For the WMGs regarding the Card Game, please see here.
For the WMGs regarding the 2016 movie, see here.
In the Trope Namer for Calvin Ball, Calvin and Hobbes, Calvinball is a game where the players call their opponents out on the effects that their actions have supposedly just had. In Duel Monsters, the effects of the cards must be determined by the things the people who played them say. This is how extremely experienced players can still be caught by surprise.
- At least this is how it could have worked in the Duelist Kingdom storyline, where certain monsters have unbelievably broken effects (like Bandit Keith's machines being immune to all monsters that use magic attacks) which are apparently not actually explained on the cards (count how many times players are surprised by the effects of face-up monsters). It's not unreasonable to think they're all just making it up as they go. Later on, however, while the show does still occasionally fudge the rules for the sake of drama, it also adheres more closely to the rules of the the actual card game.
- You bring up a valid point regarding Jounouchi's economic status (although he's not rich either or else he'd be able to afford his sister's operation without the Duelist Kingdom prize money). But I kind of doubt Kaiba would just suddenly give Jounouchi any sort of present, let alone a ton of money. Broken mind or not, that just seems too OOC for Kaiba (besides the 'broken mind' was more like a full-blown coma that lasted for several months in the manga, I doubt Kaiba would be giving anything to ''anyone' in that state). SOMEthing must have happened to at least put Jounouchi into a stable economic position, a position where he's also able to afford maintaining a deck for a trading card game which is supposed to be a bit pricey if you go by some real life TCGs. The real question is, if it wasn't Kaiba then what could have caused it?
- Maybe Mokuba gave Jounouchi money.
- Or maybe Jounouchi started gambling and won money that way.
- Or maybe (Japanese only) Yuugi sold his shares of Industrial Illusions and is quietly supporting Jounouchi without the latter's knowledge.
- Or maybe his mother actually decided to take some financial responsibility for her first born son and is helping him pay the bills/his dad's debt.
- Or perhaps, his father died of Alcohol Poisoning some time between Season 0 and Duelist's Kingdom and Jonouchi's just really good at handling it?
- Or maybe Jounouchi got fed up with his father and asked Yuugi if he could stay with him (to which Yuugi accepted), therefore leaving his dad to deal with his own debts?
- In the english version of the manga, when Kaiba first shows off his holographic dueling system by using it against Yugi's grandpa, Kaiba actually says (or thinks, can't recall which and I don't have the manga in front of me right this moment) "I've recreated my duel with Yugi using virtual reality! My money can buy powers just like his!"
- But that brings up a bigger question. In the english manga, when Kaiba is explaining to Yugi's grandpa how his holograms work, a very tiny speech bubblenote adds that the holograms are processed using a microchip in the cards. So how did Pegasus know enough of the future to realize he'd need to put microchips in all the Duel Monsters' cards?? I thought the Millennium Eye was supposed to read minds/see into the heart of someone else and the Millennium Tauk was supposed to see through time, not vice virsa.
- Pegasus did meet Isis, but he met her when he needed to seal the power of the Egyptian God cards he couldn't control. Which was not until after he'd started making his card game. So it doesn't seem likely that she could have given him a heads-up about the whole microchips and holograms thing....
- Maybe Pegasus was just Crazy-Prepared. He is supposed to be a painter after all, perhaps his inner artistic genius decided that his card game needed microchips in case of some future development.
- Or maybe the chips were originally just RFID chips designed to prevent counterfeiting. Kaiba figured out how to use the programmed information for another purpose. This would explain why Malik is so proud of his Ghouls being able to make fake cards that can fool the Duel Disks; it's not as trivial as it would initially seem.
- Seconded: And I Must Scream - Effect
- It gets worse- there's no real implication in the manga that when he did that in the past, he expected to be freed. The puzzle was heavily guarded and near impossible to solve, and the inscription 'The one who solves me will gain power and knowledge of darkness'- is ambiguous at best.
In Millennium World I always thought it was odd how little Egypt's relationship with other countries was mentioned, even if they were preoccupied. But given that he can summon the Gods and his duel with Seto shows his Invincible Hero status is still in effect, this may have been the case in the past. Bakura certainly shows more interest in fighting him than the other priests, and though he didn't know exactly what ka Atem had he did know the legend that the Pharaoh 'wasn't mortal', so it's possible the Pharaoh is known for having great power especially during the time of the items. Given that Atem is young, he might have had problems being taken seriously as a politician, except for his Egyptian Gods. And having that power might have kept him alive, since I doubt the wealthy of the country would have been too happy that their young king seemed to favour the commoners. Egypt were already a great military power at the time, considering this was fairly early on in the kingdom's history.
- This theory explains how the heart of the cards come through for Yugi, a former pharaoh in a past life, over other characters who also believe in the heart of the cards
- I think a modification might be "has a connection to the supernatural at the level of the soul". Past lives that had magical power are usually the best way to have such a connection, and Millennium Items are the most common way for it to develop, but being a reincarnation of the Supreme King of all Duel Monsters or being the can for 1/5 of a dragon god work just as well, the former due to continuation of old loyalties combined with present trust working just as well as a human kingship like Atem's, and the latter because of the combination of trust and monsters being loyal to the human as the dragon's proxy.
- Equally possible is that it was the other way around: since duel monsters is a modern revival of ancient sorcery, there's carryover between the original magic and the modern game, and since reincarnations retain some of the skills from the past lives (see Kaiba's ability to read ancient Egyptian), though apparently not the ability to actually use their magical skills, they end up being very good duelists. Because only the most elite of the pharaoh's warriors and magicians were given Millennium Items, since they were so powerful and limited in number. In modern times gaining a Millennium Item is as simple as taking them by force through a duel, so they naturally gravitate towards powerful duelists. Some of the others with supernatural powers may play by the "be great to get magic" rule too: 5D's Signers are always so skilled because they are also chosen by the Crimson Dragon - a sentient being who can freely give and take away their powers - for being skilled duelists (note how the male twin developed Signer powers after proving himself, and Crow spontaneously developed them midbattle). Jaiden is the odd man out, but he was born with the power of the Supreme King, even if he didn't initially realize it, and the more conscious ability to see spirits, which is common among skilled duelists as well, but that seems to be a proximity thing - Chaz developed the ability to see duel spirits as he improved himself morally and as a duelist, so it may be that a skilled duelist gains supernatural powers rather than supernatural powers making a skilled duelist for him as well. Jaiden's just weird.
- Honda became the quiet guy we better know as a result of his heart having been broken from Miho's tragic death by the yo-yo.
- Officially jossed by GX of all things. She was briefly seen on Trueman's list, along with several other opponents Atem defeated during the first series.
- Look, enough with the rape already. Sheesh. Is having hyeroglyphs carved into your back with a burning knife not horrifying/evil enough for you, you need to include rape just to spice it up? (As a sidenote, from a legal standpoint, the former is regarded as slightly more serious than the later, just to put things into perspective.)
- There are a couple of shuffling incidents in the anime. Before Yugi duels Pegasus, Yugi makes a point of shuffling Pegasus's deck. Pegasus chooses not to shuffle Yugi's, though. And one of Yugi's opponents in the Battle City arc pulls a stacked deck cheat, which Yugi anticipates and foils.
- If the WMG is true, then the stacked deck isn't a cheat — it's a strategy.
- By the time of 5Ds, this becomes a moot point. The Duel Disks clearly have an auto-shuffling system. Depending on how those work, that could mean the decks are stacked whether the players know it or not.
- If you don't need to shuffle, then Mai's perfume covered cards are kind of pointless.
- It certainly holds with the true identity of the Blue Eyes White Dragon. But does this theory allow for still-living people to secretly be duel monsters? Yugi does seem to have an affinity for Kuriboh...
- GX revealed that Duel Spirits are extradimensional aliens. It would appear that Egypt was the first Earthly civilization to have contact with there creatures, thus inspiring their concept of ka and ba. Cool, huh?
- Ba and Ka aren't ideas; they're truths, as shown by the Ancient Egypt arc and the transition from Mahado to Dark Magician. As such, it must be concluded that the other dimensions seen in GX, rather than being simple parallel universes inhabited by monstrous beings, are the afterlife, one possibly worse than Soul Society.
- Hmm, that Ka thing sounds a lot like Summoning a Persona.
- Whoever made this post really needs to look up the mechanics of the Egyptians view on the soul.
- Firstly, the soul was believed to be made up of five parts:
- The Ba, which is the personality.
- The Ka, which is life force (Takashi is a good writer storywise, but a solid understanding of your subject matter is key).
- The Ib, which is the heart (and what is weighed in the afterlife).
- The Ren, which is the name and the part of the soul that Atem used as the key to defeating Zorc.
- And lastly, there is the Sheut, which is a person's shadow and is far more likely to be what the monsters were.
- So therefore a Duel Monster is likely to be a person's Sheut, summoned forth in the form of a monster to do battle using Shadow Magic with the Ka serving as sort of a Mana Meter. In addition, the ancient Egyptians believed that two or more people could share a single soul, even when alive. (I'm not quite sure how that is supposed to work, but I'm not an ancient Egyptian.) I'm not sure about Yugi's religious beliefs, but it's entirely possible that he believes in reincarnation (thus being why neither he nor Atem see the idea that they're sharing a body as particulary odd later in ther series).
