#Cyberdragoninfinity

[baconbirdie]

Alexis, from @cyberdragoninfinity College AU, getting some stretching tips from her parakeets, Blizzard and Angel

[morimonchi]

I made a list of all Real and AI characters in Duel Links so far! (with some of my own theories too)

So, one day I decided to take the time to investigate/study the lore of Duel Links because the voices in my head won’t shut up, is not an easy task since not many people archived that much info of the events and lore of this game until recent years. So, with the help of talking with some people online, the insane and cool people of Tumblr obsessed with this game and its lore as much as I am, and me playing the game myself and seeing the event and making my own theories, I ended up with this list! Warning: is a very long wall of text.

(shoutout to @cyberdragoninfinity and @fortuneangel on Tumblr, they are very cool and obsessed with the Duel Links lore which is based and their posts helped me out a lot, I even copy-pasted from some of  Cyberdragoninfinity’s lore posts and Fortuneangel's own list because turns out they made a list of this stuff too, very good for me it made my job easier, although it would've been cool to find out about that earlier and not after I finished my initial list that took like 2-3 days to make lol)

Ever since the game first came out, the clues where always there that the Legendary Duelists and NPC duelists were all AI made by Seto "mentally unstable" Kaiba, which is kinda fucked up to begin with.

However, they are pretty bland and boring AI, since Kaiba probably only had second hand knowledge of some of the Duelist or he meet them but doesn't know them on a deeper level to make a good copy of them (heck some of them he didn't even meet at all). It’s all stuff Kaiba either heard about secondhand, or was physically present for to see in some way. He made the best approximation he could, on his own, but they’re just that: approximations.

however, starting from a certain event, things got weird: The Yami Bakura Event.

Easy best example is the first ever event character, Yami Bakura. A fascinating character in Duel Links lore, simply because he's the first Self Aware AI! So now, all character after the Yami Bakura Event aren't basic AI copies like the ones before, but instead AI SOUL copies (that's how I call them at least, but I'll be saying AI copies here for easier understanding/reading).

Meaning that they are copies made by the Kaiba's soul printer machine (insert crazy explanation of what the heck that is supposed to be) that uses the memories of the people connected to Duel Links in order create the DL world and the new AI copies in it.

suddenly characters felt way more alive and "real", even evolving pass their latest character developments from the manga/anime somehow? (and yes, the DM world is based heavily on the mangaverse! but somehow the characters have memories from the anime events).

However, not all characters moving forward are AI copies, some are the actual Real-Life characters, so I will only talk about the Real Life and AI characters that are self-aware to some degree, and some AI that I think might be unaware-

If I don't mention a character is because they’re probably 100% AI copy with zero awareness of what's going on in this Cosmic Horror Trading Card Mobile Game.

DM WORLD

All other DM characters before Yami Bakura are normal old AI copies, they were made by Kaiba himself so that's why they kinda bad, specially Yami Yugi being the first one to be made, making it the blandest AI of all and not like the real Yami Yugi at all.

So, starting from the original anomaly we have:

-Yami Bakura: the first self-aware character AI copy, 100% fully aware of it and even comments on it.

-Yami Marik: AI copy, iirc I think he’s fully aware of it too? He’s just here to have a good (violent) time.  (EDIT: Fortuneangel on Tumblr was informed he’s fully aware of it, so yea, he’s an AI 100% self-aware).

-Pegasus: AI copy of mangaverse!Pegasus specifically; not only is he fully aware of that, he’s also aware of the multiverse inhabiting DL AND the fact that he’s dead! Fun!!!

-Ishizu: she’s a weird case I just got reminded by the fact that she like. can tell something is Amiss and wonders why she’s still wearing the necklace. So, she’s like an AI clone of post Battle City Ishizu being kind of forced to play out the role of mid-canon BC Ishizu, and she’s not fully aware of the details. ok cool Kaiba!!!!!

Now funny thing with Pegasus, when the Thousand Illusion structured deck was released, you can actually go check it and the text in front of it says:

"I'd like you to meet my key monster! Thousand-Eyes Restrict!"

so yea for this one Structured deck I think Pegasus pretty much told Kaiba "stfu this are MY monsters and I WILL present them!" which is very cool and epic and go Pegasus slay.

