#TRULY THE PEAK OF ALL SYNCHRO!!!

[popculturebuffet]

Mutant Month: The Marvel Super Heroes: Dr. Doom's Day!: Hawkeye is an X-Man Now (Patreon Review for Emma Fici)

Hello all you happy muties and welcome one and all, wether you fly, shoot rays out of your eyes, make pasta in your nose or your heart can shoot an all inspiring ray that teaches people how to truly love themselves and then explodes them inside out, all are welcome for a celebration of 60 years of the strangest heroes of all, the outlaws, protectors of those who hate and fear them, those undergoing a fall, the uncanny, astonishing, amazing, dark, immortal, red, blue, gold, black, and green, the

As I haven't remotely hid on this blog but will repeat for newcomers, I love the x-men. Their my faviorite superhero team and are easily my faviorite franchise in comics, with spinoffs from New Mutants, to X-Factor to X-Men red all ranking among my faviorite comics ever. I love these characters dearly and haven't covered them nearly enough on here so I decided to celebrate the 65th anniversary with mutant month... and while we're a few months late due to moving and such, this month happening was never in doubt and wills tand as a yearly celebration of all things x.

So to kick this off we've got an odd little note in x-men history, one I wasn't even aware of till asking my good friend emma what animated apperance of the x-men she'd like to cover.. and finding out their first wasn't on spider-man and their amazing friends like i'd thought but much earlier, on a show known for awesome theme songs, shoddy animation and not much else. Yes folks before costarring in the friendly neighborhood, before all the 90's tastic spandex, before 2000s teenage angst and awesomeness, and before the last gasp till a revivial of said 90s spandex, the strangest heroes of all became the allies for peace and teamed up with one of the first mutants to combat the greatest evil the world had ever known on a barely animated marvel cartoon. Also hawkeye was there. So join me under the cut if i've peaked your intrest as we inter the limitedly animated world of the sub mariner and his allies for peace on the marvel super heroes!

The Marvel Super Heroes wasn't just the first animated apperance of the x-men, but the first marvel animated series PERIOD. Create din 1966 and running for 65 episodes (with each episode having three chapters to it but seeming to tell a complete story). The series was made on a budget somewhere BELLOW a paperclip and a piece of string, a singular bottle cap. They simply scanned the actual comics, barely aniamted them, added some effects and for lip movements used Syncro Vox. For those unfamiliar with it Synchro Vox was a super cheap effect where they cut out the characters mouths and had real human mouths recite the words. And if you say "Well jee whiz jake that sounds like a styigan nightmare from the deepest depths of my subconcious" then your right on the money. There's a reason it didn't outlast the 60s.

As you can imagine this .. looks pretty bad and it's better ot just read the actual comics. The actors TRY, they do, but static, barely perserved images on a screen just can't match the panel work in the original jack kirby art. Congradulations Marvel Super HEroes, you found a way to somehow make JACK KIRBY ART not work. I hope your proud.

It's only lasting impacts are , and i'm completely convinced of this, serving as the inspriation for this incredibles short

At first I thought it was cheap animation in general but knowing now this cartoon uses synchro vox and seeing this cartoon again.. yeah. Good on you crew for doing such an incredibly deep cut and making it work on it's own.

The other is the theme songs. The theme songs for the most part slap.

YOu'll also recognize the Iron Man theme song as they used a jazzy instuermental in his film. And given it's the best of the bunch it's easy to say.

There's two themes missing from this. The first is the shows theme itself. Which is... a lot.

I mean they did get namor down pretty down pat.

So kudos. Speaking of Namor his absence from that montage kinda speaks to him as a whole. As doe shis theme being a bit.. less than the others

It's not bad, but you get they just didn't quite have Imperius Sex Machine as defined as the other 4. Captain America at the time was a man of action, who fought for the people and was a symbol of all of america has to offer. Iron Man was a playboy who kept people at a distance. Thor is a god full of the majesty and wonder that brings, and Hulk.. well okay Hulk's theme is just goofy but damn if it isn't fun and still gets the point across. But namors is "Look at him ain't he powerful. He rules a kingdom. So for those less familiar with the prince of the deep who might of missed wakanda forever, a quick recap: Namor started as a golden age super hero, one of Timely, the future marvel comics, first, and one of the big three of his day with the human torch, a diffrent one than the one who'd later flame on with the fantastic four, and Captain America. LIke most timely heroes he vanished to the sands of time for a while. So cue the Fantastic Four and the true birth of the marvel universe. And since Marvel coudln't just let their bigger names of days past simply lie around, they put the human torch moniker on our boy johnny storm. And once the fantastic four proved to be the hit they were, they decided to bring him back via this book to test the waters.

It's a clever return too: Naturally the person to bring namor back is Johnny Storm, the new human torch and spirtual successor to the original who Namor famously battled in the golden age. Johnny was a teen at the time and ran away from home eventually ending up at a homeless shelter.. and finding NAMOR. Turns out since wwII (an increasing gap but unlike most in comics one that dosen't need to be handwaved as Namor is immortal), namor lost his memory and grew a beard. Johnny uses his power to burn it off

And unable to convince namor he's a freaky fish guy dunks him in the bay. The good news is this brings Namor back. The bad news.. is this brings namor back, who sees his kingdom in ruins and wages war with the surface. The four are able to mostly repel him, and Namor ends up taking a liking to JOhnny's sister Sue. These became his primary character traits: wanting to lash out at the surface, and wanting to nail Reed Richards girlfriend and later wife. Seriously just a few years later the guy buys AN ENTIRE FILM STUDIO when he hears Reed's gone bankrupt simply to try and win her over. As other books sprouted up he'd appear in them, mostly to punch the hero or be courted by various supervillians to team up with them as he was the hottest guy in prom. And that's where the decision to make HIM the 5th pillar of this show really makes me tilt my head. Namor isn't a TERRIBLE character. He's not one I like a lot, but it's simply because outside of his stint with the x-men, where both Matt Fraction and especially Kireon Gilleon really nailed him down: arrogant, but not without honor, powerfula s hell and knows it and while certainly willing to go after someones partner does so because he senses a lack of passion. Dosen't make it okay. Also as seen above it shows his tastes are wide, varied and awesome.

The problem is most of the time he's just an angry fish man with a pretty standard power set and a fairly boring kingdom. Wakanda forever completely redesigning it really helped the MCU version.

But just thinking of the remaining superhero books they could use while fantastic fours rights were elsewhere, as were spideys, they still had ant-man and the x-men. (The avengers were around but were largely saved to adapt in cap and iron man's shorts). I get it to a point: Ant Man had recently been canceled and X-Men.. weren't exactly a hit.

See the early x-men adventures.. aren't great. Their not terrible, there's some good ones as i've read them, and it's not exactly a big secret in the x-men fandom or marvel fandom as a whole that while the CONCEPT for the x-men was great: a new evolution of mankind with powers, that next step being largely teens and young adults struggling to control them.. but Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had no idea what to do with this. Stan 100% created the concept of mutants so he wouldn't have to make up an origin for every superpowered villian or hero. You can only use good ole radation so many times before people catch on and Thor, Cap and Iron Man all had super unique origins that coudln't easily be replicated. The most they could do thor wise is bring in another god from another mytholgy with herc.

But it was at it's core just weaker versions of the kinds of stories he told elsewhere and fell HEAVILY into

Ant Man baffles me as while yes, his book was canceled.. they still had a WHOLE series to mine stories from with interesting visuals. He was still an avenger and he and jan played off each other decently when it didn't fall into Smilin Stan really not knowing how to write women.

