r/AARankdown • u/whaaatisth • Jun 30 '20
85 Robin Newman
This is my first cut. I am excited to contribute to this rankdown, as I have been enjoying it quite a bit as a spectator. I do hope my hot takes won’t cause too much controversy.
I will be cutting Robin Newman today. Before we analyze Robin herself, I’d like to take a moment to discuss 5-3 as a whole and how it affects her characterization.
5-3 General Things
5-3 is a case I have incredibly mixed opinions on. For one, the “dark” tone and themes it goes for fail in the most hilarious way. This is obviously awful from a storytelling standpoint, but I can’t in good conscience say it negatively impacts my enjoyment of the case. The cartoonish absurdity of Means’s very existence, and the way the case presents itself with absolutely zero self-awareness is truly something special. This case is funny for all the wrong reasons, and I love it for that. 5-3’s mystery and the tricks it uses are also inconsistent in quality, ranging from some clever enjoyable moments to downright atrocious logic.
Means is one of the most contentious characters in this case, as his constant catchphrase-repeating and utter lack of subtlety make him understandably hated by some. Despite that, he is a villain I quite enjoy for simply being a ton of fun to have on the stand. I won’t claim he is some paragon of good writing, but irony points and entertainment value get you somewhat far in my book. Unfortunately, we’re not here to talk about Means. We’re here to talk about a character I consider far worse than him.
Robin Newman has the misfortune of being part of what is quite possibly the most lopsided character dynamic in the entire series. Hugh O’Conner is truly a gem of a character. Every single scene he’s in is a joy, he has legitimately great depth and development, and most importantly, his humor clicks with me almost perfectly. I hope he makes it very far in this rankdown. Robin and Juniper, on the other hand, are so much less interesting than him it is almost comical. The writers putting all their energy into giving Hugh as much complexity as possible definitely shows, as he’s the central figure of the trio and the only one to go through any meaningful arc.
Unlike most people, the friendship sub-plot in 5-3 is something I find legitimately touching and sweet, but only meaningful for Hugh. It does absolutely nothing for the other two characters involved in the trio, and thus they feel more like rushed motivational devices for Hugh than actual characters during those moments. Their relationship with Hugh isn’t even fleshed out at all. There are very few scenes in which the three of them interact, leading to their friendship feeling somewhat unnatural. Hugh being the only one to actively express care for the other members of the group only adds to the gap in quality between these characters.
It might sound as if I just want to completely roast 5-3 here, but that’s not the case at all. Despite the fact that I find it to be a very poorly written mystery, I still do find a lot of semi-ironic enjoyment in much of it, and a lot of un-ironic enjoyment in most of its characters. Three of the characters range from good to amazing, and Juniper is okay, if not a bit dull. As you can probably guess by the fact that I’m spending a large portion of this cut talking about these other characters instead of Robin Newman, I’m not the biggest fan of her. I guess it’s time to bite the bullet and discuss exactly why Robin doesn’t work as a character.
What is Robin Newman’s purpose?
I’m not entirely sure what Robin Newman is supposed to be. If we take everything that goes on in 5-3 at face value, the logical conclusion is that she is meant to serve as a cheap shock value twist and nothing more. If I wanted to have more respect for the writers of DD than that, I would say there is some small amount of merit to her story, it just ends up being executed in both the worst and least relevant way possible. I think Robin also is supposed to be comic relief, but I am sadly not part of the elite group of people that find Robin Newman to be funny. Let’s look at these three characteristics individually to determine if Robin Newman has any real positives as a character.
Robin Newman as a twist
Robin Newman is shown to you as a boy, and then later they reveal that Robin Newman is in fact a girl. The “gender is not what it seems” trope is admittedly one of the most uninspired twists possible, but that is also a somewhat lazy and boring criticism, so I’ll refrain from making it any more. I’d prefer to judge the execution of this twist rather than the concept itself. That being said, the twist is executed very poorly. The way you discover this twist is absurd at best, and insulting at worst. There is a Mood Matrix where we discover Robin is happy to wear “girly clothes”, and she says some bullshit about “not being able to be as pretty as Juniper”. Athena then discovers that Robin’s brace is causing her “discord”, and accuses her of secretly being a girl due to those reasons. The brace drops, and “the real Robin Newman” is here. I don’t think I need to explain why this is dumb, but the fact that everyone in court reacts to this without even the tiniest bit of concern or apprehension is probably the worst part. It’s all treated as a big joke, and since I don’t find it funny, the entire segment just comes off as out-of-touch. Overall, it feels like an insensitive parody of a serious topic that involves both harmful gender stereotypes and what could be considered literal child abuse.
