Currently Halfway Through Bridge To The Turnabout And No One Told Me I'd End Up Feeling Bad For Larry.

You know one thing that I absolutely hate? When one recurring joke about a character overshadows their trauma and complexity. I hate when characters are treated unseriously and frankly disrespected because of one meme or gimmick that is probably massively overused anyway. And why is it always video game characters.

#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.

Miles Edgeworth is both extremely perceptive about other people’s intentions and motivations, but also terrible at understanding how his own actions affect others. It’s quite an interesting nuance that I think is often overlooked.

When Edgeworth returns in 2-4, he is already aware of what Phoenix is lacking as an attorney before he even knows the full extent of Phoenix's crisis (Maya being kidnapped). In their first conversation, Edgeworth says: "In order to understand this case, you have to understand a certain "truth"". He knows that Phoenix's current motivation for being a defense attorney is flawed (cue his "we are not heroes" line). However, at the same time Edgeworth doesn’t fully understand how his actions of disappearing have affected both Phoenix and Franziska.

Another very obvious example of this is in AAI (I think?). In response to Kay asking: “Have you guys not decided if you are going out, or is it just one sided?” Edgeworth says: “‘Decided’…? Shouldn’t the parties involved naturally just know…?” Edgeworth thinks people in a relationship should instinctively perceive the feelings of the other person without communicating. He doesn’t consider the possibilities of misinterpretation or misunderstanding.

So in the context of Wrightworth, essentially what I'm saying is that unless something like fear is holding him back, Miles definitely knows about Phoenix's feelings. It's Phoenix who's off somewhere deluding himself.

This!! Especially the point about Miles becoming a prosecutor. In the original trilogy, he only ever cites DL-6 and his disillusionment with the system as the reason and he never grapples with it as something forced onto him by Manfred post AA1.

fanon rant.

i love fanon concepts but i hate how much they antagonize manfred.

phoenix tried to contact miles via letters, but he never responded? that's actually extremely interesting! the reason he didn't respond was because manfred had burnt letters phoenix sent? nowhere close to what happened in canon text.

franziska taught miles all the ropes of being a von karma, had him follow in her footsteps steps, and helped him fit in with the family? YES!!! I LOVE THAT!!! franziska did this because she knew miles wouldn't have survived the "abuse" from manfred otherwise? now you're just reaching.

miles became a prosecutor following his father's death because he felt betrayed by the system? that's actually canon! manfred was the main reason for this change and had groomed miles into believing all defense attorneys are untrustworthy and did this as a final "fuck you" to gregory? he literally has nothing to gain from that.

fanon concepts have great potential, especially when they build on canon, but i hate when they wildly reach at things that don't exist. headcanons are supposed to build on canon, and if not, acting like they are canon is just weird.

NO HATE TO THOSE WHO ENJOY THESE FANON CONCEPTS!!! NO HATE TO ABUSIVE MANFRED ENJOYERS!!! but you HAVE to understand that the headcanons and fanon you enjoy is simply that: a headcanon and fanon.

you are allowed to enjoy whatever you want, i just don't like being driven out of fandom spaces (which actually happened recently) because i don't think manfred von karma is a villain for things he didn't do.

manfred is a villain, there is no ignoring that, but he's a villain for murdering two innocent men, tasing two innocent people, and participating in the toxicity of the justice system, not because of fanon.

i don't want to start controversy, which is something i cannot believe i'm saying when im simply expressing an opinion, but i just felt really annoyed at it this morning. if you want to tell me why i'm "wrong" please do it respectfully, otherwise i'm not going to hear you out. i'm not here to change the minds of anyone who enjoys these concepts, i am just pointing out inconsistencies with these concepts and canon.