SO I KINDA get it as Namor was more the default.. but it still felt like a weird choice given they didn't have mcuh to work with where he wasn't the villian and actively seemed to refuse to adapt any story where he was. IT was just an odd choice to pick someone who at the time was mostly an outright villian and most of whose character arc from that was in books they woudln't use.

So when you have to use WHATEVER you can, what do you do? Well if your this show.. you do something profoundly bonkers and hilarious.

The Actual Episode:

So.. this episode is a mighty marvel frankenstien's monster.

NO not him. He wasn't around yet. NO this episode is clumisly stitched together from two diffrent ff issues. Fantastic Four #6 and Fantastic Four Annual #4

The first makes sense as it features Namor teaming up with one of marvel's best villians who they apparently could use in both shows: Doctor Doom. They simply had to replace who his nemesis were. And that of course is where our futuraly uncanny x-men come in, simply slapped into the baxter building and given the ff's reputation and relationship fighting doom. Oddly they woudln't actually fight doom during the 60's like everyone else. Eventually though he did leading to this awesome cover

Granted FF writer at the time John Byrne didn't like the story because Doom was tricked by X-Men enemy and my boy arcade and tried to retcon it but that's a story for another day.

Point is the X-Men hadn't fought doom.. but given they were more generic superheroes at the time having them step into the ff's roll actually makes a lot of sense. And they even had some panels they could use from the x-mens series of them battling namor.

Yeah for some weird reason they decided instead to mash this story.. with FF Annual #4, the wedding of Sue Storm and Reed Richards. An issue that I haven't read but i'm bound to cover eventually for my annual February superhero wedding special

It is famous enough for me to have the gist though: Sue and Reed get married but this being a superhero comic, some action gets thrown in. In this case Dr. Doom decides to gift them EVERY SINGLE AVALIABLE SUPERVILLIAN in the marvel universe. That's not hyperbole. Pretty much every villian who could from street level guys to the big bads like Kang showed up to try and beat the shit out of the ff.. but this being the wedding of two public super heroes, every super hero in the marvel universe short of spidey (who didn't seem to show up, loner that he was). IT comes off at least from a distance as a big old celebration not just of the happy couple but of how much the marvel universe had grown.

As a result though the first half of this episode is just a lot of fighting and feels really disjointed esepcially once the ff #6 adaptation kicks in as there's never really any resolution to the "all the supervillians are given a subconcious signal to fuck with my arch enemy's wedding day. " part of the plot. Or here it's because the X-Men are getting a major award. Which is nice given how their usually treated.. but for some reason here their called "the alliance for peace".

Look if you had to rename the x-men, and why on earth would you even back then at their weakest, why not the peace patrol, the peace posse, Cyclops and those other 4, the Beast Brigade, the Merry Mutant Marching Society, Not-The Fantastic Four, The Fantastic Five, The Sesnational Six, Uncle Charlie's Funtime House Band, Scotty Dosen't Know, The Teen Angels, The Alps, The Marvels, The Recess Monkeys, Code Yellow, The Mutants, XX-Men, The New Justice Team, Fruit Punch, We Hate you Please Die, Hated and Feared, Diaper Time, Stars and Garters, or Suck it Erik? Did they only have 5 minutes? I did and I came up with all of that, so how.

At any rate the first few minutes is just a lot of fighting. Again they HAVE an issue with namor. I get not wanting ot use all of it: Wanda and Pietro were still in the brotherhood of evil mutants at the time and it was back when Magneto was less "one of the most complex, compelling and awesome characters ever" and more "Dollar Tree Doctor Doom". But you HAVE PANELS OF THESE CHARACTERS FIGHTING NAMOR

There's also some with beast. So there was more than enough to do that and still use bits from ff #4. Just have doom narrate he's having mole man attack them. Instead once the fighting stops most of the x-men vanish, widdling down to just xavier who, thanks to using the wedding panels, is in his best baby blue prom tuxedo.

Oh and instead of just angel and professor.. we also get the greatest of all x-men, king of kings. Hawkeye. Yes for no reason other than they could crop other characters out easier probably, Hawkeye shows up a lot in the second act and is implictly a member of the defenders of peace. So in this reality, playing Mephisto's Advocate, either Hawkeye's a mutant with super sharp aiming ablities, or Hawkeye came to the X-Men to tie one of them up to prove he could join them instead of the avengers and Xavier was like "Fuck it come on in bud."

The rest of the ep is.. fine. Namor is asked to team with dr doom, then is betrayed by doom. We do get some awesome over the top stuff as Dr. Doom needs to use the grabber to pull the x-baxter building into space. So namor SWATS MEOTRS AWAY then chases Dr. Doom and ethan hawke into space and somehow survivies. IT's the cheesy kind of fun I want

So yeah.. for a first x-men in animatoin apperance this is pretty bad. Their barely featured as a team, Jean hardly gets to do anything, and it's two stories that just don't work together welded together. We have to assume at the end new york just.. burnt to the ground because Dr. Doom left all the other super villians int he world on. Or like the actual story the watcher just said "Fuck this' and ended it. Either way it's a pretty bleh episode and even the weird as hell way the x-men are used dosen't give it much of a recomednation.

Thankfully next up in x-men month we have something a bit more fitting as it's time for one of the greatest x-men stories of all: God Loves, Man Kills. Thanks for reading.

[manmetaphysical]

No prizes for guessing what season it is now- yes the mighty Leo. If only the sun would do its job and pierce through the clouds. So this morning at around 9am the Sun moved into Leo marking the peak of light and the extension of solar power overhead in the northern hemisphere. People may be feeling more relaxed, more social with Venus and Mercury in Leo ( though Eros has moved on into funky detailed Virgo), more likely to want to have fun, meet friends, even if there isn't much of it around. Leo wants fun.

They might want to put on a display of best clothes, throw a big party, go on holiday, a wedding, to the theatre, a show, and talk more about their ideas especially if those relate to personal sovereignty, following an honour code, as there's an undercurrent of feeling regal in this sign, the second fire sign of the zodiac wheel. It helps you get in touch with your life purpose, your dharma, and think what you should truly be doing in this life. The lion has a commanding presence that radiates from the heart and is not to be messed with easily. It resonates with the King or Queen archetype in the highest sense of ruling your domain wisely and with sound principles, not abuse or tyranny as that is the dark side of Leo, which can crop up too if you have not processed the darker blinder aspects of your internal self and allowed for greater balance to emerge.

I think of Carl Gustave Jung (26/7/1875) as a fine example of the sign of Leo.. He was the man of profound ideas, a synchro-mystic visionary more than just a psychiatrist, still controversial, yet those ideas shed so much light on so many areas of the mind which are normally confused- exactly what the sun does-shine a light. These ideas are still teaching us long after his death, both in the personal and collective psyches about why we might have neurotic responses to what is going on without realising it is a neurosis.

And that light is still shining brightly today allowing us to see through society's baleful projections, its snap judgements, labelling and divisions, and denial of its shadow side, pointing to how we can mature out of polarised opinions and be less and less controlled by all the latests sensationalised knee-jerk media posts. Take time to think and process any so-called 'breaking' news' before reacting.

The Sun opposes Pluto in Aquarius which amps up the intensity of this ingress a few notches. We may have to watch what happens carefully. With Neptune still at 29° of PIsces, there is still a lot of thoughts and yes, even lives, alas, that need to reach their climax and 'end' and these are end times for a lot of structures and illusions we believed in before.

So Happy Leo season, be ready to take that fun while it lasts, enjoy Life while we still can.

