Marlon Rimes

Marlon Rimes

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Marlon Rimes V · T · F
Occupation	Aquarium aquarist
Biological information
Reckoned birth year(s) (this is for age comparison purposes, and so may look odd; click on the question mark for details)?	2006
Documented age range (as recorded in court record profiles & case files)	21* (Turnabout Reclaimed)
Last known status	Alive (July 2027)
Eye color	Black
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)	5'11"; 180 cm
Associates
Family	None mentioned
Friends	Azura Summers (former girlfriend; deceased)
Affiliates	Jack Shipley (employer, accidental victim via circumstance; deceased) Sasha Buckler (co-worker, object of projection) Herman Crab (co-worker) Rifle (aquarium penguin) Pearl Fey (aquarium visitor) Ora Shipley the First (object of hatred) Orla Shipley (intended murder victim)
Names in other languages
Japanese (romanization written with the given name first)	伊塚 育也 (Ikuya Itsuka)
Miscellaneous
Debut episode	Turnabout Reclaimed
Musical theme	"Boisterous People"

Marlon Rimes

Ahoy! Yo! Yo! Yo ho hooooo! Prep for the battle, prep for the war! Little lady Rifle gon' even da score! Ya'll think you can escape with your pride? Nuh uh, you just gon' be straight up denied! Yo! Yo! Yo ho ho! Yo! Yo! Yo ho hooooo!

— Turnabout Reclaimed

Marlon Rimes is an aquarist at the Shipshape Aquarium with a penchant for rapping.

Rimes and Summers

With Azura Summers and Ora Shipley.

Rimes' first contact with the Shipshape Aquarium was via his girlfriend, Azura Summers, who worked there as an orca trainer. She would often send him videos via her phone of training sessions with the aquarium's resident orca, Ora Shipley.

A year later, Rimes attended one of Summers' "Swashbuckler Spectacular" shows at the aquarium. During the show, however, Summers suddenly fell into the water. To everyone's horror, Ora then grabbed her trainer in her mouth and shook her. By the time Summers was retrieved from the water, she was dead. To the viewing public, Rimes included, it appeared as though the orca had deliberately attacked and killed Summers.

Revenge

Main article: Turnabout Reclaimed

Devastated by his girlfriend's death, Rimes vowed that he would have his revenge upon the orca, who had apparently not been put down despite the aforementioned events. He also began training in order to make himself physically stronger, with a regime that apparently even included fighting sharks, which in turn left him with bite marks on his shoulders. Despite gaining a great deal of muscle mass from his training, Rimes somehow hid his new appearance in order to make himself appear as scrawny and physically unthreatening as he was before Summers' death. The only way Rimes showed his physical muscle is when he drinks a strange liquid from a fish barrel.

About one year after Summers' death, Rimes had begun in earnest his plan to kill Ora the orca by gaining employment at the Shipshape Aquarium as an aquarist. His given job was primarily to feed the animals, with the exception of Ora, who now went by the name "Orla". During this time, he got to know Orla's new trainer and Summers' former understudy, Sasha Buckler, quite well. Not wishing for her to suffer the same fate as Summers, and still wanting revenge, Rimes waited for the right moment to kill the orca.

First attempt

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On the anniversary of Summers' death, Orla's pool was due to be cleaned. Orla was moved to the show pool by hoist while Buckler worked on cleaning the pool. Rimes was to watch over Orla whilst her pool was being cleaned. Seizing his chance, he began to drain the pool of water, in order to suffocate the orca.

Attempting to save Shipley.

Just as the pool was almost completely drained, Jack Shipley, the owner of the aquarium, caught sight of what Rimes was doing. He rushed over to stop him, but in doing so accidentally slipped and fell into the empty pool. Rimes was able to grab hold of his right wrist but was unable to pull him back up. Shipley tried to explain that Summers' death was not Orla's fault before Rimes' grip finally loosened, and the aquarium owner fell to his death, 65 feet at the bottom of the empty pool.

Second attempt

Although devastated by the death of Shipley, as he had unintentionally caused it, Rimes quickly formulated a new plan to have Orla killed. He climbed into the empty pool and placed Shipley's body into a skull-shaped rock which was used as a prop, taking the walkie-talkie (which belonged to Summers) on him in the process. He then called for Buckler to bring the rock and Orla back to the orca pool. After this, he contacted writer Norma DePlume and asked her to attend the aquarium, with the intention to use her as a witness.

Running into Pearl Fey.

When DePlume arrived, about ten minutes after the aquarium opened, Rimes used his walkie-talkie to play a recording of the "Lifesaver" whistle command. Orla responded by headbutting the skull-rock until Shipley's body was released, before grabbing him in her mouth and bringing him to the surface. Once he had done this, Rimes headed back to work, intending to head up to the staff room to join Buckler, to give himself an alibi. However, his plan was scuppered when he ran into Pearl Fey, who had wandered into the staff corridor after getting lost. It took about five minutes for Rimes to pick up the fish he had dropped and help Fey return to her summer-camp group, although he insisted she keep their meeting secret.

As intended, Orla was blamed for the death of Shipley. Buckler, not wanting to have her put down, contacted attorney Phoenix Wright to defend the whale in court. Not long into his investigation, Wright began to suspect a human culprit, much to Rimes' dismay; he only wanted Orla to be blamed for Shipley's death. He knew that Buckler would be the most likely candidate for a suspect, not only because she was Orla's trainer, but because she had had a fight with Shipley moments before his death and thus would have a motive.

