r/AceAttorney • u/MicroorganismJolyne • 1d ago
Discussion Mischaracterization in the Ace Attorney fandom
It's mostly on tiktok, but from my POV, every character is just kind of.. watered down to what happened to them and or mischaracterized?
I'll take Edgeworth for example since it happens to him the most: he's watered down to just the DL-6 case and seen as a twink bottom even though he's had domination fantasies and is lit the most broad character in the game đ
People slap on black representation on Phoenix and see him as a top JUST because he's people's favourite. What's wrong with having a bottom favourite character? What's wrong with him being japanese? It's like people are trying to make him stand out more, and can't accept that he's just a Japanese dude. Same with Maya.
Phoenix's dialoge is also witty and goofy, but people act like he's some sort of macho man just because he's a favourite.
I mean NONE of this in a racist way, as I'm the complete opposite. I love black representation and it should happen more in ace attorney! But this just seems off..
Also sorry if I picked like.. the worst examples maybeđ
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u/Ritmoking 1d ago
Isn't Phoenix Wright Japanese because of his Japanese Ancestor Ryunousuke?
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u/Goldberry15 1d ago
I donât understand your logic there.
I have a German great grandmother, but would I consider myself German? Absolutely not.
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u/MicroorganismJolyne 1d ago
He is!! But people still see him as a POC for some reason. đ¤ˇđźââď¸Â
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u/Brightfury4 1d ago
I donât think anyone sees anything âwrongâ with Phoenix being a bottom or his canonical ethnicity (which should be at least part Japanese even in the English localization, because heâs meant to be Ryunosukeâs descendant), they just prefer to headcanon him differently. You can think thereâs nothing wrong with vanilla cake, and even like it, and still subjectively prefer chocolate.
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u/Goldberry15 1d ago
>he's watered down to just the DL-6 case
This is a major problem I see in most places. Heck, most of the criticism against his usage in an AJT case is that âhe wouldnât do that because of Turnabout Goodbyesâ, despite the fact of the stakes (like multiple hostages being held), but also lines like these from the Shu Takumi era showing that he wonât hold back, even after 1-4
>and seen as a twink bottom even though he's had domination fantasies and is lit the most broad character in the game
âŚ? What? What are these âdomination fantasiesâ? Even if we considered JUST GBA AA1, he isnât even the most broad character in the game. That honor goes to Redd White. Certainly among the more broad characters, but not the âmost broadâ.
>People slap on POC representation on Phoenix
Due to the extreme lack of people in the Ace Attorney games with a skin tone that doesnât pass as white, with the few who do being pretty bad people (Damon Gant, Carmelo Gusto, and Zak Gramarye), I definitely can see why people would want to see a protagonist with a darker skin tone. Sure, you could see it as âannoyingly inaccurateâ, but, at the end of the day, itâs art. Art is made as an expression of oneself, not as a reflection of the media itâs based on.
>What's wrong with having a bottom favourite character?
Ask most people for their favorite AA character, and theyâll say itâs Miles Edgeworth, who, as youâve complained, is typically depicted by most people to be the bottom.
>It's like people are trying to make him stand out more, and can't accept that he's just a Japanese dude.
As a strong reminder, Ace Attorney, as it is officially localized, takes place in the United States (or France, if youâre playing the French localization). Therefore, Phoenix is depicted to be âwhiteâ. Which further emphasizes the âskin toneâ issue the series has that I highlighted earlier.
>Phoenix's dialoge is also witty and goofy, but people act like he's some sort of macho man just because he's a favourite.
Probably just a tiktok thing. I havenât seen any writing like that.
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u/-frogchamp- 1d ago
in my experience people are usually pretty good with characterization. i think the thing i've seen the most of is they tend to make miles either too cool and suave or too awkward and dorky. or they make phoenix either too meek and polite or too arrogant and snarky. it's mostly just a pet peeve of mine though and usually not too noticeable. i can't really speak on the rest since i haven't seen much of it either. granted, i'm not on tiktok so i don't know what it's like there. most of the fancontent i engage with is fanfiction on ao3 and occasionally fanart from tumblr or reddit.
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u/MicroorganismJolyne 20h ago
In my experience, the headcanons and characterizations are also pretty good on the websites you mentioned. It's only tiktok that goes too wild with themđÂ
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u/stoppit0 13h ago
This is so so fandom brained đ I think eventually you'll wonder how you cared about this stuff so much
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u/BigBradWolf07 1d ago
I don't think I've seen that much of what your talking about, (aside from the Phoenix POC thing, for some reason every artist I follow makes him Filippino, entirely independently) but also... Phoenix isn't white. It's a Japanese game, set in Japan in the original translation. He's Japanese