Image: Leo by Joffra Bosshart

[azotas-archived]

It’s sad.. but I need this on my blog

HERE

Creation In the Ion manga gaiden, original Ion destroyed the first replica himself. In the novel, it's said that "Van and the others" disposed of it immediately, because it was completely defective. The other six were created more or less together, one after the other. Basically, they would create one and analyze its abilities, physical abilities etc. If it wasn't good enough, they'd create another one. They repeated the process several times until the seventh replica, which was not perfect either, but good enough for them (and which, coincidentally, would have been the last created for that day to not put too much strain on the machine). Van and Mohs are present during the whole thing, and the experiment is lead by a guy named Ahmed and his assistants. 2nd, 3rd: like the 1st, too weak and not enough 7th Fonons 4th: also too weak 5th(Sync): more agile than the original, but so far the worst in terms of 7th Fonon 6th(Florian): another weak one 7th(Ion): good level of 7th Fonons, the closest to the original (and as frail as him - but they figure it can't be avoided and decide to go with this one) Van muses on how it's harder than when he made Luke - Luke starting at a blank state was perfect for his plan, but here they need one that would be able to pass as its original without anyone noticing any difference. Apparently Luke was unable to do anything when he was born, not even chew. The Ion replicas were all created with these basic functions and were even capable of speech. Oh, and seems Mohs knows about Luke being a replica Van created. Mohs ordered the others to be left by themselves in Mt Zaleho (they'd disappear as soon as they die anyway), but the guys who brought them there threw them in the crater and were pretty cruel about it. None of them died immediately, but I'll go into details later. Everyone (except maybe Ahmed but he didn't voice his thoughts) treated them like they really were nothing more than disposable objects.

Sync Got this name from Van because the first time they met, he kept repeating a sentence Van had said ("The synchro level is the problem"). Was more or less aware of what was happening when the guys kicked the other replicas in the crater, so he let them throw him and took the first chance to hide under a rock. That's where Van found him (what was he doing there anyway? Make sure they really disappeared?). Anyway, he took him away, placed some kind of fonic glyph or whatever on his body (to allow him to use the 7th Fonon or something?) and decided to train him. Basically. Anyway, back to Sync when he was found. He was hot and hurt and the glyph hurt too. He started to develop emotions - pain, sorrow and anger, but didn't know how to express them, so he just went along with Van. He wanted to look at the other boys one last time, but eventually gave up. They would disappear soon, and were probably better off than him. Climbing the slope when Van called him had been a mistake. When he realized that, jealousy and regrets appeared on his face once more. Van kept him in a shed in the woods outside of Daath, and started training him in combat, with the hope of making him his subordinate in the Order later. Sync didn't necessarily dislike this training (and everything Van's done for him so far), but he didn't see the point - he was born to replace the Fon Master, after all, so why did he have to train and learn artes? 'It is true that another replica than you will take Ion's place, but I do not think that his life will be better. Even if he will revered as the Fon Master, everything will be decided for him - he will be nothing more than a puppet. On top of that, he will have many enemies. This isn't freedom.' '...Freedom?' Sunlight was piercing through the sky and glimmering on Sync's mask. 'Yeah, I may be under restrictions, but I'm more free than the seventh Ion. But what does that change? Don't try glossing things over. You're only trying to use me as you please.' Van's eyes twinkled. 'I am putting your potential into practice. If you don't like it, you can go back to Mt. Zaleho. If you want to hate something, hate the Score that brought you to life.' '...Yeah. I think I'll do that,' Sync sarcastically replied. 'I'm free. You've gone out of your way to acquire me, but it's still up to me whether I live or not.' Impossible!, Van wanted to shout. A replica would consider suicide...? I never thought of the possibility. Seems we should have programmed them so that they avoid self harm. His having picked up the boy at Mt. Zaleho brought him satisfaction again. With him, he could learn more about replicas than he would ever be able to with Luke. But Sync, I will not let you die until I can no longer see value in you. You can throw yourself to the depths of the earth all you want, I will always come and pick you up. Van then tells him how he hates the Score as well, and this peaks Sync's interest. Some time later, Van shows him the seventh replica and how he is treated, and Sync starts feeling jealous of him. He can't help but notice the nice bedroom, the fine clothes, the respect with which he is addressed to. He wonders how they can be so different when they were created from the same data source. What's so different between us? I'm the fifth, he's the seventh... I was born first! Why didn't they choose me?! He felt he was becoming mad with jealousy. He hit the bed's wooden frame, kicked the chair, and, lastly, flung off his mask. Trembling with rage, he traced the outline of his face with his fingers. 'We have... the same face... If you don't need me, don't keep me alive!' As his fingers slid on his cheeks, he recalled the scene in the chapel. 'Arietta protects the Fon Master, and is protected by her monsters...' Sync believed that people spent their lives creating bonds with others by protecting them and being protected in return. No one protects me, and I have no one to protect. I don't have any bond with anyone. He was just alive, completely excluded from this circle called the world. No one truly needed him. He had no place to call his own. Sync couldn't forgive the ones who created him. They may blame it on the Score, but it is humans who rely on the Score the most. Who should I take revenge on, then?! Sync cried and cursed his foolish existence, that held no hope for a future. He knows that Van is just using him, but he doesn't really care. He muses that it must be the same for the other God Generals; that they all were attracted by Van's strong resolve. Sync always toyed with the idea of appearing before Ion without his mask to see his reaction. When he finally did in the core, he let out what he had been thinking the whole time, even though he had promised himself not to do it. He also wondered as he jumped if Van would allow him to die this time, or if he would come to pick him up like before. Van did indeed bring him back, but in the end, he eventually got his chance to go once and for all. Everything will disappear... Doesn't that fit me, Van? I'm grateful that you gave me a chance to take revenge on the world, but... but I don't care anymore about what's going to happen next. I have finally won this instant. Me, who had only kept losing until now...

[lunalight-venom]

Why Arc v will always have a Special place in my Heart

Way back in 2014, I saw a post from a yugioh page about the announcement of arc v. It was an image of yuya with stargazer and timegazer with the caption about pendulum summon and all that whatnot. I remember my reaction back then, I was angry and disappointed (bcus I thought yuya was going to be the first female protag lol) and thought of yuya as a lousy protagonist due to his ridiculous design.(I used to be one those assholes who despise and didn’t give the other spinoffs a chance and glorify DM and GX)

After that, I lose my interest on yugioh.

One year later in June or July of 2015, (I can’t remember which month it is but know it is somewhere between the two), my obsession for yugioh resurfaces thanks to the abridged series. One thing lead to another and I decide to get a peak at the new yugioh series.

I still have the first episode bookmarked for the love ra. So there I was, watching the first ep of arc v. I was repulsed because this was not the yugioh I remembered and loved. But then we saw how yuya struggled when he was a child when yusho “mysteriously disappeared”, how he hid his pain through his smile and making other people happy and I thought “well he’s not that bad as people say he was. yes he rode his hippo looking like an idiot but over all he’s not that bad”. So then, I continued watching it.

And I didn’t regret my decision on giving this series a chance. Not one bit. The characters, the duels, and the plot, truly had a huge impact on me. The yuuboys and the bracelet girls mean so much to me and it scares me how attach I am to them. The lancers and many more characters of this gosh darn series have grown on me for the past two years.(yes even tho those characters had their potential wasted and didn’t have a chance at character development, I will still forever cherish them)

Sure the show had gone downhill in the middle of the synchro arc and the main plot wasn’t executed perfectly, the bracelet girls were pushed aside and didn’t got a chance to shine (looking at you Rin and Ruri *sobs*) and many more fucked up things the writers did to arc v that I will not mention. (bcus if I did I will be really salty about it)

But in the end of the day, I am just grateful that we still have this series with a protagonist that will do everything in his power to make everyone happy, who had crossed dimensions to save his best girl friend, who always seem to see the good in everyone and ended the drift between the tops and the commons and also changed so many hearts during the dimensional war. A story that features female characters that are important to the plot, duels that leaves you giddy with excitement or leaves you with a heart-wrenching feeling. I just have a lot of emotions right now…no words can’t describe how much I love this series despite its many flaws.