DSOD WORLD

Now here is where we have the man himself, not the DM one, but the DSOD one:

-DSOD, Seto "In need of goddamn therapy" Kaiba: who is 100% the real Seto Kaiba, playtesting and all that stuff. He's here doing crazy people stuff and playing God. I’m pretty sure DM Kaiba was only an avatar unlike this one, who is the real deal.

-DSOD, Mokuma: is also real and helping his brother with his ego projects and digital world domination or whatever the heck Duel Links is supposed to be.

-DSOD, Yugi Muto: is probably the only real Yugi Muto in the game, and is very sad when he duels AI Yami Yugi and I want to hug my boy Yugi pls.

Ok then, unlike the clear as day old and new AI copies of DM world, I'm pretty sure all the members of the DSOD world are the real-life characters themselves who actually got into Duel Links somehow (this is based on Joey's unlock event and the dialogue where he says that some KaibaCorp employee put a VR device on his head, I wonder if that happened to everyone else in DSOD World?).

Well, everyone except maybe that ugly humpty dumpty looking ahh dude, Scud is probably AI. Reason being he freaking died in the movie and we never see him come back, so I just assume he stayed dead and this is some AI error or smth, the game does say something about an error in the system when you get the Scud unlock available.

GX WORLD

Ok so, at first, I didn't think any of the GX would be the real versions other than Jaden/Yubel, but after some research I found info that makes it seem likely that Dr. Crowler of all people might be at least 1 of the real ones, this is because in his event he says something along the lines of “…Unbelievable! There are so many Duel Academy students here! WHEN THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO BE IN CLASS! If they stop showing up to my class, Duel Academy will cut my salary...”.

There’s also another dialogue with Jaden where Dr. Crowler says he’s on vacation so, we can be sure that AT LEAST Dr. Crowler is a real person, and that he got into Duel Links on his own.

And again, I found this info of Dr. Crowler and I’m like “ok so is just this two people, Jaden/Yubel and Dr. Crowler, cool” but then I found new info and…

THE CHAZZ

Yeah, Manjoume Thunder of all people is ALSO probably the real deal, the one and only, The Chazz himself. And that is only because of the “friends” he brings with him, Ojamas Yellow, Green, and Black wouldn’t be there if Manjoume was an AI, and even if they were they wouldn’t Leak Yubel's Event like Yellow did. I didn’t know this info before so thanks @ask-maxie-boy on Tumblr, owner of the one and only @incorrectduellinksquotes.

Then the list we have is:

-Professor Crowler: the one and only character I can say for sure is (maybe) real, like 90% probability of being real. If not, then I was lied to, backstabbed and quite possibly, bamboozled.

-The Chazz: another one with hard evidence to be the real thing, proving his humanity thanks to Ojama Yellow. truly only the best for The Chazz.

-Jaden/Yubel: is probably real? like at least he's aware of the AI copies and stuff, he knows about AND can see the other 2 Jadens and the one Yubel in the game, it should be clear as day for him.

-Supreme King Jaden, Yubel and Satorius: These are AI copies for sure but I don't know if they are aware of it.

-Jim Cook: He’s suspicious of Duel Links during his Character Unlock Event iirc, not sure if he's the real one or an AI.

And everyone else in GX is a mystery! I can’t say for sure if they are AI or not and don’t have enough clues to make a strong argument for neither of the two options.

5D'S WORLD

-Team 5D’s: WELL OK I WOULDA SAID THEYRE AI BEFORE BUT THIS LAST CHARACTER EVENT (Z-one) MAY BE IMPLYING THEY (yusei, jack, crow, akiza, and the twins) ARE ALL THE REAL DEAL SO.  THAT’S AN INTERESTING TWIST IF SO!!! (Fortuneangel on Tumblr said calmly). Yeah, I agree with this information.

-Bruno/Antinomy: 10000000% AI copy, is actually fully aware he’s just some code on a hard drive and has commented on it!

Not sure if he knows he's dead but knowing Bruno, he probably knows that.

-Kiryu: OK, hear me out, this one? I'm not really sure if he's real to be honest, BUT, during Z-one's event he had such a cool interaction with Z-one that I think he's a "post-canon" version of Kiryu????

which is very freaking cool and not something that I could say is AI. But again, is my personal theory that this Kiryu is THE real Kiryu, however, I could be wrong.

