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Jack Shipley
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For additional uses of the name "Jack", please see Jack (disambiguation).

Sasha Buckler
When it's showtime, it's time to smile! That's what the captain always said.

Jack Shipley was the manager and owner of the pirate-themed Shipshape Aquarium until his death in 2027.

Summers and Ora[]

Swashbuckler Spectacular

As "Redstache" in a promotional poster for the Swashbuckler Spectacular show.

Jack Shipley owned and ran the Shipshape Aquarium, which he gave a pirate theme. At one point he rescued a pair of orca sisters and nursed them back to health. However, when it became time to release them back to the wild, the two orcas had grown so attached to him that they refused to leave. He eventually gave up, named them Ora and Orla Shipley, and incorporated them into his aquarium.

Both Jack and Ora were part of the aquarium's pirate-themed stage show, where she worked with the animal trainer Azura Summers. However, Summers suffered from a heart condition which threatened her life, but told no-one and carried out her usual duties in the aquarium. During one stage show, Summers was struck by a heart attack and fell into the water, whereupon Ora used her "lifesaver" trick to bring her to the surface in her mouth. Onlookers believed that Ora had attacked and killed Summers and, as a result of this, the Center for Dangerous Animal Control (CDAC) demanded that both orcas be put down. Jack and resident veterinarian Dr. Herman Crab pretended to put down Ora, but instead secretly moved her to the larger Supermarine Aquarium. They also managed to negotiated a deal with the CDAC to let Orla live. Summers' feisty protegé Sasha Buckler and Orla (now posing as her "dead" sister) took over Summers' and Ora's respective roles in the stage show, while Jack held onto Summers' walkie-talkie as a memento of the fateful incident.

Marlon Rimes, who had been dating Summers and was unaware of her heart condition, nursed a deep grudge against Orla, as he believed her to be responsible for his lover's death. He joined the aquarium in an attempt to get revenge on Orla.

Death[]

Main article: Turnabout Reclaimed
Jack Shipley
Forgive me, Marlon... I didn't realize what deep pain you were in... But, please... Please don't blame Orla. It's nobody's fault... Not Orla's... and not yours............
Rimes pulling Shipley

Rimes attempting to save him.

One year after Summers' death, Rimes' feelings of hatred toward Orla reached their climax, resulting in an attempt to kill the orca. As Orla was moved out of her usual pool and into the stage show pool during a routine clean, Rimes saw his chance at revenge when he was assigned to watch over her in the show pool room while the cleaning took place. He drained the water in the pool in order to kill the orca, only to have Jack walk in on him. Jack rushed to fill the pool again, but in doing so he tripped and fell into the empty pool. Despite a rescue attempt by Rimes, he fell and died instantly from a brain contusion. Rimes then took advantage of Buckler to move Jack's body by stashing the corpse inside a hollow skull-shaped rock and having Buckler move it into the orca pool. Subsequently, he contacted Norma DePlume, a non-fiction author who had written a best-selling book on the incident of Summers' death, and had been harassing the aquarium for years in search of more information. He told DePlume to visit the orca pool at 10am when the aquarium was open.

Orla saving Shipley

Orla carrying his body.

5-6 Shipley Dead, Face down

Crime scene photo.

When DePlume arrived at the orca pool at the agreed time, Rimes then used his mobile phone to play a video of Summers blowing a whistle in order to get Orla to perform her "lifesaver" trick (one of many she had sent him). The sound of the whistle was broadcast through the aquarium and the employees' walkie-talkies, including the one Jack had held onto. On cue, Orla headbutted the skull rock and retrieved Jack's corpse in her mouth. To DePlume, it seemed as if Orla had headbutted Jack to death and then toyed with him by biting the corpse. DePlume rushed off to call the police, who, upon hearing DePlume's testimony, planned to euthanize Orla.

A desperate Sasha Buckler raced to the office of recently re-instated defense attorney Phoenix Wright, and without letting on that his prospective client was an orca, persuaded him to take the case. Once Wright got over the initial shock of an orca defendant, he investigated the aquarium and proved to Detective Bobby Fulbright that a human may have been responsible instead of Orla.

Wright quickly got Orla acquitted, but suspicion fell upon Buckler herself due to the manner in which the orca had been manipulated by the culprit. However, Wright cross-examined Rimes and revealed his hatred of Orla, soon leading to the revelation of how the case had really played out. However, Wright was able to help Rimes escape punishment by revealing how he had tried to save Jack. Rimes went into rehabilitation for a few months and then returned to the aquarium, playing the role of the villain "Redstache" in the stage show, which had previously been Jack's role.

Personality[]

Marlon Rimes
Like a strong captain who can turn a wild bunch of ruffians into some great pirates... He always treated us fairly and equally, humans and fishes alike. He was the real deal, man.
X4G83ak

Mugshot.

Jack was held in high regard by his employees, who all addressed him as "Captain" due to the aquarium's pirate motif. Sasha Buckler, in particular, seemed very close to him as they often performed the "Swashbuckler Spectacular" together. Jack himself was concerned for the safety and well-being of his employees as he forbid Buckler from performing due to her heart condition, which led to an argument between the two. He also tried to convince Marlon Rimes to not bear a grudge against Orla, even when he was about to fall to his death.

Jack cared a lot for the animals of his aquarium. He, along with veterinarian Herman Crab, saved and nursed Ora and Orla Shipley when they got beached on a shore, which caused both orcas to become attached to him. Jack also worked closely with Dr. Crab to prevent Ora from being put down and allowed the veterinarian to use a highly-advanced monitoring system for the betterment of the aquarium's animals, even if the technology was considered illegal in the United States.

Name[]

  • Japanese - Ryōji Arafune (荒船 良治):
    • His Japanese surname means "wild boat".
  • English - Jack Shipley:
    • His English given name is derived from the term for a type of flag flown by warships. It could also be a reference to the pirate character Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean films, especially since Jack Shipley is also referred to as "Captain Jack".
    • "Shipley" is a play on the word "ship".
    • In the Dual Destinies official art book, Shipley is always referred to by the full name Captain Jack "Shipshape" Shipley; "Shipshape" being in quotations indicating it as a nickname. This is bizarre, as he is not referred to by this name even once in the game.[1]
  • French - Émile Sabord
    • A reference to Tintin's Captain Haddock's favorite interjection, "Mille sabords", literally "One hundred warship portholes".

Development[]

  • Shipley is the first character to have the same given name as another character in the Ace Attorney games (Jack Hammer). Notably, both are the victims of their respective cases and were killed unintentionally.

References[]

  1. (2015). "The Art of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies". UDON. ISBN 978-1927925447.
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