“ | Ahoy! Yo! Yo! Yo ho hooooo! Prep for the battle, prep for the war! Little lady Rifle gon' even da score! Ya'll think you can escape with your pride? Nuh uh, you just gon' be straight up denied! Yo! Yo! Yo ho ho! Yo! Yo! Yo ho hooooo! | „ |
~ Marlon Rimes. |
Marlon Rimes is an anti-villain in the 2013 Nintendo 3DS videogame Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies. Specifically, he is the main antagonist of the DLC case Turnabout Reclaimed. He is an aquarist at the Shipshape Aquarium who hated Orla the orca because he believed her to be responsible for the death of his girlfriend, Azura Summers.
Biography[]
Prior to the case, Marlon Rimes was dating a girl named Azura Summers, who worked at the aquarium. She would send videos of her training with the aquarium orca, Ora Shipley, to Marlon very often via phone.
A year later, Marlon decided to attend one of her shows called "Swashbuckler Spectacular" at the aquarium. During the show, however, Summers suddenly fell motionless into the pool. Ora tried to save her by using one of her tricks, gently grabbing someone in their mouth to save them, but by the time Ora reached her, she was already dead, and it seemed that Ora mauled her trainer to the public eye, Marlon included.
Devastated over Summers's death, Marlon grew a deep hatred for the orca and vowed to have his revenge on her after she was not put down despite the events. Unbeknownst to him, Ora, the orca at the show, was secretly carried away to another aquarium to keep her safe.
Marlon began training to become stronger, which apparently included fighting sharks, which was how he got the bite marks on his shoulders. He gained huge muscle mass from his training, but was somehow able to hide them in order to look scrawny.
A year after the death of his girlfriend, Marlon became a employee at the aquarium to begin his revenge. During this time, he met and got to know Sasha Buckler, who was Ora's new trainer and the former understudy of Summers. Still wanting revenge, he waited for the right moment to kill the orca to avoid having Sasha suffer the same fate as Azura.
On the anniversary of his girlfriend's death, Orla's pool was drained due to a cleaning. Orla, the aquarium's new star orca, was hoisted to the show pool for her trainer, Buckler, to clean the pool. Marlon was tasked to watch the orca. Believing it to be the same orca that apparently killed his girlfriend, Marlon took this opportunity to kill her and began to drain the pool's water to suffocate her.
Jack Shipley, the owner of the aquarium, saw what Marlon was attempting to do as the pool was almost out of water. He rushed over to attempt to stop him, but accidentally fell into the empty pool in the process. Marlon was able to grab his right wrist, but was unable to pull him back up. Shipley attempted to explain to Marlon that Azura's death was not Ora's fault, but before he could, Marlon's grip loosened, and the owner fell 65 feet into the empty pool, to his death.
Horrified by the death he unintentionally called, Marlon came up with a new plan to get rid of the orca: to frame the her for the death of the owner. To do so, he placed the dead owner's body in a skull-shaped rock (which was used as a prop), taking Summers's walkie-talkie in the process. He called Buckler to put the rock and Orla back into the orca pool. He then contacted famous writer Norma DePlume and asked her to attend the aquarium in order to use her as a witness. About ten minutes afther the aquarium opened, DePlume arrived, and Marlon used the Lifesaver whistle command recording on his walkie-taklie, to which Orla responded by headbutting the rock, which caused Shipley's body to be released. Orla then grabbed the body and brought it to the surface.
Afterwards, Marlon headed back to work, and to give himself an alibi, he headed to the staff room to meet with Sasha. Along the way, however, he ran into Pearl Fey, who stumbled into the staff corridor after getting lost. Marlon picked up the fishes he dropped and helped Pearl Fey find her summer camp group, a process that took five minutes. He insisted that they kept this meeting a secret.
Marlon succeeded in his goal on framing Orla for the death of Jack Shipley. But her trainer, Sasha Buckler, contacted Phoenix Wright to defend the orca in court in order to prevent her from being put down.
As Phoenix conducted his investigation, aided by his junior partner, Athena Cykes, he suspected a human culprit. Marlon was afraid that Buckler would become the prime suspect of the case because she had had a fight with Jack Shipley minutes before his death, which would give her a motive, as well as being Orla's trainer.
Initially refusing, Marlon eventually represented himself as a witness during Orla's trial. He attempted to explain he was with Buckler when the body was discovered in a attempt to protect her from being an suspect. However, because Phoenix learned about his encounter with Pearl Fey the previous day, he knew he was lying.