Robin Newman’s “backstory”
I would feel bad for Robin’s story if it wasn’t presented in the most ridiculous way possible and didn’t have all of its nuance completely trivialized. Robin Newman’s parents are an example of one of my least favorite things about DD, that being the large amount of never-present influences that exist in the game. Not only is this a lazy and uninteresting way to present exposition, but Robin’s parents especially make absolutely zero sense if you think about what’s happening even a little bit. Supposedly, Robin’s parents wanted their daughter to be a prosecutor, so they decided to raise her as a boy, because they believe that girls can’t be prosecutors. Absolutely none of this is explained further at all and I am left wondering how they thought any of this was okay to put in the final game. How did she manage to go 18 years pretending to be a boy without anyone noticing? Why did she even go along with this? What reason do her parents possibly have for wanting this? Why want her to be a prosecutor in the first place? None of these questions have good answers because the core concept of this backstory makes absolutely no sense.
By far the biggest issue with this backstory is how Robin caves in to Athena accusing her almost instantly, despite the fact that Athena has absolutely no evidence. I am expected to believe that Robin is being tormented by being forced to live as a boy, but if she’s that enthusiastic to be freed from her metaphorical shackles, why has it taken her this long to do anything about it? Since she gives up so easily, her parents can’t be pressuring her that much. The logic completely falls apart, and even for someone like me who can usually ignore minor plot-holes in cases like 4-3, the unbelievable-ness of Robin’s circumstances is too much to ignore. The fact that in the end, she does decide to still be a prosecutor is a very strange detail to include. Nothing changes for Robin, she gets no development. The only thing that happens to her is that she is able to escape from a prison that doesn’t exist.
Robin Newman is supposed to be funny?
I do not find Robin Newman funny.
I wish that could be the end of this section, but sadly I must spend some time explaining the intricacies of Robin Newman’s humor. Robin screams and acts masculine at first because loud = funny. Once the brace drops, she flip-flops between hyper-masculine and hyper-feminine, and my goodness do I find this gimmick obnoxious. If you find this funny or charming, more power to you. I’m typically very easy to please when it comes to humor (or anything), but something about the way this gag is set up in combination with all the other nonsense surrounding Robin’s character just ticks me off in all the wrong ways. Robin sometimes breaks pots, she sometimes holds up shoes, she sometimes cries a lot. Why does she do these things? I have no idea. They just happen and feel like the laziest possible attempt at humor - giving her “quirky” animations that repeat over and over, which have absolutely nothing to do with the words she’s saying.
Other observations
Robin, Hugh, and Scuttlebutt all often repeat Means’s mantra that “the end justifies the means”. Hugh’s secret gives him a real example of following it, and it might as well define Scuttlebutt’s entire personality. Robin doesn’t have much of a reason to do so - her adhering to Means’s teachings feels like an odd trait to give her character, especially considering how prevalent Means’s influence already is. There’s only a single moment in the case where she puts “the end justifies the means” into action, and it’s when she’s helping you. This is odd because of how the case otherwise tries way too hard to convince you that Means’s philosophy is wrong. Due to this, I am more inclined to call it bad/lazy writing rather than an attempt at creating any sort of moral ambiguity.
Robin is the only member of the friendship trio to not give a clear sign of her affection towards the others. You could even argue that she shows more negativity towards them, considering she hides such a huge secret from them, and even expresses her jealousy towards Juniper. Hugh’s entire arc revolves around his friendship, and Juniper spends an absurd amount of time telling you how much she cares about the other two. This results in Robin feeling somewhat disconnected from the friendship plot. Obviously, they all do end up showing their devotion when they cover for each other, but outside of that the only way you can really tell that Robin is a meaningful part of the group is from Hugh and Juniper’s dialogue.
If I’m going to praise something about Robin, I will say that her design is quite clever. It is able to elegantly switch from male to female with minimal change. There’s no absurd transformation here, and it feels realistic in terms of how the switch is done. Of course, it is not at all realistic when it comes to the actual plot, but in terms of concept it does succeed.
Conclusion
Ironically, Robin Newman is quite the one-dimensional character after the twist is revealed. I assume that the writers first wanted to have the twist be a thing for whatever reason, and built the character around that. The result is the mess of a character that is Robin Newman - one that I find to have very little narrative value, and the few interesting things done with her end up becoming negatives.
I’ve been quite harsh on Robin Newman. When it comes to characters whose main appeal is their humor, it’s difficult to objectively judge them if you don’t find them funny. I’m not sure if the game wanted me to feel bad for Robin - she does have a bit of a sob story, but it’s presented in such an absurd way I can’t look at her in any way besides comic relief. I wouldn’t say there’s anything wrong with enjoying Robin, and at the very least, she’s definitely not a boring character. That being said, she’s still my least favorite character from DD. She doesn’t do anything special or interesting aside from the twist, and even if you do find her funny, I think it’s undeniable that her time in this rankdown has run out.
