Larry Butz

"Phoenix Wright"

- When something smells, it's usually the Butz.

Larry Butz is Phoenix Wright's oldest friend and his first client, and a childhood friend of Miles Edgeworth as well. Both overemotional and lazy, he has been involved in Wright and Edgeworth's investigations from time to time, always appearing with a different occupation. Butz also changes girlfriends frequently, with each relationship ending with him being dumped. He has had at least five jobs and nine girlfriends in the space of three years.

Early life
As a child, Butz befriended Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth in elementary school. One day during a field trip, Larry bought a fake sword and began to shadow fight with himself.

One day, during the fourth grade, he was absent from school, but at some point in time he came to school anyway and stole $38 of Miles Edgeworth's lunch money. The next day, Wright was held on a classroom trial for the theft, but Edgeworth and Butz defended Wright from the accusations, asserting that there was no proof that Wright had done the deed. It is hinted that he never graduated high school.

Defendant

 * Main article: The First Turnabout

Butz's first known girlfriend was Cindy Stone, a model. One day, he went to her apartment, but she wasn't home at the time. Later, Butz was arrested as the suspect in Stone's murder. Wright, in his first trial, proved that Frank Sahwit was the real murderer, and thus, Butz was declared not guilty.

At first, Butz was still sad because Stone was dead, but then said that she didn't care much for him anyway. Wright proved that to be false, and showed Butz The Thinker clock that had been the murder weapon. Wright continued that, being a heavy clock, Butz must have meant something to Stone, otherwise she would not have carried it on her international trips. Butz tried to dismiss it, and gave Mia Fey another Thinker clock. He then thanked Wright, but never actually did pay him for his defense.

Hot dog vendor

 * Main article: Turnabout Goodbyes

By the following Christmas, Butz had taken a new job selling hot dogs by Gourd Lake to pay for yet another model girlfriend, Kiyance, who made a "Samurai Dogs" sign for his stall and bought a Santa outfit for him to use. By the time Wright and his new assistant Maya Fey met up with him, she'd already vanished to Miami for a photo shoot. Butz was around the crime scene on the night of the murder of Robert Hammond, searching for an inflatable Steel Samurai, and his testimony proved to be the defining piece of evidence proving the guilt of Yanni Yogi and the truth behind Manfred von Karma. After the trial, Butz returned $38 to Edgeworth and confessed that he was the one who stole the money in the fourth grade. Edgeworth seemed to have figured that out, but Wright was annoyed for being the only one who didn't work it out.

Security guard

 * Main article: The Stolen Turnabout

"Judge"

- Wh-who is this useless-looking young man?

True to form, Butz's relationship with Kiyance did not last long, either. Later on, history repeated itself with another girlfriend, Bennifer, who dumped him after he followed her to Tibet. Although he met yet another woman named Katty Tom while there, she soon dumped him as well to go to Hollywood.

Butz eventually found a job as a part-time security guard at the security company KB Security under Wendy Oldbag, although, when Oldbag went on vacation, he slacked off more than usual. At 1:00 a.m. on the night that the company's CEO, Kane Bullard, was murdered, he left his guard duties after a confrontation with the boyfriend of Donna, another ex-girlfriend of his. Butz also found Ron DeLite's wallet and sneaked out of work the next day to visit the DeLite household and return the wallet to Ron's wife Desirée, on whom he had a crush. When he arrived, he found Wright already there in the process of asking her questions about her husband, whom he was defending on larceny charges.

Butz relayed his woman troubles to Wright and claimed that he didn't trust women anymore. Seeing Maya, he told her that she had grown a lot since he had last seen her and that she was different from the other women who dumped him. He was also reminded of Maya's older sister Mia, who he thought was beautiful. This desperation reached an uncomfortable level when he mentioned that he wouldn't have a problem with dating Pearl, either. He eventually did manage to provide Wright with some important evidence, namely Ron's wallet and key card. After Butz left, Desirée said that he was using lame pick-up lines and obvious flirting, contradicting his earlier statement about women.

Wright later met Butz in the Security Room in which he worked, in order to ask him about the night of the murder. Wright broke the two Psyche-Locks that Butz put up to have the latter admit to leaving his guard duties that night. With no security guards in the building, this provided the killer with ample time to murder Kane Bullard. When Wright confronted him about this, it led to yet another of Butz's emotional outbursts of self-blame, although he still did not want to take responsibility for his actions. It also transpired that he was unaware of the CEO's panic buzzer, and so did not know that it had gone off at the time of the murder. Even when Maya pressed the buzzer by mistake that day, Butz was too lazy to go check it out. He later gave Wright the buzzer data, after being asked by Maya, and declared that he would help them.

Artist

 * Main article: Bridge to the Turnabout

"Phoenix Wright"

- Liar! You're Larry! Your clothes may change, but you're still the Butz.