- Firstly, the soul was believed to be made up of five parts:
- The Millennium Items are Goa'uld technology. It makes sense. They're mysterious artifacts which seem to have magical or godlike properties. The eye appearing on them looks an awful lot like Ra's symbol; perhaps he built them to further the illusion of godliness.
- Yami Yugi, Yami Marik and Yami Bakura are all symbiotes. They can take over their hosts' bodies at will, they speak in different voices when in control, they're smart, etcetera. The difference is that Yami Marik and Yami Bakura are both Goa'uld, whereas Yami Yugi is a Tok'ra.
- KaibaCorp's hologram technology is alien in origin. He bought it from the rogue NID. He has money, after all. He can screw the rules.
- This theory goes well with the above allusions to an ancient alien civilization that came to Egypt in the past. So the Millennium Items are some kind of stasis jars for the symbiotes, as well as powerful items. The Eye builds on mind-reading technology, of course. But what are the monsters themselves? Some kind of Ancient technology we've never heard of before?
- The monsters could be documentation of various aliens encountered by the Goa'uld; the card stats reflect facts about these creatures.
- That could also explain why The Winged Dragon of Ra has the "of Ra" part of its name: Ra owned the dragon, as opposed to the dragon itself being Ra.
- Clearly, she gave her life via daemon transplant to save his when he lost his original daemon. (Hey, it can happen — watch The Golden Compass!)
- If he wanted her empathy, then he wouldn't be using the Blue Eyes to ruthlessly dominate his opponents, beatdown-style, knowing that no one else would have that relatively easy level of power at hand, often taunting them, especially when they have weak cards. Kisara should be spinning in her grave.
- What do you expect? Especially before his "soulsplosion," Kaiba's an asshole. He does get better over the course of the series.
SOT QO NOS!!! note
Kisara is a Nord from between Nim's Fourth Era and the Ninth Era, Giving an explanation to her white hair and skin. She was a Dragonborn who was tasked by either the Future Greybeards or remnants of the Blades to Hunt down an cult who had possesion of Elder Scroll (Dragon) and wanted to Summon Alduin. Kisara Dons an White Dragon Scale Armor and Weapons that has been enhanced with Her Thuum, and she seeks the cult, and Interrupts one of their Rituals, only for the cult leader to ensnare her with a trap using the Dragon Scroll. The cultists plan to send Kisara into dimensions unknown in the same manner that Alduin was sent forward into time to ensure she does not interfere with Alduin,s revival. Kisara is banished and is hurdled into the Yu-Gi-Oh! Metaverse, specifically to Ancient Egpyt around the first Millennium B.C.E.
- Kaibaman is an avatar.
- Considering that, before the DOMA arc, we only saw Yugi and his friends, and it wasn't until after then that the whole world became obsessed with a children's card game, which not coincidentally is after the Leviathan appeared in public and started devouring people's souls, this actually makes a lot of sense!
- Seto Kaiba looks too much like Light Yagami not to be him...
- Not just looks. If Kaiba could lie or keep a straight face, then he and Light would be exactly the same person. There is evidence in the first volume of the Death Note manga. Seriously.
- Time frame sort of fits. He knocked up Linka when they were teens.
- Well, Jounochis father grew up to be a violent alcoholic. Joeys father might actually be Wheeler from Captain Planet who leads a normal life and loves his son (even though he still got divorced)
- This means that there's an alternate universe where Captain Planet was a Darker and Edgier anime.
Both games are made by Konami.
The cases of completely ignoring the game's rules is an example of the town's typical abandoning logic just to torment its victims.
- Ha, interesting theory. Although ironically, the only time he was heavily medicated was during the Millenium World arc, hence Zorc's rather...unconventional design.
If they knew they would be sent to the Shadow Realm for refusing, they would be a heck of a lot more scared.
On the few occasions that they know the risks ahead of time and have nothing to win (nitroglyceryn hockey springs to mind, although he was an idiot), they still accept the challenge. In the earlier episodes, such as when Yugi is playing the "take what money you can stab off your hand" game, it is shown that the items can enhance or even alter people's actions during a Shadow Duel; why not before?
- Shutter Island, anyone? While the ending was horribly predictable, the one significant difference is that everybody played along. Here we go.
- I love the "And later Seto builds a school for people with similar delusions". Duel Academy Island IS Shutter Island!
That ignores that Yugi's (and possibly Kaiba's) luck is a result of l=sid (luck = skill * importance * desire). Both Yugi and Kaiba have high values of desire. If desire isn't in Joey's equation, that requires him to be even more skillful for Joey's luck >= Yugi's luck.
- This all ignores one important, oft-overlooked factor: Joey has a lot of useless draws/hands. Ergo, the Magic Poker Equation still holds.
- It's obvious! Joey's a probabilopath!
- I thought this theory was pretty much confirmed... oh, you know, the time he ALMOST BEAT MARIK?
- Technically, he did beat Marik. Joey outplayed him, but was unable to declare the winning attack and lost consciousness due to Marik's magic. The match should've been postponed until he regained consciousness, if not outright given to him, but Joey wasn't as strong of soul as Yugi and Kaiba probably paid the ref to give Marik the win if at all possible.
- I thought this theory was pretty much confirmed... oh, you know, the time he ALMOST BEAT MARIK?
- You could also say that Yami Bakura lucked out by already having Dark Necrofear, Dark Sanctuary, and Ouija/Destiny Board cards ready for his big strategy beforehand. And besides, Yugi is the best duelist on the show.
- First duel, though, in episode 13. He didn't even play a monster with more than 1k attack points. And it's implied that Dark Sanctuary is automatic when Dark Necrofear dies. As for Yugi being the best, it's implied he lost a duel to Joey. So Joey > Yugi.
- Nothing is implied, other than Joey getting his Red Eyes back. Yugi could have just decided to give it back for a great duel, and Joey decided to finally accept it.
- Yugi is the best duelist because the plot requires it.
- I disagree; his Ceremonial Duel was far and away the best display of dueling prowess of any duelist in any of the series.
- One other thing, Yami Bakura came close to winning during the Millennium Arc only because of the most broken mill strategy on the planet.
- That's probably why we never saw them play chess, but only the watered down version, Capsule Monsters, against Mokuba. Yugi would have lost. Unless it would have been some kind of shadow game in which the other chess pieces' spirits protect the king, but that would have been too ridiculous, even for Yu-Gi-Oh.
Also, Yugi wins mostly because he believes in the heart of the cards. In the first volumes of the manga, the reasons for his winning were credible. Intuition, logical thinking, etc. But it's hard to stay logical once ancient Egyptian pharaohs enter the picture.
- Ahem. I could counter these two by saying that Kaiba himself wouldn't be able to rely on an arsenal of beatdown pieces, which make many of his duels somewhat one-sided. (And which is the chief reason, pure Seto/Kisara-shippers be damned, that he relies on the Blue Eyes White Dragon.) And if you're talking strategy, it takes a lot more to rely on weaker cards, which he did in his ceremonial duel, on top of actually thinking several steps ahead in his moves. Not to mention that "heart of the cards is mostly 4Kids' doing.
- I agree with most of your points, but Kaiba is incredibly proficient at strategy games. He beat one of the best chess players in the world at age 10 (12 in the Dub). It turned out to be one of the worst things that ever happened to him, but still...
- Kaiba didn't actually win that game against Gozaburo, at least not in the original manga. He cheated. That being said, Kaiba is said to have the best score on all the arcade machines in the manga, so presumably he too is good at a variety of games (it just happens a lot offscreen).
- I agree with most of your points, but Kaiba is incredibly proficient at strategy games. He beat one of the best chess players in the world at age 10 (12 in the Dub). It turned out to be one of the worst things that ever happened to him, but still...
Also, Yami Bakura would have won.
- During Battle City, where he topdecks Osiris/Slifer, I'll give you, but during the Millennium Arc, Yami Bakura relied on the most broken mill deck in the history of the game, and one that shouldn't even exist. And Yugi still proved his ability to think ahead by having just the right monster removed from play until the next turn, ready to deliver the final blow.
- Furthermore, Yugi still would have won in Battle City because Bakura first topdecks Jowgen the Spiritualist, a card that's completely out of place in his deck and there's no reason he would have.
In addition, Mai would be a great duelist. She couldn't beat Marik because she couldn't read the text? That's definitely a plot device. If they had been playing on the table, the way we do in Real Life, then she definitely would have won.
- Yes, but remember in Real Life you can't use Harpie Lady Sisters as the only tribute for Ra or use Amazoness Chainmaster to take a card directly from your foe's deck.
- The problem with this theory is that Yugi is basically good at every game (this isn't shown as much in the anime, but it's made more obvious in the manga) Yugi probably would beat Kaiba at chess, he beat Duke Devlin at Dungeon Dice Monsters (a game which Duke had invented, Yugi had never played before and that Yugi didn't even get to read the rules for. Yugi hadn't even played the capsule monsters chess game before (I think) and he beat Mokuba, who was supposed to be a master at the game.