-Paradox: aware of his own dead, Pegasus dead, the Illiaster's deaths, the multiverse and that he is probably an AI copy (thanks for that Pegasus, very cool).

-Z-one: Aware of being dead and all that, not sure if he knows he's an AI? probably knows, if anything Bruno might've told him

-Aporia: indeed, all Illiaster are self-aware of being dead, yippieeee!!!

-Primo: AI copy 100% for sure like no doubt and probably unaware of it, a sad creature (also, during Z-one's event, he had a realistic depiction of a panic attack).

For the rest of the 5D's cast, I have no idea but I think they are AI? say some of them like the Dark Signers are definitely AI, no doubt, but I’m not sure about the others.

But then we have someone like Tetsu Trudge… Who I have no fucking idea what's the deal with him. Is he a copy of first season Trudge, the one with no character development? or is he the real one? He can’t be the real one, he’s a mean dude again! I really have no idea about him and it annoys me. I’m going to say he’s AI.

ZEXAL WORLD

Ok so, I have no idea what's going on with Zexal, I think almost everyone is AI? but like, I'm not sure? You see, events in GX and 5Ds are just repetitions of sorts, and everyone seems aware of it and having Deja Vus, that’s why I believe that al least some people in GX and 5D’s are real. On the other hand, we have Zexal which is also repeating itself, but no one is going "Hey didn't this happen already?", which is very odd and makes me believe they are all AI in there, and both Arc-V and Vrains are continuations of the original stories.

 however, we do have one group of people in Zexal that might be relevant:

-The Arclight Family (III, IV and V): probably the only real persons in Zexal, or at least, the only ones we know might/could be real.

during III's event, III decides to study duel links and find out what it is, why events are happening again, what the heck is a KaibaCorp, etc.

also has the theory that Duel Links is a Chronomaly of some kind, because you know, is III of course it's a Chronomaly he thinks about, but he’s theory has some merit I’ll give him that.

Now V... I forgot V's event, sorry, but he's aware too.

IV on the other hand, is also aware, but not because he figured it out or something, III pretty much just told him lol. Doesn't seem to care too much he's just vibing in DL. Of course, he's helping his brother when needed, but he seems chill about it.

ARC-V WORLD

I have no idea who is real or not. We know the events in Arc-V World are a continuation of the end of the anime, so that’s at least a good sign but…

Declan and Shay, Yuya, Sora the bracelet girls, all seem to be aware that something isn’t right here, but to say they are fully aware of what's going on I can't say. So even with the self-awareness, they are most likely AI, all of them.

They at least know the whole "Memories brings people" and are investigating what's going on with that which is cool.

I can say Yuto is most likely AI, same goes for Yugo and Serena. But they don't seem aware of it and think they separated from Yuya/Yuzu somehow instead.

The only one I trust might be able to figure something is Reiji, because is Akaba fucking Reiji.

VRAINS WORLD

FINALLY, A WORLD WERE NOBODY IS AN AI COPY (I mean, there's Ai, who is obviously and AI but like, you get what I mean lol)

So yeah, Vrains World is pretty much just a sequel to the anime so everyone here is not only the real ones, but also the only characters that are aware that the other worlds exist (aside from like, Yugi, Jaden and Yusei because you know, Paradox’s Event and Bonds Beyond Time, but they only know each other’s worlds/eras so they don’t really count).

 This is because in the Ghost Gal event they reach the limits of Duel Links and get to see the other Worlds (DM, GX, 5D’s, Zexal, Arc-V and even Sevens!)

So yea the VRAINS cast in DL effectively becoming horror movie protagonists wasn't on my bingo board but I'm totally in for this.

All of this happening in a free trading card mobile game… thanks Konami you epic.

SEVENS WORLD

Yeah no, they’re all AI SOUL copies let's be real here, maybe Yuga in a future event will do the classic Yuga thing and be like "Oh, I already knew we are AI and that this world is a fake recreation of ours, is the first thing I checked when I got here" or something. And I have hopes in Nail to be cool and epic and figure out the situation but for now the Sevens group knows nothing (except maybe Yuga, because is Yuga).

