Aa2 Spoilers - Tumblr Posts

Day 6: Favourite murderer

Thinking about it now, Engarde technically wasn’t the murderer,, but he did order it so imo it counts, shush. Plus DeKiller’s kinda in this drawing too, so there

I LOVED this case very much :D it spurred me back to life after Turnabout Big Top (which caused me to stop playing for like a year 😭 me and Edgeworth were twinning fr) and got me to finish all the other games in the main series. Thanks for being an awful person Matt!

thinking about how if De Killer just used gender neutral “they” over the reciever when he was on the stand he wouldn’t have gotten caught lying about meeting his client in person. hashtag androgyny saves lives

Playing justice for all, and I WILL make a whole ass rant post about Miles’s ‘death’ and Phoenix grieving. It’s my duty.

Prosecutor Blackquill,

Assume you were at a bar or diner and engaged in a debate that threatens to spill over into violence. How would you diffuse such a scenario? If push comes to shove, how would you handle the ensuing brawl?

Having served time in prison, you're likely no stranger to unprompted fisticuffs. There must be something you can impart, even if it's just some amusing anecdotes to serve as an example.

(That is, if you did not stoke the flames to begin with for a laugh. Not that I would assume such a thing.)

Sincerly,

A Wayward Stranger

Wayward Reader,

Intriguing. There were, as a matter of fact, several times when I did indeed stoke the flames for a laugh. It is quite amusing to do so, and fairly easy as well. What is more difficult is fanning the flames so others are fighting, but do not take swings at yourself, implying that it is another opinion, or stating the things they do in fact say, but only behind closed doors. If I feel that something should, instead, be diffused, it would depend on what the conversation is about, but making the other person feel as though they are listened to and their opinion is valid is key. I may still state my disagreement, but I would wish for the other party to feel as though they have been heard, given a fair chance to speak, and is still respected despite the fact that I believe them to be wrong. I may have no respect for them at all, but we are deescalating. There are topics I will not do this for, but as a general rule, people wish to be heard, and shutting them down will only anger them further.

As for how to handle unprompted fights, I find that going for weak, less protected points are the best option. People go for the face rather readily, and it is indeed venerable, the nose in particular. Other weak points include the gut, groin, and instep. There are more still, but those are the most obvious, and while they are often more protected, it is harder to protect all at once. If you are not experienced in fighting, then there will be a learning curve. There is also stance, balance and size to keep in mind, but those are considerably harder to discuss over a text-based platform.

As for anecdotes, I have several, most notable is the time I pressed that fool Engarde into a violent rage by giving my honest thoughts on his show. Tripe, and inferior to it's predecessors. fanning his rage continued, I particularly liked when I said I wouldn't pay a nickel for his performance. In his rage, he came at me with a good deal of adrenaline, but distinct lack of foresight. I dodged, and he happened to barrel right into one Furio Tigre. The results were quite enjoyable to watch.

Amused,

-Simon Blackquill

thank you so much for replying! As someone who just finished DD I feel so bad for forgetting how little he thinks/talks about Trucy in the triral with Miles. I think I was mostly distracted by how unhinged their banter was, as well as how forceful Miles was with convicting Athena (to be clear, very in character for him but still an intense moment for me personally) but,I now remember thinking a few times "Why isn't Phoenix thinking about his daughter safety!?" as I was playing the trial.

Also that's a very good point comparing this to case 2-4 cuz yeah, in that situation he acted how you'd expect, but in case 5-5 I do agree the stakes are higher and yet, his reaction is much more mild (which shouldn't be the case internally at the very least).

I think another reason why I felt he was much worse in AJ is because we see how upset Trucy is over her Dad disappearing on her again, but in DD she's written to be unaffected by the kidnapping (as I'm pretty sure she mentions not being scared and making everything happy with magic tricks) but now, I'm realising that's less a "situation affected her less" and, at best case, her putting on a brave face and worse case, the writers not considering how scary a kidnapping situation would be for a 16 year old...

Do I still think Phoenix is worse in AJ than DD? A little bit, as again, as him disappearing on Trucy with no warning is pretty bad (and while Apollo was there to watch her last time it's implied normally she's on her own) but thinking more on case 5-5 kidnapping arc has very much made me agree he's not much better than in AJ, and argurebly worse in some ways. So now I'm starting to (mostly) take back my hot take.

As for him being a bad Dad, I'm inclined to agree he's not a bad Dad, especially by AA standards cuz oh boy those are low but, fair from a "good" Dad. Definitely an okay dad especially considering his circumstances during most of the time he raised her imo.

Response to the hot takes: Phoenix is a better Dad in DD than AJ.

Reason I think this is because in AJ he abandons Trucy to work on the Jurist system for all of case 3, with no warning and apparently this isn't the first time he's done this to her. Sure you could argue he wasn't leaving his 15 yr completely alone cuz he knew Apollo would watch her but, given he doesn't know Apollo very well at this point, nor asks him to babysit his daughter makes the situation worse imo.

Meanwhile in DD he is busy with work yes but to me is much more present in her life and communicates with her regularly even while working as a lawyer, still far from a fantastic Dad in DD but seems to be better. So I'm curious as to why people think he's a better Dad in AJ cuz I just don't see it that way but maybe I'm forgetting some important details?

