good either. shows up after lana 'chooses death' to investigate her sisters disappearance
maya -
still assists as mia's co counsel, only she's channeling phoenix for the most part here. very sad that the only time phoenix and maya will ever get to meet is once pearly gets into the mix but these are the sacrifices we make.
fran -
i think conceptually still the second prosecutor once lana Chooses Death only since she spent most of her life without edgeworth, the two of them are on slightly different terms than they are in canon. not as close, but not quite as volatile and competitive either since she was working as a prosecutor far before he was. edgeworth calls her into the country to start prosecuting while he is, i guess, in jail for his crimes, presumably, because he wants to believe she is a good enough person to prosecute the Right way and doesn't trust most of the remaining prosecutors in the district. shes still sort of on the fence over the whole game but obviously gets pushed over the edge in 2-4
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astrologista · 4 years
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Gavin Bros. Analysis
here be spoilers for apollo justice (aa4)
There are already a bunch of posts all about AA:AJ and just what the heck was behind Kristoph Gavin’s Psychelocks. What were his motivations? Why did he do what he did? As fragmented as the story is surrounding the Gavin brothers, and as much as I wish the source material had rounded out their characters a little more, I believe the game actually tells you pretty much everything there is to know about this case rather succinctly. Don’t worry as I will use evidence to back up my claims...
It is notably interesting that Kristoph’s Psychelocks only come up when Phoenix asks him point blank why he killed Zak Gramarye. This is the one question that Kristoph consistently refuses to answer directly, both in Solitary Cell 13 and in his testimony at his trial. Coincidentally, this is also the main question that he ever gets asked that speaks to his emotions or state of mind. Kristoph has a really good logical answer for basically all of the evidence-based questions. But, it’s also not a coincidence that Apollo has the presence of mind to note - “why not bring up the motive from the start? unless it was a battle he thought he might lose...”
This establishes pretty clearly that Kristoph is going to have a vested interest in keeping all questioning solidly focused on the material evidence at hand such as the postage stamp, the nail polish, and reasons why he cannot be directly connected to those objects. The law provides plenty of escape hatches and loopholes for Kristoph to exploit, which he does, providing him with the legal basis to be able to escape punishment due to the inability for anyone to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. This is not surprising as being a very successful defense attorney is literally his job and he happens to be extremely competent at it.
This kind of person is scary if you meet them in real life because they can always seem to wriggle out of anything you try to pin on them. Kristoph is a grand master at doing this, quite possibly as good as they come in the AA universe.
Here’s the rub. Apollo brings up that Kristoph wants to avoid bringing the conversation into motives and state of mind questions, why? Because “it’s a battle he thinks he might lose”. Every single time this topic comes up, Kristoph deflects the question. This also is indicated by the five black Psychelocks that come up when Phoenix asks him point blank why he killed Zak. So from this we can gather that the game is drilling it in pretty well that Kristoph’s motivations are a sore spot for him and possibly the one chink in his armor.
Because the material evidence cannot prove anything for or against Kristoph’s guilt, in a typical case like this the police would hope for the holy grail - a full confession and admission of guilt. Kristoph is much too cool of a customer to fall into any traps, no doubt he was questioned very rigorously after being arrested, but all he even had to do was invoke his right to remain silent regarding his motives or simply claim that he killed Zak just ‘cause y’know, being evil is fun. Once he confessed to killing Zak, though, the police probably didn’t care all that much to probe into his thoughts and motivations really, if he did it, he did it and he’s going to spend a stint in jail either way.
Phoenix sees through this, however. In Solitary Cell 13 he does NOT allow Kristoph to drop or evade the question. That is why we get as far as even seeing the black Psychelocks at all. If we can’t know the motive, why bother to have this scene in the game?
Quite simply we can now understand that Kristoph’s motive for killing is something emotional. It is not something that he’s going to divulge casually, but it is also probably something that he is worried about divulging UNCONSCIOUSLY which is why he constantly tries to steer conversations away from it, instead deflecting to discuss the evidence or the emotional state of other people in the room. Consider that Kristoph’s reputation is PREDICATED on him being “the Coolest Defense in the West”. His identity is based on his successful suppression of emotions in court. This is not to say he shows no emotion or is some kind of monotone emotionless husk. He has a rather dry sense of humor. He banters with Apollo. He banters with Phoenix. He isn’t as uptight as some portrayals would have you believe (”life is to be taken easy”). When it comes to surface topics, Kristoph is an open book. He’s not as terse as you would believe, but rather kind of poetic and loquacious and conversational (to his downfall in 4-1). You get the feeling that he would be a very good conversationalist. But only for surface topics. Try to dig a little deeper and he will very neatly deflect your efforts. 
