Cody Hackins

Cody Hackins

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Cody Hackins V · T · F
Occupation	Grade school student (2nd grade) Steel Samurai & Pink Princess fanboy
Biological information
Reckoned birth year(s) (this is for age comparison purposes, and so may look odd; click on the question mark for details)?	2009
Documented age range (as recorded in court record profiles & case files)	7* (Turnabout Samurai)
Last known status	Alive (Dec. 2016)
Eye color	Brown
Hair color	Black
Height (the metric (cm) values are sourced from official guidebooks and may not reflect the relative sizes of characters as depicted in-game or in other official media)	4'2"; 128 cm
Associates
Family	An unnamed father
Friends	Mia Fey ("nice lady"; deceased)
Affiliates	Wendy Oldbag (Global Studios security guard) Phoenix Wright (annoying adult) Maya Fey (fellow Steel Samurai & Pink Princess fan)
Aliases/nicknames
Kiddy-o* (by Maya Fey)
One-off nicknames
Sport* (by Maya Fey)
Names in other languages
Japanese (romanization written with the given name first)	大滝九太 (Kyuuta Ootaki)
French	Kévin Miron
German	Cody Hackins
Spanish	Cody Hackins
Italian	Cody Hackins
Actors
Anime (romanization written with the given name first)	Shizuka Ishigami (Japanese) Kara Edwards (English)
Miscellaneous
Debut episode	Turnabout Samurai
Musical theme	"The Steel Samurai: Warrior of Neo Olde Tokyo"

Cody Hackins

But that's my card! By offering me something I already own, you're in effect eschewing the very basis of our consumer society, namely the principle of fair trade! Man, for a grown-up, you sure are dumb!

Phoenix Wright

(W-what do they teach these kids in school these days!? Quantum physics!?)

— Turnabout Samurai

Cody Hackins was a fanboy of The Steel Samurai: Warrior of Neo Olde Tokyo and idolized its main character, the Steel Samurai (played by Will Powers). He would frequently sneak into Global Studios to see his costumed hero, much to the annoyance of the security guard, Wendy Oldbag, though he never saw Powers' face until the days of the Pink Princess. As a result of his incursions into the studio, he became a witness to the murder of Jack Hammer, the actor who played the Steel Samurai's arch-nemesis, the Evil Magistrate.

Witnessing the Steel Samurai's defeat

Main article: Turnabout Samurai

Cody Hackins

N-n-n-no way! No! I-it's impossible! Th-the Steel Samurai never loses! He never loses to anyone! Ever!

— Turnabout Samurai

Watching in awe as the Steel Samurai walks by.

As a huge fan of The Steel Samurai: Warrior of Neo Olde Tokyo, Hackins not only religiously followed the program and taped every episode, but also collected the trading cards, went to every live performance to take pictures for his "Path to Glory" scrapbook, and had his father repeatedly take him to the Steel Samurai amusement park. However, perhaps the greatest example of his dedication to the show was his habit of sneaking into Global Studios to see where the show was being filmed via a drain that led into the employee area that had a loose grate. To assist him in his endeavor, he found a map of Global Studios on the internet.

The confrontation.

The death of the Steel Samurai.

At about 2:00 p.m. on Oct. 15, 2016, Hackins sneaked into Global Studios on one of his usual forays, being caught on the studios' security cameras in the process. Walking through the woods at the back of the studio to avoid the security guard, Wendy Oldbag, Hackins became somewhat lost, leading him to wander about for roughly half an hour. Eventually, he arrived at Studio Two, where he witnessed the Steel Samurai fighting a foe he did not recognize outside the studios' trailer. Inconceivably to him, the Steel Samurai lost the fight and was killed, impaled upon a spike-topped metal fence. However, Hackins himself did not see the fatal blow because he was fiddling with his new camera at the time and erased almost all the photos he did take that day, as he did not wish to keep evidence of his hero's defeat. Shaken, he went home immediately after seeing the fight.

That same day, Jack Hammer, the actor who played the Steel Samurai's arch-nemesis, the Evil Magistrate, was found dead at Studio One. Owing to evidence on the security cameras showing the Steel Samurai heading towards the crime scene at the time of the murder, Will Powers was arrested as the prime suspect.

Return to the studios

Cody Hackins

He... always... The Steel Samurai always wins! Always! Yeah, I saw 'em! I saw everything! [...] But... but no way am I telling you losers!

— Turnabout Samurai

The employee area, with the damaged drain visible on the left.

During Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey's investigation of the studios as part of Powers' defense, the pair discovered that a young fanboy had been present on the day of the murder and eventually ran into Hackins in the employee area, who had once again entered via the drain. Suspicious of the two strangers, Hackins refused to answer their questions, but did admit to seeing the Steel Samurai's fight before running off. He was soon spotted by Oldbag but managed to outrun her, dropping an Ultra Rare Steel Samurai card during his escape, which Oldbag took as a "hostage".

