Lurker > Llarian

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I am offend. Very offend!
You will apology with boots!

Tom Bombadil posted...

Disgaea 6: On the plus side, I love that ProZD and Hololive both get to be voice actors here!

That was what sounded so familiar!!

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Are you watching closely?

Tom Bombadil posted...

It soooouuuunds like the Switch FataMoru is fancier so I think I will start with Apollo Justice to reduce the number of times we have to negotiate sharing the Switch lol

I left it at home today, in case you wanna use it for RingFit or FataMoru XD

My current problem is that I gotta keep playing AA: Investigations, but I keep getting distracted by FataMoru: Requiem for Innocence. Have decided I will play FataMoru exclusively at home and play AA over werk lunches, if that helps with logistics :D

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Are you watching closely?

Maniac64 posted...

DS9 is my favorite star trek.

Yoooo, your good taste strikes again!!


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Are you watching closely?

Tom Bombadil posted...

It's acknowledged as weird that somebody is named "Video"

pshhhh

Thanks! I am glad to hear that things have been changed for the better~

...at least as long as no one goes to Hawaii.

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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius

Tom Bombadil posted...

IDW Jem 2: Everybody gets character development movie reference dream sequences I guess? Also man, I just really appreciate that they have, like, individual personalities now. I liked the OG Jem but this is just a fantastic update.

I want to know more about their personalities! Do tell.

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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius

I'll make another thread tonight, this is about to hit 500 posts. Thanks y'all!! See you in the next thread.

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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius

Important point on future games: Is there Gumshoe, Y/N?

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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius

That being said, I only have this case and the DLC case [if I can get the 3DS to cooperate with our new modem/router in short order] before I'm done with Dual Destinies.

What am I playing next in the AA franchise? Spirit of Justice? Investigations? Suggestions are welcome - since you've been reading all this time, make a case for your suggestion [short or long, whatever you have time for].

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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-5 - Turnabout for Tomorrow

We have Fulbright testify, because now the situation demands real evidence. I just realized he's wearing gloves...maybe if I can get the correct one off... then we'll see a telltale scar from 7 years ago! You can't escape a hand-stabbing completely unscathed!

So, I got the entry point with the utility knife, pointing out that perhaps some of the killer's blood ended up on the moon rock, meaning it had to be removed as it would provide crucial DNA evidence against him!

More than a little disappointed that this is stacking up to be a game without a genuinely warm, friendly, goofy law enforcement officer >_> Gumshooooe. I miss youuuu.

In order to 'get rid of' the moon rock, we determine that the phantom loaded it into the Hope Capsule, sending it off to the HAT-1 which he was already planning to destroy! When that all went haywire, the Hope Capsule, along with its offending evidence, returned safely home to Earth seven years later!

Clay Terran must have put up a fight trying to keep the capsule safe, but ultimately the phantom didn't have time for that, and could only get away with killing him and sabotaging the HAT-2, not retrieving the capsule.

Fulbright tries to wriggle out of it, saying any blood found on the moon rock would be a trap set by the REAL phantom. I really hope I'm right...Wright?

Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth slides in just in time before Fulbright and Blackquill actually come to blows. He shares important info: none of the employees first on the scene resembled Fulbright, and 'Bobby Fulbright'... is long dead.

WHAT.

An impostor! Invaders! Encroachers! Blackquill SLICES HIM IN THE FACE. Omg. Is he one of the robots? Is everyone a robot?! Omg. He pulls off his 'face' to reveal...Solomon Starbuck? He pulls off his 'face' to reveal... Prof. Means? We keep talking about the moon rock, and 'Prof. Means' teases us because the remaining moon rock was blown up along with Courtroom No. 4 in the bombing at the beginning of the game. But those pieces were gathered and analyzed - we get paperwork on this that establishes that yes, there was some old blood on some moon rock fragments and that they match the witness, whoever he is.

The witness pulls off a very convincing-sounding 'Objection' and pulls off his 'face' to reveal... Phoenix Wright?? For the purposes of the next post, I'll be referring to the witness as 'Phoenix Wrong'. I'm starting to think my lame robot idea was better than this crap.

3DS was dying and this end of the case dragged on too long. Hopefully, we'll finish it tomorrow! See you then!

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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-5 - Turnabout for Tomorrow

Apollo suspected Athena of killing Clay Terran. His bracelet reacted when Athena saw the utility knife during Intelligentsi- er, Starbuck's trial. All roads seem to point to Athena as the killer, with or without a motive.

Phoenix explores an angle where the phantom would have had to escape the Space Center wing as it was moving. The emergency ladder was set up from floor 4 as instructed. Edgeworth protests - the jump would be too far, and far too high up, for any normal person to take the risk without fear. The Phantom's Psych Profile outlines a person without a normal emotional response, however. If the spy really took the flying leap, it would have to be this mysterious phantom and not Athena.

Athena's cleared, Apollo apollogizes to her, Aura Blackquill surrenders her hostages and leaves finding Metis Cykes' killer to you. Simon appears and thanks Aura as she is taken away. Simon is released from his shackles. I guess Apollo's bandage was to prevent him from Perceiving? But then all the bandaging on his arms, was that from bomb injury...? Idk, kid grew up to be real edgy. No more bandages now, we're facing the situation as clearly as we can. Since Athena's the defendant, Apollo joins Phoenix on defense, and Edgeworth hands the reins over to Simon to prosecute. The chief prosecutor has some things he'd like to look into, after all.

Det. Fulbright was the one to instruct the placement of the emergency ladder, and had access to all the necessary areas, as well as time spent with Clay's corpse as an opportunity to forge evidence. The Earth lighter is actually a small gun, probably the .10 caliber from earlier. We dig into fingerprints and rather than Athena's, it's Clay's fingerprints on the little gun.

Fulbright claims that he has been manipulated by the real phantom from behind the scenes, and that he's an undercover investigator. After Fulbright uses the power of suggestion, Simon appears to be taken in by this. Phoenix and Apollo are indignant.

Athena scoots past Apollo to point out, after a couple of casual questions regarding Fulbright's feelings, that the Detective doesn't have the expected emotions behind his words! Special ability time. She's gonna listen to his heart, cue the Roxette tunes~

Simon's ruse that he believed Fulbright's ridiculous testimony was merely an opportunity for Athena to catch a man who should have been relieved or happy, in the act of not feeling anything!

:D

We will see exactly how this shakes out tomorrow. See you then!