How can we hope to understand a character who by definition does not have any interest in talking about his innermost neuroses? The reason why people still discuss the Gavin brothers and Turnabout Succession so much is that, while a very satisfying and intense case, it is unlike a lot of other AA cases in that you come away from it with a LOT of open ended questions. You don’t feel the same feeling of closure as you would get from the DL-6 case, where it feels like you finally understand all the facts of the case and all of the character motivations come to light making you go “oh! THAT MAKES SENSE!” you understand why von karma killed gregory, and everything comes together nicely in the end. Turnabout Succession is kind of a rarity in that it does not do that. By the end, you feel like you clearly understand the case, but you do not have a crystal clear view of the root cause of the motivations behind it.
In Kristoph’s final testimony he does shed a little bit of light on his motivations for his crimes. The issue that he has is mainly centered around his dismissal by Zak Gramarye as his representation. And, his subsequent replacement with Phoenix Wright, an attorney he perceives to be low-class and sub-par. Kristoph then states “these men shamed me, and I could not forgive that.” This is as close to an answer as to why he went to such lengths to get Phoenix disbarred as we are likely to get. Disproportionate retribution is the name of the game. It seems as if, if there’s one thing Kristoph cannot tolerate, it’s being looked down upon by someone that he perceives as inferior to him. Kristoph has extremely polarized notions of who should get to practice law, who is acceptable and who is categorized under “ignorant swine soiling the courts”. He makes very, very clear that he has nothing but disdain for common people, common wisdom, and any use of emotion or feelings in deciding verdicts.
So the particular manner in which Phoenix sought to bring him down with the jury system was a very deliberate masterstroke to Kristoph’s pride. That much we can establish. But again, motive. The game goes out of its way to tell you that whomever defended Zak would be “famous beyond belief” and, presumably also, rich. They would get a lot of very high-profile clients and cases sent their way after successfully defending the uber-famous magician Zak Gramarye. 
Taking all of this into account, right. Is it possible that everything Kristoph did has its roots in one very simple source, the root of all evil?
Money.
Taking a step back for a moment, consider Klavier. Why does Klavier perform in a rock band? “Because I want Frauleins to look at me when I walk down the street.” I feel like people really want to believe that both Kristoph and Klavier are super deep characters and have all this deep lore and hidden backstory. Maybe they do. Most AA characters do. But consider this. What if they’re both so deep, they’re actually just shallow? Yes, that shallow?
Given how much AA:AJ focuses on the Gavins, which is really not that much, this concept seems difficult to swallow. Is there really more to the story based on what the game gives us? If there is, how would we piece it together?
One major hint the game gives you about Kristoph (and, if this is insignificant, then you have to really wonder why they bother to bring it up at all) takes place directly after seeing Kristoph’s black Psychelocks in Solitary Cell 13. He starts doing his nails. Phoenix says “I know appearances are a big thing with you”. Kristoph says “You know what I say? One cannot live a beautiful life without beautiful nails.”
I feel that this statement is important because it is probably about as deep of a look as we are ever going to get at how shallow Kristoph Gavin really is. He hopes you will believe that he’s playing 12-dimensional chess with some kind of fucked up backstory and motive going, but the truth is, he’s no chessmaster. Based on what the game gives you, there’s really only one motivation for everything that makes sense.
Kristoph killed Zak, Drew and attempted to kill Vera to cover his tracks. He had to do everything he could to make sure no one talked about the forgery. He had to stalk people like Spark and keep Phoenix very close (the epitome of keep your friends close keep your enemies closer). There’s nothing really debatable about those facts because they are all discussed in the game.
What about the root cause? Revenge, of course, for Phoenix stealing away the chance for Kristoph to defend Zak.
Why was defending Zak so important to Kristoph? To become rich and famous.
So wait. Why does Kristoph need to be rich and famous?
As it is, Kristoph appears to be very affluent and well off. There is no real reason directly given in the game as to why he would need such prestige and fame other than that it feeds his massive ego and superiority complex. So that’s a big part of it, no debate there.
But why would the excessive monetary gains that would be secured off of the Gramarye case be so appealing to Kristoph? We’ll re-examine this in a little bit.
In Daryan Crescend’s case, Phoenix tells Apollo “every man has an igniter. find his and set it off”. 
What is Kristoph’s igniter?
I mean some people would say Phoenix Wright is Kristoph’s igniter based on his breakdown. But, I think more of that trial was contrived by Phoenix than we tend to notice.
I think Klavier is Kristoph’s igniter.
The final trial in Turnabout Succession would not have been able to succeed without Lamiroir, without the jury system, without Phoenix pulling the strings, without Trucy, without Apollo, and most especially without Klavier. Removing any of these elements from the scenario would immediately give Kristoph a massive advantage in allowing him to manipulate the courtroom. Can you imagine Payne trying to prosecute Kristoph?
No. Klavier was the only one who could confront Kristoph successfully.
The final trial had to be contrived in such a way as to put maximal pressure on Kristoph to increase the chances that he would slip up or, more likely, that an element of randomness and/or emotion would become introduced. Phoenix sets up Klavier as the prosecutor for this trial for a good reason - remember, Phoenix tells Apollo point blank that he (Phoenix) is pulling all of the strings for the Misham trial, so whatever happens is entirely his responsibility.
