You Know One Thing That I Absolutely Hate? When One Recurring Joke About A Character Overshadows Their

writing around feelings

imo the absence of a feeling in writing is more powerful than directly describing it. people comment about how i do this a lot in writing so i thought i’d share what i mean and how i do it

so basically i’m trying to articulate a feeling without actually acknowledging it in the writing. when people avoid a thought or a feeling they don’t give it a name. it’s like touching around a bruise, you feel a little around it but avoid fully touching it because it hurts. that’s what i mean

in practice i think i have a couple ways of doing this:

1/ does, doesn’t, would, could: even if a character doesn’t take an action or acknowledge a feeling, the possibility is there in the story and i like drawing attention to that, it addresses the periphery of an emotion in an interesting and internal way, examples:

Erik raises the visor of his helmet. A soft summer breeze hits his face, catching on the sweat and cooling him ever so slightly. He feels Istvan’s eyes on him but doesn’t meet them.

Ryunosuke faces forward, letting his hand drop from the hilt of the sword. He takes a short breath. He tries not to focus on the dust.

2/ flat description of actions: you can describe an action without describing the emotion attached to it. i feel this is more impactful than doing both at the same time, or just choosing to focus on an emotion. there is emotion in the action, the reader can decide which one, examples:

“Kate,” he says, a little too sharply. “Be very careful there. Be very careful.” His hands are shaking again. He crosses his arms and shoves his hands under his armpits.

His computer gives a soft chime. An email. A new lead, but the stories are safe and tame, nothing like the danger he was used to. He shakes his wrists again, warding off carpal tunnel for another day. Another chime sounds. He looks out the window again.

3/ bury emotion in metaphor: this one i do constantly, i’ll just go off on a tangent about something else and the emotion will come through, kind of like how a character will try to distract themselves when faced with an emotion they don’t quite know how to process, example:

Sunlight trickles in through the dense tree cover, like water. A ray touches Hans’s golden hair. Henry watches the light play on the yellow strands. His hair is combed back but a few strands fall onto his forehead, pushed around by some invisible wind. They could be harp strings, or silk threads. Something delicate and fine. Another ray of sunlight falls over Hans’s hair and it seems almost to glow.

He unclenches his hands one finger at a time. The stress of muscles tensing no longer exists, not here, but the ghost of tension still lingers, the memory of it, over his knuckles and in his wrists. He wishes he could just have this. Just the pain in his joints of holding onto something too tightly for too long.

This is what I’ve been saying!! I hate mischaracterizations of Narumitsu that make Phoenix Miles’s savior and turn Miles into a poor baby who needs to be saved all the time. That is not them. Do you think Miles “we aren’t some sort of heroes” Edgeworth would ever approve of that? Miles, the only person who properly calls Phoenix out for his savior complex?

I could go on but, everything you said OP.

Wrightworth is not "Sunshine x Grumpy"

They are "Visibly Traumatized x Repressed Trauma", they are bitch for bitch, they are so many more interesting things than that overused dynamic.

Miles is not some sad boy who needs to be coddled, he is a grown ass adult who sent many people to jail. Some of which could have possibly been innocent. He's done some shitty things that are influenced yes--but not excused by his trauma. He can and SHOULD be called out on things he did, stop blaming all his bad actions on Manfred or Gant.

Phoenix is not a golden retriever boyfriend. Maybe he was in college when he was "Feenie" but that shit ended the day Dahlia was arrested (Hot take Feenie feels more ooc to the Phoenix we knew in the trilogy than Beanix ever did to me). Phoenix is a snarky bitch almost all the time, even thinking/saying downright mean things to/about people he cares about like Maya. He has massive big brother energy but not always in the "I'll take care of you" way but often in the "I'm gonna disgust/upset/annoy you on purpose because I think it's funny" way. (Like if you choose the fishing pole in Turnabout Goodbyes, he teases Maya by suggesting they use Missile as bait, which Maya takes as well as you'd expect).

Miles is not a princess who waited every day for Phoenix to save him. Miles was perfectly content to forget his past entirely as is his coping mechanism, and Phoenix has a savior complex that no one asked him to have. Miles never asked for Phoenix to reappear in his life, Phoenix just realized Miles was gonna ignore him, so he became a lawyer himself so that would no longer be an option for Miles.

This isn't to say Wrightworth is a bad ship by any means. This is to say that their characterization and relationship are so often blatantly misunderstood by the fandom. So often watered down to fit a basic mold. Which is a shame because their actual relationship is so much more interesting to me.