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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius

SeabassDebeste posted...

also i vastly preferred the 2D sprites, but glad you're having fun with this

The drawback with 3D is that you have to make concrete structural decisions, so rather than looking more natural, Phoenix's hair looks like something straight off the side of an Art Deco building from the 1920s. It also takes the quirkier aspects of the 2D sprites, such as Edgeworth's wide frogmouth, into unsettling territory.

Case 5-5 - Turnabout for Tomorrow

We poke around in Simon Blackquill's testimony, and he starts lying, which causes his emotional noise to rise. He claims to have disassembled Ponco before he could have based on the Photo. Since there was blood on the severed robot arm, he must have done so after the katana blade was covered in blood. At this point he wigs out, and you have to sort out that the source of these overwhelming emotions was Athena.

Athena confesses to killing her mother, but her memory of the event doesn't add up - she talks about blood on her hands, but the katana blade was the only thing marked with blood, not the handle. Phoenix talks about the utility knife that's issued to each Space Tech, and how one was missing from the toolkit in the robotics lab [we can tell bc of the Gyaxa logo across all handles in the kit].

Congratulations, Mr Nick, you played yourself. Now Edgeworth rushes forth for the kill, pointing out that no matter what weapon was used, if Dr Metis Cykes and Athena were the only people in the room, that Athena must still be the killer.

You rethink the scene - with Dr Cykes dead while not wearing her ID card or jacket, Ponco would not have recognized her as herself. Anyone else could have then worn the jacket that she often left over a chair and been misread by the robot as Dr Cykes. To foil the face recognition, they could have worn the Noh theatre mask from the wall in the lab. You posit that the scene of Athena 'hugging' Dr Cykes was the small girl, armed with the utility knife, avenging her mother against an attacker. Athena recalls stabbing an intruder in the hand, and enlisting Ponco to move her mother to the operating table.

In proving the existence of this 3rd person, we rewind the security footage from the hallway to the now-estimated time of death slightly prior to 2:00PM. We see a mysterious man escape wearing Dr Cykes' jacket. But the jacket was there when the body was first found, Edgeworth objects. Too bad - with all the attention on the dead body, the person could have easily slipped it back on the floor in the robotics lab.

Fun fact: Noh 'onna'/women's role masks come in many varieties, but the mouth is carved and painted in such a way that when the actor tilts their chin up or down, the facial expression appears to change from happy to sad. I love that there are extra layers of symbolism here to go along with Dr Cykes' research. Might be my Western sensibilities, but I found the different types of women's role masks to only have slight variations. These masks are honored heirlooms handed down from generation to generation. One type, the 'fukai' mask, specifically represents a woman who has lost a child.

Blackquill takes the stand and gives his psych profile on the spy to Phoenix. Judge rules in favor of Blackquill's innocence, overturning the 7 year old judgement, but is interrupted by Apollo when he is about to issue a verdict for Athena.

What is Apollo's deal? We'll find out tomorrow!


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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-5 - Turnabout for Tomorrow

Basically, I love this. I love everything about this. It's amazing.

Fulbright starts off by reading testimony from Aura Blackquill. She insists that Athena Cykes was hiding in the rolling case that Simon Blackquill was seen removing from the scene of the crime. The extant photos deny this though - since we see a bandaged robot arm detached from Ponco, and young Athena had bandaged up Ponco prior to the HAT-1 group photo, we must assume Simon disassembled Ponco and stuffed it in the carrying case instead.

Ponco takes the stand, and gives some vague testimony about Athena hugging Dr Cykes and Dr Cykes falling down... across the room from the operating table where her body was found. Edgeworth makes a distasteful suggestion - that Athena [with Ponco's help] had placed her mother there to get rid of the evidence by having the automatic robot repair 'disassemble' her mother. For some reason, Phoenix is surprised that the guy who lived most of his life believing he had shot his own father is coming to extremely dark conclusions based on vague testimony.

Phoenix instead suggests that Athena had directed Ponco to place her mother there in an effort to save, or 'fix' her. She had seen magic come together on that operating table countless times before, and as evidenced by the bandages on the damaged Ponco, she didn't see a difference between humans and robots in this regard.

They gave Edgeworth a particularly powerful voice in this game o_o His sprite is angular and handsome, which is exactly what I would expect. Only expression I think turned out funky is his smirking/finger wagging one. The mouth shape seems off. How do the 3D sprites in this game make everyone look so much better than they normally do? I don't typically have such a positive impression of 2D transitioning to 3D. Maybe it's particularly well-done here and that's why.

Just as Phoenix is about to give up, Prosecutor Blackquill takes the stand. He insists that he killed Dr Cykes and that neither Ponco nor Athena had anything to do with it. Based on this testimony, he leans on the Judge to hand down a verdict with a wild look in his eye, all the while making dark jabs at the idea of himself running late to die. Aura objects, of course, screeching about Simon still covering for Athena. A tense moment where we wonder if it's all going to go down as it did 7 years ago...

...and Athena shows up on the defense bench! Shocking! Unheard of! Unorthodox! Just another day in the Ace Attorney universe!

Simon protests, that wild look still glinting from the witness stand. Athena confesses that courtrooms terrify her, that she frequently remembers the feeling of being unheard while testifying on behalf of Simon all those years ago. Athena quotes Captain Jean-Luc Picard:
"The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth, whether it's scientific truth or historical truth or personal truth! It is the guiding principle on which Starfleet is based... And if you can't find it within yourself to stand up and tell the truth about what happened, you don't deserve to wear that uniform!"

Okay, she doesn't, actually. But she does push on towards the truth, no matter what consequences it may hold for her, personally.

Looks like we're on for a Mood Matrix on Simon Blackquill next. See you tomorrow!

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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-5 - Turnabout for Tomorrow

OKAY - been playing for a while, just not writing up for whatever reason.

We poke around the Robotics lab, looking for clues. We collect various items related to Dr Cykes' research. Phoenix returned to law right around the Blackquill case, we're pretty determined to end the dark age of the law [oooOOooo~].

We speak to Athena in the Detention Center and learn she was in the Space Museum the day before the HAT-2 was scheduled to launch. She mentions being unconscious and missing large portions of the action surrounding those days. Athena has sad memories of Dr Cykes caring more about the robots than her - when Phoenix protests, she mentions the Moon Rock Earring, as well as Widget, given to her by her mother.

Athena reminisces about growing up around Ponco and Clonco, interacting with them and literally bandaging them when they got damaged. Dr Cykes fixed them in no time, and as a little girl, Athena often thought her mother would do the same if she was ever hurt [not really seeing the difference between herself and robots, but I guess if her only friends are them and Junie...].

