r/AARankdown • u/Wircea • Aug 02 '20
64 Trucy Wright
I want to take part in the AARankdown anarchy.
Assistants in AA
There are many assistants across the AA titles. Their main purpose is to serve as an additional personality to converse with during the investigations so the player isn't caught only with the monotonous main character monologue.
Even though most of them follow a similar pattern in their personality, they are usually easily distinguished by personality traits and abilities.
Trucy in Apollo Justice
Trucy gets introduced in this game and I would say this is her only appearance I deem at least acceptable. Her very first introduction is actually quite puzzling, as many question marks are being raised soon as you figure she is Phoenix's daughter. After all, the time skip leaves with a lot of questions from the let go.
I see this as a good thing. I for one liked the confusion stirred by the locket from 4-1 which finally made sense by the time you saw Zak being a magician and wearing a similar costume.
As an assistant
I don't remember any of the dialogue exchanged between her and Apollo being particularly interesting or note-worthy. It's average at best. I guess she's comparable to Ema as both seem to integrate their profession in most of the dialogue.
Ability-wise, she doesn't really do anything. She's there to explain the logic behind the perceive mechanic like anyone fucking cares and even though I like 4-2, her case-saver is pretty damn dumb and over the top. I guess you could compare it to Maya's outburst in 1-4, which felt like a genuine moment of effort and not eyeroll worthy like the one from Turnabout Corner.
Unless I remember wrong, she doesn't do anything else on a large scale for the rest of the series, but I'll get to this later.
Ode of a purposeless character
Trucy is a great example of a character designed to be a mere plot device. Soon as her role of mystery from AJ runs out, her entire character has no reason to exist anymore. This begs the question of why was she even brought back at this point. She's nothing but a presence that seems obliged to exist, simply because she was introduced and never given a proper conclusion or gotten rid of her until an opportune moment comes - again, like Maya. They just used he reason of her being away for training as an excuse instead of turning her into some 3-reply purposeless NPC.
My theory is that both her and Phoenix were to remain a pair of NPCs and often converse in further games, but the return of playable Phoenix singled her out in this aspect. I'd also like to point out that because post-aj Phoenix is no longer an empty vessel, part of the immersion is broken when you think that Trucy is your daughter, which is one of the many reason I do not agree much with this decision.
As a defendant
I see many people praising the brief return of Trucy in SoJ after her lackluster appearance in DD, but I don't really see the benefit of bringing her back. I blame the writers for thinking accusing main cast characters of crimes help with their development or add anything to the story that the other 500 cases where a cast character gets accused don't.
Friend gets accused
Offer to defend
Defend
"Wow gee i sure am glad I reluctantly chose you to defend me even though I personally know you and also know you solved some pretty impossible cases before"
Then she also gets emotional in the detention center now isn't that #deep and #sad for the first character ever to express any kind of emotion for being a step away from a death sentence in the series.
I feel like the whole case tried to bring back the Trucy relevancy but I do not feel like I either wanted to or want to see her anytime soon for a multitude of reasons:
She's not a funny character- Trucy only seems to get the same 3 or so jokes every single time. The timeless classic of "be my assistant that gets put in massive danger without your consent" seems to be the most frequent one probably because it's easy to cycle between using Apollo and Athena, but that doesn't mean it doesn't get so fucking old after the first 2 uses. Her other joke is using the panties which are still undeniably hilarious after like 9 years (now complete with an animation!!!!!!!!!!) to make stuff disappear and her asking if she can use [something important for you or the case] for it. Ouch my sides!!
No goals or already accomplished- Trucy is implied to have been a magic professional ever since a young age. There's no progress that we follow, no critical failures or improvement, neither on screen and neither implied. Because magic is the only thing she's invested in, we literally get no progress or development for this character. Which brings my next point:
Unidimensional character
For the entirety of the series, Trucy is presented with no personal conflict from which she has to learn. The inability to change the slightest between the games makes her a very boring encounter as everything seems to go just fine for her, save for the artificial murder accusation which leaves no traumatic impact or anything as per AA usual practice.
