"And the King said to the Fake: "It was you who had poisoned me!" "You wished to steal my empire from under my feet? Is that it?" The Fake, shocked, exclaimed: "You are dead!" The King had rid himself of skin and flesh, but the Fake could sense his grin. "And now, I am once more amongst the living." The King declared. "The fault is not mine!" The Fake insisted. "I did not kill you!" "It matters not." the King said simply. "You still took what was mine." And the King struck the Fake down. In an act of pity, he let them find the poor Fake dead on the throne. But he made sure to stand beside the corpse. To remind them of who the true King really was."
Turnabout Revivals
is a fan-made work of the Ace Attorney series created by DudeWithAMask using the Ace Attorney Online trial editor as part of the "Never Trust The Narrator" case competition. The game takes place sometime between Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney and Dual Destinies.
This fan case provides examples of:
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: The game swaps between Apollo's interactions on the Pequod and Phoenix's investigation.
- And the Adventure Continues: After the final confrontation, Phoenix and Edgeworth talk about Valant's acquittal. The chief prosecutor then asks Phoenix for help concerning a convicted prosecutor, setting the stage for Dual Destinies.
- Anti-Villain: Zak Gramarye. He faked his own death to put Kristoph behind bars, paving the way for Phoenix to become an attorney again so he can properly provide for Trucy. Later, he killed both Finn brothers to preserve the Gramarye name, and only got Valant to assist him getting one of the Finns to the city while he did the dirty deeds himself so Valant wouldn't have to. And even when Valant is arrested for the murder, he calls Phoenix to get him to defend him.
- Asshole Victim: Roger Finn and his twin brother were re-appropriating Troupe Gramarye's tricks, passing them off as their own and attempting to take Valant to court with it.
- Bait-and-Switch: As part of the "Never Trust The Narrator" case competition, the main idea was to mislead the player. Early on, the player can be led to believe that Edgeworth was the one who asked Phoenix to defend Valant. However, it was instead Zak. Furthermore, the case retroactively places doubt on Phoenix's status as narrator in Apollo Justice due to having framed Kristoph for Zak's fake murder.
- Catapult Nightmare: Phoenix has two nightmares that end up with him catapulting out, both involving his disbarment.
- Death by Adaptation: According to Empty!Athena's notes, the real Athena Cykes somehow broke her neck while getting out of bed.
- Faking the Dead: Zak Gramarye faked his death with Phoenix's help in order to get revenge on Kristoph and allow Phoenix to become an attorney again.
- Foreshadowing: The corpse that Nathan Tully forged a fake autopsy report for and that went missing from one year ago. The coroner said that he thinks the victim's name was "Gomez" or "Zachary"... "Zachary" sounds quite close to "Zak", no? And "Gomez" is Zak Gramarye's French localization equivalent to "Smith" in "Shadi Smith".
- Framing the Guilty Party: In order to get Kristoph arrested, Zak faked his death and framed Kristoph for it.
- Hardboiled Detective: Officer Michael Keen tries to act like one, dressing in a trenchcoat and a fedora and narrating everything like he's straight out of a 30s Noir film as a smooth jazz plays. However, he acts more seriously when he's nervous.
- He's Back!: Once Phoenix clears his doubts of being a lawyer again, his sprite changes to his Dual Destinies form as his original objection theme starts playing.
- I Am What I Am: After Phoenix is given the Sadistic Choice by Zak, he has an eternal monologue about what he is know and that he knows despite everything, he is still worthy to be a lawyer.
- Karma Houdini: Zak Gramarye is never brought to justice for the murders of Roger Finn and his brother, nor the framing of Kristoph Gavin he planned with Phoenix. However, he is judged by Apollo, Trucy and Thalassa for his actions, and leaves, forced to spend the rest of his life alone. Phoenix is a more proper example, since he will go on to be legally reinstated as a lawyer, leading to the events of Dual Destinies without anyone being the wiser about Kristoph.
- Loss of Identity: The ending of the Empty!Athena subplot has her losing her identity to that of the late "real" Athena, likely as a side-effect of the time travel. It's implied that the timeline is trying to fix itself. She's aware of it, and tries using her last moments as herself to apologize to Apollo for what she did to her universe's version of him.