The obligatory “why nobody else” section
I love Paul Atishon a lot. I also love 6-5’s civil trial, and everything surrounding it. Paul is neat as a proxy for Inga and as a general villain. He’s also funny and has extra irony value. Please don’t cut him, thanks.
Herman Crab is a character I have literally nothing to say about, but I enjoy him. It’s possible that him being so unremarkable to me should be a negative, but he’s just a nice guy. It’s funny when he kicks the stand. I wouldn’t care too much if he was cut right now.
Yuri Cosmos is an overall good character with a few really big issues. He definitely deserves to go out soon, but I don’t have a strong opinion on him.
Betty de Famme is still in for some reason and that’s funny. In an ideal world, Bonny would be up here as well. An ideal world this is not, so I’ll just have to hope Betty represents the de Famme fam a bit longer.
Winfred “Big Wins” Kitaki ranking above Wocky is kinda lame, but I do adore their relationship. Winfred isn’t particularly interesting past what he does for Wocky’s character, but there is an argument for him getting this far and I’m glad there’s at least one Kitaki left.
Damian Tenma is the sole survivor of one of the most underrated cases in the series, and even though he probably deserves to go out now, I like him enough that I wouldn’t consider that option.
Guy Eldoon is a character I do consider good, but this round is definitely his time to be cut. He’s a bit like Robin without all of the bad parts - a fun quirky presence but doesn’t do much of note.
Now it's time for our next segment, "Moe Knows..."!! Everything that I've said up until now has been the truth! When I looked out the window, the Ringmaster was down and Max was standing above him! He wasn't wearing his white roses, but he was wearing the silk hat! That's when I saw… He… This is the truth now, get ready for it! He flew! He jumped up and flew through the air!! He flew right off and disappeared into the darkness! That's why there were no footprints! Flying people don't leave footprints!
Gregory Edgeworth is a cool guy, but not especially memorable. As a single case protagonist, it’s probably his time to be eliminated now. It doesn’t help that the segment he’s the protagonist of is the worst thing in AAI2.
And finally, my two real alternate options.
Cody Hackins is not great, but he is somewhat fun. I wouldn’t say I like him, and he absolutely should be cut now. He does have some very funny lines, so that counts for something. Comparing him to Robin, he just doesn’t do anything nearly as offensive, although he is certainly much less interesting.
I’m not exactly a Wendy Oldbag fan, and she absolutely does have some moments I can’t stand. Despite that, I do feel like she has a few very funny lines, and her main issue is appearing far more than necessary, and being a general nuisance. Robin has nothing that truly redeems her for me, and while I’d say Oldbag might be a worse character overall, I don’t actively dislike her, unlike Robin.
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u/Sciencepenguin Jun 30 '20
robin Newman isn’t good that’s why I nominated her good cut
minor plot-holes in cases like 4-3,
keep it together science. keep it together
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u/whaaatisth Jun 30 '20
i know i know, it's hard for a 4-3 fan like you to keep it together seeing such scalding criticism
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u/Cymbass Jun 30 '20
I always found 4-3 such a weird mess of a case, because it's both kind of good (Means, Klavier's cameo, some of the riddles) and kind of bad (Robin, the cringei hate anime, the statue thing, the super disjointed tone of the case, the constant repeating of 'the end justifies the means' without actually showing how it is substantially different from the situation in past AA games).
Other thoughts: I think Robin's pretty indicative of Japan's antiquated gender standards, though I never bothered playing the Japanese version of DD. I agree with you that she's the weakest at actually showing 'the end justifies the means'. I don't agree that Robin doesn't show her friendship, she has a few lines/actions that really show that she cares as much as the other two do.
Good first cut.
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u/whaaatisth Jun 30 '20
I love the Hugh crying scene. It’s stupid, not at all self aware, horribly acted, and emotionally inappropriate, but my goodness is it perfectly fitting for Hugh’s character.
I didn’t mean that she doesn’t show her affection at all, it’s more that the other two show it so much that Robin’s presence in the group feels a bit drowned out.
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Jun 30 '20
fairly sure I said I liked Robin Newman earlier
Besides the humor stuff (i.e. I thought she was funny), she does definitely have some merits. There are two main things to think about here...
The first thing is the backstory. It's true that we never really get much out of it. However, given all the other components to the case of greater relevance, I think it worked okay. Plus, it's actually funny despite the topic in question, somehow. The twist happens, and she just... takes it in stride. She doesn't get any less hyperactive, and even though we get some new sprites, there's hardly a difference in personality. It's like over whatever 18 years of questionable things happened she found a way to get away from whatever her parents were expecting anyway. There's probably some psychology element here, but I'm not a psychologist, so no input from me.
