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kaiowut99 · 3 years ago

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Phew, finally finished re-finalizing my finalized GX stuff so far!

Over the last few weeks well I guess months--initially while I waited for some potential editing help for 65, then [once I canned the last fix I’d planned; sorry to those I may have slightly annoyed with my casual reblogs about it] just to get it all done while in Rome before double-releasing 65 and 66--I’ve been giving my scripts one final look-through to fix any consistency or formatting issues with my newer stuff (things like my starting to use “Fusion Undone” as De-Fusion’s translated name before accidentally going back to “Fusion Cancel” or turning “Miss Asuka” back to “Asuka-san” since I’d meant to use that whenever “Asuka-sama” was used, or the way I’d italicize contractions or capitalize things), and also to sort of go and do things I should’ve done initially (like translating Daitokuji’s nyas into meows, the logic being that it’s what we’d hear in English anyway; hopefully this is one that goes over well?). Basically just to cross them off my list so I don’t go back to them at all. The plan is also to work on new finalized MKV softsubs that I’ll release on NAC for those who’d like ‘em, since Zeratul (who’d provided them before) hasn’t in a long while, and once I do them for 1-66, they’ll be a thing going forward.

While I was at it, I applied some other animation/footage fixes to things I hadn’t picked up on in my initial finalizing run-through as I started doing them, or polished a couple that I did. Some might wonder “why put in the effort for quick shots or at all no one cares,” but as I’ve mentioned before, as someone who loves GX with some [I think good?] skills using Photoshop/video editing and an eye for detail, I figured if I have time to improve it for people (especially those who might notice the same errors I did) where the staff didn’t take the chance to do so on the DVDs (where they usually would), then why not? (I was actually inspired to do it by KaiserNeko doing the same for DBZ during DBZ Abridged.) The fixes I work on are done for both my hardsubs and the DVDRips I release with the scripts over on NAC, and there’s a thread there with the original DVDRips I work off of as well, in case anyone doesn’t like them (most/all of my finalized Season 1 scripts were re-timed for them by someone there, but I’ll take some time out to do it myself too now that I’ve re-finalized them), along with the CR subs which I’ve said should be shown love too. I’ll list these new fixes out below by each episode, for anyone super curious about the details; some are kind of interesting, lol. (Did my best to format it so it’s readable, too, lol.)

So, yeah--keep an eye out for the links to actually-final 1-64 on my stream masterpost to be updated along with 65 and 66 once I post them (probably tomorrow), I’ll be updating the links in my NAC thread to the hardsubs and scripts I’ve re-finalized along with any DVDRips updated with the fixes below, and as I get work going on 67+ (which I’ve started a bit of) I’ll work on batches of the softsub MKVs for folks. For people looking forward to my 65 and 66, really appreciate the patience the past couple of months; hoping to work on some double-releases to make up some time.

Extra-Final Fixes!

Episode 4 (Since I didn’t include a list of the previous fixes I’d worked on in the original release post, I’ll include those here in italics; the new ones here were mainly noticed as I worked on 66 given the flashback to Judai and Manjoume’s duel here--the edits were applied there first, then I went back and applied them here. The fixes I’d already done were applied to the flashback in 66 as needed.)

As Judai takes damage from Clayman’s destruction by VW-Tiger Catapult, Judai’s LP start counting down from 3808 and not 4000; I fixed it in Sony Vegas by masking in a LP counter starting from 4000 for a few frames.

As Judai prods Manjoume into choosing a card from his hand for A Hero Appears’s effect, Manjoume’s part of a split-screen has part of his blazer semi-faded for a frame; I corrected it by just duplicating a later frame.

As Judai’s LP take a hit from V-to-Z destroying Burstlady, there are four frames where the upper part of his Disk is missing the bottom part that extends out--but it shows up in the next frame, which also causes Judai’s Disk wrist grip to vanish for the rest of the shot before Shou’s split-screen comes on, as the parts of his arm for it are colored like his jacket sleeve. To fix the first issue, I used Photoshop to draw on that bottom part in that first frame, then masked it into the shot in Sony Vegas for the other three frames. The second issue I fixed by recoloring his sleeve to account for the wrist grip, then masking the edit into the shot while masking the little destroyed Solid Vision bits above the edit.

