#justice for all spoilers

[franzivonkarma]

I desperately need people to understand that Franziska's whipping thing really isn't solely a silly character gimmick. Of course it is to a degree, just like Godot and coffee and Klavier and air guitar in court, but so often I see people dismiss Franziska's whipping trait as an annoying feature that adds nothing to her character and I cannot stand it. This is a bit of a rant and I touch on gender inequality and the way I see a lot of men treat her as a character a decent amount within this because I feel like the fact that she is a woman is actually very important to this element of her character, and her treatment is also a lot of the reason why I feel compelled to talk about this in the first place.

Firstly what you need to understand is that not only is Franziska a woman, she is also laughably young when she becomes a prosecutor. She's a 13 year old girl trying to hold the attention of a courtroom of mostly grown men and be taken seriously. It's no secret that misogyny does exist in the Ace Attorney universe of course (see: Godot), but aside from this, maybe it's just because I've been playing Ace Attorney Investigations recently, but she is just very small all around. It's a running gag in Turnabout Reminiscence that she is short, she's small, she can't see things Edgeworth can - although granted Edgeworth is definitely fairly tall, most estimates I've seen linger around 5'8-5'10 (around 170-180cm). And of course, she is only 13 here, she's not done growing, but it's at this age that she actually did begin to prosecute. Naturally, she'd often be underestimated, and we can see a strong desire to prove herself during Turnabout Reminiscence, even just to her father; I can only imagine that this would extend further into her trials as a young girl. Secondly, she's the daughter of Manfred von Karma, whom she idolises to a godlike status and who teaches her everything she knows about prosecuting, and also a lot about life in general - he's her father. There's a lot I could say about their dynamic, but I feel that much of it doesn't need to be said in this specific post if you're already here dedicated to Franziska enough to bother reading this post.

Manfred's courtroom (and often, regular) behaviour revolves a lot around him taking complete control of the entire courtroom, with him even speaking over the judge, overruling objections he does not like and sustaining his own, and instructing witnesses himself. He also often snaps his fingers to direct attention to himself and his point. Franziska learns this, but how does a literal 13 year old girl follow her father in this regard? Well, by force. Whipping someone is a very clear way to get their attention. Not only the person it hits but the people around - whips cracking are loud, they take up a lot of visual space, and they also obviously cause harm to the person they hit. These are all things you can't really ignore - it forces you to look at her and pay attention to her and gives her control of the room exactly like Manfred. I've also been thinking a lot about the end of Justice For All in relation to this. She's lost to Phoenix multiple times and she couldn't beat him even once just to prove that she was better than Edgeworth as she so desperately wanted to. This brings me to another point about her use of her whip. While I think control is a huge aspect and is my main focus here, I think it falls more under the umbrella of Franziska's own perceived shortcomings. We also know that she doesn't believe she lives up to her father's genius, and that she consistently feels like she's walking in Edgeworth's shadow, she says it herself:

I think at least some part of the reason her whip is so important is because she believes she could very well be less than equal to others in the room in terms of certain traits. She sees her father as a genius, knows she isn't equal to him, and internalises this (whether she is actually less intelligent or not I personally don't know what I believe, I haven't played Justice For All in over a year and a half and I would have to replay it to decide my thoughts).

In having to be perfect, there are many expectations she cannot live up to, and this leads to many ways in which she falls short of what she believes she should be. By using her whip, again, she can account for her perceived shortcomings in other areas - control, her intelligence, her ability as a prosecutor. I think this last scene of JFA actually introduces us to the idea that Franziska is somewhat self-doubting in some ways and compares herself a lot with others, not just Manfred, but also Edgeworth, which we see more of in Ace Attorney Investigations during Turnabout Reminiscence, where we see her at 13 attempting to prove that she can "out-logic" Edgeworth for the entire case, and essentially, that she is "more perfect" than he is.

But to come back to her whip, control, and the end of Justice For All.