Sooo many fanfics get both of their characters wrong to either fit a dynamic they never were or because they want to give them less accountability than they deserve.

I feel very strongly about Recipe for Turnabout, but I don’t think it’s a very good case. I just think it has so much potential to be amazing. 

Trials & Tribulations’ running themes are deception (personas and disguises) and the lengths people will go out of devotion (usually in romantic relationships but Bridge deals with familial). And there’s so much that could have been said about identity, self worth, and being so devoted to someone that you lie to yourself in Recipe.

If Furio Tigre's impersonation of Phoenix was actually really good (and not played off as a joke), it could have done so much to explore Phoenix's identity surrounding being a defense attorney. I mean think about it, Phoenix lives for other people, he doesn’t seem to know what to do with himself when he’s alone, and became a defense attorney to save people. And Furio Tigre ripped that away from him by pretending to be him and getting an innocent person locked up. Everyone thought Tigre was Phoenix. Maggey thought he failed her. It feels straight out of one of Phoenix's worst nightmares. Seriously, why is this plot point only used for laughs?

Viola Cadaverini is probably the most intriguing new character in 3-3 but she’s completely brushed aside. She's a perfect parallel to Phoenix himself. Viola tries to convince herself that Tigre truly loves her, rather than confront the truth that he is paying for her bills and being so kind to her because he's terrified of her mafia boss grandfather. To the point where she stays by his side and becomes an accomplice to his crime. Similarly, Phoenix believed that Dahlia truly loved him. And while Phoenix wasn’t a willing accomplice to Dahlia’s crime, he still hid evidence for her and ate the necklace out of belief in her.

The game itself even acknowledges this connection briefly.

This is what Phoenix thinks after breaking Viola’s psyche-locks. He was scared of her at first but now he sympathizes with her and is filled with new determination to take Tigre down. Phoenix chooses the drink the espresso she prepared, effectively trusting her not to poison him too.

Also side note: Phoenix is really sensitive to betrayal. And it’s really interesting that he seems to hate it because it’s cowardly. Phoenix seems to hate the deception involved in poisoning and betrayal. He’s is terrified of his believing in someone so much, only to be hurt and left alone. (… eyes Phoenix’s reaction to Edgeworth’s note). Yeah it definitely stems from Dahlia.

Now imagine if Viola was the defendant instead of Maggey. That would mean Tigre, the person she convinced herself truly loved her, disguised himself in order to use her as the scapegoat for his crime. Does that sound familiar? Phoenix would probably be scared of Viola at first too. Maybe she reminds him of Dahlia. But slowly come to trust her.

Viola as the defendant would also continue T&T's pattern of guilty or questionable defendants (Ron DeLite being Mask DeMasque, Terry Fawles being in a relationship with 14 y/o Dahlia, and Iris being an accomplice). No case after 2-4 ever critiques Phoenix's misbeliefs as a defense attorney again (that being an attorney is not about saving people but fighting for them, and they everyone deserves a proper defense). But 3-3 could have done that, because Viola was still an accomplice and would have to go to jail for that. Phoenix could have continued to learn that he doesn't have to save everyone, that he has to fight for them and for the truth.

Do you see my vision? Do you see the potential? Recipe for Turnabout could have been a top tier case.

Oh and here's my collection of Recipe's most... memorable quotes. (Aka why is 3-3 like that??)

Something I'm fond of saying is "The villain drives the plot but the hero sets the tone." Something that's very important about this is that the resolution to the conflicts presented need to match the hero's tone. If your story doesn't believe problems can be solved the way the hero wants to solve them... why is this the hero?

If you want your problems to be solved with brutal catharsis, then your hero should be someone who believes in brutal catharsis.

If you want your problems to be solved with forgiveness and reconciliation, then your hero should be someone who believes in forgiveness and reconciliation.

They don't have to begin there. This can be something they come around to over the course of the story, as they grow and change per their character arc. But by the time of their ultimate encounter with the villain, their values should be the values that drive the story forward.

There's this thing in D&D that some DMs do. Where, when you roll enough damage to deplete the monster's hit points, they'll turn to you and say, "That's a kill. Describe for the group how you take the monster down." And you're allowed to come up with some cool maneuver or something that your character did in order to deliver the finishing blow.