- Mind Screw: The Empty!Athena time travel subplot is rather strange, and only serves to present some additional information on the set-up.
Word of God says that the only reason the information was presented that way was because he felt like it (as well as a Call-Back to one of his older trials and a jab at Athena's portrayal in Dual Destinies). - No Place for Me There: Phoenix has huge doubts if he could be a lawyer again. This is because he helped faked Zak’s death and framed Kristoph for it to put him behind bars. As such, he wonders if he can ever go back to the person he was.
- Once More, with Clarity: Once it's revealed who the Fortune Teller really is, the phone call Phoenix had earlier is shown with both callers talking.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Phoenix is still a capable attorney despite not having practiced in eight years, but he shows up to court looking quite unprofessional: he has stubble, his hair is messy and drooping, his tie is loose and his waistcoat is on inside out, and throughout the trial he acts as though he is uninterested. He's actually doubting whether he's worthy to be an attorney again. In the final confrontation, he clears himself of all those doubts and sets himself straight, and for the final moments of the confrontation he's clean shaven, his hair is as straight as it used to be, his tie is nice and tight and his waistcoat is on properly, signifying that He's Back!.
- Red Herring:
- Klavier Gavin. Though he appears in one of Phoenix's nightmares about his last case and his profile is worth a good laugh at Kristoph's expense, he is the only person in the Court Record that doesn't appear at any point outside of Phoenix's dreams.
- Valant's apartment. The only useful thing there is the code to the vault found in the Wright Anything Agency if you returned to it before investigating the parking lot early in the game. Keen is there, but he won't respond to any evidence or profile and has nothing useful to give.
- Sadistic Choice: Zak leaves one to Phoenix: 1. Bring him to justice, revealing to the world that he is actually alive and likely resulting in Kristoph's liberation, the latter of which would not be pleased at the way the events took turn. 2. Let Zak go out in the night, accepting his role as a criminal. Phoenix decides to Take a Third Option - have both of them be judged by those they've hurt the most: Apollo, Trucy and Thalassa.
- Sidequest Sidestory: The notes left behind detail a side plot about Athena's The Empty Turnabout (another DWAM fancase) incarnation time traveling through dimensions. The notes also explain how exactly the plot was able to be set.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Zak Gramarye. The events unfolded practically the same way, but Zak instead faked his own death with Phoenix's help in order to get Kristoph behind bars.
- Theme Song Powerup: In the final confrontation, Phoenix gets over his doubts, and appearing all cleaned up with his waistcoat on properly he objects to Zak's Sadistic Choice as the orchestra remix of "Objection! 2001" starts playing.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Empty!Athena's sidestory has her inadvertently setting up the motions leading to the whole plot: by accidentally giving her winning lottery ticket to "The Fortune Teller" so he could do a magic trick requiring a piece of paper, she grants him the massive resources he used to set up his plot. Later, while she's hungover aboard the Pequod she receives a phone call from someone asking for the Chief Justice and, believing it was a prank call, set Valant's trial for 6AM, requiring Phoenix to be called into action.
- Villainous Breakdown: When Phoenix reveals Zak’s family was in the courtroom the entire time and saw the whole confrontation, all Zak could do is laugh as the screen goes to black.
- Waistcoat of Style: Phoenix wears his waistcoat from Dual Destinies, except he later realizes that he has it on inside out so it appears to be gray instead of its usual light blue. He puts it back on properly near the end of the final confrontation.
- Wham Line: At the end of the second investigation, while Phoenix is laying on the couch and thinking about the case, he says this to himself:Phoenix: ...So why am I not telling Edgeworth I know who the true culprit is?
- Where It All Began: The Fortune Teller, aka Zak, asks Phoenix to confront him in the courtroom where he had his last trial.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Phoenix spends some time believing that he isn't worthy to be a lawyer anymore. Trucy and Maya set him straight.Trucy: If there is ONE person in this entire world that'll make a good attorney, it's you.Maya: Even though the past is permanent, that doesn't mean we are. You say you've changed. But that doesn't mean you can't become the person you once were again!