In addition to this a lot of the ways that Yugi won in the manga at Duel Monsters were also due to logic thinking (Which was the way that Duelist Kingdom rules worked, and even in Battle City, he knew how to beat String's Slifer strategy by decking him out). A lot of the ways Yugi wins are actually more down to him seeing through the opponents strategy, the heart of the cards stuff is there more for dramatic reasons. If the anime was more realistic, Yugi would win every duel in about 4 turns with no difficulty.
Re: The points about rules, Takahashi invents the cards, and he invents the rule sand the rulings on the cards, so he can do whatever he wants.
This WMG seems to be referring to Yami Yugi, not Yugi? But arguably Yami Yugi would still be a very strong player if it was realistic - the Strings duel and Battle City finals against Kaiba come to mind as great examples of his skill and ability to read people's strategies, and these were duels from the periods when the rules of the game were much more consistent within the manga/anime.
- Alternatively, Takahashi is a time traveler, and came back from the future to create the original series solely to give LittleKuriboh the material to make his beloved web series, creating a Stable Time Loop.
- He's a pharaoh. We may not know how pharaohs dressed day-to-day, but have you ever seen the stuff Tut was buried with? The gilding on Tut's coffin? Its practically the uniform of the job.
- Then again, Tut also had a girl of a similar age he was close to. Coincidence? Yes. Or is it?
- I've just been doing a little bit of reading on their culture and it seems Ancient Egyptians all but invented bling, so it doesn't strike me as unusual. What I want to know is how he gets the ones on his legs to have such a tight fit without cutting off the circulation.
- Seconded. Gold was almost 'pluck it off the streets' kind of common in Egypt.
Most people have probably neglected getting their funeral items and burial rituals prepped...
If the Egyptian Afterlife is the only real one, then we also have the Ba Charge issue: that is, Egyptians mummified their corpses on the premise that the conscious-spirit ka would survive only so long as the animal-energy-spirit ba could recharge it through the body. Destroying a mummy killed the soul of the dead person in the Land of Sunset. Because Atem's tomb collapsed, he might have spent about a day in the afterlife before going out like a candle. Go, Yugi.
- Atem's body was destroyed when he sealed Zorc, so there probably isn't anything in the tomb anyway. He needed the Ceremonial Battle to free his spirit.
- That would be a very thinly populated afterlife.
- Atem could rely on Yugi's body for charge. But if he comes back and visits Yugi every night the way his religion stipulates, then it makes the ending kind of a joke and wrecks the bildungsroman. And it puts a weird spin on GX, which is already weird.
- In either case, Yugi needs to locate a good embalmer.
- Y'all forget one thing - in the Yu-Gi-Oh! version of the Egyptian afterlife, people can fuse their ba with their ka to gain immortality at the cost of humanity (see- Dark Magician/Mahad, Dark Magician Girl/Mana, BEWD/Kisara). Presumably, when bodies are destroyed, the ba leaves to to join with the ka, monsterifying the person. "Yami" probably simply had a short human afterlife.
- Does that mean he turned into a Yamask?
- Dan Green apparently voiced Yamask (according to Bulbapedia). Make of that what you will.
- Does that mean he turned into a Yamask?
Namu-Voice-Marik did seem to have a completely different personality from Basic Marik, even more different than Basic Marik is from Dark Marik; but he didn't seem "fake" or flat like "Namu" did.
- Yami Marik mentions that Isis / Ishizu could beat him / Normal!Marik with ease. Not that Isis is a bad duelist, but it doesn't do much to suggest that Marik is a competent duelist if he consistently stood no chance against his own sister.
- When he was ten. A lot has changed since then.
- Which brings up another point: how the hell did they get trading cards underground with no contact from the outside world? And that's ignoring the fact that the card game would've not been created yet or just started six years before the events of the series.
- When he was ten. A lot has changed since then.
- When dueling through Jounouchi, Marik wanted Jounouchi to take Red Eyes from Yugi via Exchange. It would've stopped Yugi from using it, but Marik wouldn't have been able to summon Red Eyes because he didn't have the sacrifices for it.
- His objective was to take the card so a) Yugi couldn't summon it and b) couldn't use it to get through to Joey. It makes sense from that perspective.
- Yami Marik comes two seconds away from losing to freaking Jounouchi. He would've lost had Jounouchi stayed conscious for long enough to attack with Gearfried.
- I have to disagree, when he duelled Jounouchi he only intended to killed his spirit but not to actually win the duel, which is why he was shocked only when Jounouchi almost summonned Gearfried but not when he got no monster on his field after using Ra's effect.
- Even before this, Mai would've beaten Yami Marik with his own god card if it wasn't for that ancient Egyptian chant rule. To put that duel in perspective, Yami Marik has the powers of the shadow realm, an ancient Egyptian lineage, his Millennium Rod, and his god card. Mai's only superpower is of the most-common variety. Muggles Do It Better indeed!
- Marik's entire deck theme revolves around recycling Monster Reborn to revive Ra over and over again... for one turn. And at a cost of 1000LP each go-around. Ra may have a lot of crazy hidden powers, but Marik can actually read the Egyptian card text. He should know full well how Ra works by the time he starts dueling in Battle City.
- Marik tries to summon Ra with Jam Breeding Machine tokens on at least two separate occasions (once against Mai, once against Yugi). This is actually a terrible way to summon Ra. Had he succeeded, Ra would've towered implacably over his opponent with the unstoppable burning fury of... 1500ATK.
- At the same time, he outdueled Yugi for most of their match, before Yugi pulled that "send every single card in your deck to the graveyard" card. It's not that Marik's bad at the game, it's that he expects Ra's power and the shadowgame to do the work for him, draining away his opponent's life force. He knows that won't work against Yami so he doesn't try.
Even outside a duel, he's still stupid.
- "This door is a bitch!"
- The most jarring example of all is the alliance Normal!Marik makes with Yami Bakura. Yami Yugi may have the excuse of not remembering who / what Yami Bakura actually is, but Marik is a tomb-keeper. His entire life's training is about knowing this kind of stuff. Who did he think the evil spirit of the Millennium Ring was, given that said spirit had an odd fixation with collecting all seven Millennium Items and destroying the Pharaoh?
- Yugi uses Dark Hole in the first virtual world arc. Granted, that story arc probably ran a "traditional" format, either by Kaiba's design or from the Big Five messing up the program.
- Another duel in which a player uses broken stuff was the first Yami Bakura vs Yami Yugi duel, where Bakura used two Morphing Jars, cards that have been limited in real life since the day of their release. In a situation like this, Bakura probably wouldn't be worried about how "official" his duel was, so long as he won. It's possible that Man-Eater Bug could have also been forbidden, given that...
- This also explains why the Egyptian God Cards are considered extremely broken. All things considered, the rules for the God Cards in real life aren't all that good. In fact, because they can be killed by a single Man-Eater Bug (see above), it is quite likely that a lot of freebie monster-destroying card effects like Man-Eater Bug and Dark Hole are simply forbidden, if not outright unprinted (or just extremely rare, like Rebecca's Tribute to the Doomed). With cards like that forbidden, taking on a God Card proves far more daunting as you'll have to overpower it to beat it for certain.
- Not so much that as most plot-important monsters are immune to magic, trap, and monster effects. In the show, Man-Eater Bug would not be able to destroy a God Card, unlike in real life.
- If the wiki is correct, the Battle City rules includes a forbidden list that includes all cards that can destroy monsters, as well as most cards that inflict burn damage. Together, this forces players to win by battling with their monsters. That Jonouchi used both when he was mind controlled by Marik was considered a big deal.
- Battle City also had a limited list alongside a forbidden list. During the final battle between Marik and Yugi, Kaiba mentions that a duelist is only allowed one copy of Monster Reborn to a deck. This restriction is why Marik's deck revolved around retrieving Monster Reborn, instead of just loading his deck with three copies. There would probably be other examples of limited cards, but none of them were as relevant to the plot as Monster Reborn considering how important that card is to Marik's strategy.
- In the Japanese version of the show, this is outright stated to be the case.
- Interestingly, this may have some merit; the upcoming Crossover move has the villain, Paradox, going back in time to kill Pegasus before he makes Duel Monsters, supposedly to prevent the game from causing The End of the World as We Know It. If he is to be believed, apparently the Millennium Magic that empowers the cards would've remained dormant and harmless, had the game not been made and brought the magic to the fore in the form of a very accessible medium.
- Jossed. Paradox doesn't go back in time to kill Pegasus before he invents Duel Monsters, since Yugi and his Grandpa are there for a Duel-Cup (the banner over the stage reads "Duel-Cup" in katakana), so Duel Monsters must've been out already. And as we learn in 5D's, the world was destroyed by Synchro Monsters, due to their apparent ability to manipulate organic energy (don't ask) and excessive use of Synchro Summoning caused Momentum to go too fast, causing Zero Reverse, wiping out humanity. So Paradox simply invented Time Travel, went back in time, stole some cards, while riding a motor-cycle, wearing an evil mask and laughing like a maniac, then killed Pegasus to prevent him from inventing Synchro Monsters, (and for some reason went 20 minutes back in time after accomplishing his objective, giving the protagonists a chance to stop him. He didn't want to destroy Duel Monsters, just Synchro Monsters (which Konami seems to be doing too, since they're banning most good Synchro's).