The characters have settled on negotiating with the person holding the hostages, Aura Blackquill. They have agreed to restage the trial from 7 years ago. Athena talks about how clearing Simon's name was her inspiration to become a lawyer - she felt so powerless when she testified on his behalf during the trial 7 years ago, so she wanted to change that. Simon used to be so kind, she said. I'm intrigued!!

Fulbright busts in and tells us all the courtrooms are taken, so we can't hold a trial. Phoenix remembers that not all the courtrooms are taken - and decides to stage this trial in the exploded courtroom shell. You know, for that open air, natural light look.

How is all that gonna go down? We'll have to see, tomorrow!

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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius

bwburke94 posted...

I don't believe that was intentional; its appearance was the same in Japanese, where her name was Mari Kizuki (given name first).

If not for spelling out her name, it was intentional in other ways: the curving river pattern is not generally used on these round windows. Symbolically, rivers take on a life/death meaning in Japanese culture. The otherwise straight lines and right angles present in the window reflect the cut-and-dried nature of building robots. Without Dr Cykes, the lone river shape bringing life to them, most of the operation is handled by Aura, who constructs the bodies and handles the mechanics.

It's a neat little detail either way, imo.

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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius

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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius

NFUN posted...

no, you are 1

Reminds me of my age-old US state joke. Anyway.

colliding posted...

I don't remember this detail. I'll need to keep an eye on it during my next playthrough (on Switch preferably Nintendo/Capcom!)

In the incriminating photo of Blackquill, there's a circular window with mostly straight lines going all different directions, METI can be traced on these... but one of them is like a traditional Japanese wave shape that looks like an 'S'. Should be a fun detail to notice on your next go-round.

Case 5-5 - Turnabout for Tomorrow
We speak to Fulbright briefly and find out Blackquill's execution date is, in true AA fashion, tomorrow. He gets a phone call that makes him freak out - the robots are rebelling at the Space Center and they've taken several hostages.

Clonco greets us pleasantly before transforming into an ersatz Aura, complete with hairstyle. Aura communicates her demands for Athena Cykes in exchange for 12 hostages within the Space Center. Phoenix negotiates with Aura and offers to retry the allegedly-faulty trial from 7 years ago. Aura agrees, but she wants it to be taken care of in an hour. Fulbright rushes off to do what he can, and Aura lets us in to wait in the robot lab. We need a prosecutor, but Blackquill's effectively on death row...

Beautiful cutscene reveals that our prosecutor will likely be the Chief Prosecutor, Miles Edgeworth! He shows up with slightly-different-yet-still-recognizable garb and horn-rimmed glasses. Goodness.

I am overjoyed. :D :D :D Not-Red Lawyer is here at last.

We'll have to see what we can do in the meantime until Aura returns. See you tomorrow!


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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius

Leonhart4 posted...

Mr. Red Lawyer is Apollo

I am excessively focused on Edgeworth, so thanks for this.

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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-5 - Turnabout for Tomorrow

The UR-1 Incident is what the police call it. The trial got Blackquill convicted of murdering his psychology mentor. 2 pcs of evidence - security footage and a photo of the moment of the crime. Swift conviction. Sounds like a setup.

'Kind of like if your red Mr Lawyer were to kill you' UH Fulbright? Do you mean Edgeworth? or like ...what. Now I can't stop thinking about homicidal Phoenix Wright - everything's the same, except he's killed someone at some point. Can't stop thinking about it... o_o

I like how Dr Cykes's round Japanese-style window spells out her name.

It was the day before the HAT-1 launch, so a reporter who happened to be across the hallway covering the launch was snapping photos and just so happened to capture the allegedly guilty Blackquill and his incriminating bloody katana on film.

Fdasfdjkl;dasfa
Phoenix asks Fulbright about the 'phantom from 7 yrs ago' and Fulbright muses that the urgency is rising as Blackquill's execution date approaches. Guys! This is serious!!

We'll look into it more tomorrow. Yeesh, I'm on the edge of my seat!


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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-5 - Turnabout for Tomorrow

Talked to Director Cosmos and he talked about a spy, and how it was just like 7 years ago, and the Hope capsule [and its precious samples] were blown to smithereens not in this recent explosion, but in the Courtroom explosion we witnessed earlier in the game.

We run into Juniper, who explains that Athena's mom was a psychologist who worked at the Space Center, and that Athena had lived at the Center for a time. I guess crowds and the difference between hearts and minds overwhelmed Athena's reading ability as a child, and she got overcooked at places like school or crowded areas. Juniper wasn't doing too hot health-wise, so the two girls would often spend time together. Then there was a time when they were apart, so when Juniper saw Athena again after so long, she was astonished at how cheerful and energetic she was. Man, Athena must have pushed whatever this was deep down.

At the Detention Center, we're waiting on Athena when Fulbright tells us to listen in on questioning Ted Tonate, who insists that someone else blew up the courtroom while he was there. It sounds a little far-fetched...or does it?

We discuss Dr Metis Cykes with Aura Blackquill in the Robotics Lab, Apollo's there too. It sounds like the two of them couldn't have been more different. Aura keeps snidely referring to Athena as 'the princess' in her retellings of memories. Apparently Clonco and Ponco are simply bodies, the hearts/minds that Dr Cykes worked on are stored on another mainframe. Aura insists that she can beat on the robots all she wants, since their bodies can be repaired. Clonco starts calling Apollo 'Mr Terran', which is creepy at best.

Apparently Dr Cykes loved the robots on the same level as she loved her daughter Athena and coworker Aura. Funky. Simon had connected with Dr Cykes because he was trying to use psychology to perfect his prosecution technique.

We go back to the Wright Anything and Everything Agency, and we see PEARLS!! Omg baby girl. I have missed her, and I didn't even realize it. She's obviously taller and older, but they give her sprite a lot of the little expressions and poses that she had as a tiny child... it's nostalgic. Takes me back. Anyway, Pearls is there to deliver a letter from Maya, and to play Merry Maid and clean up the office while Phoenix jet sets about solving cases.

We'll be quizzing Simon Blackquill at the Detention Center next! See you tomorrow!


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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-5 - Turnabout for Tomorrow

We talk to Starbuck, who shows us the Launch Pad Door Lock that needs fingerprints to open, but not to exit. The suspect probably escaped at the same time. There was no .10 caliber gun thrown down the garbage chute.