Also I haven't finished SOJ yet (only finished the first case yesterday and yet to start case 2) but given he risked his life in a foreign country to defend a stranger (who to be fair is 9 but it's still concerning how fast he jumps into accepting the death penalty imo) when he has a 17 daughter doesn't give me much hope for how good of a Dad he's gonna be in SOJ (but please don't spoil the future cases for me)

Strongly agree | Agree | Neutral | Disagree | Strongly disagree

Apologies in advance for this long response. It turns out I feel very strongly about a certain thing in DD, and how it pertains to Phoenix as Trucy's dad.

I won't say anything about SOJ for spoiler reasons, though I do have issue with some things in that game as well (which contributes to my feelings about Phoenix on this topic overall). Also, it's worth mentioning that I haven't played or watched the second trilogy since my first playthrough back in early 2021, so there could be important things I'm forgetting or misremembering.

I do have issues with some things in AJ, as well as things mentioned about the 7yg, but my opinion on Phoenix’s parenting there is still much more favorable than in the following two games.

For DD, Trucy isn't present much, from what I can recall. She's there occasionally at the office and says a few lines, mainly, but her largest role happens in 5-5, which is also the case where my issue lies (despite really enjoying that case overall).

Her role starts well as Phoenix's investigation assistant, but it kinda falls apart once they separate. From what I remember, she suddenly runs into the space center (to go after Apollo, I believe), and I can't remember if there's any sign of potential danger at that point, so I can't definitively say whether Phoenix should be faulted for letting her go/not going in after her.

However, once he finds out about the danger of the hostage situation, I found his reaction to that and attitude towards it for the rest of the case to be extremely underwhelming/inappropriate, to say the least.

He doesn't show nearly enough concern for his daughter's safety and life when he finds out and throughout the case, even when her life is repeatedly threatened. And as much as I love the banter between Phoenix and Miles in that case, it probably makes the relative lightheartedness (despite the high stakes for numerous people involved) stick out even more.

We're also in Phoenix’s POV—we can see his thoughts. So there can't be the excuse that he's putting on a brave face and is struggling more than we can see.

But what makes his reaction stick out the most to me is that we've seen how Phoenix has dealt with a similar situation to this before: in JFA (which I'm assuming you've played, as I'm about to mention major spoilers for it).

The rest is under the cut for 2-4 spoiler reasons, and also because this post got quite long.

Maya gets kidnapped. Her life in exchange for a not guilty verdict. Phoenix was in despair when he found out, nearly passing out, and he worried for her throughout the entire case. He even went to some questionable lengths (at first) to secure her safety.

Now, this is fine by itself. I don't have any issues here, and I think he acted appropriately. 2-4 is actually my favorite case in the series. My problem comes from when we compare the two scenarios and see how 5-5 Phoenix handles it.

Firstly, his concern should be, at the very least, the same level he showed back then. But it isn't anywhere close, when in reality, he should be much more upset at the circumstances in 5-5.

We have Maya, who was only a friend to him, an adult at the time, and also someone he'd only known for a little over a year at that point. Then we have Trucy, his daughter, not even 18 yet and Phoenix is still legally responsible for, and someone he'd raised for the last 8 years (half of her life).

Then the difference in their captors. De Killer is a cold, logical, professional assassin. He doesn't act hastily. His actions are very calculated. Maya is also his only hostage and the only insurance he has to keep Phoenix working with him and trying to defend Engarde. He wouldn't kill Maya unless there's absolutely no way for Phoenix to still defend Engarde. In that situation, Maya is too valuable. There's a certain safety and comfort in that, as Phoenix would have less worry that Maya would be killed, as long as Matt isn't declared guilty.

Let's compare this to Aura, who is acting in the opposite way to De Killer. She's not a professional killer, and the hostage situation was an act of desperation. She's more prone to acting rash and killing hostages because she's acting out of emotion and desperation to save her brother, as well as to avenge Metis.

She isn't able to think carefully and logically in that instance. It's not just business to her like it is for De Killer (his “aftercare” as he would call it). She also has numerous hostages and far more leverage than De Killer had. She could kill Trucy and still have influence over the prosecutor’s office, as they still had other hostages to worry about. Phoenix also had other reasons to take that case and keep defending, considering Athena was the defendant (though, if Trucy actually died, it could be too difficult for him to continue the case).

So, not only should the person who was taken hostage be more important to him in this instance, he should be more concerned as, logically, Trucy was at a higher risk of being killed than Maya was.

Again, I think Phoenix’s reaction in 2-4 was appropriate. The problem is with how he handles the situation in 5-5.

Even though he should be reacting more severely in the 5-5 situation, due to the increased chance of death and due to whose life is in danger—he doesn't. The concern he shows is a sliver of that, and because we have seen how he's reacted in that type of situation before, it makes the incongruity here even more obvious.

How it was handled here in comparison to 2-4 left such a bad taste in my mouth, that it significantly dragged down my opinion of Phoenix as a parent (and that's without getting into the issues I have with SOJ).

Even with that, I don't think he's a bad dad. Especially considering the amount of bad dads in this series. In a lot of ways, he probably did the best he could with the situation he and Trucy were in (during the 7yg), especially as he wasn't planning to become a father at that time and with everything going on. So I think he's good overall. But he isn't the best in the series to me.

See the fandom hot takes ask game here.