Doctor Perseus Reviews: "Turnabout Storm" · 3:54am Oct 26th, 2013
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Well...it's finally happened. The final part of Turnabout Storm has been released and, now, this two-year long epic finally comes to a close. For those of you who don't know, Turnabout Storm is a fan project that crosses over MLP: FiM with the Ace Attorney video game series. Now Ace Attorney, for those of you who are also unaware of this series, is a Capcom video game series that follows the trials of defense attorney Phoenix Wright (and later his two protégés: Apollo Justice and Athena Cykes) as he investigates murders and works to uncover the truth behind them while proving his client's innocence. Turnabout Storm follows Phoenix Wright as he is brought to Equestria by Twilight Sparkle in order to defend Rainbow Dash, who has been charged with the murder of star pegasus athlete Ace Swift, in court. The series started on October 25, 2011 and came a close exactly two years later today, on October 25, 2013. It consists of six parts and I definitely recommend this to any MLP fan. Even if you aren't familiar with the Ace Attorney series, you can still find great enjoyment in this fantastic fan project (though you might find yourself a bit confused by the references made to the Ace Attorney series as well as by the characters from said series who make cameos here and there). I've followed Turnabout Storm since the release of Part 1 back in 2011 and I've been loving it ever since! It's also thanks to this fan project that I went on to check out the Ace Attorney series; and now I've seen full play-throughs of every AA game save for the Miles Edgeworth games, Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney, and the newest game in the series: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies. I shall now give my review of the series. For those of you who haven't seen the series yet, I URGE you to check it out. I'll link the videos below but I suggest that you watch them when you have a lot of spare time as the total run time of all six parts ranks up at well over seven hours. So, yeah, it's almost like a film series in itself. Don't read any further below the videos before watching Turnabout Storm as I will be discussing spoilers in my review.
What can I say? This series in fantastic: plain and simple. It's definitely a labor of love that will be remembered and enjoyed for a long, long time. I love everything about this series. The way it plays like an Ace Attorney case, the suspense, the twists, the turns, the music, the humor, the references, everything is just...PERFECT! And, after an 8-month wait, Part 5/4 was a great sendoff. By Part 4, I was convinced that Sonata was the murderer and it looked like they were taking that route during the trial in Part 5. But then they went and threw in that amazing curveball to reveal that Ace Swift actually killed himself (on accident)! It was the perfect twist and a fitting end for such a despicable pony. Out of all the "mean" characters that were introduced in this series, Ace was the only one who remained truly hateable by the end. Sonata, Trixie, and Gilda were all redeemed in the end, but Ace was truly a dbag. He definitely got what he deserved for ruining so many lives. I also loved the ultimate twist at the end where it was revealed, while not entirely directly, that is was Mia Fey's spirit who had informed Princess Celestia about Phoenix. It was such a nice way to end everything that I actually felt butterflies in my stomach when this scene came around. I think that was mostly due to my sadness about it being over. I mean, I've stuck by this series for two years and now...that's it. There's no more parts to look forward to. It's done. I'm just...so happy with how everything turned out. That scene towards the end with Phoenix, Maya, Pearl, Edgeworth, and Rainbow Dash's photos was also freaking hilarious!
The only thing that kinda confused me in the end was Trixie's secret. I mean, it was implied that there was something more about her anger at Twilight when we saw the black locks but then that just went away at the end. Maybe I missed something or maybe it was a sign that Trixie had secretly given up her hatred for Twilight. Also...what was the meaning of the pine cone?
But, overall, there's nothing really to complain about from my POV. I loved everything about Turnabout Storm. The more I think about how truly amazing this finale (and the series overall) was, the sadder I become at the realization that it's truly over. And it deeply annoys and saddens me that there will be no sequel while there was plenty of room left over for one. However, I'm not angry at the creators for this as they had originally planned to make a sequel after Turnabout Storm. No, I'm annoyed at all the butthurt "fans" who badgered the creators about when the next parts would come out and would also complain about the voice acting and insult the voice actors. Yep. Another case of fandumb. I still can't believe people who be so angry that voice actors in a fan made project didn't entirely sound like the voice actors from the actual show.
And it's mostly due to these people that there's not going to be a sequel as the creators don't wish to go through this annoying cycle again. Thank you, legion of the butthurt. But I'm going on a tangent.
Overall, Turnabout Storm was simply fantastic. Great voice acting, great music (the original music tracks used in the series can be found at this link), great humor, a great mystery, a spectacular finale, and just...yeah...perfection.
And, who knows? Maybe one day we will get a sequel. It probably won't happen but one can dream can't he?
My Pinkie Sense told me you'd be reviewing Turnabout Storm.
I've seen the references in your stories. 
The alternate universe Derpy's name of "Bright Eyes" in "Clockwork and the Doctor". 
How Pinkie refers to Rainbow Factory Dash as "Wobniar" in "Triple Rainbow". 
Now, I'm not familiar with the Ace Attorney games. But I do like a good courtroom drama and murder mystery. Turnabout Storm is just perfect in that regard like you said! It had a lot of twist and turns that you don't see coming. 
I daresay it's probably one of the most epic crossovers in Brony history. Second to your Doctor Whooves stories of course. 
You know there's a guy here who's writing a "novelization" if you will of Turnabout Storm. Like any novelization, it has some added content from what I understand. Might be worth checking out.
P.S. You said you've seen "play-throughs" of the games. So, have you actually played them yourself? Where can I find these "play-throughs"?
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No, I haven't played any of the Ace Attorney games myself. You can find a bunch of AA play-throughs, or walkthroughs if you wish, on Youtube.
twi should have gotten both phoenix AND conan edogawa/jimmy kudo then shed have the best one to gather evidence and the best one to use it. They'd make an unbeatable team
That's NOT the reason why there is no sequel. According to the author, a sequel was NEVER planned.
Check this out...
http://neoartimus.deviantart.com/journal/Why-you-no-sequel-411156623
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Huh. Interesting. Guess I was wrong. Well this message from the author did come out after I posted this blog so forgive me for my mistake.