Now that’s all the characters we have available for now, once we get some new events and relevant information and lore, I will update this list to see if we can add someone else new or an older character that we didn’t know was aware this whole time! This was a fun thing to write, I hope I managed to explain it all correctly and that is easy to understand, if anyone has some information that they would like to share feel free to ask! Again, I want to say thank you to @Cyberdragoninfinity and @Fortuneangel from Tumblr for being so cool and having so much info on Duel Links lore available and for sharing with everyone, now I’ll see you all next time Konami decides to hit us with a sledgehammer of info out of nowhere in a Tag Duel Tournament or something, byeeeeeee!!!

[mineral-vulture]

Attack to @cyberdragoninfinity featuring her pizzaria AU version of Zone! You know what? I think he should commit tax fraud for the hell of it.

Here is a bonus drawing,

@siromany and I affectionately refer to Zone in general as Peepaw kinnie and I think lucciano/lester would just call him peepaw kinnie to be annoying.

[krakenshaped]

3 5 25 for edoaster phoenix :]

Number 3! Least favourite thing about canon!

He's a hero player LMAO (I am HERO hater no.1 the archetype is annoying to play against) <- (is also a hero player)

Number 5 for song I think of when I think of him, I actually think of Harness by Pavement. Even though the lyrics are absolute nonsense somehow it fits Edo pretty well. I wanna do an animatic with that song but I'm pretty hopeless at video editing shsnhsjs

I also think of zettai unmei mokushiroku for some reason. I'm still convinced you could take Edo out of ygo and put him in utena and he'd fit in just fine.

25 for first impressions! I thought he was funny but I also thought he was like. Older. Learning that he's 15 made him even fucking funnier because his tantrum mid-duel made me crack up. Mr I'm-not-a-comedian is in fact incredibly funny. I've liked him since then simply because he's a pissy loser

[iyliss]

7 12 and 21 for edo phoenix perhaps? :3

hehe yay

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

I don't look for a lot of stuff on him but... I really like when I see people use very different character to serve as his trauma-processor? Like Judai and a few others are classics but when I see development on his dynamic with Echo, or him hanging out with Johan, it's fun like. He has very unique dynamics with many characters so I'm glad it's a bit exploited.

Also i really like that everyone agrees schmaden schmuki is in top5 yugioh moment. I really want to make a compilation across languages someday.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

His father was huge into nerd non-video games, board games, rpgs, tabletop games, just all kinda stuff. He's a tcg designer after all. So this kinda of highly nerdy stuff is a deep part of Edo's childhood and connection to his father (and i have my little general GX AU where they're practically a group of board game nerds I can place them on the rpg-board games-figurine trium virat it fits every character so well).

BUT he's more particularly into figurine stuff. As in Warhammer. Listen Warhammer is prime smart-ass edgy nerd with lots of money to spend hobby. He spends hours painting each of his mini and he has lore for each unit. Has very expensive table and decor and somehow look down on players (marufujis basically) who have more homemade stuff. He won't play against you if you don't know the exact timeline of war between X and Y faction. He's that kinda guy.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

Most fun and embarassing Edo writing moment to me is when I get to the part where he thinks how much he loves Saiou and like. it's all projection. Half of my love toward my friends half of my love toward Saiou. He's so fun to write for real i can spend an hour describind Saiou's hair and yeah it's in-character. Also I love showing bits of his issues poke out here and there. Like being a little scared of opening door.

For the part I don't like... I guess when I need to write him be a bit of an asshole to others? It's a bit hard writing characters being mean but it's kind of necessary for pre/early-s2 Edo.

[itstimetodrew]

2 5 17 23 for the one the only DREW!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LETS FUCKING GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

So many things...but I guess overall how respectful he is? So well-written. Like it would have been SO easy for him to increasingly be written as the 'he teases her because he likes her' love interest and nothing more. Drew is still very blunt and an ass but we get multiple moments that shows how he puts his respect and (non-romantic!) appreciation for his friends and team and his friend's friends above his personal interests. He still slips up and gets a little selfish sometimes but reflects on that and makes an effort to change. I love this boy...