Arc v taught me to face hardships in life with a smile and whenever you feel like your giving up, just swing like a pendulum and fight back with all you got. Thanks to arc v I gave Zexal and 5ds a chance.

And that is why, Ladies and Gentlemen, the reason that arc v will always be in a special place in my heart. Thank you for all the meme memories and I’m hoping the finale will be satisfactory. Farewell Arc v, you’ll be dearly missed by all. 

(p.s At least we still have the manga)

(p.s.s I was listening to Yuya’s theme while I wrote this and i was fucking bawling)

[tsukumou-yuuma]

Thank you, Arc V.

I’m here to post a few words about Arc V, as it has ended. I don’t really come her anymore, and have fallen into inactivity, as far as Tumblr goes, but I needed to get a few words in.

At first, I only started Arc V to see what my best friend & a few other friends, were so into at the time. This was back around....maybe....2015? Early 2015? Maybe late 2014. I don’t remember now. Point is, it was what got me interested.

The first few times I watched it, well... Let’s say they were kinda rough. The colors actually gave me headaches, or made me nauseous,  but regardless of this, I really liked what I had been watching. So, regardless of this happening, I continued. Though, I didn’t catch up, I just watched in random spurts. 

Eventually, that stopped, however, and during the Synchro arc, I finally caught up, it was around the time Yuzu “died” that I finally was at the same episode everyone else was at, and from there, I watched the anime weekly. It’s funny how the Friendship Arc hooked me, when the Synchro arc is where Kiley started losing interest, apparently. (The reverse for us, oh my god.)

This was a rather... long history of how I caught up and whatnot, sorry. 

Anyway, I continued watching Arc V, weekly from there, and getting extremely emotionally invested in the show. More than I would have wanted, I guess, lol. Sadly, around the final arc, I was kind of getting upset by what was going on, and found it really top peak, I mean, Zarc was kinda getting pretty long and annoying, in terms of an arc, sorry to say. But, god, now that’s it’s over... I don’t have much complaints anymore. Except tears.

What does Arc V mean to me? Well... that’s a good question...

Well, I met a lot of friends through Arc V, mostly on Twitter, not here, though, and felt more confident in myself to actually participate in a fanbase, despite how asocial I am, lol. I also... strangely? Relate to a lot of the characters situations, and genuinely enjoyed my time watching the show.

I will miss Arc V, because it was a really fun time, and I feel like I met good people while watching this show. I don’t know how to say this any other way, really? It’s been since maybe DM that I truly enjoyed a Yu Gi Oh series. GX wasn’t really on when I was a kid, and I only really watched 5Ds & Zexal spontaneously. Arc V was the first series that I watched from beginning to end.

So, thank you Arc V. (Also, thank you @yuuya-sakaki for screaming about Arc V enough at one point to get me interested!)

As for Vrains?

Well, I’ll try Vrains, but I don’t know if it’ll be the same as Arc V. Probably not, but I’m willing to at least give episodes 1 and 2 a go. If I like it, I’ll keep going! But I’m not sure yet. The characters look very plain and not very Yu Gi Oh like, I get that’s the artist’s intentions, but still.

Anyway, that’s all. I know I’m not the most active Yu Gi Oh person on Tumblr, but I wanted to just type this all out, lol.

Aha. ;;

[ladystylestores]

In Post-COVID-19 China, Virtual Beauty Is Bigger Than Ever – WWD

https://ift.tt/2ITXrdc

SHANGHAI — The foot traffic at Parkson was middling at best. Although the well-known department store on Huaihai Road no longer had that eerie ghost town feeling that had settled upon the entire city in February when COVID-19 was at its peak in China, it could not exactly be described as lively either.

So when I paused in front of the Shiseido counter, I had the full attention of beauty adviser Mei, who had on an orange peachy lip shade and upwardly brushed brows. With the high summer heat, she suggested I look into some brightening products for my freckles and consider the Synchro Skin foundation to beat the humidity and what seemed like the constant downpour during Shanghai’s plum rain season.

Nothing out of the usual for a beauty shopping trip, but after I agreed on the right shade of Synchro Skin and purchased it with a scan of my Alipay QR code, she also asked to add me into a WeChat group. The group had 170 other people who had also purchased a product from the Japanese brand, and over the next few days, instead of what usually would have been a one-off interaction, Mei’s cheerful and cute messages continued to appear on my phone, interspersed among my other group chats with friends sharing memes or making plans to meet up for dinner.

In Mei’s group, first, there was a special birthday promotion for people born in July, then I saw a post featuring an up-and-coming Chinese model wearing a Shiseido lipstick at an event. Later, I saw that the concession was trying to clear a bunch of products that were going to expire in a year, as opposed to three years. Incense, my favorite shade of Shiseido gel lipstick which usually retails for 240 renminbi, was on sale for unbelievable 36 renminbi. I bought it and three others from the clearance. Mei also cross-promoted her account on TikTok, where she posted beauty look inspiration.

Even as general retail hemorrhaged under COVID-19, beauty has been remarkably resilient, buoyed by digital tools and ways of online selling. Beauty, for a confluence of factors, seems to be the perfect category to thrive in the current environment.

A July report from Ruder Finn and Consumer Search Group found that average beauty spending in the next 12 months in China is estimated to slightly increase to 11,355 renminbi per person–of which 44.3 percent of which on makeup products, 38 percent on skin care and 17.7 percent on fragrances. Lip products are projected to grow 21 percent in sales volume in the next year.

Traditionally, cosmetics has been one of the last hold outs to full online commerce, namely due to the nature of the product. Compared to accessories and apparel, slight shifts in undertone of a makeup product could mean the difference between a shopper loving and hating an item, and in skincare, texture and consistency are also paramount. So online beauty sales tended to be repeat purchases or the result of first the consumer browsing in an off-line store, but not so any longer in China.

For example, in March at the height of COVID-19, Pinduoduo saw sales of beauty products increase 163 percent compared with the same period last year, of which eye shadow gained 244 percent and lipsticks gained 274 percent. On TikTok, beauty video content has increased by 228 percent year-over-year in 2019, faster than the average TikTok growth of 192 percent.

Just how are brands achieving this pivot to online?

Jenny Chen, cofounder of the agency Walk the Chat, said the overall direction brands has not shifted so much, rather that the pace of change has accelerated. “COVID-19 just reinforced their strategy of focusing digitally,” Chen said. 

“What changed is distribution: department store associates are moving online and becoming online livestreaming sellers. This is a big shift, but is something they have to adapt to because they are getting no traffic off-line. At least in China, the beauty brands who are fast-growing have always placed digital marketing as a top priority — brands like Home Facial Pro and Perfect Diary, some of which rank ahead of the largest international brands like L’Oréal Paris.”

“They have to be the next Austin [Li],” said Wen Zhang, founder of digital agency The Breakfast Press, referring to arguably China’s biggest livestreamer whose name is synonymous with lipstick. “That’s not the beauty adviser in the past. They have to learn how to do livestreams, too, and stand at the counter. What it does is it turns them into KOCs [key opinion consumers].”

Li, in fact, started out his career as a beauty counter consultant for L’Oréal in Nanchang, a second-tier city in China before making it big online.

Chen added that this requires a different kind of sales training. “When you do livestreaming you have to engage the users to like you, to click on the star button or the heart button so that the algorithm picks up that something is trending. They have to learn new techniques of selling. It’s very hard to predict who is going to be popular, it’s all algorithm based. The point is to make many staff try and maybe one of them could get a large following.”