Hackins later encountered Wright once again in the employee area and tried to escape by running into Powers' adjacent dressing room. Although he made to run away when Wright cornered him in the dressing room, he returned and became much more cooperative after Mia Fey (channeled by Maya) called out to him. Although Wright tried to bribe Hackins with the Steel Samurai card he had obtained from Oldbag, Hackins revealed that it was a double and so did not really need it. He then told Wright that if he really wanted to trade, then he would only accept an Ultra Rare Premium card. Much to his surprise, Wright did indeed return with the last Ultra Rare card he needed, and so agreed to trade for information.

After giving Mia a copy of his "Path to Glory" scrapbook, Hackins lied and told the pair that "the Steel Samurai killed the bad guy" using his Samurai Spear. Just as he finished speaking, Detective Dick Gumshoe appeared, having overheard their conversation. He declared that the boy was a key witness and was now under police protection, before dragging him down to the police department.

Facing the truth in court

Cody Hackins

Waaaaaaaaaaaaah! Okay okay! Y-you're right! Th-the Steel Samurai f-fell down... Th-then he didn't m-move... Waaaaaaaaah!

— Turnabout Samurai

Breaking down into tears after finally admitting the truth.

The following day, Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth called Hackins to the witness stand, although the young boy required a donut crate to stand on in order to see over the top of said stand. During his testimony (where he was belligerent towards everyone aside from Mia), he tried to lie about having his camera with him on the day of the murder, but admitted to it after being pressed by Wright. He went on to describe the fight, but was deliberately vague about the details. Despite further attempts to lie, Wright eventually figured out that the Steel Samurai Hackins saw had been killed, hence why he had deleted his photos from the fight. Hackins broke down in tears and admitted that the fight had indeed ended with the Steel Samurai's defeat. Using this new information, Wright deduced that the individual in the Steel Samurai costume at the time had been the victim, Jack Hammer.

After hearing that the man inside the costume had been Hammer, Hackins stated that he thought that the Steel Samurai had been moving oddly that day and revealed that he had kept one photo, which showed that the true crime scene had been Studio Two. Wright eventually proved in court that the true culprit in the case was the Global Studios producer Dee Vasquez, who had been blackmailing Hammer for years after an accident that resulted in an actor's death; Hammer finally snapped and had tried to kill Vasquez, only to die himself when she defended herself.

After the conclusion of the case, the The Steel Samurai was canceled and replaced with The Pink Princess: Warrior of Little Olde Tokyo, with Hackins quickly becoming a fan of said sequel. He once again sneaked into Global Studios during the filming of The Pink Princess, only to finally see Will Powers' face, which shocked him.

Personality

Cody Hackins

What's that? Bo-ring! Man, how can one person be so lame!? If you were a superhero you'd be Lame-o-man!

— Turnabout Samurai

Mugshot.

Hackins appeared to be very intelligent for his age, being competent with using the internet and manipulating other people into bargains that favored himself. He was also very short-tempered, rude, and unfriendly to most people, with Mia Fey being the only known exception; this made it rather difficult for Wright to get any information out of him.

His most notable trait was his obsession with the Steel Samurai and Pink Princess. He frequently sneaked into the studios, taped every show, and went to every live performance to take pictures for his "Path to Glory" scrapbook. Hackins' father also repeatedly took him to the Steel Samurai amusement park. He carried a sheathed katana on his back, but the sword itself was too long for him to unsheathe completely, which he would try to do when angry. Although he is aware of the show's fictional nature, he finds it difficult to grasp that the Steel Samurai character would ever lose a fight. This caused him to lie in court about the fight that he had seen between Hammer and Vasquez, which he believed was a staged fight between costumed actors.

He showed a great deal of pride in his collection of Steel Samurai merchandise, including Steel Samurai and Pink Princess trading cards. Bargaining with Hackins using an Ultra Rare Premium Steel Samurai card was key to him giving Wright valuable information during the latter's investigation.

Name

• His Japanese surname "Ootaki" (大滝), is a play on the word "otaku", which translates, more or less, as "fanboy", "nerd", or "geek". This is likely meant to be a reference to his obsession with the Samurai series.
• His full English name, "Cody Hackins", is a play on "code hacking".
• "Cody" comes from the Irish "Ó Cuidighthigh", meaning "son of (a person named) Helpful". Considering the boy's less-than-helpful attitude, this is somewhat ironic.
• For his French localized name, "Kévin" (his given name) comes from a term used by French internet users to refer to an immature person, while "Miron" (his surname) may come from the French verb "mirer" ("to watch intensely" or "to stare") or the Spanish adjective "mirón" ("nosy"), which would fit with his lurking around Global Studios.

Development

• The developers of Gyakuten Saiban wanted to add a child to the cast of witnesses in order to explore why a child would commit perjury in the courtroom.
• Although he appeared in the original Gyakuten Saiban for the Game Boy Advance (which did not include Rise from the Ashes), Hackins has, to date, yet to reappear in any other Ace Attorney game. This is despite every other innocent living character that appeared in the original game (as well as one of the accomplices, two of the culprits, and two of the victims) doing so.