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

My song for him Forever is the orchestra version of Runaway by half alive. It took a long time for me to find His Song but I love this one a lot. 🥺

17. What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?

As a multishipper for a side character I'm fine with so much because I'm just happy to see him included 😭 but maybe him and Dawn? Belleshipping...it is cute, I like it, but I don't see it much anymore. Seemed to just come up back in the day if someone wanted to pair May up with someone other than Drew so he also needed a New Girl lol

23. Favorite picture of this character?

I have toooooo many but...I do love this one because it is so quick and special. So gentle and nice idk I love seeing him with his Pokemon 🥺

[spiritsncrystals]

if ya still doin that ask meme how about miss sherry? :3c

Even if I wasn't I'd still probably jump at a chance to talk about her : D

[WHAT I LIKE ABOUT HER]

The french woman of all time!! One of the few in canon Female Turbo Duelists in 5ds!! (And by few, I mean two) she's so cool even with her few counts of breaking and entering like I genuinely enjoy the fact she's a woman with a plan and is willing to go the mile for her goals

Also her bike god her bike's design is so fucking good Storm (as tag force called it I dont exactly remember the name duel links gave it) with the medival horse motif like god it's so unique (Shout out to Mizaguchi too he's a real one for sticking with her for all these years)

[WHAT I DISLIKE ABOUT HER]

I guess if i had to pinpoint anything it's the fact she was so easily willing to jump ship to Illiaster when Z-ONE gave her the chance to see her parents again because that's clearly more important than the fact a temple is being dropped on a city yet at the same time I get it especially considering they'd literally been murdered when she was like 6 or 7

[WHAT I LIKE ABOUT HER APPEARANCE]

The suit absolutely! Just like the pairing of the colours because the white and magenta play off each other really well and the darker colours from her shoulder pads and breast protection plate are a good contrast

And her red turtle neck really brings it all together!!

Her eyes are also very pretty

The Illiaster attire is neat too what with the monochromatic palette but I still prefer her original outfit

[SUB OR DUB NAME]

There's zero difference for her specifically

Her butler Mizaguchi has his dub name Elsworth but I think I still prefer Mizaguchi

[FAVOURITE CARD]

Honestly, as iconic as Sorcerer du Fluer or ZONE are I quite like Horses of the floral Knights one of the few sherry cards i own Irl too

[OTP]

I have to mention my Oc X Canon Ashblossom with my Oc Iari Fudo (If people want to know more about her I can always make an indetail post about her and her relationship with Sherry in the future) for now all I need to say is Them <3 (and that Tag force says their canon/j)

I also think Rose Knight (Aki Sherry) is pretty neat :))

[NOTP(s)]

This really isn't against either her or bruno but shipping them together just doesn't really vibe with me but if anyone does like it fair enough

[FAVOURITE SCENE/LEAST FAVOURITE SCENE]

Honestly I love the episodes she debuts in mostly for the high thrill action like girl shows up on the scene like "yeah there's a bomb in your D-wheel you stop moving its gonna explode" damn

I also like the scene when she's facing Aki n Crow up in the Arc Cradle and whilst hung up in the grip of that one card she's about to loose and she just starts wailing that she wants her parents to hold her and kiss her again just wahhh it tugs

Least favourite I guess the supposed "Death" and meeting Z-ONE. Same reasoning for when I said what I disliked but again I do get it

[Fuck marry or kill]

Your honour, we're already married ✨️

[aialaau]

I commissioned this from @cyberdragoninfinity and I fucking love it! She even got Yukyoki's little skull earring!

Inspiration for this idea: I've shown Yukyoki's love language is Physical Touch, but Fuki's is Acts of Service. He's designed and built all of xir prosthetics for years and Yukyoki loves having something Fuki made with xem at all times.

I love them so much!

[chocodile]

First batch of Art Fight 2024 attacks!

Rook Drummond for Ghostbellies

Dennis for @cyberdragoninfinity

Minotaur Bruce for FlissFloss

Blaine for @vermstudio

Fenuku for @bird-shaped-abomination

Gecko for SushiGoat

Jason Farkas for @silentartist137

Ofnir for @xiphosuras

[zxal]