We talk to Director Cosmos and get a bunch of fiddle-faddle and - Psyche Locks!! We sort out that Clay Terran helped drug Starbuck, but that Cosmos thought the perpetrator was the same as 7 years ago, the sabotage and murder behind the HAT-1 Miracle. This is where Simon Blackquill comes in. Charged with murder at that time, Director Cosmos thought he had sabotaged the HAT-1 since it was at the same place and time... until the Director received a call from someone warning about this bombing and saying 'it's been a while'. If the saboteur then and now are the same person, then Blackquill did not sabotage the HAT-1.

It's a little twisty but I think I'll understand better once I talk to Director Cosmos more next week. See you Monday!


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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius

@Leonhart4 Same here. I had an audible reaction when it happened.
@SeabassDebeste Right?! Such a cool decision, and different too!
@Mega_Mana Thanks! I'm entertained at your Miz references, Tom would be proud XD There's more to come, so keep reading!

Case 5-5 - Turnabout for Tomorrow

We get a particularly slicey cutscene in which we see a very young and blood-spattered Athena, and a creepy white outline of what looks like... Simon Blackquill, complete with katana, standing in an expanding pool of blood. Yikes. I wanna know what's up with this. And if true, how has Athena been able to keep her cool in the same courtroom as him?? I'm sure that either way, there's quality Ace Attorney flavored trauma ahead.

Athena's being held for questioning and Phoenix agrees to take her case on. Trucy encourages him to seek out evidence - Athena herself wouldn't be standing around when there's a case to uncover!

We talk to Space Center people and dig around for the truth tomorrow. See you then!

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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-4 - The Cosmic Turnabout

YOU GUYS. Ahhhh.

So we sort out how Director Cosmos did the ol' switcheroo with the Space Museum and the Launch Pad, allowing the killer to escape. We end up with the famed cigarette lighter, complete with Clay Terran's blood and not-Solomon-Starbuck's fingerprints on it! Starbuck is exonerated, and we celebrate very briefly. Suddenly, that dark, sonorous voice stops us in our tracks.

Blackquill objects, and asks Det. Fulbright who the fingerprints did belong to. We're all stunned as the document is handed over, and Blackquill reads aloud that the killer's fingerprints...belonged to Athena Cykes?!

What a weird twist, but I'm excited to see how this plays into the rest of the game. Also how about that spectacular 'zapping Blackquill' animation! Fulbright still comes off as doofy, but I love his interactions with Blackquill and how they chip away at a surface protection on the prosecutor's secrets...

We'll continue with 5-5, Turnabout for Tomorrow...tomorrow! See you then!

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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-4 - The Cosmic Turnabout

It's the Superbowl, er, Space Center shuffle. Been playing but not doing writeups. More tomorrow.

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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-4 - The Cosmic Turnabout

I learned a new word today: "fabulist", as in a person who tells fables, stories or lies. I already knew 'cur', so the insult of the day is "fabulist cur"! Everyone, say it together! "Fabulist cur".

Director Cosmos admits to arriving in the Boarding Lounge before Det. Arme, who proceeded to fire warning shots at him. Apparently he booked out of there, afraid to be misinterpreted as the killer, and pretended to be second on the scene... Unhelpful at least.

Also, apparently he was assisting with 4th floor evacuation at 10:00AM, and the alibi holds tight.

Director Cosmos is instructed to testify as to who, or what, he saw upon entering the Boarding Lounge prior to 10:00AM. He claims he approached the door, the killer fired the .10 caliber bullet at the Director, damaging Clay Terran's oxygen tank in the process. Somehow, the mystery killer disappeared before Candice Arme showed up and started firing warning shots.

We'll have to sort out how our mystery killer escaped next time! See you Monday!

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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius

SeabassDebeste posted...

happy birthday!

Thank you!

LeonhartFour posted...

Candice Arme is a great pun. The best ones are the ones that aren't apparently obvious.

Right?! Those ones are absolutely the best.

Case 5-4 - The Cosmic Turnabout

Apparently since Director Cosmos is the only one who could escape through the Control Room as needed, he's the 3rd person in the room. Phoenix figures out that the Director likely ran ahead of Candice Arme and then they had a shootout when she arrived.

The only thing is...an enameled badge/pin like that would be in bad shape if hit by a .38 caliber bullet?? Not leave a little nick [no pun intended] in a small part of the badge?

Also, what is anyone doing with a .10 caliber bullet, we ain't playing for peanuts here >_>

So Cosmos' bullet hit the oxygen tank, which is how it ended up in the gutter along the south wall.

His Segway goes a little nuts and starts spinning him around wildly. We have to stop that thing spinning as much as we need to stop the Director from spinning lies in his testimony!

We start the next part of the trial proceedings tomorrow. See you then!

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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius

colliding posted...

SCWOT is an underrated flick

happy birthday

Thank you!! It was a good birthday, and SCWOT was ahead of its time, very fun.

Case 5-4 - The Cosmic Turnabout

We speak to Starbuck, and he seems to recall the same lighter Aura recalled in the boarding lounge as well!

We return to the Wright Anything Agency [it's the Attorney Anything franchise at this point XD] and Apollo shows up only to disappear again after reminiscing about Clay Terran and promising to find his killer. Not a great feeling from Apollo, since he's fairly team-oriented when he's not traumatized.

The reminiscing kinda bothered me - lots of people shove their feelings aside like this, and I am here to tell you, it's not recommended. Try to take a daily or every-other-day inventory of your feelings and why you felt that way. Try to sort out if it's related to you, other people, or your environment, and make changes accordingly. Maybe Clay sat there long enough to get over the loss of his mom, but I suspect not. It's supposed to be a heart-warming scene all about friendship and supporting each other in tough times, but it kinda missed the mark for me. I also cringe at my old post where I said I'm fine. I'm not fine. I'm not okay. Cue the MCR.

We move on to the courtroom! I just got the Candice Arme pun. Eugh, can't believe it took me that long.

We go around in circles quite a bit about who fired what gun and if there was a 3rd person in the lounge before Director Cosmos and Det. Arme showed up. A teeny-tiny .10 caliber bullet deflected off the Director's large brooch and ricocheted elsewhere in the room. This part's pretty confusing, so we'll revisit it when I play more courtroom tomorrow.

See you then!

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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius

It's very fun, I have enjoyed getting to know all the characters and the cultures existing in this world. I relate a lot to Shallan and Jasnah. Kalladin's leadership style and journey is pretty inspiring - kinda wish I saw more managers who took his approach.

I love reading about the characters' journeys of identity - who am I? what am I doing? what is my purpose? It's really neat stuff.