She is left with little of who she was before and doesn't know how to move on - everything she was taught to be from the moment she was born, she no longer is. She is 18 here, prosecuting for 5 years already and desperate to be prosecuting for even longer. As far as her life was set out, this was basically it for her - become a perfect prosecutor and prosecute perfectly just like Manfred - the ideal prosecutor in her eyes.

A Von Karma is perfect, but she is not - she lost, just like Edgeworth, whom she shamed for the same thing. She gives up her whip here, and I feel that it's truly symbolic of how she feels like she's completely lost control of herself, her life, her relationship with her father and most obviously her occupation as a prosecutor. How could she continue being a prosecutor when she no longer lives up to the idea of it that she's had her entire life? What use is her whip if she will not need to hold the court's attention any longer?

I'm sure a million other people have thrown their coin in the pot on this exact topic, and I'm sure many have said the same thing as me and many have said something different, but I needed to write my thoughts out about it because I couldn't stop thinking about her. This is one big reason why I feel like I see a lot of men who don't understand Franziska and see her as very annoying, gimmicky, and my least favourite - a "female Edgeworth." She is a woman who steals attention and space forcibly; both from characters in-game, and also from the player with her animations that take up time in trials and a lot of the visual space. Of course this makes her unpopular with a lot of men. I'm not saying that if you dislike her or the whip it comes from a place of misogyny, I am saying that I think her whipping trait is reduced to a stupid, annoying gimmick more than, say, Godot and his coffee, because a lot of people don't really care to see that there is intention behind it that reveals a lot about her character, just like how Godot's coffee problem is relevant to his backstory.

#if you read all of this thanks for being insane about franziska just like me #long post #franziska von karma #ace attorney #ace attorney justice for all #justice for all #ace attorney spoilers #aa2 spoilers #justice for all spoilers #val thinks #ace attorney investigations spoilers #aai spoilers #ace attorney investigations #aa2 #franziska ace attorney #ace attorney franziska

[knightsickness]

people have blocked out the details of turnabout big top so completely that i’ve literally never seen anyone talk about how it’s a very deliberate misdirect for farewell my turnabout. the genius of farewell my turnabout is that despite all in-game clues pointing to engarde, and despite him being the obvious suspect number one, on a meta level adrian is the obvious suspect, allowing a cut-and-dry twist to actually land. this is done through very deliberate parallels to previous cases - besides the general precedent of your client never being guilty, the most blatant link is to turnabout samurai (the steel samurai setting, the return of powers and oldbag, the constant ‘something like this happened last year), where your client was innocent and a female higher-up at the company did it. in turnabout big top, acro’s motive is his hatred for regina for indirectly killing bat, which neatly sets an expectation for adrian, hating engarde for indirectly killing celeste, to be the killer. if all worked as it was intended to, the player should be expecting adrian and engarde to have a similar dynamic to acro and regina. this would be extremely obvious in-game if big top wasn’t so bad that nobody wanted to engage with it

#ace attorney #justice for all #justice for all spoilers #ace attorney spoilers #ace attorney meta #ken dingling #regina berry #adrian andrews #matt engarde

[aubyrei]

happy 5 year anniversary to matt engarde's prison sentence. if shelly didn't get to him first i tried to copy the style for the aa1 case.. thingies.. whatever they're called. i kinda failed, but it's okay. i still like how this came out

#aa2 spoilers #aa jfa #aa jfa spoilers #justice for all spoilers #ace attorney fanart #ace attorney #adrian andrews #ace attorney spoilers #matt engarde #will powers #pearl fey #phoenix wright #franziska von karma #maya fey #shelly de killer

[okayish-dependent]

A lot of people like to characterize Manfred as an abusive parent who puts perfection above all else, to the point of micromanaging his kids lives' and while there's nothing wrong with that interpretation (It isn't at all out of character) I personally prefer to think of him as leaning more on the neglect side of the shitty-parenting-scale.

Manfred is know for being both ruthless and dedicated during his career as a prosecutor. He pours so much effort and passion and time into his work. Into being perfect. Canonically, he only ever took one vacation and that was out of absolutely necessity.