During the Trial, Phoenix and Athena proved that Orla did not killed Shipley. To demonstrate what had happened, Buckler was called back to the stand while Marlon returned to the aquarium. Knowing that his new plan would fail, he made one last attempt the kill the orca by smuggling some sleeping pills into her fish meat. Buckler had Orla perform her lifesaver trick, and when she was found innocent, Rimes fed her the drugged fish as a "reward."
However, as Rimes had feared, Buckley became the prime suspect of the case and was arrested on the suspicion of murder. Phoenix and Athena returned to the aquarium to do further investigation. As they investigated, the drug started to take effect on Orla, nearly drowning her. Luckily, with the help of the aquarium's vet, Dr. Herman Crab, Orla's stomach was cleared of the drug. Although this, is turn, caused Wright to suspect Dr. Crab, as he had seemingly not noticed the pill. Continuing their investigation, they discovered Rimes's hand print on the show pool ladder, which he had gripped in his attempt to save Jack Shipley.
More determined than ever to pin the blame on Orla, Marlon returned as a witness in Buckler's trial to testify against Orla. He explained that he saw Orla slamming Shipley in the air, which had caused his subsequent fall, but Phoenix knew by this time that Marlon was the only one who could have drugged Orla, and as such, he began to suspect him, knowing he had tried to kill the orca to prevent her from leading the attorneys to him. With the help of Athena, Phoenix was able to reveal the grudge Rimes had on Orla, his attempted murder on the orca, and the manipulation on her "attack" on Shipley.
Nonetheless, Rimes continued to claim that Orla killed Shipley, and also claimed that Phoenix had no proof of her innocence (berating him in the process). He claimed that the walkie-talkie was broken, and he then presented the one he had took from Shipley, and therefore couldn't have commanded Orla. Upon further investigation, however, Wright was able to figure out to whom the walkie-talkie really belonged, solving the aquarium's secret about Ora and Orla in the process.
Realizing his defeat, Marlon confessed to the murder of Shipley, as well as his attempted killings on Orla. Admitting that he had testified to protect Buckler, Rimes begged the Judge the declare her innocent. To the surprise of everyone, however, Phoenix objected. He compared the handprints he had found on the pool ladder to the hand print on Shipley's left wrist, from which he was able to figure out Marlon's attempt to save him. Marlon admitted that this is true, but felt like he didn't deserve to live for what he had done. He had unintentionally caused the death of Shipley in his attempt to kill Orla for a crime that she didn't even commit, and he had failed to avenge his girlfriend.
Phoenix, however, revealed that Summers died because of a heart condition she had, much to the shock of Marlon, who was unaware of her condition. With encouragement from both Phoenix and Sasha, Marlon began to rethink his actions and thanked both for their support, promising to make up for what he did.
As Shipley's death was accidental, Marlon was put on rehabilitation. A few months later, he returned to the aquarium with a new job, taking over Shipley's role as the Swashbuckler Spectacular Show villain "Redstache."
Breakdown[]
Rimes has two breakdowns during the trial. The first occurs after Phoenix and Athena reveal his vendetta against Orla. Cornered, he swallows his bucket of fish, which subsequently causes him to buff up into his true, muscular self. He then puts on a large pirate hat, takes out a telescope, and holds it like a microphone as he proceeds to rap. He also sheds his "rapper" speech and begins speaking with pirate brogue in his voice.
The second occurs after he is fully exposed as the culprit. The entire screen goes black, leaving only him behind as he tries once more to lay the blame on Orla. But then, the entire witness stand starts shaking and swaying, appearing to be in water like it is a pirate ship on a choppy ocean. A thunderstorm, complete with rain, thunder, and lightning, then begins as the witness stand shakes harder and harder and a now-frightened Rimes grips it tightly, as though he is trying to hang on, all while continuing to insist that Orla is responsible for Shipley's death. His pirate hat then blows off his head, and a few seconds later, the witness stand finally tips over, with Rimes falling off it as though he were about to fall overboard, screaming one last, pirate-like "ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" in the process. At last, the storm subsides, the ocean disappears, the witness stand settles back in place, and the camera pans down to reveal a now-broken Rimes clutching the bars of said stand like they are the bars of a jail cell. He then mutters about his inability to protect anyone as the blackness fades out and the screen fades back in on the courtroom.
Trivia[]
- Rimes is one of the few Ace Attorney villains to have two breakdowns in the same trial, along with Aristotle Means and The Phantom.
- Rimes is so far, the only culprit to not be imprisoned for his crime, as Shiply had sacrificed his life by refusing to take Rimes' hand, knowing that would only cause his death as well.
- Rimes is probably the least evil culprit in the series and one of the only ones not to have murdered anyone.