The hero's ultimate triumph over the villain is a lot like this. More than any other part of the story, this moment is their apotheosis. It should be a celebration of everything they are and everything they stand for.

You have defeated the villain; Now describe for the group what form that victory takes.

Prosecutor’s office AA1 vs AA6

Oh boy, this is a good observation but there’s one thing you’re missing. The game never explicitly states if Phoenix truly believed Edgeworth was dead. But at the end of Farewell My Turnabout, Phoenix says this: “I decided that the Miles Edgeworth I knew had died. …At least, that’s what I told myself”.

Phoenix lied to himself. Phoenix deluded himself into believing that the version of Miles Edgeworth he had in his head was dead. And then proceeded to act like he was grieving Edgeworth’s real death.

… I will do a full analysis on this one day.

phoenix wright is so funny like he doesn’t see edgeworth for years after edgeworth leaves school after his dad died and was lik e: edgeworth must be dead. ill never see him again.  then he became a lawyer and sees edgeworth and then almost witnesses him die bc of the law and was like: thank god he didnt die. now he’s here forever. then edgeworth quits for a bit  bc of cancel culture and phoenix legit is just like: hes actualy dead again and ill never see him again. hes for real dead like, he has no object permanence  emotionally or physically 

This aligns exactly with what Edgeworth said at the end of Turnabout Goodbyes.

“For the longest time, I thought that I might have killed my own father. I thought I might be a criminal. I became a prosecutor in part to punish myself”

Edgeworth projected himself onto every defendant he prosecuted. It was probably the only way he could live with himself.

replaying 1-2 and it’s finally clicked that edgeworth thinking phoenix could murder mia was less about phoenix and almost entirely about him, who’d been living with the knowledge he killed his father despite loving him, idolizing him, and constructing his world view around him. edgeworth indicting phoenix for his mentor’s murder was one of the biggest signs he’d been carrying a guilty conscience for the past 15 years of his life.

Narumitsu/Wrightworth Fic Recs! (Part 1, Multi Chapter)

I'm finally cleaning out my tabs and sorting through all the fanfics I've read so I thought tumblr would be the best place to keep my favorite fics :)

This post will contain only multi-chapter fics, completed fics will be listed first and then uncompleted ones. Assume it's a wrightworth fic unless I specify otherwise. I will also be subjecting you all to the way I tag/organize the fanfics I read. I'll try to keep spoilers out of my tags, but if you want to go in blind just click the link.

I will tag the author if I know their tumblr <3

Anyways, Enjoy!!

Canon Compliant, Mostly

A Long Way To Fall by Prospectkiss aka @prospectkiss

Era: OG Trilogy | Relationship? Pre-Relationship → Confession | Plot Stuff: Casefic, Phoenix Gets Kidnapped, Includes Smut

The very first wrightworth fic I read!! <3

Paper Hearts by Prospectkiss aka @prospectkiss

Era: DD/SOJ/Post-Canon | Relationship? Pre-Relationship → Confession | Plot Stuff: Angst, Reunion

So Soft that it h u r t s me

Turnabout Forgotten by Nali_li

Era: OG Trilogy | Relationship? Established Relationship & Confession | Plot Stuff: Phoenix has Amnesia, Pining While In a Relationship

res ipsa loquitur (the thing itself speaks) by griffonage

Era: DD/SOJ/Post-Canon | Relationship? Pre-Relationship → Confession | Plot Stuff: Phoenix Didn't Know They Were Dating, Miscommunication (but it's funny)

pari delicto, pari passu (equal fault, equal footing) by griffonage

Era: DD/SOJ/Post-Canon | Relationship? Pre-Relationship → Confession | Plot Stuff: Phoenix Didn't Know They Were Dating, Miscommunication (but it's funny)

Yeah this is very similar to the previous one but they're both very good

Five Times Miles Found Phoenix Infuriatingly Attractive and One Time Phoenix Threw It Right Back at Him by 3musketears

Era: Disbarment/AJ | Relationship? Pre-Relationship → Confession → Established Relationship | Plot Stuff: Aspec Miles Edgeworth Suffers™️

Disbarment tends to be a really sad era to write in but this one isn't soul-crushing

to drink, and live, what has destroyed some men by multifandom_fanfic_writer

Era: Multiple (Pre-DL-6, Disbarment/AJ, DD/SOJ/Post-Canon) | Relationship? Pre-Relationship → Confession | Plot Stuff: Phoenix is Jealous of Miles' Admirers, Miles Edgeworth Rejects Everyone Except Phoenix