Meanwhile, business accounts on WeChat Work, like the one Mei used to add me to her group, originally developed as an office communication tool similar to Slack, and have evolved to greatly expanded capabilities to manage CRM.

Xiaolei Gu, the director of innovation at FaberNovel, said that using these digital tools the consumer can be analyzed and targeted in a much more nuanced and efficient way than before. 

“They note down my name, location, maybe that I’m tall, have long hair, with sensitive skin. It’s all very targeted,” Gu said. “Even if my friend and I walk into the same store at the same time, if we are served by two beauty advisers, we might be in two different groups. There’s a whole infrastructure at the backend to monitor the group activity.

“Also in China, e-commerce is so pervasive,” Gu continued. “In the West, you don’t have a way you can close the transaction loop. Here, you can close the whole transaction loop from WeChat directly by going to a mini program. That really is creating business value.”

In particular, livestream uniquely fills what had been the last remaining gap to purchase beauty. For instance, if a livestream is promoting an eye shadow shade, it will broadcast under a variety of light settings to help shoppers decide. Audiences can interact with the KOL hosting the broadcast to ask them how the product will fare when exposed to sweat or humidity or to any unique concerns.

Price point also plays a huge factor in its popularity, as even luxury beauty stays within a relatively affordable range — domestic brands products often cost less than 100 rmb, making it an easy impulsive buy. Combined with generous return policies and free shipping, complimentary or very cheap samples to purchase, and a favorite influencers’s recommendation, the consumer is game.

“How can something that is so off-line truly just move online?” Zhang said. “My perspective is one of the biggest reasons China can is not just because they have digital platforms but culturally, they can accept it, too.”

Jerry Liu, the head of China Internet at UBS, attributes this digital aptitude to the unique evolution of the consumer in China, which is vastly differed to the western consumer journey.

“The off-line infrastructure was not as developed to begin with so consumers and merchants have needed the online platforms more,” Liu said. “Secondarily, the domestic brands were not as well developed, so it was a learning process [to use the Internet in order to reach brands] and they grew up with Taobao. China did not have these giant malls like in the U.S. in the prior decades [first]. China leapfrogged and went from not having great off-line to having great online.”

The bank predicts that Chinese e-commerce GMV will reach 7.8 trillion renminbi in 2022, representing 33.2 percent online penetration versus 28.1 percent previously, a trend accelerated by COVID-19. Livestreaming is expected to see a 71 percent CAGR until 2022, and 41.5 percent CAGR for social e-commerce, reaching 12.2 percent and 21 percent of total e-commerce GMV in 2022.

Beauty also, as it turns out, has a natural entertainment potential to it. Yvonne Ching, founder of the makeup brand Heir and an influencer who recently hosted livestreams for Burberry and Louis Vuitton, said working with cosmetics is a much easier project compared to apparel. “With a single makeup palette, you can quite easily create an hour’s worth of content and do tutorials,” she said. “If you are wearing a dress or talking about a bag, however, it’s much harder to interact with the product for that amount of time.”

Among the major livestreaming platforms, Taobao Live is the market leader, followed by Kuaishou and TikTok. Meanwhile, WeChat is improving features for retailers and brands, and Little Red Book, or Xiaohongshu, just announced at the start of this month that it would reduce its platform commission from around 20 percent to as low as 5 percent, in order to be more competitive for merchants. In the past, users tended to rely on Xiaohongshu pre-purchase but would often leave the ecosystem and then transact on Tmall or WeChat mini programs.

Walk the Chat’s Chen enumerated the different platforms. “Bilibili is very different it’s more of a video platform where you can watch a 20-minute video to learn about a certain style of makeup,” she said. “There’s a community where you can discuss how to use each in the comments section. For TikTok, beauty it’s easier for the average user to get into it because it’s very short and it makes cosmetics look easy versus if you are, say, a professional beauty artist. They are on Bilibili, which allows them to get into more in depth and have discussions.” 

Zhang agreed, noting that different platforms appeal to distinct demographics and geographical regions. “With COVID-19, beauty KOLs have moved seriously to TikTok because it’s just really relatable. People want to relate to the KOL and feel like this is somebody that could be that be my friend,” Zhang said. “It’s different to WeChat and Xiaohongshu, which are not that city defined. You have all walks of people, the dialects, the way they talk, what they eat, it’s more personal but it also means for luxury brands on TikTok, it’s going to be difficult. It’s a big gap actually.”

“Bilibili is a little bit like YouTube — you have a lot of vloggers, a lot of young people and students so brands like Brandy Melville or H&M who want to reach to students at university,” Zhang continued. “It’s the young crowd, people who like anime, people who cosplay.”

While Chinese consumers have been free to venture out to shops for months now with COVID-19 under control, these new online behaviors are sticky and the demand for livestreaming seems here to stay, Liu of UBS believes.

“It could be a good way to introduce new products [for luxury brands] because the livestream and KOLs can educate consumers,” he said. “Will brands want to move product that way more and more for everything they have? Probably not. But for some products and new launches, it might work.”

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[kuriboo]

Dark Calling

(also available on ao3 @ tatersalad5001. you can consider this post-gx and during season 2 of 5ds. content warning for character death)

The Fortune Cup was over. Rex Goodwin had all the pieces of the pieces that he needed.

The true purpose of the tournament had been realized: Goodwin had wanted to learn the identities of the four other Signers chosen by the Crimson Dragon. Everyone invited to the tournament had been a possible candidate; he learned their strategies, their cards, saw their motivations and what made them who they were now. Everything was to his advantage. It was that much easier to convince them he was completely on his side. To trust him. He gave out just enough truth to earn that trust, but held back enough to keep the upper hand.

Yes, he knew the identities of the other four Signers. All participants of the tournament had been possible candidates. But, of course, there had been participants in the tournament that weren't Signers. For some of these candidates, the reveal (or lack thereof) had been disappointing. There had been some truly...interesting duelists in the mix. Duelists with diverse strategies that would have been a huge asset to the Signers now, but would be easy enough to crush when the time came.

Among the candidates had been a certain Jaden Yuki, who had turned out not to be a Signer in the end. It was somewhat of a relief, at least for a time. The boy was a formidable duelist, and had he been a Signer, he may not have been so easily taken down. But the relief wasn't meant to last.

It appeared that Jaden was a friend of one of the actual Signers. He now possessed information that should only be known to the Signers, and he seemed intent on acting upon it. He knew about the Dark Signers. He was trying to stop them, before the Signers could even take action. And he was becoming a bigger and bigger thorn in Goodwin's side.

"Lazar." Goodwin stood up, folding his arms behind his back. "I will be out for the rest of the day. I have business to attend to."

Perhaps it was time for Jaden Yuki to be stopped.

---

Jaden Yuki was having a hell of a time getting his game on.

It was just...look, it's hard to get your game on in a situation like this. You know, when you're dueling a guy with a glowing spider mark on his arm, when you're surrounded by spooky purple fire, when your opponent's using 'Dark Synchro Monsters', whatever those are, and when dueling becomes a life-or-death situation. Jaden had had enough of dueling for his life long ago, back in school. He'd never wanted to be in that situation again, but against all odds, here he was again.

Though, maybe it wasn't all that surprising that he was doing this again. Jaden tended to attract danger like the plague. There was a reason he spent so much time alone.

He'd been hoping to take down a Dark Signer, but...Jaden had a feeling this duelist wasn't one of them. Something just didn't feel right. It was a shame; Leo and Luna were just kids, they were too young to get mixed up in all of this Signer business. If Jaden could at least take out one Dark Signer himself, then the twins would be that much safer.

But that was only if he could take down this Dark Faker first.

