[OOC: The Psychology of Attraction and Sexuality (With a Side of Retconning and a Dash of Love)]
I felt like writing an essay, so have a slice of TL;DR pie! Inspired by the questions over at adddictions.
The Psychology of Attraction and Sexuality (With a Side of Retconning and a Dash of Love)
Most of us have answered at least a few of the character-building questions on adddictions. The most recent one ( attraction) prompted some serious (vry srs!) thought to how I’ve been portraying certain aspects of Phoenix, namely his sexuality and what he finds attractive in a person. These things have actually been on my mind for a while, but I didn’t have the energy or motivation to write about them until now.
So! Let me start by saying that when Tif and I first joined DDD, our primary objective was getting Phoenix and Edgeworth together. Surprised? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Anyway, I can only speak for myself, but I think Tif would agree when I say that our intentions were very quickly placed on the backburner in favor of getting involved in plots, building relationships with other characters, and giving them a chance to grow separately before growing together. Personally, the idea of playing for a specific pairing has never been that appealing to me, so the long build up hasn’t been too torturous on my end. Getting them together has always been an ever-present thought, though, and a lot of decisions regarding certain characteristics were made with that eventual goal in mind.
Unfortunately, several of those decisions are ones I was never comfortable with. After playing Phoenix for so long, I feel like I’ve gotten a better grasp of who he is and how he works, and I’ve realized a lot of those decisions were superfluous and… well, pretty damn stupid. I’m not a fan of changing things to make one character fit with another, and while I didn’t necessarily change anything, I set it up so that an attraction to Edgeworth wouldn’t be farfetched. I cringe when I think about that now. Seriously. Why, why, why did I do that?
So, in an effort to get back on track, I’ll be retconning a few things. I dislike doing that, but what can I say? I’ve learned from my mistakes and now I want to fix them! And with that tl;dr introduction out of the way…
Attraction is something I touched on at adddictions, but I thought it might be fun to go into a little more detail. I took a look at his canon love interest (Iris), as well as the women he’s found attractive during his time on the community (Belle, Angie, Tanyuu-yes, he found them attractive because I wanted him to, but it was because they seemed like his type okay 8|), figured out parallels between them, and came to the conclusion that he likes women with cute, feminine features (round faces; big, expressive eyes; high cheekbones) and petite frames. That’s not to say he wouldn’t be all “ho shi-” at a woman most would call a hottie (Desirée DeLite comes to mind, and Angie’s kind of hot herself), but I honestly don’t think it would have any bearing on his decision to enter into a relationship. I actually don’t think physical attraction would have as much influence in general, though-not as much as what he’s subconsciously attracted to, anyway.
I have a theory that Phoenix needs to be needed. Many of his greatest accomplishments are the direct result of someone-namely his friends-needing him, and throughout the games, I got the distinct impression that he was telling himself, “I have to do this because so-and-so needs me.” In fact, many of his friendships formed because those people needed him. That’s not to say he’s attracted to all of his friends (god no), but I think that unconscious desire carries the possibility of leading him into a relationship more readily than physical attraction alone would.
That’s not all, though. I’ve noticed a propensity for him to latch on to people who are there in his times of need (whether they’re aware of it or not-like Mia, for instance), and it’s a characteristic that seems to follow him into Apollo Justice (Trucy and Kristoph). With this in mind, I think Phoenix would thrive (or possibly hurt-it can go either way, really) in a relationship that’s give and take, where his partner will be there for him and he, in turn, will be there for his partner.
But what does any of that matter if they can’t get along, right?
Spending so much time with people like Edgeworth and Mia has given him a strong appreciation for boldness, confidence, passion, and compassion, and he finds himself irrevocably drawn to personalities that encompass those traits (which just so happen to be traits he carries himself-does anyone else foresee some head-butting?). More importantly, though, he’s drawn to people who harbor morals and values similar to his own, though a certain amount of deviation isn’t a bad thing. He doesn’t like to argue, but he doesn’t mind a debate, and he has a certain respect for people who are able to challenge him. Make him call his values (which he holds near and dear to his heart) into question, though, and you’ll have a very confused and frustrated Phoenix. :(
In regards to sexuality, the man is straight, and beyond one or two passing thoughts of “I wonder what it would be like to…” he has no physical attraction to men but could probably learn to appreciate certain aspects of the male body were he to find himself attracted to a man in other ways (that would land him as, what, a 1 on the Kinsey Scale?). He’s had very little sex in his life, and it’s been so long, he’ll likely be very awkward and self-conscious as hell when the time comes.
On the love front, he’s currently trying to figure out where he stands with Iris without actually coming out and asking her, and he’s wondering what’s going to happen when she’s finally released from prison. The end of her trial (not to mention the mental regression virus) had him reeling with the possibility of starting anew, but it’s since worn off. He still loves her and will undoubtedly always love her, but he’s unsure of how deep those feelings run, and the thought of questioning them (and possibly hurting her in the process) is more than a little terrifying.
In a nutshell, he’s a foolish fool who doesn’t know what the hell he wants.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going to rewrite his ’20 things’ meme to reflect the retcons I’ve made. 8D;
(PS: And yes, Miri, Phoenix and Edgeworth are still going to get together, it's just going to continue to be a long development and obviously more of an adjustment for Phoenix.)