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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-4 - The Cosmic Turnabout

My birthday was this week :3 Got some takeout fried rice and rewatched one of my favorite films, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

We ask Aura about what she witnessed, and she says she saw a figure holding a fancy planet/Earth adorned lighter in the left hand and a knife in the other stab someone. She couldn't tell who it was aside from the lighter's design. She sneers at us after doubting that we can prove Solomon Starbuck's innocence, saying she detests lawyers. Wonder what that's all about.

We dig a little deeper and find not only does she detest prosecutors even more, but she thinks the entire judicial system is pointless. She mentions a preference to robots than humans, saying that the flawed unpredictability of humans prevents reasonable justice from being carried out. Aura charges up Clonco and he enters a fugue state, claiming robotic supremacy - until he is hit on the head once again and can't remember it.

I wonder if the Blackquills were in a situation where they depended on a lawyer and he couldn't get one of them cleared, like a parent. That's what this sounds like. Then the older sister heads in a 'can't depend on humans' direction, and the little brother splits off to the 'I'm going to make sure everyone's punished' side.

This whole thing gets Athena riled up. She's been weirdly quiet during this whole exchange. Still pretty sure there's something between her past and the Blackquills >_>

Aura expresses an interest in vigilante justice, and notices Widget around Athena's neck. She refers to Athena as royalty returning to the castle, which is weeeeird. Anyway, Aura warns us that Director Cosmos lies and boasts, and excuses herself without so much as a 'good luck tomorrow'.

Phoenix manages to turn Athena's mood around by pointing out that even if people like Aura don't believe in the legal system and are instead put off by the 'dark age of the law', all they can do is work hard as a team. Woo!

We're going back to talk with Starbuck at the Detention Center tomorrow. See you then!

---

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
-Marcus Aurelius

Flagging you all: didn't charge the 3DS this weekend, so no lunchtime writeup today. Will charge tonight. See you tomorrow!

---

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
-Marcus Aurelius

I wanna say I only have a few discs left of Way of Kings pt.1, on 14 of 18 discs?

---

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-4 - The Cosmic Turnabout

Heeey, I posted a few times this week. A definite improvement over last week, even if I'm not quite to every day yet.

Det. Fulbright wonders aloud with us why a prisoner is being allowed to serve as a prosecutor. He quotes Blackquill as having said, "The hunt I've been on for the phantom of seven years past continues even still." Funky. Apparently that's when he was found guilty of murder, and Blackquill believes this 'phantom' is behind this case as well. There are some parallels - both happening at the Space Center, both being warned of in advance by telephone...Fulbright worries that it might lead to a false conviction.

The Mediterranean-sounding gondola music does detract a little from this part. Pfffff.

Not gonna lie, I didn't really like Fulbright all this time, but hearing him go on about reforming Blackquill and returning him to a valued member of society, fighting so Blackquill won't give in to his baser instincts and emotions... It's pretty heartwarming. He's still a big derp, but I will now accept Det. Fulbright as a spiritual successor of sorts to my beloved Gumshoe.

We go to find an eyewitness near the Entrance. It's...a robot? Instead of the little bust that Ponco had, we have two vertical bumps on our chest. This one's named Clonco, full of bugs and issues. A sharp-looking lady comes over, chops Clonco in the head calling him "Hunk of Junk", and proceeds to introduce herself as... Aura Blackquill?!

She's a firm believer in the virtues of percussive maintenance.

It turns out Simon Blackquill's her little brother. Goodness, I think I'm going to fall in love with the whole family. Don't show me their dad. Please, have mercy.

Aura doesn't have any problem telling us what we want to know, but the 3DS needs charging. We'll find out what she has to say next time! See you then!

---

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-4 - The Cosmic Turnabout

Psyche Lock Time!

We blast Det. Fulbright's claim that the guard detail was 'relaxed' with the Evacuation Report mentioning tight security. There was a rocket launch, after all! The other one cracks when we mention that the mere presence of Candice Arme, detective and bomb expert, means that they at least suspected a bombing.

We then ask what Fulbright is nervous to say. We learn about a bomb threat, phoned in directly to Director Cosmos. The police dept. was encouraged to keep it under wraps. Det. Fulbright questions the right of Prosecutor Blackquill to stand in court. This is something I've been curious about, the guy is otherwise imprisoned, after all.

But we'll have to find out tomorrow! See you then!


---

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-4 - The Cosmic Turnabout

We explore the Space Museum. Hmmm... a parallel construction, with the ability to move rockets once they've been moved. Hmmm...

I like Ponco, but I'm a little worried for her safety. I feel like if she asks anyone the wrong questions for followup, she's gonna get deactivated. Phoenix was a little surprised that someone programmed the emphasis on budget into her speech patterns. But if you think about it, who likes to come to a Space Museum? Aside from plenty of space-enthralled adults, there are plenty of small children who would love a space museum. Ponco can capitalize on their imaginations and when she says, 'we need more money', the children put the screws to their parents to put something in the donation box. It's a perfect game, really. She reminds you to visit the gift shop in canon, too.

We see an old pic of the HAT-1 team, everyone looks happy and younger. Solomon Starbuck slings an arm over the shoulders of Clay Terran, then a high school protege who had borrowed an official HAT-1 jacket for the photo op. You don't do that if you're not close to the person, or you might, if you're uncontrollably gregarious. Starbuck strikes me as an actor, awesome when they're 'on' and performing, but otherwise a little humdrum.

We return to the Launch Pad 1 Corridor to squeeze any additional info we can out of Det. Fulbright. He gives us a ton of fingerprint info, as well as a photo of the closed Launch Pad 1 door, saying Prosecutor Blackquill was really interested in it 'for some reason'. A little difficult to make out, but it seems that the fingerprint/handprint recognition kiosk reads 'OPEN' even though it's red.

The dopey detective runs a test on the fingerprint for us, figuring out that Mr Starbuck was the last to open the door on that side. We talk to him for a little bit longer and then we ask him why he is being so helpful, and Psyche-Locks appear! Whooooa!

I guess we'll start breaking some locks tomorrow. See you Tuesday!


---

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
-Marcus Aurelius

Had the best of intentions this week, but body had other plans. I've been exhausted. Will start up again soon.

---

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-4 - The Cosmic Turnabout

dfadsafsd

Det. Fulbright is still being a little TOO cooperative. We're given full rein of the Space Center to investigate though, and that's not too shabby.

We start in the Boarding Lounge. Athena's been resourceful and picked up a tourist pamphlet that has a map we can follow. We get right into it, and find a shard that indicates the oxygen tank probably burst right here in the Lounge, helping to prove the location of the murder.

Athena and Phoenix take inventory of the door situation in the Lounge, you know, Lefty, Righty and Downy? We also locate the Space Center Center. This girl cracks me up.