Despite initially refusing to, Rimes presented himself as a witness during Orla's trial. He tried to explain that he had been with Buckler when Shipley's body had been discovered, in part to prevent her from becoming a suspect, but Wright had learnt about his run-in with Fey the previous day and knew he was lying.

Third attempt

During the course of the trial, Wright, along with fellow attorney Athena Cykes, was able to prove that Orla had not killed Shipley. In order to demonstrate what had actually happened, Buckler was called to the stand whilst Rimes returned to the aquarium to be with Orla. Realizing his new plan would fail, Rimes made a final attempt to kill Orla by smuggling some "3 Zs" sleeping pills from the aquarium's vet Herman Crab and hiding them inside some fish meant for Orla. As Buckler had Orla perform her "Lifesaver" trick and the whale was subsequently found innocent, Rimes "rewarded" Orla with the drug-laced fish.

As Rimes had initially feared, Buckler was arrested on suspicion of killing Shipley. As Wright, Cykes and Fey returned to Shipshape Aquarium to continue their investigation, Rimes' drug began to take hold and Orla nearly drowned. With the aid of Dr. Crab, Orla's stomach was cleared of the fish and drug, although Wright now began to suspect Crab, as he had seemingly not noticed the pill. The investigation also uncovered Rimes' handprint on the show pool ladder, which he had gripped onto whilst trying to save Shipley.

Rimes became even more determined to pin the blame for Shipley's death solely upon Orla, so he returned to the court the next day, for Buckler's trial, to testify against her. He explained that he had seen Orla kill Shipley by slamming him into the air, resulting in his subsequent fall. By this time, however, Wright had figured out that Rimes was the only person who would have drugged Orla and began to suspect him, figuring that he'd tried to kill the orca to prevent her from leading the authorities to him. Additional aid from Cykes soon revealed the source of Rimes' grudge against Orla, as well as his attempt to kill Orla in the show pool and manipulating her to "attack" Shipley's body.

Bulked-up.

Backed into a corner, Rimes swallowed his bucket of fish, causing him to buff up and become much more intimidating. He continued to accuse Orla and claimed that Wright had no proof that she had not killed Shipley, berating the lawyer in the process. He claimed that his walkie-talkie had broken, presenting the one he had taken from Shipley, and that he couldn't have commanded Orla. However, on further investigation, Wright realized who the walkie-talkie really belonged to when he noticed the tooth marks did not match Orla's, before realizing that "Ora" and "Orla" were in fact two separate orcas altogether.

Aftermath

With no ground left to stand on, Rimes finally confessed to the murder of Shipley and the attempted murder of Orla, admitting he had done it purely to protect Buckler. He urged the judge to declare her innocent, but Wright suddenly objected before he could do so, much to the surprise of everyone. Comparing the handprint he had found on the pool ladder with a handprint left on Shipley's wrist, he had managed to figure out Rimes' attempt at rescuing Shipley.

Rimes admitted this to be true, but explained he hadn't told anyone this because he felt he didn't deserve to live for his actions - Shipley had died because he had tried to kill Orla for something she didn't do, and Summers had not been avenged. Wright pressed on, revealing that Summers had actually died as the result of a heart condition she had suffered. This revelation shocked Rimes, as she had never told him about it. However, encouragement from both Wright and Buckler caused him to rethink his actions and he promised to find a way to make up for what he had done, thanking both for their support.

Since Shipley's death was accidental, the judge ordered that Rimes be put on rehabilitation. A few months later, he returned to Shipshape Aquarium with a new job, taking over from Shipley as the villain "Redstache" in the Swashbuckler Spectacular show.

Personality

Rimes' mugshot.

Rimes greatly enjoys rapping, and will often do so at the slightest provocation, with even one of his testimonies in court being performed in rap-form. However, there is a very noticeable change in tone and style between the raps of his scrawny and muscular alter-egos, with the latter being far more aggressive.

He is also very kind to most of the animals he takes care of (with the notable exception of Orla prior to finding out the truth about her). He feels extremely remorseful about his perceived role in his boss's death, and even initially believed that he was responsible. He is also fairly protective of Buckler, and repeatedly asked the judge during the trial to declare her innocent. He can, however, be very confrontational and belligerent, especially as his buff alter-ego.

Although Rimes claims to be a vegetarian when he first meets Wright, his consumption of a barrel of fish in order to transform into his muscular self and the ensuing rap that is pro-"meat brothas" and anti-"grass eaters" makes this claim suspect (or at the very least makes him a pescetarian).

Name

• "Iku" (育) in his Japanese given name means "grow up" or "raise", which is most likely referring to his rapid transformation into his muscular alter-ego.
• "Itsuka" (伊塚), his Japanese surname, comes from the word "itsuka" (何時か), which means "someday". This may be a reference to his wish to someday get revenge upon Ora/Orla.
• His English given name "Marlon" is a play on "marlin", a family of fish. After he transforms into his alter-ego in court, he can be seen wielding a large example of a marlin over his shoulder.
• "Rimes", his English surname, is a play on the word "rhymes", due to his habit of rapping, which normally uses rhyming clauses.

Note

• To date (and excluding Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney), Rimes is the first, and currently only, true culprit in the Ace Attorney video games to have not committed murder or manslaughter.

Development

• Marlon was developed after Sasha's character had been conceived. Sasha's "punk" motif showed how well music motifs could be combined with the pirate theme, and they eventually came up with the idea for a rapper thereafter. The decision to make Marlon insert raps into his speech was a focus of disdain by the animation and lip-syncing teams, as it caused them tremendous amounts of trouble and difficulty.