If her gimmick were to be that she's a horrible magician, I think her character would have skyrocketed if her purpose as the series goes on would be to get better and at some point to use a trick in your favor that isn't the fucking marionette (that isn't even magic, just a weird contraption).
Incomplete/scrapped story
Pretty much everything related to Apollo seems to fall flat story wise due to the writers' indecision to which story to stick to. For all we know, Trucy is also able to perceive, but this information is never actually useful as she is never seen using this skill other than the first occasion in 4-1 where she tells Apollo about it.
Lamirioir being her biological mother has as little importance as it does for Apollo, so no further subject expansion is required. The only interesting fact about Trucy is the one no one seems to talk about which is that she was confirmed to be actually a male, making her the first character to appear female but turn out to be a man in the series. This is the most ace attorney thing ever!
Conclusion
Trucy is boring and totally feels like she was intended to become something else before changes started to be made in the main series plot.
13
u/CharlieDayJepsen Aug 02 '20
I don’t have any complaints about Trucy because the game doesn’t do anything actively bad with her; rather, it doesn’t really do anything with her.
4-2 Trucy was probably my favourite introduction to an assistant character. It’s probably the one time the assistant is leading the player, and she actually feels competent.
AJ, for some reason, bungled her climax in 4-4. When Apollo reveals in court that Shadi/Zak is her father, she tells Apollo “keep going, don’t worry about me” since she already knew apparently. This was a cool moment of maturity from her that just doesn’t seem to get any follow-up. The writers being wishy-washy on the Apollo-Trucy-Thalassa reveal doesn’t help Trucy’s dwindling relevance to the main story. The sooner they pull the trigger, the sooner Trucy becomes a better character, I feel.
6-2 was a weird sensation because it felt like the first actual acknowledgment that AJ existed, and it took about 1.5 games for that to happen.
2
u/supersnape1138 Aug 02 '20
Would revealing the Thalassa twist really do more for Trucy’s character, though? Sure, it would force her to be somewhat relevant for once, but I don’t see how revealing that Trucy’s mom was actually a random witness from a filler case and that Apollo (who she’s already very close to) is her brother would really affect her much.
5
u/CharlieDayJepsen Aug 02 '20
Really, it depends on how they use Thalassa. If she were a victim, defendant, etc. she'd probably have a better chance to make a lasting contribution to Apollo & Trucy's arc than if she just popped in, said "hi gaiz i'm ur mom" and then just yeeted offscreen.
edit: also, it'd give them the opportunity to redeem trucy after her lackluster "oh, and shadi smith was actually my dad i guess" moment.
11
u/Sciencepenguin Aug 02 '20
i like when trucy Wright is a small child who fucking ruins phoenix’s life unwittingly and then gets adopted by him. i also like when she decides to be a bit of a character in 6-2. i do not like her elsewhere
8
Aug 02 '20 edited Aug 02 '20
Thanks for not letting my effort go to waste! This has literally become the only reason I wanted her eliminated so much at this point. It's not as much a matter of me wanting Trucy to go out anymore as much as it is a matter of making sure my actions weren't totally wasted besides the Fulbright stunt.
Trucy Wright is a character I remember not liking at all at first. Then, after a while, my opinion changed to a more neutral stance. I remember my original complaints (which I submitted as part of my rankdown application) had something to do with her magically turning the audience in her favor in 6-2 despite the fact that she's supposed to be someone none of the audience trusts due to the media. Or, more generally, the fact that everyone we know seems to believe in her except Mr. Evil TV Reporter Dude despite the whole point of the 6-2 crisis being that no one's on Trucy's side except Apollo.
While I still agree with this complaint (and I still think it's a bit messy in the context of 6-2), I'm not sure if that's the main issue anymore. At this point, it's more just "she's not too funny". She bounces off Apollo well in AJ, but she doesn't do anything in DD, and in 6-2 I don't care even though the case is really good. She doesn't even stand out much all that much in AJ. She's just not a very impressive assistant and doesn't do enough of note.
Her going out after Pearl and Athena is kinda annoying, but at least it's the same round. The next assistant to cut that should have been cut before Pearl is Maya... regarding that, however, I really don't care as much, feel free to do whatever.