- Alternately, it would cancel out the power of each dragon, like a 1-Hit KO version of the Arrow of Light+Polymerization+Zombie monster technique.
- Purple Eyes Gray Dragon?
- This Troper is still waiting for Red Eyes Black Magician...
- BESD is firmly established as being Kisara, but REBD was never given a human identity; for all we know it's from one of the other eleven dimensions filled with Duel Monsters, one of the ones not inhabited by monsterized human souls.
- This rabid puppyshipper (Kaiba/Jou, for those not in the know) can testify that this is HUGELY popular among this subset of the fandom, to the point where they're almost a Beta Couple. REBD is nearly always given an OC soul and personality. When done right (which it often is), it is freaking adorable. Long story short, if this WMG is confirmed, puppyshippers everywhere will either Squee to death or pull an I Knew It!.
- Rejoice! It is now confirmed Blue Eyes and Red Eyes can officially fuse together as of Bonds of Time. The catch, however, is neither Kaiba nor Jou initiated the monster. It was created through Paradox's masquerading Red Eyes and Blue Eyes.
- Sorry, they don't fuse. Paradox does summon the Sin/Malefic forms of both (he even has both of them in play at the same time, as I recall), but he never fuses them or anything like that.
- Rejoice! It is now confirmed Blue Eyes and Red Eyes can officially fuse together as of Bonds of Time. The catch, however, is neither Kaiba nor Jou initiated the monster. It was created through Paradox's masquerading Red Eyes and Blue Eyes.
- I submit to you this: Light and Darkness Dragon
- Meh. Show me Anzu on a trampoline and I'll consider it.
- If I find a visual of Anzu on a trampoline, I, and any other person interested, would be much too... distracted to share it.
- It's possible that Mana/DMG's spirit somehow has memories from the Millennium World arc, in which case she remembers both Téa and little Yugi, and either thinks they make a good couple, or that Téa and Yami will make a good couple until Yami joins the afterlife and becomes a monster spirit (according to one of the other theories on this page). That, or you're right, and DMG senses herself in Téa. It appears that by the later episodes, Dark Magician Girl's card has gained the power to summon Mana's spirit, instead of just an image of her, so...
- No. His conscious is suppressed by Yami Bakura 90% of the time. He isn't the slightest bit aware of what goes on. 5% of the time Yami Bakura poses as him. the other 5% he stands in the background.
- ...Or that's what he wants you to think.
- Still no. It's clear that he could easily be unaware of what his dark side is doing with his body, Yugi didn't have a clue that the pharaoh was even around until they met face to face. He even stated that he blacked out with no recollections later on. Hosts are only aware if their alternates let them be aware. The pharaoh and Yugi were equal partners, which is much different, and Marik's case is a little different. Plus Yami Marik is kind of a dick anyway, so he'd let Marik see exactly what he's doing with his body.
- I kinda agree. While he is unconscious for most of the time, he DOES know that the ring is evil. Have you read the manga, disagreeing troper? The thing stabs him in the chest. And he makes Yami Bakura heavily injure his own hand. And yet he still carries the ring around for most of the time. Even after repeatedly causing harm.
- However, I do have a different theory on it. I don't think that he's evil, I think that Yami Bakura managed to convince him that he does everything for a greater good.
- Also, Ryou had definitely an "outsider" position among the group. This was especially harsh in the last story arc of the manga, where everybody gathers around to enter the pharaoh's memories, but Ryou was excluded. Yami Bakura was the only person Bakura had, almost literally, since his family was who knows where. (Fanon (or season 0?) states that they all died in a car crash, which makes Ryou's writing his sister Amane a letter really creepy.) It was also shown at various points that Yami Bakura kind of cared about him, and wanted him to be on his side. Even if it was for selfish reasons, it's possible that Ryou reacted to it. I don't think that it would be wrong to assume that they had some kind of twisted friendship or even relationship (minus the blood and BDSM stuff from the fanfiction).
- No. His conscious is suppressed by Yami Bakura 90% of the time. He isn't the slightest bit aware of what goes on. 5% of the time Yami Bakura poses as him. the other 5% he stands in the background.
- That brings ups a rather interesting point in the manga, where in the Museum the spirit explains that his host built the table top game they are using, not himself, Ryou Bakura. I'm not agreeing he's evil, this could have easily been the spirit messing with Ryou's head, making him believe it was his idea to build the table for his Monster World game or for the Museum (if this is in fact the museum Ryou's father works for, since he's a curator). Or, after regaining his memories, he tricked Bakura into believing he was the victim (his village being destroyed and his people sacrificed in the name of the Pharaoh) and Ryou believed he was the real good guy trying to avenge his family. So much like the audience's point of view, we believed the Spirit was Thief King who wanted revenge, the only difference was we saw the big reveal - the Spirit of the Ring was never the Thief King, but the Big Bad using him as a puppet to revive himself. So somewhere during the manga, Ryou could have been helping the Spirit as an ally, or I'm just talking nonsense ;p
- In the beginning of the Millennium World arc, Bakura takes back the ring from Rex and Weevil after they mistakenly stole it from Yugi. Now, if the evil spirit is contained in the ring, how is he controlling Ryou to take it back? Further more, by this point he at least vaguely realizes that whatever is in that ring likes to possess and use him to be a Big Bad and therefore he should probably stay out of contact with it. This troper seriously doesn't believe Ryou is as much of an Innocent Bystander as he'd like the people around him to think.
- Yami Bakura has been shown to be capable of putting a fraction of his soul in Yugi's puzzle. It's certainly possible that he left a fragment or more of his soul in Bakura's body.
- At the beginning of that episode, there's a scene where Ryou is trying to escape Bakura's spirit (or something) by hiding in a church. Bakura then says that the two of them still have a mission to complete. And (quoted from the 4kids version) Bakura says "Does the term 'millennium items' sound familliar? You promised to help me obtain all seven." Ryou knew what Bakura was planning all along and had promised to help. If Bakura had forced Ryou to promise to help, then don't you think Ryou would have mentioned something about Bakura's plan to Yugi by now? Yugi had the Millennium Ring, so Bakura couldn't have controlled Ryou in order to stop him from telling Yugi without someone noticing. After Bakura mentions Ryou's promise, he takes control of Ryou. It's not the kind of thing he could do in front of Yugi without Yugi noticing. Going back to the "Bakura and Ryou have some kind of twisted friendship" theory mentioned above, I'd like to suggest that maybe Ryou had Stockholm syndrome for a while, and that's why he promised to help Bakura.
- Why is he hiding in a church? Answer: he's possessed by a demon and he's hoping that the church will provide him sanctuary, or that there will be someone there who can exorcise it. The demon, however, manages to break his will by reminding him of the promise he was tricked into making that got him possessed in the first place. It doesn't matter what the evil spirit told him he was going to use the Millennium Items for, or even why Ryou agreed to it; all that matters was that he gave his consent to the evil spirit to use his body, and that consent, once given, cannot be revoked by force of will alone.
- Another possibility is that he was somewhat resentful of his situation in the beginning (though this entire conversation is presuming we're ignoring the original series, where he explicitly tells Bakura to get out of him upon finding out what the ring is and what it does), but quickly realized what Bakura was actually willing to do, and got cold feet. By Season Five, he's definitely regretting his 'choice', considering he was obviously terrified out of his wits during the scene at the beginning of episode 199. Also, you're basing that 'promise' on the dub; in the original, Bakura merely says that Ryou has a 'duty', possibly implying that he considers it Ryou's duty to serve Bakura's interests as his host/hikari/whatever. Also, after Ryou wakes up in episode 220 in the original, after Bakura ditched him to go into the Memory World, he says he was 'chasing something' (possibly a dazed memory of running away from Bakura, or could mean that he was chasing sanctuary), then blacked out. That particular line would support the most common interpretation of the two; that Bakura suppresses Ryou when he takes over.
- It's very likely that Bakura has Stockholm Syndrome. As of Dark Side of Dimensions, Bakura recieved the Ring as a very small child and the Spirit possessed him immediately. Even if he didn't start hearing the Spirit of the Ring until he met Yugi, look at the parallels in Season Zero. From as soon as Yugi finished the puzzle to the time Yami Yugi made contact with him, Yugi experienced blackouts that consistently correlated with people who hurt or bully him either dead or out-of-their-mind hallucinating from a Penalty Game. And Yami Yugi only did that for a relatively short time before revealing himself, and gets forgiven, to boot! Yami Bakura demonstrably does the same thing to a gym teacher who bullied Bakura, and if he started right away, too, that could be on the order of ten years of bullies going into comas. In Duelist Kingdom, he claims that he's changed his ways and just wants to help Bakura's friends to persuade him to put the Ring back on, and it's only after sweettalk fails that he resorting to threats. And even when he's actively going against Bakura's wishes by attacking his friends, Yami Bakura tries to gaslight him by claiming he's just granting Bakura's wish to have friends who will never leave him. (If you're keeping score, putting all his friends in comas did a very effective job of socially isolating Bakura up until he made a friend who could fight back.) This is a pattern of behaviour. Yami Bakura is a textbook emotional abuser, and doesn't resort to force with Bakura if lies and manipulation will do the trick.
