So I'm parodying two things in this comic: Ally McBeal and Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney. There's a gag in every panel, though, so even if you're not familiar with them, hopefully at least one of these swings is a hit ^^;

To be honest, this was a gag I thought HAD to have been done before, by which I specifically mean the box art. It just seems natural to make a joke about an Ace Attorney game starring Ally McBeal. I hunted online, however, and encountered nothing, so here we are.

Incidentally, while the comic gives enough of the general idea of the Ally McBeal show for those not familiar with it to get Grace's last line, it doesn't explain the "unisex" on the door. That is a reference to a unisex bathroom in the show. It was a frequent setting for character discussions, and, from a writing standpoint, was intended to make it so there was no real place for the characters to have privacy in their law firm.

For those who ARE familiar with the show but can't determine who is in panel one based on my chicken scratchings (though I'd hope Ally is obvious), that's John Cage in the lower-left and Billy in the upper-right. Billy is less smug here than Edgeworth of the Attorney games. I imagine him thinking "oh. Ally's back in my life. Yay complication... whoo..."

What makes the merger of this game and this show even more interesting to me is the parallels between them (spoilers of first episode of Ally and first Phoenix Game to follow, last bit of commentary).

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Both Phoenix and Ally effectively became lawyers for someone else, both lost contact with said individual and found them again, and there was a source of considerable conflict for both series upon reuniting. It's an interesting thing to consider, and downright giggle-inducing for anyone who likes the idea of Phoenix hooking up with Edgeworth.

Tags: Grace, Sarah, Susan, Video Games, TV