Work was his number one priority. I imagine that parenting would come second to all that.

I think Manfred probably spent long hours at the office, leaving Miles and Franziska home alone often. Burdening the two kids with the responsibility of caring for themselves and each other.

This would explain Franziska's whole...thing...really well, in my opinion.

Franziska grew up so quickly because she had no other choice. She was forced to look after herself. She had to be creative and resourceful to get her needs met. She had to become bold and violent in order to be noticed, because when she wasn't constantly announcing her presence, she was being ignored.

As for Miles, he probably got more attention than his sister but I imagine the kind of attention he got was mostly negative (Manfred telling him what he's doing wrong and needs to improve on) and very clinical. He taught Edgeworth how to prosecute and in doing so treated him more like an unruly pupil than a son.

Manfred never cared about Miles on a personal level. He didn't take an interest in the kid as a human being. To him, Miles Edgeworth was a means to an end.

Just like for Franziska, I think this kind of neglect would go a long way in explaining Edgeworth's behavior. He has so much trouble expressing his emotions (and feels embarrassed when he does manage to express them) because in a neglectful household having emotions and needs is treated as shameful. He has been taught that his feelings and hobbies and personal life are inconveniences at best which is why he goes out of his way to hide those things, even when he's an adult. This would also explain his approach to interacting with other people. If most of the time Edgeworth was alone (or with Manfred or Franziska) than it only makes sense that he'd start to feel detached from the others around him. That kind of thing can really deteriorate both a person's social skills and their compassion.

#ace attorney #meta #franziska von karma #miles edgeworth #manfred von karma #child neglect cw #ace attorney trilogy #justice for all spoilers #ace attorney phoenix wright spoilers #ace attorney headcanons

[characterssaythedarnestthings]

Did you know that "video killed the radio star" was actually written about that one case in ace attorney where a radio gets presented with a video tape and freaks out and threatens to kill the guy who hired him

#its absolutely true #Ace attorney #De killer #Matt Engarde #Justice for all #Justice for all spoilers #aa #Phoenix Wright #Adrian Andrews #Video killed the radio star #Musings #Can you tell I'm obsessing BC I'm obsessing

[battybiologist]

Playing the Original Trilogy Ace Attorney games back to back, it really struck me as early as 2-2 how much Franziska is very bad at the whole "Demon Prosecutor" schtick

What made Edgeworth so tough isn't just how he would run logic circles around you, but also because he shut down every line of inquiry that was not directly related to the case and substantiated with hard evidence. His one weakness was that he still followed the due proceedings of court and the Judge's rulings without a fuss. And, you know, that he still had morals

Manfred von Karma is on a whole other level. He's even more ruthless than Edgeworth, but he's also so intimidating that he essentially takes over as judge in the beginning, and his moral compass was surgically removed because it hurt his shoulder.

But Franziska, while she also controls the social dynamics of the court, lets so much shit fly that Edgeworth would not. If he was the prosecutor, he would have needed hard evidence that Pearl was in the Winding Path, and he definitely wouldn't have let him badger Ini about the sports car she drove all those years ago.

Hell, Edgeworth's most common dirty tactic in the first game is concluding a cross-examination before you can squeeze the info out of the witness. And just in 2-2, Franziska lets, and sometimes forces, the cross-examinations to continue, even when said cross-examination reveals she was concealing evidence.

Even Winston Payne, the jobber prosecutor par excellence, is more ruthless than her IIRC, as in he tried to conclude a trial early before Phoenix could finish his reasoning, whereas the Judge literally tried to declare Maya guilty and Franziska objected

You could interpret this behaviour in many ways. In fact, Phoenix even gives us his own: he thinks she's being arrogant, à la "hit me with your best shot". It would track, as she's been pretty arrogant up until now, but I think it's a little shallow.