Clicky clicky clicky. We don't even get to do the fingerprint dusting activity. Lame. We poke around the various parts of the Lounge. I could just kick myself whenever I accidentally click on something I already know, the dialogue is so long to go through a second time. We find a golden bullet shimmering in the floor grate and retrieve it.

Athena: "I wonder what this big knob is for"
UK audience: chortles

They're making Athena particularly dumb this time around and I'm not really sure why...Normally, she's a little all over the place, but she would know the difference between oxygen and helium...

We find the remote control for the holographic display outside the Lounge's window. With the display off, we find a bullet hole in the window. We act like we haven't found a bullet, and move on.

We find the outline of Clay's body, poke around at a garbage chute, and meet a friendly robot named PONCO. Psychological Observation and Navigation COmpanion. It's comforting to know that Athena loves PONCO just as much as I would expect to. I have a bad feeling about this, in this particular franchise...

We go to the Space Museum next time, Monday, January 25th. See you then!

---

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
-Marcus Aurelius

OKAY - announcement time!

I will only be posting on weekdays. I play AA during my lunch, and do a quick writeup for y'all. I will also be posting more often than once a week, hrgh. My lack of progress is annoying me.

You can expect another post in a few hours.

---

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-4 - The Cosmic Turnabout

We meet Yuri Cosmos, director of the GYAXA Space Center. He's an unusual older gentleman with impressive facial hair, a smart seafaring nautical outfit, and a Segway-type vehicle he calls the 'Galactic Scooter'. He explains the HAT-1 journey to us, launching the Hope probe and making it back to earth during the 'HAT-1 Miracle'. The Hope probe returned back to Earth with the desired asteroid samples the day before Clay's murder. Due to budget cuts and reduced staffing, Director Cosmos says they haven't had time to analyze yet but hope to do so soon. The asteroid samples hold plenty of potential for scientific discovery, and also for potential profit.

Phoenix notes that Athena seems knowledgeable about space things and she claims to have brushed up on the topics for the case. I suspect Secret Space Nerd. We'll see. She does say "Let's make it so" which I am going to take as a Star Trek: TNG reference. Nicely done, game.

We proceed to the Boarding Lounge. We look around a little bit and identify the door to the Launch Pad 1 Corridor.

I can't help but think of Launchpad McQuack, from Duck Tales. I have a distinct memory of someone, maybe a friend or family member, was convinced his name was 'Lunchpack'. There was no internet at the time to double check. What a time to be alive.

It's weirdly easy to get Det. Fulbright to spill the beans. In fact, he seems to be buttering us up. He talks about the series of events that happened during the bombings, and how he put an emergency ladder out a 4th floor window to get people to safety. It wasn't very stable, he says, but it worked in a pinch.

He says that he has some info for us, provided we don't report him to Blackquill. We listen intently about info regarding a witness...

That's all for today. See you tomorrow [Saturday, January 16th]!

---

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-4 - The Cosmic Turnabout

We settle on bringing in more witnesses instead of rushing towards a guilty verdict, and without warning, Ted Tonate shows up and announces that although the bomb was diffused, the 5-6 reeds lending a light floral scent to the courtroom, its still going to EXPLODE!

Everyone attempts to evacuate but apparently Apollo and Junie went the wrong way and welp. That was a nice game franchise. *applauds*

...Oh, theres more? Good.

We refer to the prior trial where Ted was trying to pin the bombing on Juniper Woods. Afterwards, Apollo got super injured so hes recovering and Athena has the brilliant idea to take over the Space Center bombing case and pick up Mr Starbucks latte I mean defense.

Athena is relatable content once again as she runs off, only to return a minute later because she forgot to bring everything. Haha. Ohhh, wow.

We talk to Starbuck at the Detention Center, and hes still on his deep, dramatic sighs. He seems to recall Athena from somewhere, but other than at the trial, we cant think of how the two would have met. Its brushed off - but it could be something later!

Athena encourages Mr Starbuck and then were able to ask a few questions. He doesnt know how he was drugged, only that he takes anti-anxiety medication from time to time on an as-needed basis. Its a secret, because its embarrassing to be afraid of space as a famous astronaut. But the HAT-1 Miracle must have been pretty traumatic. Mr Starbuck reminisces about it for us.

Mr Starbuck wants to find the cosmic truth out there, and hes very pumped up about space. It convinces Phoenix, but Im not really sold. Starbuck strikes me as the kind of person who feigns enthusiasm long enough that he starts to believe his own fabrications. I guess you can be afraid of something and do it anyway, but if you spend a lot of your time telling everyone how great it is and you cant wait to do it again, Im afraid I dont have much sympathy.

We find out Clay and Apollo both get into those Youre fine! and Im fine! phrases, shouted with as much vigor as one can muster.

Were going to the Space Center to investigate! See you tomorrow [Friday, January 15th].

---

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-4 - The Cosmic Turnabout

It's been a while. Not sure how I [no pun intended] spaced out for that long.

We continue to cross examine Hezekiah Horton's, er, Solomon Starbuck's claims of carrying Clay down the ladder and out the door to the lobby. After calling him out on his contradictory narrative, he admits that he does not remember what happened. Prosecutor Blackquill is only too quick to point out Starbuck's space phobia, and that there was anti-anxiety medication in his system at the time. Starbuck doesn't recall taking the medication, which was very troubling.

Prosecutor Blackquill, ever on a mission for a quick verdict, points out that Clay's oxygen tank was broken and at 0%, whereas Starbuck's oxygen tank was at 80%. The footage of the rescue shows Starbuck at 50%, and we're stuck having to figure out how he got more oxygen.

Why tell me that all the affected areas went dark if you don't want me to pick 'they were going the other way' here? The light is clearly coming from the wrong direction in the rescue footage. I just wanna know why the game throws me a red herring. C'mon.

Blackquill claims that the space suit protected Clay's body after Starbuck unceremoniously yote him down to the floor below, making room for him to carry the all-important asteroid container with his free hand. Nah, man. Apollo figures out that it must have been Clay carrying the unconscious Starbuck, which changes everything. It explains why Starbuck can't recall what happened. And if Clay's tank was at 50% as shown, it could still go down to 0% later.

This introduces the reality that both men were alive when escaping the rocket bay, and the possibility that Clay was killed by a 3rd party.

We'll rocket on ahead! See you tomorrow [Thursday, January 14th].