Now think about how easy it would be for him to claim that he's been protecting Bakura all these years by getting rid of people who pose a threat to him. They're not around to speak up for themselves, so Yami Bakura can say whatever he wants about their intentions or the danger they posed. Given the apparent population of over-the-top bullies in canon, he might not even have to stretch the truth that much with some of them. When the only voice around is the one claiming to be doing everything for your sake, it gets a lot easier to believe that voice. Bakura built the Millennium World map because Yami Bakura had been grooming him all series to be a more compliant host. Yami Bakura doesn't need magic to make Bakura keep the Ring; the mundane psychology that keeps people from leaving abusive situations has already done the work for him.
- Judging by the amount of gold in furnace and the amount used to cast the artifacts, there should be a significant amount of waste metal containing bits of 99 souls lying somewhere in Egypt or other parts of the Sahara Desert. This waste alloy may lack the extra enchantments used to create the items but I think that the Shadow Games have a chance of a coming back should a greater magical force supplement the exist magic in the waste material.
- Off to write a fanfic using Duel Discs that have pieces of Millenium Magic-ified gold in them...
- In Season Zero, there was a boy named Haiyama-Kun. He's very meek and such. Yuugi even says he reminds him of himself before he completed the puzzle. However, near the end of the episode, you see that he had been manipulating another boy. During school he has black hair in a bowl-cut. When Honda arrives and sees him, he has a Bakura-esk smirk, as well as purple hair that sticks up. This is the only time you see him not acting shy or scared. I have a feeling that either somebody decided to make his glasses out of those scraps or that he has a small item made from there which contains a Yami.
- They both have orange hats as well as long, scraggly brown hair, not to mention Rex's vest is the same color as Chester's coat.
- Well, there is a special from Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged, wherein Rex and Weevil watch Silent Hill and comment on it in a MST3k-ish fashion. And considering a WMG that says that the abridged version is actually the canon...
- Sigereth, for those unfamiliar with Exalted, is a powerful demoness known by the sobriquet of "the Player of Games". As the title implies, her powers revolve around challenging people to games of chance and/or skill for ridiculously high stakes—think memories, skills, you body and soul...Sound familiar, anyone? Demons in Exalted are basically Sealed Evil in a Can—and the only way to break the seal for good is to corrupt the mortal realm until it's indistinguishable from the demonic one. Accordingly, Sigereth introduced the Shadow Games to the Yu-Gi-Oh world, knowing that the immense power inherent in them would be an enormous temptation to anyone who knew of their existence. The scary part is, her plan seems to be working—the Yu-Gi-Oh universe is getting steadily Darker and Edgier with each new installment, and this seems to coincide with how widespread Duel Monsters becomes among average people...
- I'd buy that. Word of God has it that Yami was pretty evil to begin with (and the way he acts in Season Zero supports that idea) but Yugi just "rubbed off on him" somehow until he mellowed out enough to start being nicer, but it's very believable that Yugi's simply a Morality Pet of sorts and the only one who's really important to him... Though, then again, by that same logic, it was Yugi's relatonship with his friends, not specifically Yugi himself, which influenced Yami's change from Sociopathic Hero to a guy with only the occaisonal bout of What the Hell, Hero? syndrome. So... maybe they at least influenced him, I dunno.
- Really, it's just likely that he's much closer to Yugi: they do, after all, share a body and the term "Soul Mates" isn't too far off the mark. Few people admit to having "favourite" best friends, but I reckon a lot of people with anything approaching True Companions do.
- Saving the world was kind of a dub thing, to be fair. Sub/manga Yami more often mentions personal motivations for what he does - getting Grandpa back in DK, getting his memories back/stopping Marik's reign of insanity in BC. In addition, that he only says goodbye to Yugi may also be because he thinks it cuts the other way - that is, that the others only care about Yugi and not him (or not as much). In the manga Millennium World arc especially he always seems surprised and moved when the others do something to help him given that he's separated from Yugi at the time. That and there's several instances where he puts himself (and Yugi, by extension) in danger to help the others - for instance, taking Ra's attack for Joey and Mai - and his face when Kaiba asks if he can sacrifice Joey if he has to (the death duel on the dock) kind of suggests otherwise. However, I'd say it's pretty reasonable to suggest most of the group has someone else they consider their closest friend amongst the others - for Yugi I'd say it's Joey, Joey it's probably Yugi (though he has a kind of bro thing with Honda/Tristan), Anzu it's probably Yami or Yugi and Yami I'd say you could make a convincing argument that he feels closest to either Yugi, Joey or Anzu for different reasons (Tristan seems to fall under The Friends Who Never Hang with everyone except Joey, at least on a one to one basis).
- This was explored by LeDiz in her fanfiction, ''Akh''. In which she dealt with the concepts of the Egyptian Ka and Ba: which are two different parts that together with a bunch of other bits make up a human being?s mind and body... (I think that Ka was the soul while Ba was the physical essence, but I may have that backwards). The original Pharaoh from 3000 years ago was a whole being, made up of both a Ka and a Ba, but when he gave up his life to save the world, his spirit separated and was sealed within the Millennium puzzle ...Or at least a part of his spirit was. The problem being that you can?t seal a physical body into a piece of metal so Atem?s Ba (or Ka, whichever) was left outside while the other, spiritual half was sealed within the puzzle. The Ba of course died straight away without a soul to complete it. But the clencher here is that rather than vanishing altogether, it reincarnated again, and again, and again. The first time it was probably still too weak to survive ? the newborn Ka-less Ba's would?ve been cot deaths, or else died very young ? but eventually, after millenia worth of reincarnations gradually getting stronger and stronger, the Ba became strong enough to exist on its own. That Ba is Yugi.
- What this says about Atem (the Ka) going back to the afterlife without Yugi (the Ba) is anyone?s guess, though this troper would like to think it doesn?t matter since the whole story was about Yugi learning to be indepdent and that should still apply, whether he?s half a soul or not.
- Also by this logic, Yami Yugi is probably not really Pharaoh Atem, since Atem was a combination of Ka and Ba, and if Yami is only one of those two....
- What this says about Atem (the Ka) going back to the afterlife without Yugi (the Ba) is anyone?s guess, though this troper would like to think it doesn?t matter since the whole story was about Yugi learning to be indepdent and that should still apply, whether he?s half a soul or not.
- Alternately, rather than splitting into Ba and Ka, the split was the Light side of the soul and the Dark side, which is why Yami was so evil when he was first unleashed, and Yugi was so ridiculously nice and naive. Eventually the positive and negative emotions bled over into one another, enabling Yugi to be aggressive and better understanding of if people are trying to take advantage of him, and Yami became more gentle and kindhearted. That's why Yami could move on- Yugi had become whole due to the time with Yami, and so Yami could move on to the afterlife, as the split was more even rather than +/-. Presumably, when Yugi kicks it, the two will reunite before the next reincarnation.
- Egypt likely mastered Duel Monsters, at least based off Shadow Magic. The Doma Arc revealed there was an entire dimension of them, and would've been used by previous civilizations. The Egyptians merely manipulate Shadow Magic, and create monsters through this.
- I figured it was started by the Egyptians but when Pegasus created the card game he added some monsters that weren't from Egypt. Like toon monsters for instance, seriously doubt those were in Egypt.
- Facehugger Millenium-ring?
- Or perhaps it mind-controlled Honda into thinking he threw the Ring away, but instead put it back on Bakura's neck.
- In fact, if you read the Millennium World arc, you will realize that Kaiba's the hero of the whole damn story.
- How? Assuming you're talking about Priest Seto, since Kaiba doesn't show up in the manga version of the arc, and barley contributes to defeating Zorc, how exactly is he the hero of the whole story? Supporting protagonist maybe, but he spends so much time standing around, talking to his father, and then needing to be saved from him. I'd really love to hear an explanation of this. Just out of curiosity. Oh, also, they said the anime is pandering, not the manga.
- Insane Mass Guessing: The anime is pandering to Your Shipping Of Choice. This troper is sad that it is not true, especially with this troper's shipping—it seems to be the Butt-Monkey of the Yu-Gi-Oh fandom.
- Further Insane Mass Guessing: LittleKuriboh is a fan of Seto/Joey. "Love to love ya, baby..."
- Except that in the manga, people actually notice that there's a difference.
- This could be just because (as I think is remarked on toward the beginning of the manga) of the major difference in their expressions, posture, and voice—as a blindfolded Anzu said in the first volume, "Is that voice... Yugi!? No! They're similar, but too different! It's impossible! This voice is confident, not shy like Yugi's!" Remember, before he solved the puzzle, Yugi was a introvert whose only friends were the two guys who bullied him daily and a girl he spoke to every once in a while. Apparently he was so extremely shy that any display of confidence couldn't possibly be his doing.