As Jaden stared up at his opponent's monster, he had the sinking feeling that this would be a tough win to pull off. This Dark Synchro Monster was already giving him a lot of trouble. He couldn't use any cards to counter its attacks, and if he managed to destroy it, his opponent could just use its effect to resurrect it. He'd need a miracle to win this duel, and while Jaden had come out of worse situations on top, he was still nervous.

It all depended on this next draw.

There wasn't any point in drawing this out. Jaden drew his next card and glanced at it as he added it to his hand.

Yubel hummed with approval, and he smiled. Maybe with this, he stood a chance after all.

"Jay!" Jaden whipped his head around to see Jesse and Chazz running towards him. He swore under his breath. Of course they came looking for him. He should've expected it, but he'd hoped that they wouldn't, at least not until the duel was over.

"Stay back!" Jaden warned them. Chazz rose an eyebrow, as if to say Thanks for that, I was definitely going to touch the spooky purple fire. "You shouldn't have come here, it's too dangerous!"

"You should've learned by now to stop trying to do everything on your own, slacker!" Chazz called back. "We want to help, you know!"

"He's right," Jesse added. "But you got this, Jay! I know you can win this!" He held his arm up so that Jaden could see him giving him a thumbs up.

Jaden's opponent guffawed. "Well, isn't this interesting! Your friends are here to help. Not that it'll do you much good, but maybe it can help me out!"

"What do you mean?" Jaden demanded.

"This soul cannot be sacrificed if I lose this Shadow Duel," his opponent answered. "But the shadows won't be happy without the feast they desire. Perhaps we can make other arrangements, and the shadows can feed on other souls here? Or they could even take the soul of that Signer you cherish..."

Jaden grit his teeth, his grip on the cards in his hand tightening. Damn it. He'd made this mistake before, hadn't he? Back in Dark World, he'd sacrificed his friends for the sake of winning the duel. For saving himself so he could find someone else. Now, it seemed the universe was testing him once again. If he won this duel, he could go on to fight the Dark Signers himself. But he knew where that left Chazz and Jesse, and Leo and Luna.

"Your cheerleader squad can't help you now," his opponent taunted. "Make your move; we both know it'll be your last."

Jaden glared at him with a scowl. His opponent was right, they both knew it. When would his friends learn to stop believing so blindly in his abilities? There was no loophole in this. He came here alone for a reason. At least when he was dueling alone, he could make sure his friends were safe.

He was no fool. He'd made the wrong choice before, but not this time. He'd learned from his mistakes. Apparently his decision was visible on his face-- his opponent's grin grew wider. Shadow Duels, why did it always have to be Shadow Duels?

He knew it was coming. But still, as his life points reached zero, and his life with it, he gasped. Jaden fell to his knees. The duel was over.

Jaden didn't hear his friends screaming for him. Jaden didn't hear his opponent's jeering. All he saw were the shadows surrounding him. The shadows were unbiased; they remained merciless even towards The Supreme King. They were all he could see, all he could hear.

No. It couldn't end here.

Why not?

He still had so much to do. He had to stop the Dark Signers. Keep his friends safe, the twins safe, the world safe. Even if it meant putting himself in harm's way over and over. He had to keep going, keep fighting. He had to...

He had to...

He had to maintain balance. He had to fight back against the Light. He had to protect the Darkness. Ever since the Fortune Cup, there'd been so much light in Domino City. Far too much light in Domino City. He had to f I g h t b a c k a g a i n s t t h e L I g h t . . .

And then, everything faded, and all Jaden knew was darkness.

---

Something deep inside of him recognized this was wrong. Something inside of him knew this wasn't right, didn't want this at all. Whatever part it was, he couldn't tell, but it refused to sit still. It sent out a friend, knowing who exactly could set this right. And, unable to do anything else, it waited.

---

Balance.

Balance between the Darkness and the Light.

This was Jaden's main concern as his powers opened a temporary portal between dimensions.

Of course this was his focus. This was his purpose, after all: maintaining balance. For far too long, Light had been far too bright in this world. Especially now, with that wretched Crimson Dragon was showing itself. Everywhere Jaden looked, Domino City's light was blinding. There was no balance, no darkness to counteract it, and that simply couldn't stand. Jaden would have to take matters into his own hands. His own darkness was more than enough to match the Light's hold on this city.

For now, the best course of action was to handicap the Crimson Dragon's servants. The Crimson Dragon itself was illusive, only appearing in this world for brief periods of time, and Jaden had no interest in tracking it down himself. That would be too much effort for too little reward. Its dragon servants, however, remained in this world for longer, standing alongside their chosen Signers. Taking care of these dragons would be more productive. One in particular, Jaden knew, also lived in spirit form in its own designated dimension. She'd been taken down before, so taking her down again would be child's play. And with her spirit locked away, her chosen Signer would become useless. The Light would become that much weaker.

This course of action decided, Jaden smiled. It was time to let himself loose on this dimension.

Ancient Fairy Dragon recognized the source of this darkness. Immediately, she recognized the boy that followed Luna the last time she saw her. She let out a quiet growl. No creature of darkness could ever be trusted to keep their word. She saw this coming, but it hurt all the same. If only she'd been able to guide Luna to not trust this person.

Though, she had to relent, while she recognized the source of this darkness, something about it was off. Something about this boy was off. What had changed? There was something more malicious in this darkness that she hadn't sensed before. An actual intent to corrupt and harm that had been missing before, though the potential had always been there. Was the boy not himself, or had their earlier meeting been a really good act?

It didn't matter. It didn't justify this attack, not in her eyes. Her forest had already been in peril, was already decaying from Darkness' influence. With the forest in this state, Ancient Fairy Dragon as not at peak strength, and this darkness was overwhelming. No matter how much she struggled and fought back, she couldn't stop herself from being sealed away. She couldn't stop the corruption of her fellow monsters, or the destruction of the forest. She watched it all fall, unable to do anything.

Please, Luna, she thought. Please protect the forest.

Now, Jaden recognized, with one of the Crimson Dragon's servants out of the picture, Darkness and Light were on a more even playing field. Still, there was more to be done. This town's Light was still far too bright.

At some point, he made contact with the Spider. The Spider gave him a card, which he recognized as the dragon he'd sealed away. Since he'd been the one to imprison her, he was the only person who'd be able to make full use of this card. Ancient Fairy Dragon -- a Synchro monster. He shrugged. He knew of these Synchro monsters, but still didn't know how to use them himself, had no means to. Not that it mattered. His deck was perfectly capable as it was.

Balance.

Balance between Darkness and Light.

In order to maintain that balance, Jaden was more than ready to bring the Light to its knees.

---

When Jesse and Chazz realized Jaden was missing, they had followed after him as fast they could. They were aware of the situation with the Dark Signers, and they knew Jaden; where he'd gone was obvious. They should've kept a closer eye on him. Of course Jaden would've tried to take this situation on on his own.

It hadn't taken them all that long to find him. The purple, glowing flames made it obvious. But when they got there, the duel appeared to be nearing its end. They ignored Jaden's protests that they shouldn't have come. Even if they couldn't duel, they'd support him to the end. They couldn't hear anything the Dark Signer was saying, but it didn't matter. It'd been dumb of Jaden to try to do everything alone. But Jaden was an excellent duelist and always came through in the end. They knew he'd make it out on top.

So when Jaden fell to the ground, his life points depleting to zero, Jesse couldn't hold back the scream rising up in his throat. He wanted to move, but his body as frozen in place. Next to him, Chazz was immobile, silent. All he could do was stare. Neither of them wanted to believe the sight in front of them, but they couldn't deny it, either. They knew this was a Shadow Duel. And they had to accept Jaden lost.

If Jaden heard Jesse's scream, he didn't show it. Purple flames closed in on him, and in an instant, he was gone.

"JADEN!" Jesse called out, but he received no response.