AU that's been eating away at my brain for the past several weeks that spawned from @cyberdragoninfinity and I being like "what if the yuboys swapped dimensions" -> "do the bracelet girls swap too" -> "they swap but also to different dimensions"

standard yuto & rin are childhood friends and go to you show together; the other characters don't swap dimensions so rin is skip's kid and yuto is yusho and yoko's kid. yuto runs a "performedieval" deck themed around renaissance fair-type actors. rin runs a fire-attribute spellcaster "bellodious" deck themed around hot peppers 🌶️

xyz yuya & celina know each other through school (and yuya knows shay through her by extension) but they frankly Aren't Very Close. yuya runs a "phantom bards" deck with little ghostly animal musicians and celina runs a "lyriline" deck with catgirl rockstars.

synchro yuri & lulu grew up and lived together until yuri decided to steal the duel runner they built together and enter the friendship cup on his own (making him the current champion). yuri runs a plant-type "speedling" deck themed around rapid-growth plants, lulu runs a winged beast-type "windwing" deck with arctic birds.

fusion yugo & zuzu are unlikely friends (in the sense that zuzu isn't "allowed" to hang out with yugo but does anyway). neither of them are supposed to leave DA which zuzu thinks is super unfair, so she sneaks yugo out with her to go check out the standard dimension. yugo runs a "predapuzzler" deck with monsters based on puzzles, toys, & predatory animals, and zuzu runs a "lunalull" deck with flowergirl monsters that bloom at night

[cyberdragoninfinity]

ms dana cyberdragoninfinity do you have any yugioh spinoff merch hunting tips 👉👈🥺

YESSSS WHIRLS AROUND IN MY BIG SPINNING CHAIR. i Love merch hunting and giving merch hunting tips, there's a whole beautiful world of often remarkably inexpensive yugioh merch out there and once you learn how to track it down a new chapter of your life can truly begin. I bestow onto you some of my advice gleaned from about two and a half years of Searching For Merch Like a Tuffle-Sniffing Hog:

(note: while im specifically focusing on ygo spinoff merch here, you can use this advice to find all kinds of cool japan-exclusive merch!! im constantly getting japanese pokemon merch via tips like these, for example.)

Anyway, MERCH HUNTING TIP NUMBER ONE:

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DONT BUT JAPANESE EXCLUSIVE MERCH ON EBAY. DONT. SAVE YOUR MONEY.

HEAVY SIGH. ebay can be such a useful site but not for this. good god not for this. You might luck out with a stray deal here or there but stuff like japanese exclusive yugioh merch on ebay tends to more often than not be sold for OUTRAGEOUSLY high prices and maybe it's not technically a scam but well your wallet aint gonna be happy about it. Stuff like tiny Cospa keychains get sold for $30, $40, 80 FUCKING US AMERICAN DOLLARS. AND SHIPPING. LOOK AT THIS SHIT

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS??!??! NIGHTMARE. NIGHTMARE. do not buy spinoff merch from ebay!! INSTEAD....

TIP TWO: come with me. to proxy buying service ❤❤❤❤

I love proxy services SO much. Basically theyre sites that will buy stuff from Japanese shopping sites on your behalf, then hold the goodies in their warehouse until you're ready to ship them over to you! They RULE. THEY ARE LIFECHANGING, FOR THE HUMBLE MERCH HUNTER. And they're all pretty intuitive to learn how to use, theyve got pretty solid FAQs and they'll walk you through how to request items, and theyll often let you search for merch ON their website, making the buying process even easier!

(There's a whole bunch of 'em, though and they all have different fees and amounts of time they'll hold your stuff for free, so you have to do some poking around and figure out which one you like using the most! My favorite go-to is Neokyo, personally; they have some great discount sales, they hold your stuff for free for 45 days, and their item request fees are all really reasonable!! I LOVE THEM. BEEN USING EM FOR YEARS NOW <3)

Anyway the point here, re: proxy sites, not only do they give you easy access to japanese resale sites and all the merch being sold on 'em, it also gives you access to tWay, Way, Waaaaayyy Lower Prices for trinkets and goodies. Like. look at this listing from Mercari JPN (viewed on Neokyo's site,) of the $125 Jack Atlas Phone Charm from my first tip

yeah that is, um. the same charm. AND two other adorable charms. FOR 13 AMERICAN DOLLARS. THIRTEEN. THAT IS. LITERALLY LIKE 90% CHEAPER THAN THAT EBAY LISTING. AND YOURE GETTING MORE STUFF. there is SO much yugioh (and other anime) merch being sold on jpn shopping sites for like. $4-$10. it is ridiculous. and then when proxy sites have discount deals you can get stuff for even CHEAPER sometimes. (theres also, of course, expensive merch lots too, just like with anything, theres just. also listings for stuff sold for less than a fancy dinner for two yknow HHDFGS)

it basically opens a whole new avenue of sites to find goodies on... I like using proxy buyers especially for listings on more general ebay-type sites like JPN Mercari (there is so much good and sometimes really rare stuff on there) and Surugaya (lots of doujins on there if that's your thing,) but also for buying from the main sites New ygo merch drops happen on (Cospa, eeo store, and the official KaibaCorp store in particular are some of the best.)