- Given proof in the very beginning of the Millennium World manga: when the gang question whether Yugi will be going to the museum after school. It's Yugi in control, and his posture is greatly drawn out (slightly straight back, both arms on his desk, feet firmly planted on the ground.) When he says "Why don't you hear from (the other me) for yourselves?" and switches control, the very next scene is Atemu sitting in a very different position from Yugi (slouching in his seat, one arm cast over the backrest, legs crossed and extended).
- The trope Worf Effect exists for a reason. Have you actually paid attention to any of her subsequent duels? She loses them for bigger overarching plot reasons, in spite of dueling extremely well. One's skill is not determined solely by the end result.
- Of course, this doesn't really explain the hair on the ancient carvings.
- Who says it's hair? It could have been a fancy wig.
- Regardless of if it was a wig or natural, it should have still been subject to gravity. I could maybe accept a handwave of Yugi's style being because of hair gel (or someone replaced his hair gel with superglue for a prank, as a friend of mine once joked) but I don't think Atem would have had anything back in ancient Egypt that could give either natural hair or a wig that much hold....
- The Puzzle Did It.
- Maybe it's actually a headdress?
- Who says it's hair? It could have been a fancy wig.
- The only problem I have with that is the flashbacks of other characters who didn't have their memories wiped, only sealed, also have this effect. Most notable is when Isis/Ishizu shows Kaiba some "visions of the past" in the museum. The ancient priest Seto goes through about 3 different hats in various flashbacks (not in the same episode) and Atem's outfit is different in several flashbacks as well.note Not to mention that none of the flashbacks set in ancient EGYPT show the characters with tan skin. Aside from the Ishtars and Shadi, no glimpse of Egypt has the characters with darker skintones until the actual Memory World arc. And since Isis/Ishizu was using her Millennium Item to look directly into the past rather than having a flashback, I would assume her visions would be the most accurate. Instead they show a battle that never happened in the Memory World arc, complete with a character that seems to be an Egyptian version of Jounouchi/Joey that is never seen in Atem's actual memories! Personally I blame the series author. I think it's possible that he didn't have the characters' Egyptian appearances set in stone at the time he drew those scenes, and by the time the actual Memory World arc came around the character models had changed and he had scrapped the Egyptian Jounouchi/Joey.
- ...Actually, A Wizard Did It might be the most likely explanation. The Memory World game at the end of the series was implied to be rewriting history (Zorc was attempting to retcon his original loss), and it might have written in Yugi's hair as the Pharaoh's hair as a side effect! And the reason all the flashbacks are different is that the ripple effects of history shifting around were taking effect very slowly.
- In the Manga Yugi didn't start looking that much like Atem until he got the Millenium Puzzle which might mean that Atem must have had some influence on Yugi's hairstyle.
- Though I have a hard time imagining what Honda could possibly have gone on to do that he'd deserve to come back as Rimmer.
- It's possible to have occular-only albinism. That could be his natural skin color and his hair is just white.
- Historically, Pharaohs were war chiefs as much as administrators and religious leaders. And in ancient times, the general led from the front. Atem having combat training makes perfect sense in that context. And it's pretty obvious that he was very fit. Combat training from a young age would explain that. (As would being very rich, and thus having access to good food, in the days before burgers.)
- Seconded. Part of the reason Takahashi was said to have chosen games as a medium was because he wanted to use a form of conflict that was non-contact - in other words, he gives the impression of someone that dislikes physical violence and depictions of it. Duels in all their forms are metaphors for people fighting with one another and themselves to overcome their limitations. If it weren't for this, Atem would probably be explicitly shown physical fighting - heck, his use of the Dark Magician and strategic moves rather than raw strength could be seen as a metaphor for the ways he would compensate for his small physical size, as opposed to the tall Seto who would be predisposed to focusing on overpowering his enemies.
- I'm pretty sure that after 3,000 years there wouldn't be any viable DNA left. On the other hand, the stuff Kaiba does with holograms probably isn't possible either, at least with today's technology.
- There have been a few Egyptian documentaries where they successfully get DNA from mummies such as ol' Tutankhamun with today's technology. The series never really gives much hint about the level of medical and genetic technology, but if it's on par with the hologram and computer tech...all they'd need to do is be able to clone stuff and find a DNA sample.
- If that's true, then Marik/Malik and Ishizu/Isis shouldn't be as...normal as they are. 5000/3000 years of family inbreeding is NOT good for a gene pool. Although it might be possible that a recessive genetic disorder contributed to the psycho that is Yami Marik/Malik. It's also made more likely by the fact that in Ancient Egyptian tradition, lineage was inherited from the mother's blood, not the father's (at least when it came to royals). A man had to marry a princess to have a claim to the throne, which is why so many pharaohs ended up marrying their sisters/half-sisters. So this would probably also mean that Atem was married to his sister/half-sister back then too....
- They had possesion of a magical artifact. I wouldn't be surprised if the Millenium Items removed any genetic disorders.
- Another thing is that, in some ancient cultures, if a man wanted a woman to marry him, and she was unwilling, he would just rape her. This would allow him to "claim" her as his wife, since no one else would want her. Why the hell would Marik's mother have married a man like her husband, unless she was forced to?
- Ancient Egypt wasn't one of those cultures, and women actually had more rights than in most other cultures, including keeping their own pre-wedding property, entitlement to up to one third of the marital property, and divorce, so if Marik's father had tried to rape her their parents would have punished him. On the other hand, duty to the gods supercedes anything, so if the only way to continue the line of the Tombkeepers was to marry a jerkass she'd have to do it.
Only until you think about it for a while and realize that they must have been brainwashed by the Puzzle to make friends with Yugi. And to be absolutely loyal to him.Well, Jounochi did bring back the puzzle piece he stole before the puzzle was completed, but even then it could be strongly considered, that he was mindcontrolled by the piece, which used him as a tool to become reunited with the rest of the Puzzle.And even Anzu, who liked him before, didn`t seem to be a really close friend to him (at least not as close as later in the manga/series), so even she might have been brainwashed.The Fridge Horror goes even further. The complete quote is: "Friends who would never betray me and friends whom I would never betray" So maybe the puzzle even brainwashed Yugi himself to become absolutely loyal to his new "friends".This makes the whole "Friendship is the best thing in the world" message of Yu-Gi-Oh a bit icky.
- TECHNICALLY, you're supposed to say what a card does every time you use it, in case your opponent isn't familiar with the card (it's sometimes hard to read an opponents card, since it's upside-down to you). The yelling is just Rule of Cool.
- The distance between duelists using Duel Disks or the Duel Arenas is enough that you'd have to yell just to be heard. Otherwise, yes, it's Rule of Cool.
- If they do another crossover movie, the other 4 main characters will lampshade this.
- Do they even NEED a girl as the main character to attract female fans? I doubt it. All my female friends who like this series enjoy it for one reason: THE MEN. Just look at Otogi/Duke, Bakura, and the Pharaoh himself. If they really want to get more female fans they need to either make new sexy characters (or bring back old sexy characters for that matter) and make sure that children's card games are not the main focus of the series. I'm not saying they should change it to a Romantic Plot Tumor, I'm thinking more...slice of life. Or more like the first seven volumes of the manga that Season 0 was based off of. The title, Yu-Gi-Oh!, translates as "King of Games" after all. Not "King of Card Games" or "King of Duel Monsters" or "King of One Specific Game and No Other". It's "King of Games". That's games plural, as in "more than one". Plus it was a little more identifiable with audiences, having a series where people actually got punished for bullying instead of getting away with it like they do in real life. Yet few people, if any, can identify with having to win a card game to save the world from ancient evil magic. (One of my friends loves to watch Season 0 and imagine that everyone who gets a penalty game is replaced with someone who used to bully her in real life.) Oh, and throw in a bunch of Shirtless Scenes or even some Walking Shirtless Scenes and you'll have the female fans hooked for sure.
- Even if it wasn't to attract more female fans (there's hardly a shortage of them in the fandom anyway), having a girl protagonist would be nice. Though, with the fandom, she'd probably be a Launcher of a Thousand Ships.
- This is just splitting hairs. 277 years difference isn't that much when you are counting in millenia. The Pharaoh was probably just rounding or estimating (it's not like they were using the Julian Calendar back then anyway).
- True on the part of the calendar, but then this is wild mass guessing for a reason.
- Personally, I don't agree with the 'two halves of one soul' theory, but I understand the reasoning behind it and your WMG. Yet there is one glaring problem I see and would like explained. Egyptian religious practices regarding the afterlife pretty much required the body to remain in tact for the Ba and the Ka to live on after death. It's a big part of why they wanted to preserve bodies through mummification. And yet in every continuity of the manga or anime that I have seen, when it shows the inside of Atem's tomb there is no sarcophagus or anything else to indicate a mummy was ever there. (Here's the scene where Yuugi's grandpa finds the Puzzle several thousand years after Atem's death. Do you see a mummy in that burial chamber?) So my problem with the theory is this: How could the Yuugi half of the soul have been reborn all those times without a body to keep the Ba and Ka 'alive'? I could maybe understand the Yami half surviving if his being trapped inside the Puzzle functioned as a type of magical stasis, but the Yuugi half had no such means to preserve itself. Thus shouldn't the Yuugi half of the soul have 'died'note for real before it even got the chance to reincarnate once?