It must have been difficult for Phoenix to entrust Klavier, the person who sealed his fate, with such an important task. But realistically, he didn’t really have a choice. Klavier’s disclosure of Kristoph’s visit to the prosecutor’s office is the glue that holds together the entire case against Kristoph Gavin. Notice that Kristoph never really does anything to keep Klavier out of the public eye or otherwise silence him (up until the very end at least). If I knew there was someone walking around giving press interviews and practicing as a prosecutor who knew something really incriminating about me, I would want them swept away or snuffed out asap - I mean, Kristoph has already poisoned Drew and Vera who were unlikely to tattle on him at best; Drew couldn’t even identify him! What Klavier has on him is much, much more damning dirt. Either Kristoph really loves and trusts his brother or is convinced that he can control Klavier to the point where Klavier would never dare tell anyone about that visit or wouldn’t want to. Probably both are true.
The interesting thing about this dynamic is that this is really the only time where we see both Gavin brothers together in one room, as well. Something about being in proximity changes both of their behaviors. Klavier becomes hyper-alert and nervous in Kristoph’s presence, a marked change from his usually easy demeanor. Klavier’s presence causes Kristoph to make several mistakes, which end up costing him the case.
So all of these things needed to happen, and they needed to happen simultaneously for Phoenix to succeed. Getting back to my theory on Kristoph, we can see from what’s said in the game a few things - he really, REALLY wanted to be the one to benefit from defending Zak Gramarye (a trial he knew he would win against his brother using forged evidence), the presence of Klavier is his undoing in court, and his appearances are very, very important to him. 
I honestly think the real reason Kristoph was so salty about losing out on the Gramarye trial fame and money is that he didn’t just want to be affluent or well-to-do. He wanted to be excessively, filthy rich.
If you look at Solitary Cell 13 you will see that Kristoph likes very much to surround himself with many nice things. He likes tasteful decorations and furniture. He enjoys literature, music, art, that weird rose he keeps in a vase, and he has a dog named Vongole. “First rate in all things, accept nothing less.”
To have such top of the line items, Kristoph must not only be rich, he must be like top 1% rich. He has to have the absolute best of everything. This is why he needs money. Without these things, what separates him from the ignorant swine he so despises? This is why Kristoph needed money.
Nowhere is this highlighted more than with the Ariadoney nail polish. I think it’s mentioned a couple of times that the Ariadoney is absolutely the best possible nail polish that you can buy. It’s very, very expensive and is manufactured in extremely limited quantities (this is discussed during Kristoph’s testimony). If Kristoph is this fixated on something as simple as a bottle of nail polish, you can almost imagine the absolutely ludicrous costs of every other item that he uses or owns, not limited to his home, his car, fine foods and wine, his expensive hobbies, possibly traveling etc etc etc etc. I just know this fool shops at Whole Foods, because I can’t see him buying groceries at the Costco. It makes a lot of sense as to why he is single as well. Kristoph Gavin would end up being an expensive habit to any partner who would have him - I wouldn’t want to share a bank account or credit line with him. He needs Gucci to keep him happy. No bootlegs here.
Point is, Kristoph Gavin has an addiction to the finer things in life and he will NOT settle for second rate products. He will have what he wants and he will do basically anything to maintain his lifestyle at its current elite level at the expense of his own morality and soul. Sadly enough I feel like that might be as deep as it gets with him. That’s a really pathetic motive to have and makes me hate him a lot more, but it’s so fucked up I can’t look away.
Consider also the most important thing to Kristoph of all - his appearance. It costs money to keep yourself up and this seems to be the one area that Kristoph might end up pouring the most money into. The top of the line suit, the white shoes, the perfect tan, the platinum blonde hair so immaculately coiffed, the fact that his skin is virtually perfect and the fact that his face is near-identical to Klavier’s despite being some 8 or 9 years older. Most normal people would have some kind of facial imperfection pop up at some point, a wrinkle, a pock mark, something. And that’s when you realize... that Kristoph Gavin has most likely had work done. Like, on his face to make it stay youthful. He’s just that vain and probably also despises watching Klavier stay young and pretty while he’s just aging. Fillers? Botox? Collagen treaments? Something more invasive? No one knows, but all I’m saying is that Klavier’s character description goes out of its way to describe Klavier as “the spitting image of Kristoph Gavin”. Vera notices the extreme resemblance right away. There can certainly be genetic basis for two brothers looking alike, but compare that to how Mia and Maya look “alike”, or Lana and Ema, both of whom have a similar age gap to Kristoph and Klavier. You would realize that Kristoph and Klavier seem to have somewhat of a more obvious resemblance despite the age difference. So this isn’t just possible anymore, this is actually likely. I don’t think the game implies that Kristoph has undergone plastic surgery or anything, so I’m keeping this in the realms of headcanon for now. But it would make perfect sense as yet another reason as to why Kristoph Gavin needs cold cash. He needs to look flawless and he needs access to the absolutely most top of the line treatments and practitioners, continually. And as he continues to age, he needs to get more and more aggressive, more and more products, more and more retouching with those age reversal creams and foundations and stabilizers. That adds up, cost-wise, very very fast, especially if you want top of the line EVERYTHING, and Kristoph does indeed. It is very clear that settling for any less would be completely unacceptable to him.
