#5ds spoilers

[evilbalwan]

Yusei and Cyberpunk Protagonist

Compared to many people, I am not a fan of Yusei Fudo, but I'm trying to understand what exactly makes him so boring for me. I'm going to dig it there.

One of the reasons why Yusei is an unappealing protagonist is the setting he's set in, cyberpunk. Generally speaking, a cyberpunk protagonist is somebody of dubious morality, being either a deranged or at least very morally gray. The genre in itself uses questionable characters more often than not. There are some that will start the story innocent, but later on their actions will become more and more questionable or at least destructive to themselves (for example, David from Cyberpunk: Edgerunners).

5ds, despite being a cyberpunk story (it isn't a really good example of one, but uses elements of the genre), doesn't have that, there is no point where the narrative pushes Yusei into impossible choices that aren't white or black, live or death. His strength of character is measured, but his morality isn't questioned in a way previous Yu-gi-oh protagonists had to choose.

The only time I can think of something like that happening to Yusei is his duel vs Kiryuu, but it still was somehow an easy situation; Kiryuu is possessed, there is no saving him. Even if Kiryu won, it would be an empty victory. He even gets revived later on.

Even Bruno, being a 'traitor' character, isn't complicated in a sense some characters, for example in Zexal, next Yu-Gi-Oh series, are; he constantly supports Yusei regardless of a form and their final match again it's a matter of life and death; there is no 'if I save Bruno and me, then we get a happy ending', so our protagonists would have to face a real tough choice.

Later on, Z-One, who could have filled that gap, doesn't; he used Yusei's face, but is not Yusei, they're not the same person.

5ds takes cyberpunk aesthetics, but not tropes (most of the time), and even when it does, it fails to provide conclusions that would be rewarding for a viewer.

I'm not saying Yusei doesn't handle any heavy decisions, but I'm saying there were possibilities that could have been used for him, making him less 'always right, my decisions are the best ones, no matter what', and more of an actual character.

I'm absolutely not saying you can't like Yusei, but I don't, and I have my reasons for that. The funniest thing is that I'm not even a big cyberpunk fan, huh.

[yamislittleangel55]

“That’s why I keep hearing boss music!”

[yoshifawful64]

[nettleshuttle]

Ask meme: Yusei.

yusei it is!

my fav thing about them: definitely his backstory. i love how we get a protagonist that’s already entangled in a net of complex relationships with different people, whom we get to encounter throughout the series and gradually get to know what was actually going on between them. i miss that a lot for protags such as jaden or yuma, all of whose interesting relations are established within the show and who seem to have little to no history of their own to explore and wonder about. besides, cheesy and run-off-the-mill as it may be, yusei’s talk about how every card is unique, precious and worth treasuring is really heartwarming and it’s great to see him putting all these strays to good use and properly appreciating them.

least favorite thing about them: actually, i find yusei to be quite boring personality-wise. i’m halfway through 5ds and he still hasn’t shown any more interesting characteristics. i get that it’s nice how caring and determined he is, but i’d like to see some flaws of his, some less ordinary and predictable reactions and/or developments. i feel like the great backstory is partially going to waste because he’s so standardly fixed as a character. also, maybe the following episodes will prove me wrong, but i see little room for development in him, which is kinda sad — or at least, he’s far inferior in this aspect than even the yuma or jaden i have already mentioned.

favorite line: not a single line, but i live for the two prison duels where he uses other people’s decks/cards to beat the shit out of the arrogant bullies that his opponents are. i remember i started this short arc being rather indifferent and left it so emotional about him it was actually funny.

brOTP: jack. i totally see them as exes, but either way their reconstructed friendship is a great thing to follow throughout the series. they have wildly different approaches to many things, but respect each other and get along anyway — their mutual backstory is very well-constructed and with a suitable pinch of bitterness where necessary.