Five months after the Mask☆DeMasque case, Butz appeared before Wright and Fey in front of Dusky Bridge, introducing himself as Laurice Deauxnim. He claimed that he was Elise Deauxnim's apprentice, and had become a new person after reading her picture book The Magic Bottle. He also said that he didn't like the person he was before, being unhelpful and unreliable, always causing everyone trouble and living as a faliure. As usual, he claimed that he didn't trust women anymore and immediately contradicted himself by falling for for one of the nuns, Iris, whom he again insisted was "different". Later that night, Butz dined at the nearby Hazakura Temple with Wright, Fey, Deauxnim and the temple nuns. Butz later wrote Iris an anonymous "blackmail" letter telling Iris to meet him at Heavenly Hall or risk having the "secret" about their "love" revealed. This scared Iris (for she really did have a secret), causing her to stay at the main temple that night.

That night, at around 11 p.m., Butz was waiting at Heavenly Hall, when a sudden flash of lightning woke him up. Looking up, he saw that Dusky Bridge was struck by lighting and caught on fire. He also saw a hooded figure, which he assumed was Iris, flying over the bridge. Butz drew the "incredible" sight he had just seen and then ran up towards the bridge.

Ten minutes later, Wright arrived at the bridge and incited Butz to phone the police while he crossed the bridge to ensure Fey's safety. However, the bridge was considerably weakened from the fire.Wright refused to listen to Butz and pushed him away in an attempt to save Maya and fell into the Eagle River before Larry could stop him. Panicking, Butz called the police and Miles Edgeworth, telling the latter to show up at the detention center. Butz then convinced Edgeworth to take Iris's case.

While Edgeworth was investigating, he asked Butz about what he was doing on the night of the murder, but Larry refused to tell him and Edgeworth saw three Psyche-Locks on his heart, leading Edgeworth to investigate further. Later on, Edgeworth cornered Butz at Heavenly Hall. Edgeworth found out about the letter but Butz refused to talk about his "incredible" sighting and five more locks appeared.

At the trial the next day, Edgeworth called Butz as a witness, who was whipped continuously by Franziska von Karma (or "Franzy", as he called her) due to Butz's repeated asking of whether she would model for him. During the trial, Butz said that he would not lose to Wright and Edgeworth anymore, and that he was sick of bieng pushed over and losing to them. He also added that he will show them evidence and defeat Edgeworth in court. His evidence turned out to be the picture he had drawn, causing the entire court to question his sanity. He also show them the jewel he found near the bridge which was from Misty Fey's staff. It was later proven that the picture was drawn upside-down, since Butz was lying on his back when the event occurred.

On the next day, Butz was seen with Pearl Fey hanging around with her at Heavenly Hall or the "Loser's Shack" as Butz called it. They were sharing the stories of their faliures. Pearl said that Butz's drawing skills were great.

After the trial, Butz said that even when he changed his name and his job, he was still useless after all. Wright, Edgeworth, and even von Karma tried to cheer him up by saying that without the evidence he brought to the trial Wright wasn't going to win. They also said that he did a good job on his drawings and was improving a lot, which made butz regain his self confidence. Butz joined Dick Gumshoe and the others for a celebratory meal in Trés Bien, and drew a portrait of the gang. Butz claimed that he would continue his art career, but barely a month later, he was seen pursuing a different one.

Steel Samurai

 * Main article: Turnabout Ablaze

"Miles Edgeworth"

- I will never accept you as the Steel Samurai!



Trying to impress another girl, specifically an actress named Mindy, Butz got a job portraying the Steel Samurai at a convention in the Allebahst/Babahl embassy's "neutral ground" to celebrate peace talks between the two nations. Sometime before the performance, Butz managed to ruin his spear prop while playing around with it, forcing the director to change the ending of the play. Afterwards, Butz signed a Steel Samurai autograph for Miles Edgeworth on his way to the ambassador's office (an event that would cause Edgeworth much grief when he realized the Samurai's true identity). Unaware that Mindy was out and Wendy Oldbag had to stand in for her as the Pink Princess, Butz snuck up to the roof of the embassy during his break, trying to sneak into the Pink Princess' actress' room through the chimney. His suspicious behavior, compounded with him leaving a sword prop in the same room that a murder took place lead to him, once again being accused of murder. However, Butz's name was cleared when the true nature of his actions came to light, and when the real murder weapon was found to have been the Primidux Statue that was in the room. Later, Butz and Oldbag came to Edgeworth's assistance when battling against Quercus Alba, even though Edgeworth didn't appreciate their help. However, Butz managed to help discover how Manny Coachen's body was moved.

Mindy left for Japan after the events at the embassy, but Butz almost immediately met another girl named Miharu who convinced him to travel to Paris to sell "blue dogs" (literally blue hot dogs).

