Ace Attorney Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Bruce Fairplay
Image Gallery Sprite Gallery
This article or section needs attention for quality control purposes.
Adrian drops the urn The content marked by this message box has been identified as requiring improvements to a reasonable standard of quality. Content may be marked for a variety of reasons, including known false information or excessive typos. Fact-checking for false/missing information can be a time-consuming task, but the wiki has been working on transcripts that may help speed up the process. Please also consult the manual of style. You are welcome to discuss this issue in the talk page of the article.
We need more pieces to finish this puzzle.
Bad Pearl This article is under construction. While it is not short, it still needs expansion as outlined in the manual of style. The article most likely needs expansion near the end of the tagged section or sections.

Bruce Fairplay is a banker who was a witness to the murder of Mason Milverton. He was later the jury foreman for the two trials of Soseki Natsume.

Fairplay Down Under[]

Many of Fairplay's mannerisms indicate that he grew up in Australia. For example, he has used Australian slang phrases such as "fair dinkum", "Strewth", and "larrikin", and has called Ryunosuke Naruhodo a galah. During Magnus McGilded's trial, he testified to seeing Mason's murder "clear as a Ballarat day", referring to a town in Victoria, Australia, historically the centre of a gold rush and a miner uprising against bankers. At some point, Fairplay took advantage of one such gold rush before returning to London.

The omnibus murder[]

Main article: The Adventure of the Runaway Room

Bruce Fairplay was riding on the top of Beppo's omnibus, when he suddenly witnessed a murder happening in the omnibus. Naruhodo accused Fairplay of being the killer because he was in debt to the defendant, Magnus McGilded, but all he did was witness the crime.

Jury duty[]

Main article: The Adventure of the Clouded Kokoro

Two days later, Fairplay takes part in Soseki Natsume's trial in the attempted murder of Olive Green. When he first votes guilty he asks if Soseki Natsume admitted himself. When Naruhodo presses him, the banker is not happy for accusing him and Lay D. Furst of being killers. He's been questioned by the police due to rumors in vicinity and all his doubts have been cleared, it's because of that he finds someone guilty now. The second time he votes guilty he states that Natsume left three books at the crime scene. When his fellow juror, Joan Garrideb, wife of Natsume's landlord, is revealed to be the culprit, Fairplay admits that false charges are bad.

Return to jury duty[]

Main article: The Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro
Natsume Jury3

As Juror No. 1.

He is also a juror for Soseki Natsume's trial for the attempted murder of William Shamspeare. When he's ready to vote for the verdict the first time he's had enough of the trial and has the rest of vote guilty despite having a little hope for Naruhodo. The reason for this is that he sees Shamspeare as a noble and honest man despite being poor like the so-called lying Natsume. He has no reason to doubt him but promises to change his verdict if Shamspeare is lying and has the other male jurors agree. Quinby Altamont eventually gives him this tidbit by revealing the possibility of him stealing gas from her company. Being a gentlemen who keeps his promise, Fairplay changes his verdicts and encourage the other gentlemen to follow suit.

The next day, Bruce Fairplay intends to finally bring a just verdict. During the second closing argument, determined Natsume's guilty by considering all the evidence. After hearing Barok van Zieks, Fairplay agrees that Herlock Sholmes' inventions, regarding the handprints as proof that William Shamspeare blew into the gas pipe, do not count as official evidence. Naruhodo suggests they listen to Natsume about it, as he's been having gas leaks. So Fairplay agrees to change his verdict.

Personality[]

Fairplay is strong-willed, stubborn, and a little full of himself, but he holds true to his name and he knows when to back down in a fight he knows he'll lose. He is incredibly rational gentleman and does not like false charges. He also is a man of his word, as seen when he changed his verdict when he promised he would.

Development[]

  • His habit of turning his head to look to his right may be a reference to the profiles of notable figures on the "heads" side of coins, thereby referencing Fairplay's profession as a banker.

Name[]

  • His "Fairplay" surname in both Japanese and English may be a reference to his personality. It could also be a reference to the term "fair play" used to describe mystery stories that give the audience all of the clues needed to solve the mystery from the outset. The mysteries in the Ace Attorney games are fundamentally not fair play, as they rely on the gradual collection of clues via evidence and testimony.
  • His English localized name "Bruce" is a stereotypical male name in Australia, in a similar manner to "Pierre" in France or "John" in the United Kingdom.
Advertisement