OTP: akiza! i feel like i wrote that a hundred times already, but i’m dying to see more of the trust and care that has built up between them. yusei being a far healthier replacement of divine for aki is the best development ever, while it’s obvious he’s worthy of that assurance. the date episode was so precious too,,

nOTP: i used to like his ship with jack a lot, but now it just doesn’t appeal to me anymore, i guess? for once, their canon romantic relationships with akiza and carly are just far better. in terms of actual notp i’d put sherry because she’s a lesbian and i’m gonna die on that hill (also they make far cooler friends, c’mon).

random headcannon: yusei always has trouble building his decks because, no matter how responsible his duelists thinking is, he just wants to put every single card he has in there — it feels so wrong for him to leave anyone out. similarly, i feel like he’d love to exchange decks with others for a single game, even people he doesn’t really know: if his instinct finds someone trustworthy, he can borrow them his deck without fear. he’d really like to get to know new people this way and see how they use his cards too; exchanging decks with closer ones, like akiza or crow would be quite special too. he’d dislike using power decks though, like jack’s (or, hypothetically, stuff like ddds, blue eyes etc) — it’s not that he doubts using them requires as much skill, but he doesn’t find it nice to use such archetypes, that’s it. in a modern au, i’d totally see him enrolling in small tournaments all the time, testing the most obscure card sets imaginable and trying to make all of them as good as possible. by the same token, he’d avoid meta stuff in this au — not his cup of tea.

unpopular opinion: i guess what i said about his personality counts as rather unpopular? oh, and i just find it ultimately stupid that when he faces ghost and the meklords, who totally trash all synchro decks, he still thinks about using synchro without synchro summoning instead of just?? idk?? building a non-synchro deck?? i’m not saying he should switch to some fusion or whatever, but there are viable decks that don’t even rely on ed cards. why make shit so difficult for yourself and wonder why you’re still on the losing position. i get that it has to align with the plot, this being a synchro-themed part and all, but it’s just so stupid i can’t get over it — the creators should have never maneuvered themselves into a corner like that.

song i associate with them: cohen’s heart with no companion (this will always be a ryo bakura song in my head, but i’ve also thought it somehow fits yusei’s vibe, though in a very different way) and, contrastingly, probably born for this (the score). btw i’m an enjoyer of sappy romantic shit in context of his ship with akiza, so walking the wire (imagine dragons).

favorite picture: i like his regular design a lot so seeing him whenever is great, but a shout out to this edgy boy right here:

[greekliteratepurple7]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Major Character Death Characters: Fudou Yuusei, Izayoi Aki, Jack Atlas, Rua (Yu-Gi-Oh), Ruka (Yu-Gi-Oh), Dark Signer(s) (Yu-Gi-Oh), Crow Hogan, Kiryuu Kyousuke, Demak (Yu-Gi-Oh), Carly Nagisa, Bommer (Yu-Gi-Oh), Rudger Godwin, Rex Godwin, Martha (Yu-Gi-Oh), Rally Dawson, Taka (Yu-Gi-Oh), Nerve (Yu-Gi-Oh), Blitz (Yu-Gi-Oh), Ushio Tetsu, Akakiryu | Crimson Dragon, Duel Monster Characters, Earthbound Immortals, Divine | Sayer, Yeager (Yu-Gi-Oh), Other(s) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Action/Adventure, Anger, Human Sacrifice, Cults, Gun Violence, Police, Past Abuse, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Fantasy, Death, Dark Magic, Motorcycles, Duelling, Discrimination, Fate & Destiny, Fix-It of Sorts, Non-Graphic Violence, Tags Are Fun, Deviates From Canon, Alternate Canon, Plot Twists, What-If, But it has to do with scrapped/rumored ideas, Most importantly our mc Crow as a dark signer (oohh so original ik), Mostly from Dark Signer's perspective, Some Humor, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Character Development, Developing Friendships, Bromance, Music, Canonical Character Death, Death Threats, Duel Monsters (Yu-Gi-Oh), They/them pronouns for Earthbound immortals and MAYBE signer dragons too, Crow is a jerk now(but sympathetic at times as well), Carly is an introvert symbol it seems, Kiryu has a major role, Major ships are Carly x Jack, Yusei x Aki and Kiryu x Misty, Original Character(s), The new 5th signer, Other Additional Tags to Be Added Series: Part 1 of Yugioh 5ds: the Original Edition Summary:

For some people the world is wonderful, for others it is torn. Many believe that this is based on the environment you grew up to. Whether you had most of the things you wanted and whether you couldn't even afford the basics. However, could there really be someone who believes that and yet, thinks that things can change? Even if they have been abandoned by actual society could they still only know how to make steps forward? After being alone for almost their entire life after so many losses and never ending spits of blood to save the ones of importance? In the end though, there comes a rough time in everyone's life where they have to make a choice. We can follow a path of light full of hope and a long fight with trophy our freedom. We can also follow another path, a one tainted by pure darkness. This choice is one our hero will need to make as well. This is HIS story. A story not about someone who chose light, someone who fell in the dark or someone who chose light through evil means. It is about the tragic one who wanted to follow the light so much that he, eventually, lost it all....

[fuckyeahyu-gi-oh]

welcome to (almost) daily feed of yugioh

I try to post for at least one of each series per day & tag series/spoilers accordingly, except for duel monsters. i'll put them in the tags of this post for convenience

happy yugiohs everybody

[jeeaark]

Lae'zel just wasn't ready to sort out those feelings yet.

Anyway, I lied! I had to make one more shenanigan to this dang incident after double checking and learning a thing. Involving full rests and the Astral Sea.

Apparently, full rest don't mean you gotta sleep????? It can also refer to.... downtime. Chill time. Non-adventuring time. Hang out with your squid friend for 8 hours time.

And even if you never need to sleep, eat, or drink in the Astral Sea, you can still sleep, eat, N' drink if you want to. As well as just chill to recover a certain planeshift ability.

Is cool, Lae'zel and I can both learn new fun facts at the same time~

[creepermilktea]

:Soul companion club.

[lastoneout]

tbh Laios and Kabru's relationship is like if someone got out a fully-blown conspiracy board to figure out an episode of Blue's Clues

[vaguely-concerned]

increasingly intrigued by the idea of creating a vashoth crow!rook to make part of the reason viago's so pissed at them be that they could have been a perfect undercover/double agent against the antaam if they would just THINK before acting for ONCE in their fucking lives for fuck's SAKE rook

[eldritch-araneae]

So I have an fun (aka very angsty) AU for looping Isabeau that we brainstormed with friends!

Cw for all spoilers and ingame stuff, including suicide

It starts with ACT 5, when Siffrin runs off to fight the King alone. The party follow him, but they were too late. As Mirabelle was about to unfreeze Siffrin, suddenly Mal Du Pays spawned into the world, ultimately killing him.

After the fights, the party mourns the loss of their friend, Isa takes it the hardest as he was the last person seeing Sif alive and blames himself for not helping them when he clearly saw something was wrong. He shouldn't have let Siffrin go!

The party realises that Sif was probably stuck in a timeloops, given how much he knew about them and how he went through the entire house alone.

After the funeral, Isabeau gets obsessed with the idea to get his hands on timecraft, worrying the rest of the party. If Siffrin and the King could do it, so could he! So that how he finds out about wishcraft, from the Head Housemaiden. Though he doesn't know the ritual, he still tries his luck at the favor tree, and that how he meets Loop, who, after some persuasion, teaches Isa the right ritual.

Isabeau makes the wish - to save Siffrin's life no matter what.

He wakes up in the beginning of ACT 5, when Siffrin is pretty much done with anything. There is a lot of stuggle, bc not only Isa have to figure out how to save Sif who is balancing on very edge before spawning MDP and permadying after, but MDP isw getting stonger and more monstrous each time it happens.

