Characterization Brainstorming!

YES.

I've always felt like Phoenix was portrayed really weird in AJ. I'd love it if we could make sure to stick with his burned, cynical new attitude, but throw in some hints that he is still very much like he was before. It might make the transition to DD a little easier to see, even though that won't be a musical.

Please do I would love you. XD

More like: Apollo? Who's Apollo? the musical

I mean, I like DD because I did NOT like AJ at first. But I can't believe they just shoved everyone under the rug. Like, really? What was the point of them in the first place? And, honestly, why was Athena even a thing?

Ugh.

But, hey, the more we can lean into that, the better, I think.
Like, what if we made some offhand comment about how Ema was taking a year to work on her forensics certification near the end or something? Or mentioned Phoenix's sudden desire for Trucy to focus on her schoolwork?

Klavier and Trucy aren't even on the official art. Apollo and Trucy will die before they learn that they're siblings

I mean, I'd like to see Phoenix portrayed as a chaotic good- he's willing to do what he has to for the greater good. Yeah, he pawned some forged evidence on Apollo. Phoenix feels kinda guilty about that. But what else was he supposed to do? If Apollo didn't have that card, Olga would've been convicted instead of Kristoph, and Kristoph (who had killed at least one person at this point with 2 more ticking time bombs) would have turned on Apollo. Apollo didn't get the "ace up his sleeve" until he accused Kristoph of murder. Phoenix had to do what he did, even if it was backhanded and kind of terrible. I want to portray Phoenix that way- he absolutely cannot let Kristoph get away with hurting anyone else and will do whatever he needs to do to expose the truth. And if we're being honest, Edgeworth did exactly the same in AAI.

I've found that Apollo in his own game was just eternally done with everything. Just done

OKAY THIS IS SO GOOD 
after playing AJ the same night I finished T&T I was pretty shocked because it seemed like he didn't care at all and it was kind of hard to understand. What, he got his badge taken away and then just became a massive piece of shinto (especially to trucy)? I think the old Phoenix is still in there. It's his nature. 

And yet another post! sorry. I have a lot of stuff in my head.

How should Kristoph be portrayed? A lot of work makes him out to be someone who is entirely emotionless (you know, supposedly having no guilt about poisioning a little girl) but i think vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/aceattorney/images/3/38/Kristoph_going_mad.png/revision/latest?cb=20110227090213 really proves otherwise. He has one confirmed emotion: anger? I think?
He isn't very complex, but he's confusing, which is why nailing his character might be one of the big obstacles in this show. Not to mention how he can change at the drop of a hat.

Working outside the law to uncover the truth was definitely a theme across AJ and AAI (One that we might want to include on that other thread)

Since we're talking Phoenix's characterization, I can't let this thread pass without putting up my favorite analysis of AJ Phoenix about how they take Phoenix's good nature and overlay it with Manfred Von Karma's actions(minus that whole, y'know, murdering people part) to create a "frustratingly morally grey character on whom it is difficult to form an opinion, a character who I personally found unsettling for reasons I didn’t understand until now."

Anyway here's the analysis: internetkatze.tumblr.com/post/141685921322/apollo-justice-era-phoenix-is-the-new-manfred-von

That was really interesting! The parallels between Phoenix and von Karma are pretty unsettling, actually. I'd love to see that concept explored in Phoenix's "breakdown" song we mentioned on the Act 4 board.

On Kristoph's side, we don't know what motivates Kristoph. Not even Kristoph knows what motivates Kristoph. There's something about him being replaceable and inadequate that made him snap. He definitely has emotions... Paranoia, anger, and betrayal. And he genuinely enjoys music, his dog, and sandwiches (sorry. That part is not canon. Just a really great fanfic). I didn't get the vibe that Kristoph needed to feel like he was better than everyone else-- I think that everything he did was out of paranoia. He was afraid that he was going to lose an important case, so he forged evidence. He was afraid that people would find out about said forged evidence, so he poisoned the Mishams. He was afraid that Phoenix Wright was a threat to him, so he passed on his forged evidence and got him disbarred. He was afraid that Zak would reveal the truth to Phoenix, who was already onto him, so he killed him. He was afraid that he would be found out, so he destroyed the evidence and belittled Apollo throughout the trial ("it's almost as if you came to that conclusion yourself"). That's what I thought.

There's a big difference between striving for excellence and striving for perfection: those who strive for excellence are motivated to do the best they can do, while those who strive for perfection are motivated by the fear of failure. When you're motivated by fear, it doesn't matter how much you achieve, because there is ALWAYS room for failure. But there's always room for improvement, too. Kristoph is motivated by fear, so he will never be satisfied.

Ah, that's perfect! I can totally get on board with this interpretation of Kris :3