An artist again

 * Main article: The Inherited Turnabout

Naturally, Miharu left Butz and he returned to his artistic career as "Laurice Deauxnim". He came to the 12 Constellations Art Gallery for his "art" (but mainly to scout a new date site). He was framed for the attempted murder of the IS-7 witness, Yutaka Kazami, who was poisoned. Fortunately, Edgeworth cleared his name once again.

Larry's drawing of the three women (namely Oyashiki, Scone and Mikagami) proved that Oyashiki hid the body of Isaku Hyōdō in the Gemini Sculpture, as the table cloth was switched. Later, Larry got himself a new girlfriend again because of his drawing.

Sunshine Coliseum?
During the Gavinners' Guilty as Charged Tour, a figure could be seen outside Sunshine Coliseum that appeared to be a man wearing orange and having a picnic with what appeared to be a woman. This could conceivably be Phoenix Wright's childhood friend Larry Butz (considering his attire and his presence with a woman), although the figure is too far away to say for certain and it may just be a subtle nod by the developers. A few months later, another figure can be seen outside the Coliseum during Valant Gramarye's stage show wearing pink and painting, which may also be Butz (as Laurice Deauxnim) but, once again, he is too far away to say for certain.

Personality
"Miles Edgeworth"

- [His] very existence is a contradiction.

Larry often talks without thinking, which became a problem when he was accused of Cindy Stone's murder. He is known to have terrible luck but he has good intentions. He switches between girlfriends and jobs rather quickly. Regardless of these quirks, he stands by Wright and Edgeworth when they need help.

Despite typically being seen as, and admitting to being, a very useless young man, he does have an impressive creative side. He temporarily became an artist, and was able to craft two automated clocks, in the form of The Thinker. However, the talent that he seems to have is rather inconsistent, such as with his drawing of Dusky Bridge as it was burning. As well as this, while donning the Steel Samurai costume, his performance was described by Edgeworth as being quite moving (much to his chagrin once he learned who was under the mask), which would imply that he's quite the talented stage actor as well.

Relationships
"Larry Butz"

- She's the one with the hots for me! I just know it! I can feel her sexy beam piercing my heart when she's watching me! Seeeeeexy beam, I tell you!

It seems that Butz's biggest priority in life is to find a girlfriend. Even though he says that he is close to his many girlfriends, he seems oblivious to what they are actually doing. His girlfriends are almost always models. The earliest of these ever mentioned was Cindy Stone, who was murdered. He did not know that she was also dating several other "sugar daddies", as Winston Payne put it. Ironically, Stone seems to have been the closest thing to a serious girlfriend that Butz has ever had, because later girlfriends would always break up with him.

Months later, Butz briefly mentioned another woman who was also a model, named Kiyance, who moved to Paris and "left him behind". Two years later, he flirted with Desirée DeLite while working as a security guard for Kane Bullard, having just been dumped by another model.

Four months later, Butz was shown to have a crush on both Iris and Franziska von Karma. Neither of these women were interested either, since Iris was still in love with "Feenie" and von Karma viewed him with distaste.

During his time as the Steel Samurai, Butz developed a crush on the Pink Princess actress called Mindy. Unfortunately for Butz, Mindy showed absolutely no interest. His infatuation led him to accidentally send a love letter to Wendy Oldbag, who had taken over Mindy's role due to illness.

It is possible that Butz's failure in relationships is due to his inability to articulate his feelings in a romantic way. He has written at least two love letters, but both were interpreted as blackmail letters. Butz can also come across as a little needy and desperate when it comes to women.

Name

 * "Yahari" (矢張) in Japanese means "I knew it" or "of course" and "Masashi" (政志) comes from "Masashiku" which means "with certainty". Characters will state that "when something happens, you know it's Yahari".


 * His English surname was likely chosen so characters can joke "when something smells, it's usually the Butz". It may also be a play on "klutz", a word for a clumsy or stupid person. In the English version of the game, both Dick Gumshoe and Mia Fey get Butz's name wrong, instead calling him "Harry Butz", a not-too-subtle play on "hairy butts".


 * "Larry" is a nickname for "Lawrence," suggesting his full name may be Lawrence Butz.


 * His French name "Paul Defès" is a pun on "poil des fesses" which means buttock hair. In the French language version, characters will state "Quand Paul Defès arrive, tout part à la dérive" which means "When Paul Defès shows up, everything's going downhill".

Development

 * While most recurring characters gained new sprite animations throughout the Phoenix Wright trilogy, Butz "lost" one. In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, he would occasionally tilt his head to the side and display a cocky smile. This animation has not appeared in any subsequent game. Dick Gumshoe also "lost" an animation, in which he would occasionally scratch the back of his head and look embarrassed. Unlike Butz's animation however, this did eventually make a reappearance in Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth.
 * Phoenix Wright's 4th costume color scheme in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is based on Butz.