All of this money, it has to come from somewhere. Being a posh defense lawyer will bring in some money, sure, but nothing near what Kristoph is going to need to live his beautiful life. Winning the Gramarye trial would have probably bought him enough prestige, clients and monetary gains to support himself off of law for the rest of his life. It does make a lot of sense that he would be incensed after losing that chance.
There is one more unexplored possibility as to why Kristoph had to be the one to win the Gramarye trial, though, and it ties into the money issue as well. This was supposed to be a fair match, after all, brother to brother. Klavier’s first case, in fact. It was supposed to be Kristoph vs. Klavier, and Kristoph wanted to make sure that he would be the one to win. Only Zak and Phoenix ruined that chance - a once in a lifetime chance, actually, for Kristoph to go up against his brother on Klavier’s very first day.
Klavier was the prosecutor of the Gramarye trial. It was his very first case. What could Kristoph have to gain by being the one to trounce 17-year-old Klavier in court on his first day on the job?
Well, not much, other than it would have been a huge crushing blow to Klavier psychologically.
There’s a comic floating around by someone, I think zarla-s, where Kristoph wins the Gramarye trial and is discussing his win with Klavier afterwards. Kristoph is smug and hopes Klavier will be humbled by his impressive win, but Klavier is unperturbed by his loss, happy for his brother and insists he’ll win next time.
As cute as this is, somehow I don’t think that’s exactly how it would go down.
Klavier has actively shown how nervous / anxious / upset Kristoph’s mere presence makes him in a courtroom setting. Based on this, it’s not unfair to say that losing to Kristoph IN PARTICULAR on Klavier’s very first case would have been a devastating psychological blow that could technically end Klavier’s prosecutor career before it even began. There is a lot on the line with the Gramarye trial, don’t forget the praise and adulation that Klavier gained by winning it. So other than all of the fame, adulation, money and pride Kristoph would have gained by rigging and winning the Gramarye trial, there is another dimension that he was also robbed of - the ability to ruin his brother’s law career. Losing to another attorney like Phoenix or anyone else would not be enough to do the job. It would have to and could only be Kristoph’s doing.
What reason could Kristoph have for wanting Klavier’s law career to come to an end?
Well, Klavier does have another job. As a rock star.
Wildly popular rock stars make a lot of money, many many many times more than even a celebrity defense attorney could dream to make.
The Gavinners had multiple albums go platinum. They sold out shows all over the country, I believe, possibly all over the world. They are a brand. They are profitable. Klavier is profitable.
With how much Kristoph depends on and uses Klavier, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Kristoph gets to take a big cut of Klavier’s earnings from his music career. For all we know, Kristoph could have been responsible for assembling and filing many of the Gavinners’ early contracts and legal paperwork. The rights to songs, record deals, merchandising - this is a lot of stuff. I’d say it’d be pretty hard to believe that Kristoph did not have his hooks into the Gavinners from day one. If he handled contracts, he could have written in loopholes that would give him a huge cut of any earnings resulting from Klavier’s band, the Gavinners.
Now I know what you’re thinking, Klavier himself is a legal prodigy. He could have easily read through anything Kristoph prepared and refused to sign on the dotted line if he found anything amiss or hidden in the fine print. What if Kristoph’s legal control of Klavier started much earlier than that? Depending on when Klavier started in the entertainment business, which could have been a very early age, Kristoph could have had plenty of time and opportunity to secure access to any of Klavier’s future earnings, especially if their parents were out of the picture.
 If you think Kristoph has nothing to do with the Gavinners, think about it. One of their songs is literally called “Atroquinine, My Love”. They are a brand. They are marketed specifically to teeny boppers. They’re not squeaky clean mainstream pop like the Jonas Brothers or anything, but they are marketable. The advertising, the way they dress, the way Klavier says he’s tired of the youthful angst scene, the fact that Klavier only gives Apollo and Trucy a 20% discount on concert tickets. I’m just saying a lot of it could end up being contrived, perhaps by a certain someone with an ulterior motive. It seems really, really weird and coincidental that the band broke up right after AA4 too. Klavier seems like he’s really dedicated to his art, and to music. This much is clear in the way he reverently talks about Lamiroir, how he teared up at her song, even the Guitars’ Serenade seems like a very different song than what the Gavinners would typically do, and it only debuts after Kristoph is already in jail.
It makes you wonder if there might be a little something more going on here. If Kristoph had it set up to where he could get access to Klavier’s assets, which almost certainly dwarf his own by several times, then he had every reason to want to crush Klavier in court. He had to be the one to face Klavier in the Gramarye trial and win, causing Klavier to end his prosecutor dreams - and do what?