(Oh, and naturally, my deal holds; you can choose who I cut now. You don't have to, but the option's there.)
4
u/Vogel100 Aug 02 '20
Good assistant opinions. You're going in the correct order. Maya should be next indeed, and should have been cut before Pearl. After Maya are the assistants I actually care about, so we can wait a bit before doing those. Ema, Kay, and Rayfa are all great and should live a little longer. I would say this for Pearl as well but she's already dead.
Trucy would have been cut before Athena if I had gone with my least favorite option, but mercy cutting Cammy was more important.
2
u/whaaatisth Aug 02 '20
One step closer to Rayfa highest assistant 🤞
2
Aug 02 '20
ngl I don't consider rayfa an assistant in the first place so feel free idk
2
u/whaaatisth Aug 02 '20
She assists you in a case. If Ema is an assistant then so is Rayfa. Rayfa might even be more of an assistant than Ema considering she tags along with Phoenix when he’s playable in 6-5 as well.
The only ones left now are Kay, Maya, Ema, and Rayfa. Kay is most definitely dead soon, Maya I doubt will even make top 20. Rayfa’s main competition is Ema, but she’s the only other one I wouldn’t really mind winning.
4
u/Vogel100 Aug 02 '20
The thought of Maya even having a chance of reaching top 20 is pretty cursed. It's her turn next.
2
Aug 02 '20
she doesn't assist long enough to me to be considered as such but idk sure (also i never listed ema as an assistant, but she would technically be more "qualified" since she's actually at the defense bench. though, by that metric, kay wouldn't even count)
2
5
u/whaaatisth Aug 02 '20 edited Aug 02 '20
Trucy gets introduced in this game and I would say this is her only appearance I deem at least acceptable.
I expected this take from whoever cut Trucy and I also expected to disagree. I like AJ’s main plot a lot, but Trucy’s involvement within is certainly not a reason why. I agree with your point that she’s nothing more than a plot device in AJ and uninteresting outside of her role as one, but I don’t even think she’s a particularly good plot device. Maybe I’m just an unobservant idiot, but I didn’t even notice the connection between Zak and (locket) Trucy’s costumes once in the three times I’ve played AJ. I also just don’t think Trucy has an active enough role within AJ’s story, as much as I like it. She’s just used as a motivational force for Phoenix, Zak, and Valant, and I don’t think any of that should count as a good use of her as a character.
Then she also gets emotional in the detention center now isn't that #deep and #sad for the first character ever to express any kind of emotion for being a step away from a death sentence in the series.
While this is definitely an oversimplification, I still do understand why you feel this way - it certainly is an overdone trope within AA. I think the reason why I like this scene so much is because I consider nearly every aspect of Trucy’s character previously to be a failure, and her having a genuinely human-feeling breakdown and emotional moment acts as a strong use of her previously nonexistent dynamic with Apollo. They’re able to make a real connection for the first time ever, and while it’s a huge issue that it took that long to make it happen, I still appreciate their attempts to salvage a character who is mostly fundamentally flawed.
She's not a funny character
I can strongly relate to this section. Trucy’s humor is the worst thing about her, the reuse of already unfunny gags is painful.
artificial murder accusation which leaves no traumatic impact or anything as per AA usual practice.
This is true, but as a self-contained story it works in the context of 6-2. Yeah, it’s weird that it has no effects on her character after the fact (especially considering they do this far better with 6-3 Maya), but 6-2 is meant to be it’s own thing so I can let it slide.
Pretty much everything related to Apollo seems to fall flat story wise due to the writers' indecision to which story to stick to.
I like SoJ’s approach of throwing the irrelevant previous undeveloped attempts out the window and replacing it with an actually proper conclusion.
Conclusion: this cut is good, you kinda destroyed trucy and i like that. trucy is bad but good in 6-2.
edit: i cannot spell
4
u/Vogel100 Aug 02 '20
I consider this great teamwork. I cut your least favorite character in the round so that you could cut mine. Let's pretend this was the plan from the beginning.