Ok, so, ya got your proxy service of choice. How do you find the goodies you're looking for?

TIP THREE: GOTTA KNOW THE BEST KEYWORDS!!!

this isnt really a rocket science tip, but, still: search for stuff not just in japanese but use the kanji!! Sometimes i'll just c/p the base characters of a yugioh guy's japanese name off their yugipedia page and then pop that into the mercari search just to see what sorta treats are floating around with them on it. But if going and constantly copy/pasting kanji into the proxy service search is a pain in the neck a lot 'em will auto translate your English searches too! again, theyre all really user friendly, which is great

(the one thing i will say you SHOULD search in english, though, is spinoff names, actually--you pop GX, ZEXAL, ARC-V, etc. into the proxy search and youll get all sorts of stuff for whatever series it is)

OK ONE MORE TIP FOR YA. TIP FOUR: DO WHAT YOU CAN TO GET THE MOST OF SHIPPING COSTS

ok so that is. the one pain, with merch hunting on proxy buying sites: shipping will probably be Expensive. (unless you go for the cheapest seamail options and then get your box maybe 4-6 months from now 🥴 but hey, it's an option! it's there!) I usually end up paying around $30-$50 for my boxes from Neokyo.

BUT you can at least make that shipping cost feel more reasonable if youre shipping A BUNCH OF STUFF. Shipping one (1) little $4 GX character can badge for $30 REALLY sucks, avoid this if you can--with proxies holding your stuff in their warehouse, you can get a bunch of little cheap goodies and just hold 'em until youre ready to get 'em packed and shipped. Then, whenever youre ready/have the money for the shipping cost, get all the stuff youve bought packed into one box, pay for the shipping, and (usually within two weeks--the one tradeoff of the high shipping price is you get that shit FAST) then get your stuff! It's like FUCKIN CHRISTMAS getting a box of proxy-obtained stuff including things from like two months ago i totally forgot i bought. Makes the $40 shipping sting a little less--like, hey, at least i got like 12 damn things in here and i didnt pay $125 for any of them!!!!

ok i think that's all i got. hopefully this is somewhat useful!! folks are always welcome to ask me stuff about merch hunting, like i said i really like helping people get a hold of stuff :3 it's really a lot easier than it seems at first!

[angrykittenz62]

Got these fun commissions from @cyberdragoninfinity as part of her pay what you want Yu-Gi-Oh series! I think she still has some slots open so go check her out.

[aygozineproduction]

KATTOBINGU! Zexal Zine Line Up!

Hartland City welcomes you to the most exciting event of the year, and we're honored to introduce our exciting and talented lineup! Come check them out!

ARTISTS:

@6amcoffe | @angeat | @bassomega | Cera | cinnamonconi | @cyberdragoninfinity | @imaginarystormz | Koko | @laststrix | madicham | MoltenGates | NiaLumin | Njike | @onegroovyrose | @popflythesky | @thesilverlock | @thetrainticket | @warchord | @zakurarain

WRITERS:

EvilBalwan | @pleuvoire | Sorrel | @darkxyzduelist

GUESTS:

@ayabit | jadenyugi9 | Kiya | @justanotherotakuandartist | RheaLightning | Rukuluc

OTHERS:

@borreloadsavagedragon [COSPLAY] | Veguito [COVER]

[werewolfnoir]

attack for @cyberdragoninfinity!

i'm on artfight @ wolfnoir!

[nekoglycerin]

@zxal @cyberdragoninfinity toybox that probably gives you radiation poisoning

[hi-speedroids]

@zxal @cyberdragoninfinity

get yugod idiots

this was just a warm-up sketch but I got carried a way :3