Go back on the road, put everything into his music career and become a workhorse for Kristoph’s ambitions.
Putting Klavier full time on the Gavinners would have solved all of Kristoph’s monetary worries for good. He could skim everything off the top and finally live the beautiful life of his dreams, the life he needed to have and couldn’t do without. Most importantly, he could keep up appearances and always look continually young and attractive.
Until we learn otherwise, I think that that is really all that was behind Kristoph’s black Psychelocks. Just a narcissistic, vain, preening loser masquerading as some mastermind villain when, in the end, that’s not really what he cared about being. He cared about painting his nails in a luxurious mansion surrounded by piles of money in a big Scrooge McDuck money vault, and laughing maniacally at anyone who ever thought that there was anything more to it.
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askaceattorney · 3 years
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Dear 91teivos,
Mod Vera: Thanks! Everyone in the world is going through some kind of existential crisis, so it made sense for the AA characters to join the party! (And since it was another follower who gave us the idea, we might just keep that idea in the think that after all...)
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Dear dawsongfg,
Mod Vera: No need to apologize! We like to space out letters from specific people a little, but we’ll answer as many as we can!
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(Referenced Letter)
Dear Bluedragoncody,
Co-Mod: Don’t worry.  I doubt they’ll have much luck against the Ace Attorney crew, even without the Proto Badger.  They have the ultimate weapon against despair in their arsenal, after all.
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...They’re doomed, aren’t they?
I can’t make any promises, but if I ever gain enough skill in the art of animation (which has been a dream of mine for a long time, it turns out), I’ll keep that idea in mind.
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Dear skibot99,
Mod Vera: Probably Tumblr bein’ weird. (What else is new?)
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Dear sheeeesh,
Mod Vera: Mods get brought on as needed, as you can see with the arrival of Mod Edgeworth! Also, DGS2 is one of the few AA titles I’ve never played, but rest assured. Where there’s a letter, there’s a Mod who can answer it!
Mod Edgeworth: To add to Mod Vera, even if you weren’t accepted during any mod applications, that doesn’t mean you have lost all chances. I applied early January and lost to Mod Vera. Regardless, Co-Mod informed me that, even though I was rejected, he saw my potential and kept me in mind for if I was ever needed. Now, here I am.
Just because you get rejected, that doesn’t mean it’s game over. Show that you have potential and make yourself known by sending letters to us. That is what I did, after being rejected. I made myself known to the mods by sending letters. We do read them and they tell us how much you know the characters and games of AA more than any application. Of course, you must also follow the guidelines. That just goes without saying.
Co-Mod: I think my actual words were something like “Don’t tell anyone, but you were my second choice.”  But yeah, what they said is true -- becoming a Mod here, like many things, may or may not happen to you, but you can definitely increase your chances by waiting patiently and demonstrating your potential.
As for DGS2 letters, I’m afraid those are still off-limits unless you know of a way to play or watch the game in its entirety, translated into English.  I guess I could check to see if the Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2 channel finished translating...
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(Translation: Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!  ...D-Don’t tell me?!)
...Okay, looks like I have some watching to do.  Don’t know how I missed that.
So, uh...  That part in bold was what I was going to say.  Now that both games are finally getting an official English version, all I can say is, hang tight!
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(Previous Post)
Dear Inferno again,
Co-Mod: Yeah, I agree.  I was just joking around.  For anyone who didn’t catch it, that was a reference to Sbemail #108.
The event’s technically over, but we’ll answer the rest of the April Fools’ Day letters when they reach the bottom of the queue.  I’m as eager to see Trucy’s reaction to the news (after the stunned silence) as anyone else, after all.
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(Video in Letter -- Strong Language Warning)
Dear Ella,
Mod Edgeworth: 
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I can’t see the first link and....
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How did you find this masterpiece and where can I play this game?
Co-Mod: We don’t check for direct messages on Tumblr, if that’s what you’re referring to, so it wouldn’t have made any difference anyway.  You can always send links in your letters, of course.
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(Previous Post)
Dear Inferno,
Mod Edgeworth: That mad lad would be me and thank you. 
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I like to put my heart and effort when answering these letters. With this one, I figured you wanted to see Trucy in costume, so I just searched up an image on Google for the Ancient One’s costume, a sprite of Trucy and a bald head to put on her. The rest I photoshopped on GIMP. 
We’re still going through letters from January. Hopefully we will get the rest of yours soon enough.
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Mod Edgeworth: Thank you very much. Your support and the others’ support that have liked, commented and reblogged it mean a lot. As you have stated, a majority of the fandom seem to consider him the worst. I’d like to think it’s because how AA had created this villain of a character to be universally hated was pure genius. Not even the Phantom gets this much hate… and that’s saying something.