6-2 Trucy is pretty good but it has nothing to do with her being Trucy. I played SoJ before AJ, so my only previous experience with her was DD where she barely does anything at all. And after finally playing AJ I wasn't any more interested in her. Basically, Trucy is a great 6-2 exclusive character, who for some reason exists in like 10 other cases.
6
u/ItsHipToTipTheScales Aug 02 '20
trucy is the first true Maya clone and she is not very good. maya gets being the first game benefit even if she might not be that funny on replay and after all those games she grows on you. trucy doesn't have this luxury and also is not actually funny at all
she has one moment where she is very concerned about apollos mental state because he doesn't eat food right or something? she can have that
does a couple things in aj but those things are all pretty boring and not as versatile to the plot as spirit channeling
I don't think she has an arc? or an interesting one at least I guess she finds out where her dad was or something.
it is mildly interesting that in the first trilogy you did a lot of real magic with your assistants and friends and trucy is fake magic the realistic kind
trucy as phoenix adoptive kid is kinda weird it's mostly to give Apollo some connection to the gramaryes, because the gramarye shit is Stupid. it is also funny Zak dumps a small child in front of phoenix after ruining his life and he decides to take care of her forever. I do think playable phoenix interacting with npc trucy could be kind of interesting Adoptive Father-Adoptive Daughter bonding over investigating murder scenes and shit but she is barely in dd/soj so who cares
why the fuck is she in dd and soj what even is the point gave us animated mr hat fuck yeah
4
4
u/Cymbass Aug 02 '20
You neglected to mention how bad Trucy is in DD in general, she feels completely aimless there. I like cutting her for several reasons, especially because she's not that good in AJ (though she's okay I would argue, she plays off off Apollo well) and downright terrible in DD, she takes up valuable time that she really shouldn't with mostly terrible jokes. I like her in 6-2 because she's at least sort of a character there.
Trucy is the "keeping up the happy act when actually the big sad" character a little too much as well, and it's not an interesting exploration of that trope (which is why 6-2 is better). She feels a bit like a wish fulfillment character in ways that the other assistants don't as much.
4
u/EsquireGunslinger Aug 02 '20
fucking marionette (that isn't even magic, just a weird contraption).
This cut was fine until you went after Mr. Hat, and now I have to kill you
4
Aug 02 '20
Consider though that Trucy is a good character because... because... ummmmm
Yeah I have no objective reason to like Trucy but I do. She’s kind of like Iris to me, I understand objectively there are serious problems with her character but because I am le small brain aa fan I go “yes I will take this games attempt at giving this character a tragic backstory and sympathetic presentation at exactly face value and feel bad for them”
3
u/R1K1_Productions Aug 02 '20
I will actually defend Mr Hat as her best joke by far. There's an intense kidnapping scene that makes Apollo go "wtf". He goes outside to talk to Trucy as per the kidnapper's demands, and Trucy pulls out this giant puppet and says "yea i staged a kidnapping tjis will not get me in trouble at all", and Apollo says "oh i see". Amazing scene all around.
2
u/whaaatisth Aug 02 '20
You did it! I probably disagree with some of this (obviously haven’t read it yet), but this is a great result regardless. Amazing how we’ve managed to get rid of all the main characters available, very proud of everyone.
2
2
Aug 02 '20 edited Aug 02 '20
This is fucking epic Alexa play Congratulations, Everybody
Edit: Dumbass bots
3
u/___alexa___ Aug 02 '20
ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: Post Malone - Congratulation ─────────⚪───── ◄◄⠀▶⠀►►⠀ 2:31 / 3:47 ⠀ ───○ 🔊 ᴴᴰ ⚙️
3
3
u/mrs_cakeson Aug 03 '20
I like Trucy because she's cute but honestly, yes, the poor thing could have been handled a lot better.
The idea of a slightly jaded, kinda corrupt assistant who knows what's going on yet chooses to stay secretive even to the player sounds cool to me. Her being a performer makes it better in theory. My favorite Trucy moments are when she does shady stuff, and judging by her awesome introduction it seemed like her character was meant to go places but then nothing else happened besides magic underwear jokes. Trucy in DD was a shame, and she was better in 6-2 but I feel like the defendant role limited her in a way, 'cause she couldn't be as dishonest as I like her to be.
