The Red Zakolka

So. I really liked "Hedging the Bets" by @bathsaltsmcgee.

No, not like this. I ADORED "Hedging the Bets" by @bathsaltsmcgee!

This is an Ace Attorney case-fic with OCs. And you know that a case-fic is good when you really like OCs, when they are written the way you believe in them in context of the games. A lot of AA fanworks tend to focus on the Main Characters of AA or the story itself but often forget about the CAST of the case. So that makes a lot of OCs very two-dimenshional and forgettable.

So I was amazed when I found this fic. All the characters was so simle but so...charismatic and believeble at the same time! Everyone had their simple story but had reasons to hide their secrets from Edgeworth. And overall this fic was probably the best AA fic I ever read and no, I'm not joking, the combination of good characters and mistery just THAT powerful.

Just read "Hedging the Bets" I'm begging you, you won't regret it.

So... returning to the topic.

"Hedging the Bets" ended with a cliffhanger a more than a year ago and I regulary reread it. Howether I wanted to DO something. Maybe to draw an art.

And so I did, eventually.

Those are Phil and Mercy, OCs of the fic.

Phil is a junior doctor at the Kurain Village Clinic who is described as a man with the appearance of a hawk. I tried to convey this by giving him a big expressive nose, eyebrows, and large eyes. The hair, oddly enough, turned out to be the most difficult detail. I'm still not sure if I like it or not. One thing I knew for sure is that the design should speak for itself. I hope I managed to convey that stubborn and sarcastic nature of Phil, a skilled doctor who works day and night.

Mercy, on the other hand, is a pretty strange character to me. Her main features are her unremarkable face, her frivolity, and her emotionality. She is conventionally a "loser" whose constant mistakes irritate Phil a lot. However, this character's potential is unleashed to the full by the end of the fic.

I also plan to draw Dr. Bolism and Detective Time. But since I'm not very good at drawing old people, and I'm still having trouble figuring out how Detective should look like, so it won't happen any time soon.

I didn't think that in the great year of 2026 I'd actually have to explain this, but first of all: NO. What Maul did is in no way Ezra’s fault. Because: 

Ezra had absolutely no way of knowing who Maul was or how dangerous he could be. "But- but- but he looks like a demon straight out of hell!" Bruh, Vizago looks like a demon too, but that doesn't mean Ezra is gonna be scared or wary of him. 

Maul INTENTIONALLY—and I repeat, PURPOSELY—played the role of a "weak, fragile old man" to not seem like a threat to Ezra. He deliberately MANIPULATED Ezra’s empathy, pushed his buttons, and formed a bond just to exploit it later for his own goals. Maul knew exactly what he was doing and did it on purpose. And the whole "He's a villain, what else do you expect?" excuse doesn't work because a) it doesn't clear him of responsibility, and b) characters don't have the meta-knowledge of 6 movies and 7 seasons of TCW. 

Kanan and Ahsoka—ESPECIALLY Ahsoka—could have said something. Ahsoka, for one, knows exactly what Maul is capable of, but for reasons known only to Dave Filoni, she stays quiet. I'm not sure if Kanan even knows who Maul is, but still, they are both adults capable of rational thinking. So IF (If!!) we start blaming Ezra for what Maul did, then their blame is either bigger or at least equal. 

AND YET, NONE OF THIS EVEN MATTERS. Because Ezra and Kanan ARE NOT TO BLAME for being DECEIVED! Just like the Jedi are not to blame for being DECEIVED by Sidious. 

Just know that this review from the point of view of really pissed off TCW fan that still annoyed by Ezra 10 years later and wished he had 3 more seasons of TCW.