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Unfortunately, I’d like to keep my real identity outside this blog a secret. I write a lot of letters here and I don’t want to break the spell for anyone. Think of it like a Disney theme park. The cast that play the characters will never admit their true identities, outside of family and close friends, to prevent the experience from being ruined. I want to do the same as a Mod. I don’t want to break the spell of writing to your favorite AA characters. This blog had helped me through my tough times and I want to help everyone else as a mod.
However, I will answer your letters and, if you post anything on your account, a mysterious friend I know may linger and give you a like ;)
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(Previous Letter)
Dear Ali S. Fakenamington,
Co-Mod: Beautifully so.
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(Previous Letter)
Dear Sinyove,
Mod Edgeworth: That letter was made in 2012 before AA5 and AA6, which was WAY before I became a part of the AA fandom. I’m certain a lot of us were not here when this letter was made, except maybe Co-Mod, but you’ll have to speak with him about this. I will say that the mod that answered this is no longer working here... I think. At the very least, I haven’t heard from him.
That being said, AA4 or Apollo Justice was the first AA game I’ve ever played. Despite all of the hate I saw towards that game, I still loved it regardless. Though, having not played the trilogy, playing the tutorial of AJ was a pain in the ass. I remember going to YouTube to find out how to beat it, because it was so hard. I also played it on PC.
I do see where The Mod was coming from. Had the two sequel games never existed, Apollo Justice would have more holes than my brothers’ socks. My only critique is that Phoenix wasn’t any better either with having Mia babysitting him during almost every trial AND investigations. Hell, Phoenix needed Mia to know how to talk to a kid, talk to a perverted old man, almost gave up in most of his trials in the first game and never conducted a trial without Mia until Turnabout Goodbyes when Maya literally couldn’t summon her. For the most part, Apollo was doing fine on his own without Phoenix, with only Trucy assisting him for the two middle trials, only almost giving up once and Phoenix having assisted him during times when Apollo was not in a normal situation (like when the criminal turned out to be his own co-council/mentor or when he had to lead a trial that included the Jury System). That’s more than Phoenix ever did on his own in the first two games and I think Apollo deserves more credit than he got in that letter in my opinion.
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For me, Apollo Justice is one of those games you either like or you hate. I love it for what it is. My least favorite AA game would have to be Ace Attorney Investigations, the first game. The second one is my absolute favorite.
Co-Mod: Sadly, I haven’t seen or heard from the Mod in a while, so it may be time for us to declare him MIA again.
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Erm...  Sorry, poor choice of words.
I’m fairly certain I wasn’t around 5 years long ago, but I have to say, Capcom did a great job of making Apollo and his story more interesting over time.  He may not be Phoenix, but he certainly carried his legacy forward pretty well, both as an attorney and as an Ace Attorney protagonist.
Now, WHAT ABOUT ATHENA ALREADY!?
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Dear BDC,
Co-Mod: It fits like a glove, if you ask me...although it also kind of reminds me of 101 Dalmatians.  And thanks for that bit of info!  I never get tired of watching people enjoying the fun dialogue and plot twists of Ace Attorney, so I might have to look him up.
I’m not sure I feel the same about watching Dahlia’s voice actress, though.  I’m sure she’s a nice person and all, but the thought of hearing that voice for so long...  *shudder*
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(Previous Letter)
Dear dawsongfg again,
Co-Mod: I wasn’t trying to say that natural deaths can’t happen in the Ace Attorney universe, just that most deaths aren’t what they seem.  I knew right away that Archie Buff’s death was no accident, for one thing.  Waaaaay too much of a coincidence, know what I mean?
-The Mods
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rivalsforlife · 3 years
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Different anon, but I for one enjoy reading 2k rants on Ace Attorney. Do you have any thoughts on the changes they made to AA4 Phoenix? Like do you think it worked? (also if these are getting annoying feel free to ignore)
Glad to hear I’m not completely annoying everyone for constantly dunking on AA!!!
AA4 Phoenix... I’ve got to admit that the first time I went through AA4 I did not exactly like him. But I feel like there’s a LOT of potential there that would have been great to explore in laTER GAMES -- ahem. Well, I did just play the first case of AA4 yesterday with my best friend, and honestly, Phoenix is an absolute delight. My perceptions of characters tend to change upon further playthroughs and reading meta/content on the characters (Iris and Pearl being others who I really started liking later that I didn’t like at first)!
Firstly, I think making Phoenix a dad was a great move, the man already had some good dad-vibes going with Pearl in the trilogy so making it official was good. I also enjoy how they made Phoenix a dad in a way that didn’t feel... off? Like, giving Phoenix an official love interest and him having a biological child would kind of feel weird. But Phoenix has kind of been accumulating children/teenagers that like to follow him around for a while, and having Trucy actually stick around and make it official is really sweet, and their relationship and dynamics are such a great part of the fourth game. It’s done in a way where at first I was like “wait what do you MEAN Phoenix has a child???” but upon learning how he came to adopt her, I thought it made a lot of sense, it fit so well with the Phoenix we’ve come to know over the past few games.