Jaden Yuki was gone.

Jaden Yuki was dead.

The flames burned out into nothing. At some point, the Dark Signer left. Soon, after an eternity, Jesse and Chazz were alone, staring at an empty spot that wouldn't be filled again anytime soon. It couldn't be.

Jaden Yuki was gone.

It was hard to accept, impossible to accept, but eventually, they had to. Eventually, they had to face reality. Jaden was gone, but the fight wasn't over. The Dark Signers were still out there, and the Signers were, too. Jesse and Chazz both knew the Signers, at least somewhat; Luna was a relative of Jesse's, and they'd grown rather close to her and her brother recently. Her fight was their fight, too, and they couldn't just stand idle while Luna and her friends risked their lives. Neither could Jaden. The twins...they were going to be devastated by this news.

Jesse felt hollow as they returned to homebase. His eyes were probably red, but if they were, Chazz didn't bring attention to it, nor did anyone else. Chazz himself was still extremely silent, seemingly incapable of saying anything at all at the moment. Jesse couldn't blame him. He could feel all kinds of emotions swelling up in him, yet at the same time, it was just empty. It was too soon. He still couldn't process whatever had just happened.

He wouldn't get the chance for awhile. There wasn't time. When the Dark Signers were all defeated, there would be time to grieve, but for now, there was work to be done.

He held Luna close as she sobbed into his chest, her new friend Yusei doing the same for Leo nearby. They were too young for this. They shouldn't have to deal with something like this. No one should.

Yet time marched on, and the Dark Signers made their presence more and more known. They had to be dealt with, and there was no time to waste. The Signers team made their plan; they each had a tower they needed to go to, in order to shut down the Ener-D reactors. Each of the Signer dragons was associated with a specific tower, so they'd split up to make their move. (Luna was the only Signer missing her dragon. It was in the posession of the Dark Signers, and they were sure they'd be able to recover Ancient Fairy Dragon along the way). Jesse and Chazz insisted on accompanying the twins, and no one objected. They couldn't enact their plan now, but soon. Soon.

Jesse and Chazz walked home together, hand firmly in hand, silently reminding themselves that they still had each other. They weren't alone. As long as they had each other...

The train of thought in Jesse's mind was interrupted. Giant glowing lines appeared in the ground below them, and stretched out far. As the lights began to break through the ground's surface, Jesse instinctively jumped back, away from them. Chazz's hand was still in his, and he tried to pull Chazz with him. But he was a second too late. Suddenly, his hand was closed around empty air. The person who'd been walking alongside him moments ago was gone. Chazz was gone. Chazz and Jaden were both gone, they were both--

“Chazz,” Jesse whispered, as if saying his name would bring him back. But, of course, he remained alone. He looked bitterly down at the glowing light spilling out of the ground.

The Warrior, he thought, though he had no idea where the thought had come from. A title, perhaps, belonging to whatever the source of these lights was. It’s been so fast that he hadn’t even seen it happen, Chazz had been there one second and was gone the next. Whatever this…Warrior was supposed to be, it had taken Chazz from him, and possibly it’d been the Dark Signer that took away Jaden, too. It was like everyone was being picked off, one by one, and he didn’t know whether to scream or cry. He didn’t have the energy for either anymore.

For the briefest, cruel second, he was reminded of Dark World, but he shook off the memory. It wasn’t his fault this time. There was no time to dwell on it now.

Something on Jesse’s shoulder purred. He reached up and rubbed under Ruby’s chin. With Ruby’s help, he made his way home.

His stomach growled. They’d been planning on a late dinner: leftover fried shrimp.

The thought made him feel sick. He fought against the tears springing to his eyes.

He tried to get some sleep instead, but it wasn’t meant to be. A few hours later, he was still awake, staring at the dark ceiling, hyperfocused on how quiet the apartment was. He turned on a radio at one point, but the noise was just as bad. Everything felt wrong. It wasn’t long before he shut the radio back off and gave up on sleep. Ruby guided him to Leo and Luna’s place instead.

---

Their time was running short. As hard as it was to keep going, they couldn’t wait anymore. The Dark Signers needed to be stopped now, the Signers had to make their move now.

At first, they hadn't been sure where they were going. Luna and Leo weren't sure of the way, and Jesse didn't trust himself to not be lost. A few minutes after they set out, Luna paused and tilted her head. She stayed quiet for a few seconds.

"Kuribon's friend told her we need to go this way," she then said, pointing backwards with her thumb.

"Kuribon's friend? Who is that?" Jesse frowned. "It could be someone tryin' to lead us in the wrong direction."

Luna shook her head. "Kuribon didn't say. She won't tell me. But she trusts them, she really thinks we should turn around."

"Well..." Jesse shrugged. "I guess it's the best we've got to go on."

Jesse gripped Leo and Luna’s hands tightly in his own. He refused to let them go alone just as strongly as Leo refused to stay home. Luna didn’t mind; she wasn’t keen on putting them in danger, but she was afraid to so this on her own. Jesse believed in her, though, in both of the twins. They were stronger than they realized.

Luna vanished just before their destination was in sight, but this was different. It wasn’t like what had happened to Chazz. She was in the spirit world, the one Ancient Fairy Dragon was in. She would be fine, but…

“I can duel the Dark Signer in her place, at least until she comes back,” Leo told Jesse. “I’m her brother, it’s my job to protect her.”

He hated leaving this up to the kids, but Jesse knew that if anyone could do this, they could. If he tried to involve himself any more than he already had, it’d probably just make things worse.

They were at their destination, but no one was there.

“This Dark Signer guy isn’t seriously late, is he?” Leo groaned, tapping his foot against he ground. “Let’s just get it over with already!”

“Neither of you are the Signer I seek,” a voice called out. Jesse quickly scanned the area; he still couldn’t see anyone. “You should leave, now, while you still can.”

“No way!” Leo yelled back. “I’m gonna beat you Dark Signers before Luna comes back. Then she won’t have to deal with any of you!”

“Very well, then. I can’t turn down such a willing sacrifice to the Immortals, now, can I?”

“You can’t decide I’ve lost before the duel’s even started!” Leo shot back, his voice rising.

Jesse really, really hated that the kids had to be involved in this.

Finally, a figure stepped out of the shadows. As it came into view, Jesse realized it must be the Dark Signer they were looking for. But once they were close enough to duel Leo, his heart simultaneously felt frozen and like t was exploding.

It couldn’t be.

The person standing ahead of them had to be Jaden Yuki. He didn't look quite the same, of course: his eyes were considerably darker, red wing-like marks had appeared on his cheeks, and he was dressed in a strange dark robe. But it was unmistakably Jaden.

The thought flashed through Jesse's mind again. The Warrior. No...

No, no, no. Tears began to slide down his cheeks without permission. No. He couldn't accept this. This couldn't be real! But the pieces began putting themselves together in his mind even through his denial. No. He knew by now how the Dark Signers reached their positions, and Jaden was a prime candidate. If Jaden had summoned an Earthbound Immortal back then, then Chazz had been sacrificed to... No!

---

It couldn't be.

Leo stared at the person standing across from him. He'd been expecting a Dark Signer; he was willing take any and all of them down if it meant he could protect Luna, if it meant he could do something to actually help. But instead, he saw Jaden. And yeah, Jaden looked a little different, but if Jaden was here...

"Jaden!" Leo didn't think he'd be able to keep the smile off his face for a long time. "You came back!" Jesse and Chazz must've been mistaken. Maybe Jaden hadn't lost that duel after all, or even if he had then he hadn't lost everything, he just--

A hand placed itself on his shoulder. Leo looked up at Jesse, who was now gripping his shoulder tightly.

Jesse was crying.

