I really enjoy reading your AA posts, so I'm curious on your thoughts on Gumshoe as a character? I think he's overall likeable but got flanderized into too much of a buffoon. I'm thinking about how he's shown to know a lot about gadgets in 2-4 and then in 3-3 he suddenly has no idea what a computer virus is (and Phoenix who is bad with tech is the one explaining it). Also his relationship to Edgeworth is oddly fascinating since Edgeworth is so awful to him and yet he's so loyal.
i like gumshoe a lot, but he is primarily a supporting/comic relief character so i'm not really too concerned with the integrity/consistency of his characterization over the course of the franchise. his role in the narrative is to show up, be a goofy and high energy character for the rest of the case to bounce off of, participate in exposition dumps, and be subjected to horrific workplace mistreatment by miles edgeworth. he's not carrying any of the pathos really. so similar to larry im kind of of the opinion that what a lot of people view as flanderization is a projection of their own desire to see a level of narrative consideration for these characters that canon is just not interested in providing and wouldn't hugely benefit from providing, rather than it being something canon is dropping the ball on.
but i have to make a confession to you. i have not actually ever played recipe for turnabout. it's the only trilogy case i have never finished. there is no huge reason for this, the first time i was playing this games was on stream for my friends and they were basically like do you want to skip this case to get to the more interesting stuff and i was like sure. since then i have never fully replayed trials and tribulations; the only case i've properly replayed is bridge to the turnabout and for the rest i just reference the wiki transcripts a lot. but i've never read the wiki transcript for recipe because ive just never felt compelled to. i feel a bit bad about having skipped it because im otherwise such a nitpicky completionist, but this is literally the first time in the nearly 7 years since i started playing these games that i have ever been specifically prompted to think about or comment on something has happened in this case.
so all this to say i don't know how the conversation about computer viruses you're mentioning goes down. lets go take a look at it for a second
cute... i love it when phoenix gets dogpiled. anyway i understand where you're coming from but i also feel like AA characters' knowledge and interests not aligning perfectly with what you'd expect them to know and like is part of what makes them so compelling and memorable.
you're right that gumshoe is pretty handy with gadgets and that phoenix generally doesn't know dick or shit about tech and that might make you inclined to feel the conversation should be happening the other way around. but it didnt. so the option there is to either say 'well that just seems ooc' and move on, or to meet it where its at. as much as i can I always prefer trying to buy into what i'm being sold by a piece of fiction even on the micro level of individual character interactions like this, because i think its a big part of being a generous audience. thinking "what would need to be true about these characters in order for what's been shown to make sense" and being able to come up with one or more answers that feels right and satisfying is like the most fun thing about engaging with a work of fiction from a Fandom perspective imo, and ace attorney is very suited to it. i think it leaves its gaps in all of the right places for fun speculation.
like, okay, we know gumshoe is good with gadgets. but the gadgets he works with aren't really Computers, and they wouldn't be anything that he has to interface with the internet for really. it's more stuff dealing with radio or electromagnetic frequency. very different kind of tech than a computer virus, and notably much older. we know gumshoe has been making devices at least since elementary school, and since the timeline puts his birth year at '86 this means it couldn't have been any later than the late nineties when he was learning how to do it. personal computer use wasn't huge then, and the ace attorney setting in general skews towards a relationship to tech that feels a little bit dated and anachronistic within the canonical timeline, so probably even less so there. additionally whereas a computer is kind of an Indoor Nerd hobby, stuff like a metal detector or a bug sweeper or building a dancing blue badger is more of a practical hands-on kind of thing, and i think that's more in line with gumshoe's character than him being really tech savvy in a general sense. I could see him having been taught how to use these kinds of devices by an older relative or something, without that ever overlapping with basic computer knowledge whatsoever. so this passes muster to me
then for phoenix. absolutely not techy, yeah. but also: he has an office job. and they do absolutely have a computer. im pretty sure canonically mia is garbage at using it too but i cant remember when that tidbit may have come up. but anyway "people who are really bad at using a computer but have at least semiregular reason to use them" are probably the number one demographic most likely to get a computer virus, if you think about it. i can easily imagine a beautiful world where in his assistant years either he or mia gets malware on the office pc and they have to like haul it into a repair shop because theyre too scared to try and fix it themselves. he specifically mentions case files getting deleted as a possibility. speaking from first hand experience there, buddy? i'd believe it. this interaction doesn't really effect my suspension of disbelief for these two characters at all.
gumshoe's relationship with edgeworth is really such an archetypal henchman and evil boss relationship but since edgeworth is just like a regular guy at an office and not some sort of dark wizard or mad scientist the tenor is different. its hysterical. i don't know if you've played either of the ace attorney investigations games but his literal first line in aai1-1 is edgeworth thinking about how he hopes gumshoe kept his office clean, and then Minutes after that he yells at him for cleaning his office
and the snippy little thought about him to... god he's such a piece of shit. its so fucking funny. its sooooo fucking funny.
its like i think they're in a dubiously consensual platonic lifestyle findom relationship but its dubcon on edgeworth's end because if he understood how down bad gumshoe was for him he'd probably need to flee the country again. he's not fully cognizant of what he's participating in. gumshoe is fully onboard with it. anyway their whole big tender moment at the end of aai2 is edgeworth telling gumshoe he still expects him to work exactly as hard but he will pay him slightly more going forward.
great stuff. i understand why people ship them but i think this is a very cruel thing to do to gumshoe even though he's kind of gagging for it and i think edgeworth would hate it. i know edgeworth is the type of guy to make gumshoe come to the crime scene when he's sick and then be disapproving and critical that he's visibly sick. he would be like simply dont get sick and gumshoe would be like sir my health plan is terrible and im malnourished because you dont pay me enough to eat anything but instant ramen. and edgeworth would be unmoved.
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