Also one of his first lines is just a dad joke (”I-I’m fine!” “Mr. Fine, was it?”) which made me laugh a lot when playing it yesterday.
It’s also good to see him be a little mean, and show just how much of a genius he’s really capable of being. He’s always had that snarky streak throughout the trilogy and having him actually speak it out loud is great. And he’s also always been a genius, even if people around him don’t acknowledge it, and seeing him take a leaf out of Mia’s book and be the Cryptic Slightly Ominous Mentor is an interesting development for him. Like, it’s been seven years, I can believe Phoenix went through a lot of growth in those seven years.
(I do feel like a lot of the hate AA4 Phoenix gets tends to be from people who projected too much onto Phoenix as the protagonist in the trilogy -- which makes sense since he was originally kind of just intended to be a blank slate protagonist. ... Which I might’ve bought if they didn’t give him the elaborate backstories about becoming a lawyer to save Miles and the Dahlia backstory. Anyways, point is, I don’t really ever see myself in characters because I have a very loose sense of self to begin with, so I never really had that issue...?)
The things I DON’T like about AA4 Phoenix... first, it does kind of sting that two months after his Great Big Finale where he’s finally come into his own as a lawyer, he gets disbarred, and that isn’t resolved for seven years. Seven years is a long time! But I can live with that. There’s also the fact that AA4 rarely brings up any of Phoenix’s friends -- which in the one hand I get, because it’s Apollo’s game, not Phoenix’s -- and it’s odd. I know that Investigations was written after AA4 and is not by Takumi, so he didn’t really have any say in this, but even BEFORE Investigations I can’t believe that Miles would presumably abandon Phoenix over the gap. Particularly not after the ending of the second investigations game. Maya, too. She gets a few offhand mentions, sure, but even in the flashback there isn’t any mention of Phoenix having any contact with Maya, Miles, even Gumshoe... Ema mentions she didn’t even know Phoenix had a daughter, implying they weren’t really in contact either... and of course when only Maya gets a mention about Steel Samurai stuff in the fourth game, it feels like all his friends completely abandoned him. Which is why there are so many older fics written before DD was released where Phoenix was completely alone over the seven-year-gap. And while of course having the characters make an in-person appearance wouldn’t make any sense, having maybe a few random dialogue lines mentioning Phoenix was still in contact with them and they were still close would have been nice. DD and SOJ kind of fix this, but... still.
The other issue is that he kind of ends up overshadowing Apollo’s story particularly in the final case. He is the one who connects everything, and sets everything up, pretty much just using Apollo as a puppet to take down Kristoph since he can’t. Also since the whole story is about Phoenix and uncovering his past, Apollo’s own choices have much less weight. This, again, is something that could be resolved in the sequels by having Apollo have a larger role and not be overshadowed by Phoenix. Haha. hahahahaha. imagine that.
Overall I think Takumi had the right idea making Phoenix not be the protagonist since his story was done with T&T, and it’s interesting to see his growth throughout the years. I don’t necessarily think the disbarment itself was necessary -- Phoenix could still be the ominous cryptic and slightly meaner mentor/dad with his badge, and not in the spotlight, which is what I think DD and SOJ should have done after giving him his badge back. Would have liked it if it wasn’t so easy to walk away from the game with the impression that all of Phoenix’s beloved friends cut contact with him, though. 
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q for when you get power back - what do you think would have happened to Trucy if she stayed with the Gramaryes (ie Magnifi didn’t die)? At what point does she start performing? Does Magnifi start to favor her over her father? (canon or fAeU as applicable)
Oooh. Let’s think about canon because I think a lot about how fucked up the Gramaryes are just in canon basis.
Trucy’s a magician prodigy even at age eight, that she’s confident enough in a “talent agency” and in her ability to provide for her new father. Imagine if she could still have tutelage from other magicians at that point, instead of having to figure it all out on her own. I sort of feel like by the time she’s...10, or maybe 12, somewhere in that area, she’d be in the show - maybe only a few tricks, or as an assistant to start. I doubt Magnifi would use her as an assistant to the dangerous tricks - she’s too valuable an asset to lose the way he lost Thalassa - but she still might be up there, because having a cute kid is another stage asset, you know? Look at her, she’s adorable!
It’s definitely inevitable that she crosses paths with Phoenix and/or Apollo - actually, without Magnifi’s death like that, without Kristoph and Phoenix clashing over that case, Phoenix stays a lawyer, and Apollo, who really admires him, maybe comes to work with him as a junior lawyer from the start. But I think she’s going to come to know Phoenix and Apollo pretty well, inevitably, just because of the way the Gramaryes are.