---

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-4 - The Cosmic Turnabout

We finish up talking to Fulbright about his findings and discover there was a 3rd explosion as well at the Space Center. The prosecution has argued that Saul Intelligentsia, er, Solomon Starbuck, had killed Clay Terran and was merely dragging his body out. But why would he do such a thing, when the explosion and subsequent fire would have likely destroyed all evidence of the slaying? Apparently he wanted to look like a Good Guy.

We proceed with getting our testimony from Solomon himself. His excessive dramatic sighing is getting to me, as is the 'I can't tell when I'm in space or not' behavior being played for laughs - being an astronaut strikes me as prime PTSD-inducing material. We cross-ref and he couldn't have been in the elevator he claims - due to the nearby explosion setting the whole place on fire. And we all know, in case of fire, do NOT use the elevator.

See you tomorrow!


---

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-4 - The Cosmic Turnabout

We are now back in the modern one-eyed Apollo era, we meet with our defendant. David Caribou...er, I mean Solomon Starbuck, is a famous astronaut accused of killing his mentee, Clay Terran. The catch? Clay Terran was a personal friend of Apollo Justice. Now that the kid's been cut down in the prime of life, we're aiming to clear our childhood hero Mr Starbuck of murder charges.

Mr Starbuck has spent quite a bit of time with you in the lobby, giving exaggerated, depressed sighs - you actually wonder if he's faking. If this turns out to be true, I'm thrilled. I have wanted to defend and then ultimately take to task an actual guilty defendant the whole time I've been playing this franchise. No, for personal reasons I'm not counting Matt Engarde, as he hired it out.

There were two explosions in the Space Center and Clay was found stabbed with a utility knife in the lobby. This all happened minutes before the rocket carrying both of them was planned to launch. The bomb damage to the rocket and Center, as well as the loss of a rather promising young man, are a big loss.

We'll continue tomorrow! See you then!

---

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-3 - Turnabout Academy

We sort out, past a series of Prof. Means' red herrings, that he was the one responsible for taking bribes and that Prof. Courte was completely innocent. She approached him and confronted him about the bribes at length, and so he killed her, taking care to frame Juniper for the dastardly deed.

Turns out that Themis Legal Academy [which school? ah yes, Themis Legal Academy] hands out identical journals to students who graduate at the top of their class. Both Prof. Courte and Prof. Means, then, owned the same type of journal/planner with the same dagger watermark. When we found the piece of paper with Hugh's name and the amount of his family's bribe, it was from Prof. Means's book.

Juniper is declared Not Guilty, and in honor of Prof. Courte, the school festival is allowed to continue one extra day. Hugh wins the mock trial and proceeds to...not confess his love, but humbly request that the trio stay BFFs. If it hadn't come up earlier, he was going to use that opportunity to confess that he wasn't a genius and was in fact, 25 years old. Whew.

This was a fun case! I enjoyed it a lot, despite the slow pacing of my writeups. I wish I could have gotten to know Prof. Courte better, but I think the trio will carry on her mantle nicely, and perhaps shed a bit of light on this 'dark age of the law'. Prosecutor Blackquill encouraged them to pursue truth at the end there too, and Athena was very surprised... I must know more about both of them.

The Cosmic Turnabout is next! Tune in tomorrow!

---

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-3 - Turnabout Academy

Blood was moved to the art room to throw any investigation off. The Gavinners' banner was then partially burned to destroy the evidence of blood. The body of Prof. Courte wasn't moved, but her reinterpretation of the Lady Justice statue was, causing the loud crash we heard during the mock trial. Prof. Means points out that even with Prof. Courte killed the day before, the body has nowhere to hide on the stage.

Means cuts deep here, triggering Athena's PTSD about feeling helpless as a child. She BSODs. We get a pep talk from the friendship trio, and in a strange way, from Prosecutor Blackquill. He references someone Athena is striving towards - who could it be? I wanna know!

Athena thinks it through and realizes the Wright statue was used to hide Prof. Courte's body onstage. What a nice little callback. I'm happy now. We follow through on Athena's suspicions and recreate how Prof. Courte's corpse would have looked under a sheet.

Except we get a little too creative about it. Sculptures require an armature to give them structure, and Robin had obviously already made one. I was annoyed when I clicked on it and Judge had noooo idea what I was talking about! Okay, weirdo, YOU try making a larger-than-life Objection-posed statue then! Armatures, while not extending to the very end of the statue's extremities, do help support something like an arm pointing out from the base sculpture. Frankly, the arm would fall off without it, and a sad, one-armed Phoenix is something everyone should object to.

3DS needs to charge before we finish this up. See you tomorrow!!

---

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-3 - Turnabout Academy

Prof. Means claims to have finished the Phoenix Wright sculpture in 1.5 hrs, which, despite the casual treatment in-game, is absolutely hauling. You can clearly see the armature that Robin created, which is larger than life-size. You can see the big bag of clay - which needs at least a day or so to cure, and you can smooth/shape the slightly dry clay then. This is typically before firing, but obviously we don't have time for that since the concert was the next day.

Creating sculptures like the ones we saw on the stage, that are not only done but painted, would take quite some time and would not only be an additive process [e.g., adding clay only where you need it and not taking any off]. This took me out of the case almost completely. It was too much suspension of disbelief. It clearly wasn't air-dry compound either, because why would they leave the bag open if not for the player's benefit of knowing story details? Hrgh.

If the 2 statues were covered by sheets, Juniper straight up didn't see them, but this is dismissed. Anything, provided it's the right size and general shape, can be covered and assumed to be the objects they were before they were concealed.

The chalk tapping of Means' sprite really makes me feel like I'm ignoring someone when I go to check the Court Record. Clever AA shenanigans ensue - you gotta concede Prof. Means' claims to move forward - I needed some help here. We determine that the crime scene is wrong.

We sort out that instead of the art room, the murder must have taken place on the stage, where Prof. Means was so insistent that he remained in an effort to preserve his innocence. We sort out that the two banners were layered as they were in the stage set up photo, and the Gavinners' banner soaked up the majority of the blood, while the School Crest banner only took on a little bit. This was why the Gavinners' banner had to be burned in the incinerator - the evidence was right there.

See you tomorrow!

---

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-3 - Turnabout Academy

Hugh recants, his noise level down to 0%. He maintains that the balcony seat was empty, and that Prof. Means was not there. He must have pre-recorded the speech. Hugh says Prof. Means gave him a Tape Recorder and urged Hugh to turn it in to the police - saying that he, rather than Prof. M., had found it. This was the tape of Junie's voice that we suspected to be bogus earlier.