Had a few things going on here. First, after Manjoume mocks Judai being wide open just after the above, we have one of many recycled shots through the episode where Judai insists that he’s still got fight in him--the initial frame has Judai in the same position as edit #3 ends with his wrist grip missing, but it reappears as he moves to stand firm while the shading on the lefthand side of his Disk’s Cemetery slot is wonky for a couple of frames. Second, as Judai moves back into his initial position, that shading is normal but the wrist grip again disappears into his sleeve, and this time that bottom bit of his Disk’s upper part is colored as part of Judai’s sleeve, making his arm shorter. Third, as Judai moves to draw, the wrist grip reappears and that bottom part is now colored properly, but Judai’s arm isn’t extended like it was at the start of the shot. Finally, as Judai draws, the wrist grip is there but that whole part of his wrist is colored like it (no red noting the end of his jacket sleeve). I fixed the first issue by copying the wrist grip edit from #3 and copying the moving Cemetery slot shading from the second part here. The second issue was fixed once I again copied the wrist grip edit from #3, along with using the initial frame to mask in the correct Disk/forearm coloring. Then, I fixed the third issue by copying the rest of the area below the Disk’s bottom bit from the later shot in edit #7 below where it was colored correctly. I fixed the last issue by recoloring the first wrist grip curve into red for the end of Judai’s jacket sleeve for five frames.

As Manjoume’s V-to-Z aims directly at Judai, as he discards two to activate Evolutionary/Transcendant Wings, the Winged Kuriboh on his Disk is in Attack Mode when it’s in Defense on the field; I blanked its Monster Zone in Photoshop and then added a Winged Kuriboh proxy in AfterEffects correctly in Defense Mode.

As Judai swings his arm around telling Winged Kuriboh LV10 to “send all that energy right back” at Manjoume, the spot on his Disk where Winged Kuriboh LV10 appears for a few frames is colored like the Monster Zone it’s on; I just applied a Winged Kuriboh LV10 proxy above it for those frames.

Again, a few things here as we recycle the Judai shot in edit #4 (but he’s smiling so it’s different~). First, after Manjoume mocks Judai’s idea of him drawing a 1000-ATK-or-higher Monster to finish him, the initial frame of this shot is pulled from just before Judai moves to draw in edit #4 because the wrist grip is missing along with the bottom bit of his Disk being colored like his jacket. Then, as Judai moves to draw and grabs a card from his deck, as his Disk arm swings upward for a few frames, the wrist grip area is first 90% colored like his sleeve, with half of the first curve of it on his sleeve colored like the grip, before it’s fully colored like his sleeve for the other frames. Finally, as Judai fully draws and his Disk swings back to the bottom of the shot (recycling Judai’s position post-draw in edit #4), the wrist grip is gone, but also Judai’s undershirt is miscolored, part of the folds on Judai’s jacket sleeve near his elbow are colored like his Disk, and his Disk is miscolored or missing a few details compared to the earlier shot (like the bottom side of the blue LP orb being colored blue as well and not the Disk’s gray as before). I fixed the first issue by copying the fixed initial frame from edit #4, masking it in Vegas to just use the Disk/wrist grip area. The second issue was fixed as I recolored the wrist grip area such that the first curve was fully red and the rest was wrist-grip-colored for the three frames of Judai’s Disk arm going upward. I fixed the third issue by just masking in Judai’s Disk and arm (up to the edge of his wrist) from the earlier correctly-colored shot, while also masking in his correctly-colored undershirt.

As Judai summons Featherman--to Shou and Chronos’s surprise--and has him lunge at Manjoume for the finisher, the black faraway box that is Featherman on his Disk disappears as Shou and Chronos slide in on a split-screen, and it’s still gone as they slide back out. I fixed this in Vegas by just masking that black box on to stay longer, masking in Shou’s split-screen over it before and after it slides in.

Episode 8 (Original release post; as with episode 4′s, these new errors were mainly noticed as I worked on 66 given the flashback to Judai and Ryou’s duel here--the edits were applied there first, then I went back and applied them here. The fixes I made before were applied to the flashback in 66, as well.)

After Judai thinks about how well Ryou played his first move, he draws Fusion for his turn, but as he draws it, it’s a dark-orange rectangle in his hand; I added a Fusion proxy over it in AfterEffects for the quick 2-3 frames it’s in.