I’m positive Magnifi would come to favor her over her father. Zak is the favorite over Valant, as the more talented, but Trucy is Magnifi’s own blood, and she has his same powers of observation. She doesn’t have the bracelets, of course - amnesiac Thalassa has one and Apollo has the other - but she’s still capable without them, and with Magnifi to tutor her from age eight or so, I imagine she would still be very, very good at consciously perceiving, as opposed to the more unconscious way she knows in canon. So Trucy is young with her whole career ahead of her, cute and appealing to an audience, perceptive in the way of the Gramarye bloodline, talented and prodigious as fuck, and she has none of the baggage that Zak does of “maybe killed Thalassa.” Trucy is the perfect heir compared to Zak and Valant. As she gets older, she’s going to be the one that Magnifi favors and holds dearest, while Zak gets pushed more aside in the way that Valant could start to feel himself being pushed aside.
Now: Valant was willing to frame Zak for a murder that didn’t happen and Valant didn’t care what happened to Trucy in the aftermath. She took a long time to recognize him when they met seven years later. She hadn’t seen him for seven years. He never checked in on her personally - I suspect he didn’t check in on her from a distance. He was just waiting for Zak to legally die. 
Magnifi meanwhile, reading between the lines of Thalassa’s fate, was willing to throw his daughter aside because she was more useful to him as “dead” blackmail to hang over Zak and Valant’s heads, to keep them under his thumb so they can never strike out on their own and overshadow him, than alive as his daughter and Trucy’s mother. Amnesia would mean she has to be retrained for all of the magic tricks that she knows - that’s just not worth the investment again, you know, not when Magnifi still has Trucy and will keep her with him by always keeping Zak with him by hanging Thalassa’s “death” over his head. Magnifi was canonically willing to make his deathbed into a stage and he killed himself without caring how suspicious that would look to his proteges - even if Valant didn’t tamper with the scene, there would still be a hell of an investigation that Zak and Valant would be caught up in. Valant especially, given the timing. Magnifi didn’t give a shit if Valant fell under suspicion of murder. Valant, like Thalassa once she was injured and amnesiac, was another piece to be thrown aside when Magnifi was done with him.
And Zak was willing to run out on his daughter and leave her in the hands of a stranger. He never checked in on her either. He reappeared to hand her an inheritance - not even give it to her directly - and then fully intended to fuck right off again. And he didn’t even, in fact, leave Trucy in Phoenix’s hands. He told Trucy that she could trust Phoenix, but he did not tell her to go to Phoenix or drop her off with Phoenix. Phoenix had to go find her and of the kindness of his heart offer her a place to stay. Zak didn’t know Phoenix well enough to know he would do that - Zak was just...hoping, if anything. He was fully comfortable turning Trucy loose without supervision or a prayer.
That’s what Trucy is in the midst of. And maybe she can manage to hold onto the sunshine that she is, maybe she doesn’t become jaded by being raised by these people. Maybe she remains a good, not-petty person despite the way that the other three are not good people (I’ve given some sympathy to Valant, in the end, because in the end he realizes he is not a good person, but I feel no such inclination to afford it to the other two.)
But the Gramaryes are not a good, healthy environment, and Trucy is in the center of them. Valant is the least-favorite twice over, shunted aside for Zak and then pushed even further into the wings as Zak is pushed aside for Trucy. Valant is jealous and petty when driven to it, and this would drive him to it. Zak disappears and never returns for his daughter and does nothing to see that she’ll be looked after. He’s willing to leave her on her own once he enlists her help to make his grand escape. And we see how Magnifi turns his death into a show, complete with props and danger, because it’s all about him. 
Whenever Magnifi dies in this setting - I’m picturing when Trucy is like, 15 to 17, that AA4-6 age range - he’s going to leave everything to Trucy, and he’s not going to care what fireworks follow. He still might make a damn show of the will, except with three people instead of two. Or even if without showmanship he leaves it straight to Trucy, well - if she can’t legally inherit it because she’s convicted of murder....
Valant might. Valant did, against her father, in canon. And I don’t want to say that Zak would be capable of framing his daughter for murder, but...maybe. I can’t truly say. (Whether Magnifi actually shot himself again this time, or whether these extra years of being strung along and used and tossed aside finally made the bitterness inside of them fester into resentment that was strong enough to actually kill Magnifi and not just set up the scene after his suicide, I’ll leave that open for now.)
Alternate AA4 where Phoenix, still a lawyer, and his new junior partner Apollo, take up the defense of famous teenage magician Trucy Gramarye, who has been accused of the murder of her grandfather. And Phoenix and his protective streak towards all teenage girls very quickly realizes something very, very horrible about this case - if it’s not Trucy who committed the crime, and he will place his faith in her that she didn’t, then the only options are her father or her uncle. And they aren’t just the only options for who murdered her grandfather, but they’re also the only options for who could have set up the scene to frame Trucy for the murder of her grandfather.
Phoenix has seen a lot of ugly family dramas before - he knew the Feys, he had an active role in all that played out - and he knows that family can be capable of this. But that doesn’t make it any easier to see it again. Not when there’s a very perceptive 15-year-old in a holding cell, a teenage girl who’s realizes this same fact - that one of the dearest people in the world to her, did this to her.
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earthdeep · 7 years
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