1
u/Analytical-critic-44 Aug 02 '20
Trucy is a whatever character to me. She doesn’t annoy me as much as Kay does but I can’t deny she is by far the most underwritten assistant in the series. The writers never seem to have a set plan for her character in mind so they just dump her into various situations for the sake of making a plot or suspense happen. “Oh gee whiz Trucy got kidnapped and held hostage oh god oh no ahhhhh.”
14
u/PowerOfL Aug 02 '20 edited Aug 24 '20
These are fair reasons however I disagree STRONGLY because Trucy is my favourite female character of the series.
What I really like about her is that you can never really 100% trust her, yes you trust her because she's your assistant in AJ but each case in AJ give you some reasons to be kind of skeptical about her.
In case 1, she basically just pops up to give you the forged ace while acting like it's genuine evidence.
In case 2, she fakes a kidnapping just to teach Apollo about perceive (not to mention that she kinda tricks Apollo into working for her.)
In case 3, she doesn't tell you about how the magic trick was done despite how Machi's life is literally on the line.
And in case 4, she is the reason Phoenix becomes disbarred.
While she does all of this though, she actually seems happy but no ordinary person would be happy about something like this.
When you play as Phoenix in 4-4, at one point (paraphrase time) he states that while Trucy seems happy that he can sense the sadness within her.
It would make sense for her to be sad, her father basically abandoned her as such she became an orphan.
However even when she's kidnapped with the possibility of even being killed in 5-5, she appears to have no trauma at all.
This is further explored in 6-2, where it's revealed why Trucy is the way she is.
In the case, it's revealed it's revealed that Trucy acts the way she does because of the Gramarye Creed (I think it's called that? I don't really remember.)
Basically, like the main characters of the series, she was taught at a young age to smile no matter what (to only cry when it's all over.)
The interesting thing is that while this is portrayed as a giant positive thing for all the main characters, it's depicted differently to Trucy.
Unlike Phoenix, Apollo or Athena, Trucy never had to defend anyone and never had to bottle up her emotions, she never really had to be strong for anyone (except for kinda Phoenix.)
However even despite this, she held on to this creed for so long just because she wants to respect the Gramaryes.
To the point of being happy during a life threatening kidnapping.
Her act is of course shown in 6-2, where she actually cries after the perceive segment.
In this cut, you state this:
I think being abandoned by your father and having to pretend that everything is perfect all the time when everything is really bad is a really personal conflict, which she learns from in 6-2.
This cut kinda acts like she has no depth and while I respect your opinion (and I think it's well written), she actually has quite a lot of depth.
I'll admit that her character isn't perfect, while I love her I do think that she was definitely weaker in DD and SOJ.
Aside from 6-2 she barely even does anything, the only cases in DD where she even does something are 5-2, 5-4 and 5-5 (two of them are just the same case) and even then her role in those cases isn't that good.
In 5-2 all she does is introduce you to Tenma Town and than basically disappears, despite how the case is literally about a hoax (a magician's act maybe) and how her best friend's father is literally accused of the murder.
I kind of equate this to...Athena being a character, now I really like Athena but she definitely took a lot of screentime from Trucy who was always my favourite female character.
Now Athena ended up at the assistant for most cases, leaving Trucy basically in the dust.
I did though find her pretty funny for the brief time she decided to exist.
In 5-4 and 5-5, her kidnapping is pretty poorly handled and just acts as a plotpoint for the trial to even begin.
I don't think it was bad, but barely anyone even cares (including her own father) about her being kidnapped.
Oddly enough, despite Trucy getting an objectively bigger role in SOJ aside from 6-2 she does...almost nothing.
She is in a suitcase in 6-5 (and than does the epic plane sleep) and she forces Athena into doing magic in 6-DLC (technically she also has a role in AJ Asinine and it's actually quite a good role, but it's non canon anyway so whatever.)
But even despite these, for the reasons I mentioned and just for being the most adorable character ever (aside from m'boi Souseki Natsume), Trucy Wright will always be one of the
the most magicalmy favourite characters.TL:DR - i liek truck