Whatever emotion Leo was reading from his face, it was obvious that he wasn't happy.

He looked at Jaden again. If Jaden had reacted at all to his outburst, Leo must've missed it. Now, he was just activating his duel disk and waiting. Leo slid his deck into place and activated his own-- it used to be too big for him, but Jesse had managed to get a mechanic to fix it for him. (It was funny, now that mechanic was his good friend Yusei, another Signer). Leo sniffed loudly. Jesse was allowed to cry, there was nothing wrong with that, but if he was going to protect Luna, he couldn't cry, too. He had a job to do.

"If, uh," Leo bit his lip as he looked up at Jesse. "If this is really happening, then, uh, you might not want to stand right here during the duel."

Jesse blinked, and almost mechanically let go of Leo's shoulder and walked off to the side until he was a safe distance from the duel. The duel disks engaged into duel mode and Leo drew his starting hand; he was going first. Almost instantly, glowing light burst out of the ground around them. Were these supposed to be those 'Nazca Lines'?

Leo analyzed his starting hand, then sucked in a breath and looked up at Jaden again. If he was really dueling a Dark Signer here, then he needed to expect Dark Synchros and Earthbound Immortals, right? Though, he wasn't sure if Jaden was someone that would use an Earthbound Immortal, he'd always been more into Fusion Monsters than anything, but, but-- okay, Leo could admit that he hated this. It was okay that he hated having to duel against Jaden like this, that Jaden had somehow been turned into a Dark Signer, right? He had no idea how everything ended up like this, but he really wished it hadn't happened like this.

Jaden was- Jaden was so many things he aspired to be someday, and Jesse and Chazz were, too. Jaden had always gone out of his way to be nice to Leo, even though Leo didn't have any cool powers like anyone else, and he was always willing to give Leo more dueling pointers, too. Leo loved Jaden, he loved all three of them. Why did Jaden have to end up being their enemy? And not just that, Jaden was a really good duelist. Chazz and Jesse were too, but Jaden had dueling powers that most people lacked. How was Leo, mediocre duelist not even chosen by the Crimson Dragon, supposed to defeat Jaden Yuki?

"It's too late to back out now," Jaden called out. Apparently Leo's hesitation had gone on longer than he'd cared for. "If you're too scared to duel now, then you should have thought of that before."

"I'm not scared!" Leo shot back. Yeah, he wasn't. This wasn't fear, this was just realism. There was no way he was gonna win this one. But like it or not, he'd have to figure out a way to win anyhow. If he didn't win this duel, then Luna... He shook his head. "Jaden what are you doing? You wanted to stop the Dark Signers! You're not supposed to be one of them, you're supposed to be on our side!"

"'Sides' aren't important," Jaden answered dully. "Domino City's Light has been far too bright for far too long. I aim to correct that. It's nothing personal."

"But it is! All of this is personal!" Leo insisted. "You're my friend, we're practically family. If I have to duel you like this, then fine, but I don't want to do this! And if you really are Jaden, you shouldn't want to, either!"

As he spoke, Jaden winced. His expression was unreadable from where Leo was standing, but he held a hand up to his ahead, applying pressure to his temples. He closed his eyes. "Leo?" His voice was small all of the sudden, a pained edge to it.

"Jaden?"

"I'm so sorry, Leo." Jaden's eyes remained closed. He was talking a little faster now. "I should've known better. This isn't the first time I let my goals cloud my judgement. This isn't the first time I let myself get turned against my friends. I don't want to do this, either, but--"

In what Leo could only describe as Jaden cutting himself off, he opened his eyes and shot Leo a cruel smile, his hand falling back fo his side.

"Jaden Yuki doesn't get a choice in this anymore," the Dark Signer went on coldly. "He knows that better than anyone. You may not be a Signer, but the Netherworld appreciates your sacrifice nonetheless."

---

Jesse folded his arms across his chest.

The duel unfolding in front of him was in full swing by now. Leo kept trying to talk to talk to Jaden, reason with him, but the self-proclaimed Emissary of the Netherworld possessing Jaden wasn't having any of it. It was Leo's turn right now. He'd just taken control of Jaden's Elemental Hero Neos from the graveyard and was giving Contact Fusion a shot to fuse it with Power Tool Dragon. It didn't appear to be working, but Leo didn't look too upset about it. This still left him with two powerful monsters on his side of the field, and on Jaden's side, face-downs he hadn't been using since the duel truly started.

Jesse pressed his lips together, dug his right foot into the ground. As Jaden's life points dwindled closer and closer to zero, and he did almost nothing to stop it, he was forced to accept that something here wasn't right. Jaden urgently played a Draining Shield, and Jesse was then able to put his finger on the issue.

The Emissary of the Netherworld trying to force Jaden to put everything he had into this duel didn't have full control. Jaden was fighting back against it, and he was trying to throw the duel for Leo.

That was...that was good? They needed to win this duel against Jaden. They needed to defeat all the Dark Signers so that tehy could save Domino City. Which was good. But...but Jesse had seen how the last duel with a Dark Signer ended. He knew these were Shadow Duels, where the loser lost their soul. Jesse certainly wasn't saying he wanted Leo to lose his soul, not at all, quite the opposite actually. But if Jaden was throwing the match, then he'd lose, and that would mean...

Damn it. One of Jesse's hands closed into a fist. Was it really going to be like this? Was fate really going to give Jaden back, only to take him away again?

A bright light next to Leo distracted him from his thoughts. The light dulled to reveal Luna, smiling; she'd been successful in her quest in the spirit world, it seemed. She took one look at Jaden, though, and her smile immediately turned into a frown.

"I guess I figued out why Kuribon wouldn't tell me who her friend was," she mumbled. "It must've been Winged Kuriboh."

At that, she insisted on joining in the duel on Leo's side. Jaden gave no objections; in fact, on his next turn, he played a card effect that required him to send a monster in his Extra Deck to his graveyard. Jesse definitely knew what he was up to and this whole thing was making him antsy. He needed this duel to be over, but it couldn't end, because any outcome to this duel wouldn't be good. When Luna used an effect to summon Ancient Fairy Dragon from Jaden's graveyard, Jesse couldn't even be surprised. If Jaden really was trying, he never would've sent Ancient Fairy Dragon to his graveyard, or even included her in his deck. His deck barely had any uses for her at all.

"Ancient Fairy Dragon, attack!" Luna shouted. With a roar, Ancient Fairy Dragon made a direct hit, and Jaden's life points depleted to zero.

Jesse began to rush towards Jaden immediately. The twins did the same, and got to him first. Leo tried to give Jaden back the Elemental Hero Neos he took control of during the duel, but Jaden waved him off.

“Keep ‘em,” Jaden mumbled. “Thanks for beating me. You’re both gonna be great someday, way better than I ended up being.”

Jesse slowed down as he got close. Once Jaden heard his footsteps, he looked up before throwing something at Jesse’s feet. A card. Yubel’s card. Her duel spirit would meet the same fate as Jaden, but…

“Take care of her for me.” A tear fell down Jaden’s cheek. Tears were freely streaming from Jesse’s own eyes now, falling dangerously close to Yubel’s card, but never quite close enough to make contact. “I guess I’m still not strong enough to control my own darkness, huh?” Jaden let out a choked laugh. “I’m so sorry, about everything. Stay safe, and keep them safe, too.”

Words failing him, Jesse nodded.

Jaden raised his arm and pointed at Jesse with two fingers, in his usual salute after a duel ended. “Well…that’s game.”

Jesse, Leo, and Luna were forced to watch as Jaden crumbled into dust and disappeared right in front of him.

Jesse rubbed at his eyes before picking Yubel’s card up from the ground. “…That’s game,” he choked out in a whisper.