Objection!

About

"Objection!" is a memorable catchphrase from the video game series Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, shouted by the main character, a lawyer named Phoenix Wright, when the player wants to make an objection in court. The stylized "Objection!" graphic and Wright's signature point became the subject of memes, including photoshops, video edits and reaction images, in the years following the series' popularity in North America.

Origin

On October 12th, 2001, Japanese video game developers Capcom released Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, a game in which you play as a defense attorney, in Japan on the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. On October 12th, 2005, the game released in North America on the Nintendo DS. The game was generally well-received, resulting in a number of sequels, an anime and manga adaptation, while also helping to popularize visual novels outside of Japan.

During the courtroom segments of the game, the player can shout "Objection!" if they want to present evidence in objection to what is being presented by the witness or prosecutor. When the player objects, Phoenix Wright shouts the word, stylized in bold-red text art surrounded by an action bubble, and points forward (shown below). Other characters in the courtroom scenes, including the prosecutors, are also known to do this.

The point, shout and stylized "Objection!" appear in all Phoenix Wright games, becoming the most iconic image from the series over the next two decades (examples shown below).

Spread

The point and "Objection!" became the defining trademark of the series among fans online, resulting in countless fan art, re-interpretations, memes and other media referencing it. Some of the earliest examples of posts and imagery referencing it can be found on 4chan^[3] in 2008 (examples from 4chan shown below).

Memes and photoshops referencing the action continue to appear nearly two decades after the game's initial release, particularly in Ace Attorney forums and communities like /r/AceAttorney. For example, on October 30th, 2020, Redditor u/Miggitman posted a photoshop to /r/AceAttorney^[4] of a G-Man from the Half-Life series of video games doing the point with the caption, "OBJECTION!," garnering over 650 upvotes in five months (shown below).

Objection.mrdictionary.net / Objection.lol

Sometime around July 7th, 2006, programmer Matthew Carr launched a website called objection.mrdictionary.net, allowing users to "put words in the mouths of various characters from the series: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney." The website allowed you to pick a character from the Ace Attorney series, a pose for them to strike and type in a message to follow the "Objection!" graphic. The site became significantly popular, allegedly resulting in over 7 million saved objections before shutting down. The original site can be viewed through the Wayback Machine.^[1]

In 2019, an updated version of "objection.net" called objection.lol ^[2] was launched, which allows users to create entire scenes that mimick the game's cutscenes using Ace Attorney assets (examples shown below).

"Objection!" PNG Template

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References