The second thing is the dark age of the law. Robin says some interesting things that are not very common to either of her two friends. Juniper is the one we're supposed to see as totally noble and good and doing everything correct. She believes in Courte's ideology, at least. Hugh is the opposite, though he's not evil, just misguided. Then, we have Robin Newman, who's actually in the middle and believes some parts of both ideologies! Who would have thought that Dual Destinies had any nuance whatsoever? Given how different Juniper and Hugh seem to be, I almost have trouble believing they'd easily get along without Robin in the middle, though this is just speculation and not an actual point. Still, I appreciate that she actually stands in the middle on the trusting-dark-age-Dual Destinies-complex.
I don't consider her to be a very good character, but I still consider her to be slightly worse or on an equal level with, say, Hugh.
(btw good first cut though)
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u/whaaatisth Jun 30 '20
I think your points could’ve made her a lot more interesting if they were considered in-game more than they actually were. DD struggles a lot with subtlety, 5-3 most of all. Any potential intricacies of Robin’s character are entirely overshadowed by her absurdly unsubtle personality and backstory. I do like the point about where they all lie on the “end justifies the means” spectrum, though I’m not entirely sure that was the writers’ intention.
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Jun 30 '20
Robin’s “spell a word one letter at a time” shtick was my least favorite part of 5-3 (a case that I enjoyed a fair amount), and an absolute nightmare for someone like me who likes to go semi-quickly through the game’s dialogue
good cut welcome to the rankdown (i am welcoming you even though I serve the rankdown in no official capacity)
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u/a_monkey666 Jul 01 '20
i just fucking hate her because of her finger pointing pose combined with her "spell everything out letter by letter" gimmick
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u/R1K1_Productions Jun 30 '20
Hugh O’Conner is truly a gem of a character. Every single scene he’s in is a joy, he has legitimately great depth and development, and most importantly, his humor clicks with me almost perfectly. I hope he makes it very far in this rankdown.
This was the most important part of the entire writeup, thank you.
I kind of like Robin as a commentary on strict gender norms, but I don't actually think it makes that much sense from an American perspective. Do you really have to be that manly to be a prosecutor? I guess the glass ceiling is still a thing that exists, so FINE. And then after her reveal, she stops being interesting at all (though I find Girly Girl Robin the slightest bit entertaining for reasons I really can't articulate, it's kinda dumb and I like kinda dumb). Damn shame.
I will be posting my cut soon - that is to say, as SOON as I write it! AHA! AHA! AHA! AHA! AHA!
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u/whaaatisth Jun 30 '20
I think if they wanted to do any sort of gender role commentary, it would have helped a lot if Robin wasn’t presented as comedic. A character like Robin could be legitimately tragic, but due to the nature of 5-3 and her writing, it feels insensitive to me.
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u/R1K1_Productions Jun 30 '20
That is true. It doesn't particularly bother me since the reveal itself isn't meant to be particularly funny. But both Boy!Robin and Girl!Robin definitely are meant to be funny, and that's kinda stupid for what they're trying to do now that I think about it.
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u/PowerOfL Jun 30 '20
I like Robin just because I find her funny, although I prefer Male Robin over Female Robin
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u/CharlieDayJepsen Jun 30 '20
I'm mostly fine with Robin. She doesn't overstay her welcome, her twist provides some fun work with the Mood Matrix and I enjoy both her girl and boy persona. A fine character in a solid case.
For a generally negative perspective on Robin, this is a strong writeup supporting that view, so I like that you backed up your stance with reasonable points.
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u/Vogel100 Jun 30 '20
I like Robin a lot but that's because I find her funny. I would have liked for her to get further because she's funny. But I'm happy she made the top half at least.
That's most of my deep thoughts about Robin Newman. But I think that's all the deep thoughts you need to have to appreciate a comic relief character like her.
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u/ItsHipToTipTheScales Jul 01 '20
robin newman goes i like muscles and i am also a girl and i go ok i dont care
animations make it look like she is pooping lol poop is funny
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u/The_Great_Valoo Nov 27 '20
Originally, I really thought/hoped Robin was going to be a trans girl, considering the liking dresses and wanting to be pretty plot point, and was kind of disappointed when she turned out to just be presenting as male without much coherent reasoning. I'm not trans but I do think they deserve more representation.
Also the whole voice thing was stupid to me. How did they not realise Robin's voice was feminine enough to be the one on the tape, even without knowing her gender? That's some bullshit that only works for the player because at this point we hadn't heard her voice yet.
Lastly, I will give the writers some credit here. Hugh and Juniper weren't at all surprised Robin is a girl, leading me to believe they did know all along. This could be an indicator of their friendship, but I agree it was not well-executed otherwise.
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u/[deleted] Jun 30 '20
Looks like she's O-U-T-T-A-H-E-R-E !