Plus, both of them are looping, and whoever loops first keeps the memories of the current loop, while other forgets. Which means sometimes Isa would have to beat Siffrin just to keep the information and end his life. Which lead to more drama as Siffrin once saw this and the reaction raw and explosive as Isa doing this even more terrifying and viceral.

So they have to figure out new loops and how they work, and hopw to pass the information that was lost. Good thing that helpfull Loop remember everything~ Isa asking the party to help and they all together trying to figure this too!

So Isa wont have many loops, but those loop will be brutal.

I feel like the Bigfrin fight will happen earlier (and King will be probaly disintegrated in process), possibly Isa becoming big too! it all end with lots of tears and catharsis. But yeah, Isa won't have a good time. Imagine his battle portraits ~

[yamislittleangel55]

Welp! The multiverse is canon in Duel Links now! XD

I rest my case!

[bahoreal]

love that so many tv programs are like. we have one trans character or a hint that they dont hate trans people. but no more bc they dont want to really upset the trans haters. then rtd went THE PLOT IS GENDER THEY SAVED THE WORLD BY BEING TRANSGENDER like ok! slay!

[nettleshuttle]

I'm gonna ask for a character too! Who?

My girl Akiza! :)

ooh very gladly, one portion of thoughts on aki coming right up! (disclaimer: i’ve watched up to 80 eps of 5ds until now, so that’s the scope of my opinions)

how i feel about this character: if my tumblr layout wasn’t enough of a hint, i really love aki. she’s definitely the best love interest in ygo, both in terms of my personal favs (though asuka and yuzu are neat too) and, like, objectively (as in best written, most complex). she’s got some great tropes in her character, fantastic intro and development and her relationship with yusei makes me tear up at every duel they play. also her design and deck make-up are just >>>

all the people i ship romantically with this character: yusei. i’m so glad this is a canon ship because this content brings me undue amounts of happiness. the start of their relation was what particularly hit me, with their initial duel and the one in the hospital, then how he consoled her after the whole thing with divine, taught her to ride a d-wheel (built one for her??) — yusei’s as precious as can be and she deserved someone like that so bad. as an optional no. 2 in this short list i’d put sherry — their ship appeals to me far less, but, y’know, lesbians on motorcycles. i’m a weak human sometimes.

non-romantic OTP: hmm. actually, i feel like aki has little to no relationships apart the one with yusei — she was deliberately isolated from others by divine, then when he died yusei seems to be the only one she really trusts. crow and jack appear really distant from her, although they are friendly towards one another — it struck me when crow specifically mentioned how aki hangs out with the signers not so frequently and i just get the impression she doesn’t fully consider them as her friends. i’d put sherry here because they’d have a nice vibe also as besties on motorcycles and also maybe rua and ruka? aki taking care of them is really nice and though, of course, they won’t be her friends the way a person her age would be, it’s still a good relationship.

unpopular opinion about this character: i wrote that i like the make-up of her deck, so, to clarify: black rose dragon is just great and the overall aesthetic of the cards fits her perfectly, but the way it’s constructed, game-wise, is absolutely garbage. why does she have a plant based deck and plant effects for a non-plant ace? why are her best tuners suited to a different star rating than 7? why does she not have cards that would alleviate black rose’s self destruction? i play rose dragons in duel links and it makes me just livid how stupidly this all was planned out because it doesn’t make sense even with adjustments that konami introduced later — and, consequently, they’re making her play some really bad duels in the show. i mean, she could be so damn strong if they admitted her some properly designed cards? i get that she’s one of the more powerful love interests anyway, but, come on, asuka could have gotten a playable deck and not aki?

also idk if that’s unpopular, but i want to say it: she’s probably the only character in the whole series whose psychic powers feel justified and make sense. they have more downsides than anything else, but they’re still ironed out into a real strength in the end, they add a lot to character, her personality is built accordingly, everything clicks together.

one thing i wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon: apart from giving her a better deck and a chance to kick some ass with that? definitely a better ending to her relationship with divine. yeah, he was a toxic, manipulative bastard who fucked her up bad in the head, but he was the single most important person in her life for so long (if not forever, before yusei) that randomly killing him off feels so unsatisfying. let her defeat him in a duel? let her break free of him on her own? the guy caused her so much trauma, she should have had the chance to overcome that (and him) on her own, instead of such a bland resolution.

