Meet the characters: Philo Reed

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Hello again, everypony! Our previous post introduced everyone to case 2 in general, but today, we’d like to go a bit more in-depth by beginning to get people acquainted a bit more with the characters that you’ll be encountering in case 2 who weren’t seen in case 1. We’ll start with Philo Reed, detective at large, and work our way through the roster from there, one character at a time. In case 2, Philo will be making Twilight’s life troublesome, but for right now, we’re just talking to him, pony-to-pony. But before that, everypony say hello to the lovely interviewer whom we’ve enlisted to help us with this!

Hello, everypony! Pleased to make your acquaintance.

Well, Philo’s all ready for you. Take it away, interviewer.

Philo Reed

Profession: Detective

Employer: Equestrian Bureau of Investigation

Likes: Solving crimes, mares

Dislikes: Difficult cases, being too busy for mares

So, Mr. Reed, why don’t we start with the obvious? Tell us a little bit about yourself.
…Do we have to be all serious like this? A mare as pretty as yourself shouldn’t look so stern, y’know? Heh.
M-Mr. Reed, please answer the question.
All right, all right.
Name’s Philo Reed. I’m a detective at the Equestrian Bureau of Investigations.
We handle… big cases. Cases that are bigger than a city. Cases that local police stations, well… might not be equipped to handle.
Catch my drift?
How long have you been in that position?
Oh, comin’ up on about 12 years.
Do you enjoy it?
Well now, that’s a strange question. Do I enjoy seeing the darkest side of ponydom? Nah. Kind of a drag, you know?
‘Course, on the other hand, would I prefer those ponies to still be on the street doing their thing? Weeell, maybe that wouldn’t be so good either.
There’s a lotta ponies who take advantage of ponies’ good natures and kind instincts. Lemme give you a quick example. You familiar with the Sob Story Scammer?

Of course. She was front page news when she was active.
Yup. Made up all kinds of stories about how she was homeless, or was massively in debt, or had foals to support. By the time she was done, she had made more money than most ponies see in a lifetime.
That’s not the worst example. Oh no, not by far. But it does serve as a good example.
What do you think ponies who’ve interacted with her, or heard about her, are going to do the next time someone tells them they’re in a bad way and need help?
That’d be tough.
To put it mildly. Ponies who do that kind of thing don’t just hurt their immediate victims. They hurt everypony, y’know? Make it harder to trust others. They make ponies that honestly need help find it harder to get it.
And I see them, and have to live in their world, day after day.
It doesn’t seem like it gets you down, though.
Mmm. You know what they say. When something bad happens that can’t be fixed, well, there’s only two things to do about it. I prefer laughing, that’s all. The alternative’s no way to live.
When you can avoid it, at least.
Still. Every now and then we catch one of them and make sure they don’t hurt anypony else. And every now and then I get to see a pony who’s thankful for what I or somepony else did.
And, y’know, on occasion it gets me interviews with ponies like you. So it can’t be all bad. *wink*

*ahem* So, Mr. Reed, how did you get into this line of work?
Well, it wasn’t my first choice.
What was your first choice, then?
Eh. That’s not important. Was a stupid idea.
Anyway, it was applicable to this sort of thing, so it was a natural fit, I guess. Being a detective isn’t just science stuff. Though that sure helps.
To catch the real bad guys, you need to be able to think like them.
The way I see it, life is a stage performance. We all wear different masks – take on different personas – in front of different ponies. The best and most wily criminals are just better at it than most.
To really get into character, you need to know your character. Feel your character. Think like your character. Know what your character wants and needs. The best actor can convince themselves, when they need to, that they ARE their character.
But under all that? You can’t escape the fact that you’re a character, too. And that informs all the other characters. Especially what characters you pick to represent you in the world.
It’s my job to get behind the masks. Get at the real character. If I can know a criminal’s character, the masks melt away and become just another part of that character.
From there? It’s just piecing together the rest.
It’s easy for ponies to think that ponies do bad things because they’re bad. Offers comfort, you know? Makes it feel like there’s some grand divide between them and us.
But nopony ever caught a talented criminal by thinking like that. Those ponies? They have thoughts and feelings like the rest of us. Motivations. Ideas. Hopes. All of that informs their actions.
If I can get at that, I can know how to play their characters, too. And I’ve gotten awfully good at that.
Sometimes I can even come to sympathize, I suppose. But I can’t let that get in the way of my job. Or the fact that they’re hurting ponies. You know?
*chuckle* Sorry. I can get off on a bit of a tangent sometimes. You’ll have to excuse me, honey.