Guilty As Charged by JustNerdyThings

Era: DD/SOJ/Post-Canon | Relationship? Established Relationship | Plot Stuff: AJ Trilogy Characters Try Matchmaking-- Phoenix & Miles Don't Need It Actually, POV Outsider, Miscommunication (but it's funny)

A Night You'll Never Regret by MaudMoon (Idle_Wanderings) aka @maud-moon

Era: DD/SOJ/Post-Canon | Relationship? Pre-Relationship → Confession | Plot Stuff: Phoenix & Miles Get Impulsively Married, Drunken Shenanigans, Temporary Amnesia, Communication!, Includes Smut

One of my favorite Post-Canon wrightworth fics, Phoenix and Miles are characterized so well <3

Canon Retellings/Canon Divergence

Reprieve by Almarna aka @almarnatiaam

Era: Pre-Canon (Bratfeen) | Relationship? Pre-Relationship → Confession → Established Relationship → Breakup → Getting Back Together | Plot Stuff: Bratworth & Feenie are Roommates, First Game Retelling

Don't Lawyers Feel Love Too? by JustNerdyThings

Era: Pre-Canon (Bratfeen), Legally Blonde AU | Relationship? Pre-Relationship → Confession → Established Relationship | Plot Stuff: Bratworth is Feenie's Study Partner, Turnabout Goodbyes Retelling

What Are Roommates For Anyways by daggar

Era: Pre-Canon (Bratfeen) | Relationship? Pre-Relationship → Confession → Established Relationship | Plot Stuff: Bratworth is Feenie's Roommate, Bratworth Tries to Have a Corruption Arc & Feenie Doesn't Let Him, Bratworth's Accelerated Redemption, Turnabout Memories Retelling

This one is similar to the last but it's angstier and involves more case/plot elements

UNFINISHED

A Demon's Justice by Evelinessa aka @evelinessa

Era: OG Trilogy (PW:AA) | Relationship? Pre-Relationship | Plot Stuff: Phoenix Loses Turnabout Sisters, Edgeworth's Delayed Redemption, Turnabout Sisters Retelling, Turnabout Goodbyes Retelling

pain, pain, so much pain please save me (jk I love it)

Feline Any Better? by Dreamnorn

Era: Pre-Canon (Bratfeen) | Relationship? Pre-Relationship | Plot Stuff: Bratworth's Accelerated Redemption, Bratworth Becomes a Cat and Gets Closer to Phoenix, Phoenix Wright Angst Train

Turnabout Transposed by NeeineArts

Era: No-DL-6 AU | Relationship? Established Relationship (um it's complicated) | Plot: Canon Edgeworth Travels to No DL-6 Universe, Crossing Timelines, Casefic

Alternate Universe

I Spy by zombiekittiez

Era: Spy AU | Relationship? Established Relationship → Estrangement → Getting Back Together | Plot Stuff: Phoenix & Miles Work For Opposing Sides, Secret Identities

Augh pain, what if I want wrightworth to be happy is that too much to ask for

The Return of Glory by MaudMoon (Idle_Wanderings) aka @maud-moon

Era: Hogwarts AU | Relationship? Pre-Relationship → Confession → Established Relationship | Plot Stuff: Phoenix & Miles are Rivals At First, Exposing von Karma, Found Family Working Together

AUTHOR DOES NOT SUPPORT JK ROWLING!! I REPEAT, AUTHOR DOES NOT SUPPORT JK ROWLING. Phoenix and Maya are BOTH trans here

HP worldbuidling elements are actually incorporated so well into Ace Attorney plot points

Oh 100% Phoenix has major abandonment issues and a massive savior complex. He isn’t a defense attorney for himself, and he probably has little to no identity outside of it.

Comparing Phoenix’s issues to Adrian Andrews’ “dependent nature” is quite fitting really. The parallels between them are so interesting.

They both obsessed with someone close to them and modeled part of their career after them (Adrian acting like Celeste as a manager, Phoenix becoming a lawyer to save Edgeworth). They are both devastated when said person leaves them. They both forsake the truth because they are too dependent on someone else (Adrian forging evidence and Phoenix trying to get Engarde acquitted). And at the end of 2-4 they are both saved by the truth (when Edgeworth shows them the meaning of trust and finding the truth).

the more I think about phoenix wright the more convinced I am of how deeply fucked up he is

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.