[crysdrawsthings]

Toxic Space Squid, Amnesiac Axe Murderer and Evil Hatman ft. ancient Russian-language meme and some dragons.

Baldur's Gate 3 is good, play Baldur's Gate 3.

[inkblackorchid]

WIP Snippet 5 (Ch. 3)

Pulling the door open, Aki stuck her head out, looking both ways in the relatively narrow alley outside. When her eyes surveyed what little she could see of the plaza from her position, it turned out the engine she heard was indeed a familiar one. Yet, nothing could have prepared her for a chance encounter with its rider today.

Almost in the same moment as Aki finally left the building to approach her own runner, the unexpected acquaintance seemed to spot her, immediately making a beeline in her direction.

A white riding suit, a knight-like helmet, and the distinct rumble of what Yusei had once called a bastardised French engine—seeing as it had apparently been repaired with parts from several different countries over time—announced the arrival of Sherry, who came to a halt barely a metre away from Aki's runner, immediately pulling off her helmet as she turned off her engine.

"Finally, I catch one of you again," Sherry began talking without fanfare, evidently not intending to bother with a greeting.

Debating whether she even had the energy to hold a conversation with the other right now, with how high-strung she already was, Aki spoke on a sigh, "Sherry. Fancy meeting you here."

"Uhhhh, hi there?" Carly, who had closed and locked the door behind herself in between, said to the blonde, waving innocently.

Ignoring her completely, Sherry asked Aki, "Are Yusei and your other friends inside?"

"No," Aki told her quickly, "We're the only ones here, and we're not staying. We need to get going again." Perhaps her tone was a little more brusque than intended, but if there was one thing she knew about Sherry, then that she liked clear answers, that she liked them fast, and that she could get irritating if she didn't get them fast enough.

As she placed her duel disk down on her runner again, she saw Sherry looking her up and down out of the corner of her eye. "When will any of you be back?"

"We don't know," Aki told her, hoping to end the conversation as quickly as possible—and preferably without sharing the exact details of everything that was going on right now.

"Quoi? What do you mean, 'you don't know'?" Sherry asked, with an urgency in her voice that told Aki she probably wanted something from their group.

It was Carly who answered, "Well ummm... We kind of have a situation going on right now. So the boys won't be home for a while. And neither will Aki."

Now seemingly choosing to take note of the other woman's presence, Sherry looked Carly over with critical eyes. "I've seen you around here before. Who are you?" With her tone as curt and business-like as always, Sherry's question sounded less like a polite enquiry and more like a demand at a cross-examination.

Carly blinked a few times, but rather than bristling immediately, she caught herself and even managed to inject some fake cheer into her voice as she said, "Carly Nagisa, reporter at the Red-Eyes duel magazine. Nice to meet you. Properly, I mean. Sherry Leblanc, right? We've technically met before, I'm here frequently. Which you... may not have noticed, I guess."

Sherry acknowledged the introduction with barely more than a hum. Before she could ask anything further, however, Aki turned to face her fully and took it upon herself to add, "Carly is our friend and Jack's girlfriend. And she knows basically all about Iliaster, since I'm guessing that's a concern for you."

Though Sherry's eyes briefly jumped to her, with a strange mix of sharpness and curiosity in them, they were quick to come to rest on Carly again as she asked, "Atlas has a girlfriend? Wonders never cease."