My own interpretation goes a little deeper into Franziska's character: We know Franziska has been raised by Manfred "my card PIN is 0001 because I'm number 1" von Karma to believe perfection is the ultimate goal. She HATES lying witnesses, but is perfectly fine with "preparing" testimonies. She's the most volatile and youngest prosecutor to date. Lastly, she felt pressure to live up to the von Karma name all her life, but when her father died, she was more concerned with Edgeworth's presumed death than it

My conclusion: Franziska's truest desire pre-character development is to win fair and square, but because she associates her father with victory, she forces herself to emulate him and tries to play dirty. All of her Manfred-like tactics are done outside of court, where she would be able to think it over, letting her conditioning kick in. But in the thick of legal battle, especially facing Phoenix Wright, who thrives on hectic trials, she would let her heart decide what to do.

#justice for all spoilers #ace attorney #franziska von karma #pwaa spoilers #jfa spoilers #phoenix wright ace attorney spoilers #ace attorney original trilogy spoilers #ace attorney spoilers #i love how almost blink-and-youll-miss-it her characterization is

[shardofglass1]

matt engarde future design? idfk i was just goofing off with redesigning some aa villains and I decided to make a digital piece out of the one I came up with for matt

#ace attorney #art #matt engarde #if you squint it looks like matt (trust) #he has a bit of scarring on his face #maybe you shouldn't have scratched up your face after you got caught 🤨 #justice for all spoilers

[thatoneidiotyoulovesomuch]

So y'all know how Matt Engarde whenever he reverts to his true form he has a wine glass? And how in his house he has a wine cellar?

But whenever he's "evil Matt Engarde" he never drinks his wine or whatever is in his cup. Just kinda shows it off and dangle it in front of peoples' faces. So I like to think that he treats his wine like accessories.

Everyday whenever he thinks he'll pull out "evil Matt Engarde" he spends some time that morning picking out what wine he would like to show off today. But even when he doesn't plan on bringing out his evil self he takes a neutral colored drink so that it'll somewhat match. (It's typically the same drink everytime)

(he also practices his evil smile and flipping his hair back)

What am I even talking about?

#ace attorney #phoenix wright #matt engarde #ace attorney trilogy #ace attorney justice for all #phoenix wright ace attorney #ace attorney spoilers #farewell my turnabout #farewell my turnabout spoliers #justice for all spoilers #this has to be one of the most random thoughts that i've ever had

[zaddyazula]

uhhh WHAT

#EDGEWORTH??? DEAD??? #i know he isn’t but what is going on here #zad plays #zad plays aa jfa #aa jfa #justice for all #ace attorney #miles edgeworth #justice for all spoilers #ace attorney spoilers

[poorly-drawn-ace-attorney]

today: finally finished turnabout big top (thank god)

#maya fey #phoenix wright #regina berry #i want to get her out of there so badly #franziska was the only person who could handle me during this case #her going “stop. shut up. you're all fools” to everyone in the circus? ME #anyways miles edgeworth alive moment??? who could have foreseen this #turnabout big top spoilers #aa2 spoilers #justice for all spoilers #(just in case) #ms paint #poorlydrawnaa

[maimreddwhite]

reunion and turnabout spoilers

ok if someone put a gun to my head and told me that i had to choose who i thought, in my opinion, was the most tragic and fucked up ace attorney character, i would without hesitation say mimi miney. her life was filled with so much tragedy, pain, and suffering that its insane.

first things first, she was working in a shitty abusive workplace for god knows how long. they were mistreating her, overworking her, and turner grey was definitely not a caring boss. being exposed to that on its own can fuck someone up, but theres even more.

they have overworked her and exhausted her to the point where she cant even think straight, to the point where she cant even do her job correctly. so, some medications get mixed up, and she has to slowly realise that the patients under her care were dying. she will now have to carry the weight of that for the rest of her life. the lives of the 14 people; as well as the 14 families and friends of those people.

along with this, she also had to deal with legal shit. interviewers, police, people blaming her, news reporters, people showing up to her work, grey trying to pin the blame on her even though he was the one who caused the whole thing.