No problem. Do you have a sort of philosophy when approaching a criminal?
Do you have a sort of philosophy when talking to somepony?
Uh, well… it depends on the pony, doesn’t it?
Of course it does. The same thing’s true here, y’know? Don’t be fooled into thinking that “a criminal” is a thing you can just point to, just like that. There are ponies, and there are other ponies. That’s all. Catch my drift?
I guess that makes sense. Well, moving to a different topic… what sort of things do you do when you’re not chasing criminals?
Oh, this and that. Maybe catch a show or something. I’ve heard that Ponycles, Prance of Tyre is pretty good. Just came out last weekend.
I’m not much for, you know, parties, and the like. Big crowds. Blech. Nah.
*chuckle* With all the flirting you’re known to do, that seems surprising.
Heh. Next question.
All right. Well… best pony?
Excuse me?
Sorry. Was something I was told that I should ask.
Well, you know I’d pick you, of course.
I’m sure. Just like every other pony you’ve talked to, right?
Hey now, that’s no way to treat someone who’s just bein’ nice.

*laugh* Is there anything else you’d like to say to our viewers before we wrap this up?
Hmm… kids, stay in school.
Seriously, now, Mr. Reed.
What? I’ve always wanted to say that on camera. Now I have. Pretty sweet deal, yeah?
*siiigh*
I mean, I can’t think of anything else to say. I’m not THAT interesting, y’know?
Just interesting enough. The way I like it.
I guess this is the part where I say something cool, like, “Criminals, I’m coming for you, and you’ve got nowhere to hide!” Right?
But, I mean, come on. Nopony actually says that. Real detective work is either way more boring, or way scarier, than the movies make it out to be.
*chuckle* I’m not very good at this, I know.
It’ll do, Mr. Reed. Thank you for your time.
My pleasure. You know that somepony like you can always get as much time as she wants, hmm?
Uggh. We’re done here. I’ll see you later, Mr. Reed.
‘Till next time, beautiful.

24 thoughts on “Meet the characters: Philo Reed”

  1. This Philo Reed pony seems like a very interesting character. I hope to see a big part of him in the game. He is certainly grabbing my interest.

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  6. Philo Reed reminds me of Raymond Shields (from AAI: Miles Edgeworth 2) in terms of appeareance and personality. He looks laid-back, his dress is “old-school detective” at best and always trying to hook on girls. I think I’m gonna love it even as a rebuttal opponent ^_^

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  7. Philo’s bio and personality reminds me of Raymond Shields from Ace Attorney Investigations 2. Now if only he has a theme and giving free hugs to the mares…;)

    Anyway, I love how his way of catching a criminal relates a lot to Case 2 especially with Trixie as the accused. This will be very interesting.

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  8. Ugh, I can’t wait to play it! >.<
    Anyway, really liking this detective so far, he seems like an interesting character. Should be fun seeing how Twilight'll react to him.
    Also, I don't know if you take suggestions, but I have one. How about whenever you're cross-examining someone, the background changes sort of like rebuttals in the AAI games? Maybe not during interrogations, but during confrontations would be cool. Of course, that would make it take longer to finish, but I dunno, just a suggestion.
    Keep up the good work, really looking foward to this case =D

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    • Could you perhaps give an example of what you mean by background changing? In MLI, at least, you can just see the area background when a confrontation is going on, so I’m curious to know what you mean.

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  9. Pingback: GAMES BRONIES PLAY: My Little Investigations — Intervista a Philo Reed | Cutie Mark Crusaders

  10. so is the Equestrian Bureau of Investigation similar to Interpol? Are we going to see something like AA:Investigations where Twilight has to deal with Philo in most of her investigations? He seems like a cool character, so I wouldn’t mind.

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    • That’s the plan. We typically are planning on sticking to filling in as many roles as possible with established characters, but the role of a rival investigator for Twilight was one where there just wasn’t anyone at all, hence why we made a new character.

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  11. can’t wait to the next case to come out but take your time! and nice interview seems like an interesting character

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  12. Nice! Philo seems like a great rival, and a womanizer at that! Can’t wait to see him in action.

    If I may, will we see other detectives from the EBI, or just Philo each case?

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