Don't get me wrong, the late 2010s and 2020s has some really cool AA fan content. Like this is the decade that gave us the Scarlet Study fan translation of The Great Ace Attorney, along with the YouTube fan subs for the second DGS game.

I honestly fell out of Ace Attorney by the time the official translation for TGAA came out, so I only experienced that duology from those fan translations. Which will make me cherish this fanbase forever! I haven't even played DGS2, only watched the fan subs, and it's still one of my fave things ever!

But, I do think that I had the most fun in the fandom from the early to mid 2010s.

See, I was born in 2005 and I first got into Ace Attorney at age 7. Yes, really.

You could say that's way too young, but idk. I also watched Family Guy and South Park lmao, we all watched shit we shouldn't have as kids! 😆

I think the Phoenix Wrong Russian Roulette video was my first exposure to Ace Attorney ever and like.. It is the most 2011 video ever (the jome is that everyone shoots themselves and there's MS Paint blood everywhere), but I'm sorry. This shit is still peak.

I do definitely think this is a total "yeah the fanbase was better when I was growing up", but idk.

I was also there when Spirit of Justice was coming out! I remember seeing the tweets counting down the game!

I remember all the "localize DGS" memes and how impossible that felt. AAI2 also felt impossible haha.

I also have some vague memories of watching JWittz talk about the Layton crossover when that was new haha.

I just think Capcom has treated the Ace Attorney IP exceptionally poorly after 2016.

Aside from DGS2 (which, while phenomenal imo, didn't get a localization until over five years later), all we've gotten are ports.

Like, this started with Apollo Justice HD on mobile in December of 2016.

We've pretty much gotten nothing else, but games I beat as a 12 year old!

How am I supposed to care or be excited for any of this? I can play any Ace Attorney game on my phone, whenever I want. And they're not the most replayable things ever for me either.

A lot of people complain about Game Freak rereleasing or remaking Pokémon gen 1 a lot, but imagine if every new Pokémon game was just gen 1.

If you want to argue "oh, every new Pokémon game has gen 1 pandering", then okay. Every Ace Attorney game from AAI1 onwards has original trilogy pandering haha.

Like AAI2 is amazing, but Penny Nichols being there is a total "remember her???" thing haha. Not that nostalgia is always bad, I'm just saying that there's no difference between that and Pokémon gen 1 references, Green Hill Zone returning in Sonic, 8 Bit Marios, etc.

So yeah. I just think Ace Attorney has been in a really terrible state since late 2016 honestly.

I do honestly feel bad for some of these new fans that came in from the original trilogy HD remaster in 2019. They're getting nothing new! Like, yes, these new localizations and ports might be new games to them.

But they might not be. A lot of people can very easily play older games or look up fan translations.

The only real new content we've gotten since DGS2 has been the anime and even that's arguable.

I actually enjoy the anime a lot, but a lot of it is just beat for beat the events of the original trilogy. I wish we got more original stuff, bc the original stories are definitely the best part of it.

To be honest, maybe I'm just disillusioned, due to how poorly Capcom has treated the franchise, but I didn't feel much when AAI2 finally got localized.

It was "oh. The names aren't the same as the fan translation. I don't like these names anywhere near as much".

Which like, yeah. They have to change them, but it's just that, I've been using these names since I was 12 or 13. I'm 25 now! I'm used to Sebastian Debeste, Justine Courtney, Raymond Shields, etc! Some people acted like me not liking these new names was being silly, but idk man.

It'd be like if Marvel renamed Peter Parker "Bob Jones" or something to me. Like, yeah it's different, bc Peter Parker was an official name. What I'm saying is that I get used to things being one way and then it's a shock, when it changes.

Which is ironic, bc I'm a transgender woman, but uh.. I think names in fiction are a bit different to real life people haha.

I will say, I guess it's nice that the AA fandom is now less toxic. It's never been that bad really, but idk. There used to be some dumb bullshit. Although, a lot of that dumb bullshit was from me. Like, I used to post some really dumb shit on the circlejerk subreddit. Also lowkey some bangers tbh, pre teen me was honestly cooking with "Cosney Macaroni" (I won't explain that, it's funnier for you to have to guess wtf I'm talking about 😭😆).

So yeah! I'm sure Schaffrillas is happy being a fan in the 2020s, I just think it is a shame that him and a lot of other people didn't experience what I consider to be the golden age of the fandom.

Also I just wanna say that some of these newer fans are kinda.. Idk man. Someone insulted me, bc I said I don't think DGS is racist.

Like, I'm literally asian? lol what? How is a game featuring racist English white people in Victorian England and Meiji Japan actually bigotted? Like, no. It's criticizing bigotry. Barok's whole arc is learning to not be so racist, lmfao.

But okay, I cleatly know nothing about Ace Attorney. Not like I've been playing this shit, since age 7 or smth. Istg, these fucking fans. Some of them probably don't even know about the Layton crossover lmfao (I'm only making fun of the annoying ones btw). 😭

So yeah, hope you enjoyed this little rant! Hope this is ok, I think it's related enough to Schaffrillas :)

Ig I could also say the same thing about UNDERTALE, the mid 2010s of that fandom had to be seen to be believed.

But also, Schaff experiencing the chapter 2 era fandom was also great.

Tbh, I have fond memories of the UTDR fandom even to this day. Although I think the chapter 2 era was mt fave!

We got UNDERTALE Yellow and TS!UNDERSWAP in that era! I really would be overjoyed if Schaff ever talked about those games, they're so peak imo! 😭😆

Ok post over now. Hope everyone's cool about this haha. :)

Tbh I think it's a shame that Schaff only got into Ace Attorney in the late 2010s, bc I think the fandom from the 2000s to mid 2010s was it at it's peak!!