now, even though your life is absolutely horrible at the moment, there are at least two good things. first of all, you have a younger sister who cares about you, and you have an expensive car that you probably worked for so long to get.

unfortunately, she looses both those facts simply because of how stressed out and exhausted she was. her sister, someone who shes spent the past two decades living with, someone her, as an older sibling, were at least partially responsible for, dies a horrible death in that fire. i would also like to add that ini miney had the shortest lifespan out of any ace attorney character in the entire franchise. she was literally 20 years old. she died very young.

mimi would definitely feel responsible for this as she refused to let ini take over driving for her, a mistake which seemed harmless enough, she didnt intend to kill anybody, but look where that landed her.

im not even going to get into the physical pain but having your entire fucking face burnt off sounds. painful!

anyway, you thought shes been through enough, and that this entire experience has probably done an insane amount of damage on her. but no, she wakes up in that hospital, alive, and she looks in the mirror and shes forced to relive the guilt of that incident, shes forced to carry a reminder of it, everywhere she goes.

now, just think for a second about how terrifying becoming your dead sibling is. first of all, she does not get a chance to grieve properly. everybody around her, her friends, family, everybody she knew, was grieving mimi miney. she would have to watch as everyone she knows cries for someone who, in her eyes, doesnt even deserve it. nobody mourns the person who is dead, and you are the only one who can miss ini. you cant talk about ini to anybody. naturally this would fuck up the grieving process just a little.

hopefully mimi liked inis friends because those were the people she would have to hang out with for ages on end, and what if ini had a partner? would mimi just have to continue a relationship she feels nothing about? she would have to take every aspect of her sisters life, even the aspects she hates, and that would basically be her entire life.

being forced to constantly be around things that remind you of death, and things that remind you of your sister probably did not do wonders for you either! fast forward about a year of living in this absolute misery, and your old boss, somebody who caused every terrible thing that youve gone through, someone yoyve tried to distract yourself from, has now come into your life.

hes, all of a sudden, asking her about spirit channeling and if she could reccomend any. why? because he wants to threaten mimi at gunpoint to sign something that absolves him of all responsibility. shes angry, of course, but she cant show it. she cant show anything. obviously, she accepts, and she panics. she wouldnt know what to do it the truth came out, because then she would have to face herself, her guilt, and what she did.

while shes murdering grey, i would like to point out that ini mineys face is the last thing turner grey ever sees. the woman that he played a big role in killing, she murders him.

anyway, after the trial, for the first time in an entire fucking YEAR she has the ability to be mimi miney again. in that past year, a lot of fuckedup and traumatising things happened to her, so the logical conclusion would be to get some therapy, try to heal from her grief, beco-oh wait shes in prison. she goes through trauma after trauma and the place where she ends up? fucking jail!!!!!!!!! my girl doesnt need jail she needs.......idfk but NOT THAT!!!

this concludes my...*cough*....SMALL RAMBLE on why i think mimi miney is a very fucked up and tragic character. also i am of the belief that turner grey deserved to die.

#mimi miney #ace attorney #ini miney #im mentally ill about ace attorney #justice for all spoilers

[attorneys-against-court-violence]

Case 2-2: CLEAR!

Phew, that was a ride! Had a lot of fun piecing this one together!

I don't think there'll be a breakdown like with Case 2-1 for a while, so I'll just skim over some highlights and come back when it's had a chance to sink in;

Absolutely chilling opening. One of my favourites in the series presentation-wise. That monologue fits every version of events that comes to mind as the case unravels.

Phoenix is out for blood. He's grieving Edgeworth, defending a Maya who's lost all hope for her innocence, and has to put up with the most abusive prosecutor yet in Franziska. Man's at a boiling point and it's thrilling to watch.

Ini & Mimi. It would have been simple enough as a revenge flick, but the added layers of guilt and identity gives these two texture and pathos. Sympathy was running on all cylinders by the end, in spite of the crimes committed.

