His Trust...

Why are my favorite ships always:

Different but in the way that they make perfect partners and achieve so much together. Believing in each other when it seems like no one else does. Different and despite that, they understand each other until they completely don't. Some kind of betrayal and at least one of them has abandonment issues. So much emotional constipation and painful pining. Childhood friends to [insert decades long mess here] to finally, finally lovers. "My heart has always been yours. Even when I hated you. Even when there was so much distance between us I thought we'd never pull through. There's no one else in this world for me. So, yes it's you, it's always been you".

And the only two that have qualified so far are Wrightworth (Phoenix + Miles from Ace Attorney) and Baavira (Baatar Jr + Kuvira from Legend of Korra). I love how Wrightworth's partnership led them to find the truth and redeem each other, while Baavira's led them to create a dictatorship and commit war crimes.

If you have any more examples of ships that fit, please let me know.

"#no no i do much mia meta and she meant it exactly like that#phoenix heard her exactly the way she meant#and that's why they're both so angsty" <-- pasting the tags of someone who reblogged my post because omg thank you

I always had this Feeling that there is so much more to Mia Fey than meets the eye. But I was always like: okay, we'll cross that bridge when we get there (aka after I lose my mind analyzing Phoenix, Miles, and Franziska).

Honestly that piece of advice from Mia is what tipped me off first, because I was like: are you telling someone to like, ignore their emotions? hmm suspicious.

And in Reunion and Turnabout, Mia started protecting Morgan? We literally had to break her psyche-locks.

Also in Farewell My Turnabout, Mia seems to be just as suspicious and distrusting of Edgeworth as Phoenix is? But at the end she goes: so now do you know what being a defense attorney means? ... Mia, I swear YOU didn't get it either until Edgeworth showed both you and Phoenix.

These are just observations, I really need to comb through this and properly analyze Mia Fey because gosh. (And I need to finish playing T&T).

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.

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.

perfectionist (pt. 2)

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tag as ship for an instant block theyre siblings you freaks

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.

#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.

No worries! It's pretty easy to miss.

Basically in Bridge to the Turnabout, Larry himself implies that two of his previous girlfriends have hit him. This is what he says when he's on the stand testifying about witnessing the lightning strike:

Yeah, I don't think there's any other way to interpret these lines. Poor Larry... someone needs to teach him what a healthy relationship is like.

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).

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.

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