- Unfortunately, Takahashi never bothered to get his facts right about Egyptian religion when doing the manga, so we'll never know what Yuugi actually is to Yami, seeing how he was only addressed as 'the destined vessel' during the series. But supposing that Takahashi knew what he was doing... what Solomon was looking for was the puzzle box, wasn't it? So the room that they're in when they find it could have been another chamber made solely to guard the puzzle, whereas the pharaoh's body was kept in another one.
- I was under the impression that Solomon didn't know exactly what was in the tomb other than some 'fantastic game' that no one had beaten. Also, I could have sworn that at some part during the manga, Solomon called the room with the puzzle in it the burial chamber, but I can't remember where I saw it since my copy of the English manga seems to be worded slightly differently than every single online scan.
- Unfortunately, Takahashi never bothered to get his facts right about Egyptian religion when doing the manga, so we'll never know what Yuugi actually is to Yami, seeing how he was only addressed as 'the destined vessel' during the series. But supposing that Takahashi knew what he was doing... what Solomon was looking for was the puzzle box, wasn't it? So the room that they're in when they find it could have been another chamber made solely to guard the puzzle, whereas the pharaoh's body was kept in another one.
- If that were true, she'd be Atem's wife as well. The ancient Egyptians believed that royal blood was passed down through the mother's side of the family, so a king usually had to marry a royal princess in order to maintain a legit legal claim over the throne. And yet there's no evidence that he's married at all. For example, in that scene where he wakes up in bed◊ (infamous among some friends of mine due to Atem being shirtless) it doesn't exactly look like he's leaving room for a second person who's just gotten up to use the bathroom or something.... Said friends and I think his dad was actually unable to have kids, and Atem's mom was an ancient goddess in mortal form who was able to literally godmod around the infertility thing. The goddess-mom idea is our explanation for why Atem seems so sexy, as well as why he appears to have no siblings.
- Add that to the few but noticeable moments the two get (chief among these: in the manga, Kaiba, not Serenity, saves Jou's life after his mind-controlled duel with Yugi in the Battle City storyline), the whole BEWD versus REBD thing, their Red Oni, Blue Oni relationship, all those nicknames (let's face it, "puppy" sounds more like a pet name than anything else, and even "mutt" is a bit...eh), and the similarities in their personalities, and it's a wonder this ship doesn't have more fans.
- The people he sees in the afterlife makes that scene pretty confusing, seeing is half the people there either became duel monsters or got completely reincarnated. It's easier to think he's in the afterlife if you ignore that particular scene.
- This troper's pet theory is that Atem went to the Afterlife of the past. Since then, Mahado went back to being the Black Magician and all the other priests reincarnated...which means Atem reincarnated into Yugi.
- Same troper again. I just started reading the manga, and Shadi's mind-control of Yoshimori and Anzu also fits here.
- Seeing how Takahashi made tons of inconsistencies during the series (in the card game and Egyptian history/culture for instance) I would say that the power of the Millennium Items are random at best, is because the the author did whatever he did for convenience sake, and later forgot about what he had written. (Indeed, the soul switching thing would have been very useful during Yami Marik's duel).
- Some of the things you mention don't happen in the manga at all. The puzzle was never used to swap Bakura and Yami Bakura, for example. They killed Yami Bakura in the shadow game, and then Bakura's avatar in the RPG was able to use healing magic to restore Bakura. Also I don't believe Yami Bakura ever summoned real duel monsters such as those Man-Eater Bugs (I could be mistaken, haven't read that part in a while). The powers of the items are a bit more consistent in the manga, so I think part of it can be blamed on Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole.
- Consider than in the course of the various series, they've been used as throwing weapons, been immersed in water/dropped in the dirt, been bent at sharp angles, yet still remain pristine. This has been a Headscratcher for me for a while, but having them be made of a plastic that returns to form makes it make sense.
- Joey never actually attacks anyone with Time Wizard in the series (understandable, since its ATK is a paltry 500), but I have a theory that the little fella has a different attack for every possible number that Magic/Trap/Monster effects can boost his ATK to (I know his powers, when shown, involve him aging the world around him, but bear with me here.)
- 500 or below: He just conks the opponent with his staff.
- Between 500 & 1000: Travels back to prehistory; comes back dressed in a leopard-skin loincloth, holding a giant club that he conks the opponent with.
- Between 1000 & 1500: Travels back to Medieval Japan; comes back dressed as a samurai, holding a katana that he cuts the opponent open with.
- Between 1500 & 2000: Travels back to the Age of Sail and comes back dressed as a pirate captain, complete with an entire fleet of pirate ships training its cannons on the opponent.
- Higher than 2000: Travels back to World War II and drops a nuke on the opponent.
- One thing that confused this troper was how Marik wasn't a reincarnation of anyone, despite both his siblings and his father having had past lives. Marik's father is clearly Priest Akhenadem's reincarnation — they look identical, and they're both fairly evil — and Set was Akhenadem's son. Both boys use the Millennium Rod, and their facial features are quite similar. Also, in this universe, souls are made up of different sections. It's not too hard to imagine part of Set's soul coming back as Marik.
Her first paper was on that whole Atlantis fiasco, which would have gotten her laughed out of any self-respecting academic institution but for the fact that she could produce corroborating evidence. After Zero Reverse, she went to South America to perform a detailed study on the Nazca Lines. By the time she publishes her thesis, people have already begun to take the prospect of Duel Monsters being ancient and supernatural seriously (they are, after all, attempting to harness their supernatural properties to power reactors), so she does pass her dissertation defense (cue PhD in dueling jokes.)
- Gladly. Milo wouldn't see a reason to leave the city or move to Japan.
- Plus, Atlantis: The Lost Empire is set in the year 1914. Whether Milo aged like normal while in Atlantis or whether he and Kida will stay young for centuries, it is logically impossible for them to have a teenaged son in the late '90s or early 2000s. Their hypothetical children would be either extremely old or else still basically infants due to the power of the crystals.
- Potentially they could have stayed young, had a kid some time in the 1980s-ish, and then their kid was for some reason taken away from them and didn't have a crystal or something like that and therefore aged normally.
- Plus, Atlantis: The Lost Empire is set in the year 1914. Whether Milo aged like normal while in Atlantis or whether he and Kida will stay young for centuries, it is logically impossible for them to have a teenaged son in the late '90s or early 2000s. Their hypothetical children would be either extremely old or else still basically infants due to the power of the crystals.
- This was in fact the case when the card game first came out, youngster.
- They were never that rare. Starter decks inevitably contained at least one or two cards with over 2000 attack. In the show, on the other hand, especially in Duelist Kingdom, people are repeatedly shocked by the playing of cards like Red Eyes. Most people, it would seem, have never seen a monster with over 1500 attack, a theory that gains further credance when you consider some of the cards that both Yugi and Kaiba, a pair of excellent duelists use (Mammoth Graveyard, Celtic Guardian, Hitotsumi Giant) and which are treated as very good cards. It's also why you didn't have to sacrifice in order to summon powerful cards—the odds of you having a powerful monster were next to nil anyway. Perhaps stars back then indicated rarity or somesuch. Then Kaiba coopted the game and altered the rules for Battle City.
Yugi's wish for friends couldn't have been granted by the Puzzle, since Jounouchi's first act as a friend was to give him the last piece, meaning that they were already friends before it was even solved. At one point, Yami even says that Yugi made those friends himself, and it wasn't only because of Yami. Yugi's second wish, to see Yami again, was the natural consequence of solving the Puzzle and therefore didn't need to be granted by it.
All said and done, it's actually kind of scary that the 4-headed card will never get to be played.
But only 3 of the same card can be in your deck(Kaiba says this is why he tore up the fourth one, so it couldn't be took and become an enemy), so how would he get to fuse all 4 if he could only have 3? Maybe it could be a fusion of the Ultimate and Shining Dragon.
- Kaiba's Clone Dragon could be used to make a 4th Blue-Eyes.
- I don't recall if it was in the anime, manga, or both, but somewhere during the "rematch" with Zorc it is stated that Atem opted for the sealing method because he wasn't "strong enough" for a complete victory the first time around. It doesn't outright say that Atem lost, but it is vague....
- Makes sense with his persona - he's trained to be the leader who is single-mindedly righteous and able to protect everyone. Had he fought Zorc to the last instead of sealing himself, many more people would have died in addition to Egypt being ruined (this is pretty much what happened in Millennium World - a good deal of his guards were wiped out and the city was incredibly wrecked). By limiting the damage he goes against his own persona and training that he should be able to protect and win. Some form of deep rooted, subconscious PTSD may be kicking in every time he nears a loss - he died the last time he had to draw Zorc to a stalemate, so what must (Ra forbid) completely losing something be like? That's why he needs Yugi - who doesn't have to deal with these sort of stakes - to help him get back some proportion.