Pearl and Morgan Fey. One's a tragic cinnamon roll (with the endurance of a Duracell apparently, running what would be a two-hour trip by train) and the other a sinister, cunning mastermind literally clutching at her Pearls (shudders). I enjoy their debut and the added backstory/tragedy they add to Maya and Mia!

I'll espouse my opinions of Franzy when I get to know her better later on. For now, I'm just glad Edgeworth had enough integrity to not have been so heavily influenced by Manfred. Beating someone into unconsciousness after losing is... pretty intense.

So, next one's Turnabout Big Top then. I've heard words around that case, few good. Let's hope I can wring something out of it regardless!

#justice for all spoilers #ace attorney #justice for all #reunion and turnabout #case 2-2

[knightsickness]

recognising the theme of grief in jfa is literally so important to getting anything out of it. phoenix and franziska are both grieving miles, though phoenix is depressed by this (refusing to engage with it at all) and franziska is in angry denial. miles is coming to terms with the death of his father and the metaphorical death of his mentor throughout the trilogy, but especially here. pearl is understandably devastated over the loss of her mother, which she only voices when she thinks she’s about to lose maya too. mimi is grieving ini, and her crime is killing the man she sees as responsible for the death of her sister. acro is grieving bat, and while attempting to kill the girl he sees as responsible accidentally kills his mentor. these crimes are supposed to be sympathetic, but not selfless - despite the justification of grief, they acted for themselves, because ini and bat are already dead. adrian and juan are both grieving celeste and both attempt to frame engarde, who they see as responsible for her death - a stance that alleviates both of them of responsibility, that justifies forging a suicide note. is it supposed to? engarde is the subversion to the theme in that he’s a villain who is evil because he enjoys hurting people. he is entirely self-interested, without any facade of grief or reasoning. the situation he puts phoenix in forces him to choose between his ideals (solving the case) and ‘self-interest’ (saving his friend at the cost of an innocent life). the bad ending, in which phoenix allows adrian to be convicted, reflects phoenix’s established tendency to depression and avoidance - after he wins the case, he wanders the streets alone, thinking about it in abstract terms. the good ending - adrian getting justice, pearl reunited with maya, miles and franziska coming to their version of reconciliation - is a hopeful one, opening the possibility of moving forwards

#you may be wondering why i didn’t include 2-1 in this analysis and well it isn’t a very good case #2-3 is worse but at least it’s thematically interesting #justice for all #ace attorney #justice for all spoilers #phoenix wright #franziska von karma #miles edgeworth #pearl fey #ini miney #mimi miney #maya fey #acro #ken dingling #regina berry #adrian andrews #juan corrida #celeste inpax #matt engarde #ace attorney meta

[sparkyblizz]

crackship that someone else definitely already coined—Mimi Miney x the Phantom

#sparkyblizz speaks #ace attorney #aa2 spoilers #justice for all spoilers #aa5 spoilers #dual destinies spoilers #mimi miney #the phantom #aa phantom

[okayish-dependent]

Abusive and exploitative relationships really are such a huge theme in this game, aren't they? So many of the culprits were exploiting or abusing others before they became murders...Redd White with his blackmailing company, Morgan Fey with her daughter, Dee Vasquez using her subordinate, Dahlia Hawthorne fucking over so many people...

There really is something to be said about how the culprits in these cases might never have become culprits at all had thier bad behavior not gone unchecked for such a long time.

#ace attorney #meta #liveblogging #justice for all spoilers #ace attorney spoilers #trials and tribulations spoilers #phoenix wright ace attorney spoilers

[theposhperyton]

So I've been watching Water 7

#one piece #water 7 #one piece water 7 #cp9 #cp9 one piece #paulie one piece #justice for paulie #they didn't even invite him to their spy polycule :(((( #cp9 kaku #kaku one piece #rob lucci #rob lucci one piece #kalifa one piece #blueno one piece #water 7 spoilers #cp9 spoilers #Paulie is becoming a babygirl of mine very quickly #sorry that we all said pass to you in the server smash or pass channel #i didnt know what i was missing out on back then #i was a fool