Miles Edgeworth is not as soft as the fandom likes to portray him <3

His ruthlessness is a constant. Even when he "chose death" it was because he made a decision to not forgive himself.

miles edgeworth, the one who starts off callous and unrelenting, but even while falling into his lowest point, declares that he has always done what he believes is right. the character whose pivotal moment in the plot involves telling the protagonist that it's through their mutual trust that they can find the truth, basically the intellectual cousin of "the power of friendship always wins," and remains an unrelenting person throughout the narrative. this is the one fanon assigned the "tsundere" label to.

franziska von karma, the one who starts off hostile and aggressive against the protagonist, but is later revealed to be doing so out of care and concern for a loved one. the character who constantly yells "baka baka baka!" in the original text, only for that angry front to crumble into a sensitive interior when facing up to her feelings surrounding the brother she cares about. this is the one fanon portrays as put together and upfront.

how did the fandom make such a grave error

mine are:

I told my partner that Phoenix went to law school for Miles, and she was immediately like: omg stalker???

I showed my irl friend fanart of Miles smirking and she immediately pulled up a picture of Sasuke smirking (I have not watched Naruto).

I showed another irl friend Miles' dismayed courtroom sprite (the one below), and now she does it whenever she's mildly annoyed at something.

ace attorney fans: what are some of the funniest ways your offline friends have reacted to seeing you play ace attorney?

mine are:

1. my partner at the time shouting "HE'S 23?!?!" and going through all 5 stages of grief upon learning that aa1 miles edgeworth is not, in fact, in his 40s

2. i showed my IRL bestie kristoph gavin and mentioned he was a villain. without skipping a beat they said "well of course he's a villain. he's blonde"

Send Me a Character

And I will tell you my:

First impression

Impression now

Favorite moment

Idea for a story

Unpopular opinion

Favorite relationship

Favorite headcanon

What I mean by a character being "whumped" is them being on the receiving end of hurt/comfort.

Kind of a follow up to my last poll: here. I removed the "no preference" options because I'm forcing you guys to choose >:) Feel free to explain your reasons in the tags/comments!

Phoenix is the one good at performing and Miles is the authentic one, right? It doesn’t fit them 100% of course, but I cannot see it the other way around.

Phoenix is an “insufferable emotionalist”, yes, and his emotional reactions are very genuine. But when he’s expressing emotions it’s almost always about other people; saving other people, believing in other people. When it comes to his personal issues, he is a closed book. He never says a word about Miles’s disappearance or Dahlia’s betrayal to anyone. Phoenix might not have multiple masks but he’s the one who took this piece of advice from Mia to heart: “for a lawyer, the worst of times are when you have to force your biggest smiles”. That’s his performance: the defender, the savior.

Phoenix is so driven by his attachments to other people that it feels like he doesn’t have an identity outside of it. He became a lawyer for Miles, twice. He pretty much only takes cases because Maya drags him to or one of his friends is the defendant. He doesn't function well when he's alone. You can't tell me he has a stable sense of self.

Miles suppresses his emotions, yes, and in the first game has a crisis over who he was as a prosecutor. But he doesn't perform. He holds himself to personal standards of perfection and doesn't care as much what other people think of him. And he's always authentic in his morals. He always tries to do what he thinks is the right thing, even during his "Demon Prosecutor" days. He thought getting every defendant a "guilty" verdict was the only way to get justice. It's the truth that makes him change his ways. It's pursuing the truth that becomes his main motivation. And isn't that the definition of authenticity?

Miles also 100% does see through Phoenix: "We aren't some sort of heroes. We're only human, you and I". Miles sees past Phoenix's performance. I think he might be the only person to ever address it.

Phoenix Wright is not the excruciatingly authentic and bright sunshine. He is the mirrorball who only shines so brightly because he reflects everyone else’s light.

But it's mutual. They see through each other. And that is probably my favorite part of wrightworth.

That’s precisely why Farewell My Turnabout is so so important to their relationship. It’s the case where Miles saves Phoenix <3

I cannot overstate how important Phoenix and Edgeworth are to each other’s lives. There is something so beautiful about Edgeworth’s walls crumbling before the man who picked up his father’s legacy where he couldn’t. There is so much care in the fact that Edgeworth returns to guide Phoenix when duty versus personal circumstances shake the latter’s principles to their core.

They spend their lives reciprocating each other’s acts of kindness, and it is in this eternal dance that they find comfort, trust, and love in one another.