- Diabound never beat Obelisk- in the first fight at the palace, Obelisk knocked Diabound down. Part of the reason it was able to beat Slifer is because Atem had to use Slifer to protect the people in the streets below, and took several hits as a result. Slifer was only beaten at that point because he attempted to use it as a decoy so the others could defeat Bakura's invisibility power. Most of Diabound's strength comes from its special abilities, stealing/copying other's powers, or growing as Bakura acquires the Millennium Items.
- Also, Diabound was also Worf'ed by Ra since it had nowhere to hide. Diabound could only compare to Ra since it had stolen Slifer's power.
- Confirmed with the Aesir in 5DS.
- Necrolancer?
- One of the few times this Dead Horse Meme actually works, since ZONE from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s has a deck revolving around Timelords.
- He certainly dresses the part.
- There are few things that point to it being possible that he has (possibly subconscious) memories of what happened 3000 years ago:
- Ryou is specifically stated to have made the Memory World game and it includes NPCs that the Spirit of the Ring doesn't know about like the guardian of memories. If he had made the board simply based on the Spirit's instructions, it would make no sense for those gamepieces to exist. (Also, if the Spirit was going to guide Ryou every step of the way, one would think he wouldn't put emphasis on the fact that his host had made it and had done a very good job.)
- Ryou's Monster World scenario, which has no indication to have been made by the Spirit (and was made before the Spirit recovered his memories anyway), has Zorc as the final boss.
- It's made clear in the manga that the Spirit is Zorc, not the Thief King. So it's possible that the Thief King was reincarnated like Priest Seto.
- Unlike Akhenaden, the Thief King is never shown to have successfully made a pact with Zorc. This is why the Spirit's "partner" throughout Memory World is Akhenaden's mummy and no mention is made of what happened to the Thief King in the original timeline so it's safe to assume that he died in a way similar to what happened in Memory World.
- The Spirit specifically states that Ryou is his only possible host, which is why he refuses to risk Ryou's life in Battle City and chooses to take Osiris' attack. This would be fairly odd if Ryou had no link with what happened 3000 years ago. Especially since, unlike Yugi and Yami, his personality is a poor match for the Spirit.
- Presumably, they'd last the same way Yugi's Exodia cards did.
- This may not be so far off: in ARC-V, we see that the parallel universe equivalent of Duel Academy in the Fusion Dimension is essentially a military base and the staging point of the invasion of alternate Heartland.
- It would explain why they seemed nearly fearless when biking off a cliff to catch a rope ladder hanging from a helicopter and why things, like Yugi losing his soul in front of them and it turning out that Yugi was a Pharaoh in his past life, didn't seem to phase these two mostly ordinary boys nearly as much as it should have. Nothing is too scary or surprising when you "know" you're dreaming.
- It would make Rex's suddenly villainous behavior a lot more believable as he'd been a mostly decent, if jerkish, guy before all this.
- It would also explain why Haga (a usually smart, if ass-holish, guy) seemed to catch an Idiot Ball in taunting Yami by telling him that he Yugi's soul was inside a card, then ripping it up afterwards. Everything looked to be going his way and so he assumed that there would be no repercussions for venting some anger on what he saw as a dream manifestation of the person who'd ruined his dueling career.
- When they both woke up in perfectly good condition, without Yugi or anyone else around to prove that everything had happened, they assumed that it had just been a dream and then went on their merry way without ever discussing the incident in detail later. As for why they still seemed so determined to defeat their rivals despite knowing they were just dreaming, well, if you found yourself caught in a lucid dream, what would you do? Whatever you want, probably. They chose to live out their fantasies, for just a fleeting bit of joy. Thus, their treating it more like a fun game when they joined the cult without seeming too somber about the whole thing. Just a fantasy.
- Which, in the original Japanese, becomes even more plausible. Haga had only hinted at some interest in Tea/Anzu back in Battle City, calling her a "cute lady" in a flirting manner. He was silently rejected when she was squicked out. Here, Haga seems a lot more open about it, telling her she looks horrible not long before saying that she shouldn't feel proud "just because she's cute." Why bother holding back from saying exactly what you feel when the girl is just a dream version of herself anyway?
When things changed, Takahashi had a mess not easily resolved, so he gave a Maybe Ever After answer instead.
- Actually, if anything, the combination of Egyptian religion and hints of monotheism suggest that Exodia might be intended to represent Aten, the sun disk worshipped by the heretical pharaoh Akhenaten, the worship of which was forbidden after Akhenaten's death.
- Slifer is called Osiris in Japanese.
In the manga he somehow knows how people can cheat at dice and card games. Presumably in the past he challenged people to high stakes games and when word spread about what a strong gamer he was, they started trying to cheat to win so he learnt various ways people try to cheat throughout his life.
- Unlikely. The new movie takes place six months after the end of the original series, placing it nine years before GX. So unless an explanation can be found for why Kaiba kept Synchro Monsters a secret for ten years, this seems doubtful.
This would probably make the most sense if they believed he just can't not try to hang onto the Ring. Maybe Yami Bakura or some inherent property of the Ring and/or Millennium Items generally makes him irrationally possessive of it. It's sort of like how hypnosis is sometimes said to work; for instance, if someone hypnotizes you to fall asleep when they say "goodnight", then you would theoretically do that whether or not you thought it was a good idea.
So, a possibility is that Yami Bakura has hypnotized him somehow so that whenever he doesn't have the Ring, he feels a strong need to go find it, without giving a second thought to what a terrible idea that always is. Maybe if Yami Bakura implants a command into his brain, it still works even when he's not wearing the Ring and Yami Bakura can't directly control him. This would be a super-useful self-preservation trick for Yami Bakura and certainly something he'd want to do if he could. Possibly Yami Bakura also tinkers with his host's memories from time to time, so he forgets that by any measure he should be sick to death of Yami Bakura's shenanigans by now. This would explain why despite the fact Bakura has no real incentive to hang on to the Ring, he keeps doing so anyway. So basically even when he seems to be in control, Yami Bakura can still limit his free will. Creepy.
- Or maybe Shimon is related to Atem? It probably wasn't uncommon to have family members populate the royal court, and Shimon does act more like family to Atem than we see with the other characters.
- Jossed. Yugi duels a bit but is going his own direction as a game designer, and doesn't defeat or form a rivalry with Kaiba.
- Additionally, even when using supernatural powers to make a card on-the-fly, you have to make a balancing act between power and cost. Jack combined the power of the crimson dragon with it's evil counterpart, making a monster with the potential for a massive attack boost that at the same time was also hard to kill. In the process, he had to make it hard to summon, by making it require 2 tuners and his ace monster.
- Alternatively, Mokuba is trans girl, but isn't out (either out of fear or a desire to not cause media trouble for KaibaCorp) and the Virtual World Princess being a girl is Kaiba's way of being supportive
Furthermore, during the Duelist Kingdom arc characters are seen traveling by boat from a Tokyo-looking city in a westward direction towards an island. In Yugioh GX, the characters (all of whom are speaking English and who have anglophone first names) are seen traveling westward by helicopter to a volcanic island in what is presumably the Pacific. In the DOMA arc, the characters travel to America (rather than traveling to a specific part of America) by plane.
Finally, the main characters are shown attending a school with traditional Japanese school uniforms. Given that the area of Domino City that the school is in doesn't seem to be impoverished and given that the school itself doesn't seem to be catholic, there's a possibility that this was merely a tradition carried over from the Japanese education system.
Furthermore, this applies to every 4Kids dub (except for those that take place in their own world like Pokemon or One Piece) as well as every other dubbed anime from that time in which the dubbers Americanized the character names and otherwise hid the fact that it was Japanese. (Megaman NT Warrior and the Nelvana Card Captors dub also come to mind.)
Furthermore, it explains why Ryou prefers to play Monster World with large text on his laptop, and only gets into Duel Monsters after the advent of hologram dueling makes everyone start reading the effects of their cards out loud.
- Their main monsters' attack names
- Summoned Skull has electricity attacks
- Iron Knight is made of metal and therefore can't be parasitized by a bug (that was Battle City, not Duelist Kingdom)
It's also why characters are frequently blindisded by the lore of theme decks they're not intimately familiar with.
- Haga/Weevil came from an upper-middle class family where he was neglected constantly by his parents and bullied by other kids due to his nerdy exterior and bug obsession, resulting in him turning to Duel Monsters as a way to get away from all the drama.
- Ryuzaki/Rex had an Abusive Dad and a Missing Mom, which led him to play Duel Monsters as a coping mechanism.
- Keith had lost everything due to a tragedy in his life, explaining why he's a jerk to just about everyone.
- Kozuka/Bonz was bullied for his Horrifying Looks and took up playing Duel Monsters to get revenge on those who bullied him.
- and Esper/Espa lost his parents in an accident and took up playing Duel Monsters so he can get the awards to take care of his four younger brothers.