The Psychology of Attraction and Sexuality (With a Side of Retconning and a Dash of Love)
Most of us have answered at least a few of the character-building questions on adddictions. The most recent one ( attraction) prompted some serious (vry srs!) thought to how I’ve been portraying certain aspects of Phoenix, namely his sexuality and what he finds attractive in a person. These things have actually been on my mind for a while, but I didn’t have the energy or motivation to write about them until now.
So! Let me start by saying that when Tif and I first joined DDD, our primary objective was getting Phoenix and Edgeworth together. Surprised? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Anyway, I can only speak for myself, but I think Tif would agree when I say that our intentions were very quickly placed on the backburner in favor of getting involved in plots, building relationships with other characters, and giving them a chance to grow separately before growing together. Personally, the idea of playing for a specific pairing has never been that appealing to me, so the long build up hasn’t been too torturous on my end. Getting them together has always been an ever-present thought, though, and a lot of decisions regarding certain characteristics were made with that eventual goal in mind.
Unfortunately, several of those decisions are ones I was never comfortable with. After playing Phoenix for so long, I feel like I’ve gotten a better grasp of who he is and how he works, and I’ve realized a lot of those decisions were superfluous and… well, pretty damn stupid. I’m not a fan of changing things to make one character fit with another, and while I didn’t necessarily change anything, I set it up so that an attraction to Edgeworth wouldn’t be farfetched. I cringe when I think about that now. Seriously. Why, why, why did I do that?
So, in an effort to get back on track, I’ll be retconning a few things. I dislike doing that, but what can I say? I’ve learned from my mistakes and now I want to fix them! And with that tl;dr introduction out of the way…
Attraction is something I touched on at adddictions, but I thought it might be fun to go into a little more detail. I took a look at his canon love interest (Iris), as well as the women he’s found attractive during his time on the community (Belle, Angie, Tanyuu-yes, he found them attractive because I wanted him to, but it was because they seemed like his type okay 8|), figured out parallels between them, and came to the conclusion that he likes women with cute, feminine features (round faces; big, expressive eyes; high cheekbones) and petite frames. That’s not to say he wouldn’t be all “ho shi-” at a woman most would call a hottie (Desirée DeLite comes to mind, and Angie’s kind of hot herself), but I honestly don’t think it would have any bearing on his decision to enter into a relationship. I actually don’t think physical attraction would have as much influence in general, though-not as much as what he’s subconsciously attracted to, anyway.
I have a theory that Phoenix needs to be needed. Many of his greatest accomplishments are the direct result of someone-namely his friends-needing him, and throughout the games, I got the distinct impression that he was telling himself, “I have to do this because so-and-so needs me.” In fact, many of his friendships formed because those people needed him. That’s not to say he’s attracted to all of his friends (god no), but I think that unconscious desire carries the possibility of leading him into a relationship more readily than physical attraction alone would.
That’s not all, though. I’ve noticed a propensity for him to latch on to people who are there in his times of need (whether they’re aware of it or not-like Mia, for instance), and it’s a characteristic that seems to follow him into Apollo Justice (Trucy and Kristoph). With this in mind, I think Phoenix would thrive (or possibly hurt-it can go either way, really) in a relationship that’s give and take, where his partner will be there for him and he, in turn, will be there for his partner.
But what does any of that matter if they can’t get along, right?
Spending so much time with people like Edgeworth and Mia has given him a strong appreciation for boldness, confidence, passion, and compassion, and he finds himself irrevocably drawn to personalities that encompass those traits (which just so happen to be traits he carries himself-does anyone else foresee some head-butting?). More importantly, though, he’s drawn to people who harbor morals and values similar to his own, though a certain amount of deviation isn’t a bad thing. He doesn’t like to argue, but he doesn’t mind a debate, and he has a certain respect for people who are able to challenge him. Make him call his values (which he holds near and dear to his heart) into question, though, and you’ll have a very confused and frustrated Phoenix. :(
In regards to sexuality, the man is straight, and beyond one or two passing thoughts of “I wonder what it would be like to…” he has no physical attraction to men but could probably learn to appreciate certain aspects of the male body were he to find himself attracted to a man in other ways (that would land him as, what, a 1 on the Kinsey Scale?). He’s had very little sex in his life, and it’s been so long, he’ll likely be very awkward and self-conscious as hell when the time comes.
On the love front, he’s currently trying to figure out where he stands with Iris without actually coming out and asking her, and he’s wondering what’s going to happen when she’s finally released from prison. The end of her trial (not to mention the mental regression virus) had him reeling with the possibility of starting anew, but it’s since worn off. He still loves her and will undoubtedly always love her, but he’s unsure of how deep those feelings run, and the thought of questioning them (and possibly hurting her in the process) is more than a little terrifying.
In a nutshell, he’s a foolish fool who doesn’t know what the hell he wants.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going to rewrite his ’20 things’ meme to reflect the retcons I’ve made. 8D;
(PS: And yes, Miri, Phoenix and Edgeworth are still going to get together, it's just going to continue to be a long development and obviously more of an adjustment for Phoenix.)