We call Aristotle Means to the stand and make sure he knows that we know that he knows. His speech must have been pre-recorded. He refers to the Lady Justice statue being white and in the footage of the mock trial, it's gold! The white version had been broken on the stage. We cross-examine Prof. Means, who suggests that Junie blackmailed him. We present the Tape Recorder when he tries to say protecting Juniper is humane - pointing out that we wouldn't have this piece of evidence if the not-so-good professor wasn't trying to frame Juniper for murder.

Now we get scary Prof. Means. He has a chalkboard, a mohawk, and a suspiciously marble-looking crack on his forehead. I always love these villain sprite transformations. That process of starting to suspect someone, then their sprite starts getting nervous, then angry or frustrated, then the full-on transformation. It's one of many things I love about this franchise. He calls roll and Blackquill is literally too cool for school.

Prof. Means tries to seal the deal by claiming he wasn't on campus the night of the 23rd after 6:00PM by saying he was at home. This patently isn't true based on the school set-up photos, but we gotta wait for Robin Newman to yell about it first.

Fun fact: I had a teacher in private elementary who would literally throw the 1" diameter pieces of chalk and Pink Pearl erasers at students who talked too much or otherwise didn't pay attention. He had deadly aim - once a student in the very back of class against a wall was talking too much and we all turned to stare at him. The chalk flew. The piece of chalk cracked in half against the wall at the exact place the kid's head would have been - if he hadn't sensed it coming and moved. Whew.

See you tomorrow!

---

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-3 - Turnabout Academy

Hugh points out that lowering a body via the wire would have knocked over the statues. Also, the large crash happened during the mock trial. Hugh had seen the body before the trial, so it's a contradiction! Did he witness the body? Both sides, prosecution and defense, ask. Hugh admits he never saw the body in the first place.

The only freely moving entity during the trial was Junie because she was in charge of the audio! Hugh confesses again, except this time he's sweating bullets and not making sense! We elect to use Widget to extend the trial and avoid a verdict.

Prosecutor Blackquill leaves for a 'stroll' with "Fool Bright". If the fangirls weren't shipping before, they certainly are now.

We put this confession through the Mood Matrix - Hugh is overjoyed at the idea of Junie going free, and he has other emotional issues as the truth emerges.

I have to say, I love these moments when Blackquill breaks out of his shackles.

Hugh talks down about himself, because he realized his parents were paying for his grades. When he confronted them over the phone, Junie overheard and misunderstood. He wanted to clear her name to make it up to her for disappointing her like that. We draw attention to the proof of friendship, the band around Hugh's neck. It's sweet the way the three friends touch these friendship bands when they're giving their testimonies/being troubled.

We try to survive the most adorable cutscene where they each show that they're wearing their bands still.

See you tomorrow!

---

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-3 - Turnabout Academy

I'm Llarian, and I'm FINE!!

Klavier offers to help recover the erased audio from the forged tape. In court, we find that Robin and Hugh have recanted their confessions. Blackquill is a cool character. I'm hoping we get to learn more about him in the future.

Hugh takes the stand, and talks about Junie moving the high jump mat in order to move Prof. Courte's body. This was super annoying to figure out - normally we get way more floorplans, so when Hugh said where he was, I had no way to figure it out. I presented the Mock Trial Script because it mentions you can see the whole quad from the Archery Club. Turns out, with a little help, it was the stage set up photos.

Hugh brushes this objection off easily by saying he wa son the same side of the barrier as Junie. This isn't quite true, as we ID him as the crane operator. Blackquill lays it all out - Hugh is 25 years old, he took a 7 year break from school. Oh, and the neckband we can see him wearing in the crane operator photo is one of a kind and handmade, not bought. Hugh is accused of operating the crane to move the body, but he reveals it's an activity that requires 2 hands, and as one of his required surgery, it relieves him of all suspicion.

Everything still seems to point to Junie. However, we recall something else goes between the art room and the stage! The wire for the hanging banners! We analyze the blood on the pottery in the art room, it's Hugh's. Myriam had spring-loaded a knife in with her script to prevent anyone but Prof. Courte from opening it without being injured. It caught Hugh peeking at the script and left him literally red-handed.

See you tomorrow!

---

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-3 - Turnabout Academy

Hrgh, okay. "art is weird" is not the hot take you think it is, game. Probably some tongue-in-cheek here. Prof. Courte's work clearly follows some cubist/abstract expressionism influence, if you're interested in learning more or seeing similar works. That original sculpture of Lady Justice though, whew.

Juniper was in control of the audio during the mock trial - so she was in the trial and also audio control room changing the music. Junie says the line, "You're a goner!" during the mock trial, so we start to suspect that the tape of the 'female voice' could be a fake meant to benefit the only male suspect.

Talk to Junie in the Detention Center, she feels uneasy. This stuff about being a good student who never causes trouble - it's like we learned nothing from Death Note.

We perceive a cough from Junie when she talks about Hugh 'never causing trouble'! Junie's the snitch to Prof. Courte!! Hugh figured it out and the rift formed. Junie suspected him from the beginning!

We found a page from Prof. Courte's planner referencing Hugh and 120... maybe she was accepting the bribe.

Also, Junie didn't leave at 6:00PM that day, she stayed later, and in a grisly and disturbing cutscene, she reveals that she saw Hugh with his hands dripping blood!

See you tomorrow!

---

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
-Marcus Aurelius

Case 5-3 - Turnabout Academy

We point out that the stage was still being set up at the time that Prof. Courte and Juniper took that photo together - so the moon behind them is not the real moon in the sky, but the one from the stage background. We convince Not-Gumshoe to tell us that the voiceprint analysis on the Youre a goner!/Hugh OConner! snippet is confirmed to be Juniper Woods. I super cant care about this guy, hes enthusiastic but somehow not a lovable goof that I can get attached to.

We move over to the Lecture Hall and talk to Robin Newman, she confessed to protect Juniper, and she hasnt had any trouble with now being known as a girl on campus. Apparently, before the murder, she talked to Prof. Courte and the teacher had advocated for her with the school administration, easing the transition.

Robin tells us a creepy rumor about a snitch, who watches everything that goes on at the school and shares it with one of the professors. Theres even been stories about bribery, buying and selling grades. This is a big deal if it were to ever go public.

She seems to subscribe to Prof. Means ideal of the ends justify the means. In a swift pilfering, Robing takes hold of the costume-related items from our Court Record, rejoicing that she can now enjoy such feminine clothing openly.

We ask her about the painting in the School Camera Photo, and Robin confirms that the painting in the 7:00PM with moon outside photo was likely painted by Prof. Courte, mentioning something about her artistic sense.

Well have to dig deeper next time. See you tomorrow!

---

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
-Marcus Aurelius