After Judai’s first hit on him, Ryou draws and Special-Summons another Cyber Dragon, but visually he’s playing a Monster in face-down Defense Mode on his second Monster Zone--we see this Cyber Dragon in Zone 3 a few shots later as he uses Revival of the Dead to bring back his first Cyber Dragon. The dub fixed this by making his Disk arm move such that Ryou’s hand lands on Zone 3, with the card in his hand a dubified Cyber Dragon, and I opted to work that into the footage here by masking their moving Disk over the original shot in Vegas, redoing the sky background behind it and masking in parts of Ryou and his hand to make it blend well while also adding some detail to the Disk in Photoshop to compensate for the slightly lower quality. Then, I replaced the dubified card with a Japanese Cyber Dragon proxy in AE. I worked on this in 66 first (as highlighted here), but I unfortunately couldn’t just copy that edit completely here, since the footage in 66 has a bit more brightness/contrast to it that I couldn’t dial down accurately to make it blend in to the darker footage here; this is definitely the kind of error that would normally be fixed on the Japanese DVDs, so why it wasn’t is a mystery.

As the screen zooms in on Judai after Ryou declares Cyber Twin’s attack, he’s missing Thunder Giant on his Disk’s third Monster Zone; I added a proxy onto it in AE and masked the red bulb on his Disk over it in Vegas. It’s tiny and a quick shot, but for consistency’s sake and all. (I’d previously only added that missing Thunder Giant as it zooms out while he activates A Hero Appears).

As Judai thinks about how Evolutionary Wings would evolve his Winged Kuriboh and the screen fades and zooms out to Bubbleman on his field, he’s missing Bubbleman on his Disk in his third Monster Zone. I added it in AE, then keyframed this zoom-out for it accordingly in Vegas.

Right after #4 above, as Judai notes that he can’t Normal-Summon again this turn, we see Mudballman--which he hasn’t summoned yet--in Defense Mode on his Disk. When I first fixed this, I put Bubbleman in its place, but accidentally in Defense Mode (given that he’s in Attack Mode right now), so I fixed my own correction by blanking the third Monster Zone Mudballman was on and slapping Bubbleman on in Attack Mode in AE, moving it along with Judai’s Disk. (Still not sure why the dub decided Mudballman = VW Catapult or something apparently lol)

Episode 10 (Original release post listing the original two fixes that were done)

After Mei draws out his Sanga thanks to Kyuu’s Dark Designator card, during the panning shot as Mei adds it to his hand (before they tell Judai and Shou they’ll enlighten them about Tag Dueling), the Defense-Mode Burstlady on Judai’s Disk is shown reversed; I just applied a proxy in AfterEffects on top of it so it was correctly shown with the name box facing left.

After summoning Steam Gyroid, as Shou notes that summoning Hyuga left Kyuu without a defending Monster, the above shot is recycled--this time, reversed so it pans from Shou to Judai, but also has Judai react to what Shou’s saying--and so is the error with Burstlady on his Disk. Again, just applied a proxy in AE to fix it, moving it as Judai moves his Disk.

As Shou looks down in disappointment after his Steam Gyroid’s attack ran into Hyuga’s effect, Judai turns to give him some words of encouragement, but as his Disk moves with him, we see the Defense-Mode Burstlady on his Disk again facing the wrong way. Just slapped a proxy on in AE and moved it as Burstlady’s Zone came into view.

After Gate Guardian destroys Shou’s Steam Gyroid, as Chronos watches on and notes Shou’s timidity vs Judai’s stubbornness while the two look on at the Meikyuu Brothers, we see the Defense-Mode Burstlady on Judai’s Disk facing the wrong way again. Fixed it by placing the proxy again in AE, then zooming it out accordingly as the shot zooms out.

After Mei sets a card and Judai prepares to draw for his turn, there’s a yellow rectangle where his Defense-Mode Burstlady should be. Applied a proxy in AE over it to fix the issue.

Episode 11 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

As Kyuu draws once Judai sets a card to end his turn using Spark Gun on Gate Guardian, the spot on his Disk where Defense Wall in Defense Mode would be has an Attack-Mode-shaped hole where you can see the blue of the stands behind him! I fixed it by making a Defense Wall proxy that I slapped on in Defense Mode in AfterEffects, moving it with his Disk. For the tail end of the shot where the Zone is fully visible, I also filled in the hole with the Zone color in Photoshop and then applied the proxy.

As Shou declares Gate Guardian the target of his Shield Crush, the card back for the one card in his hand is miscolored. I fixed it by redrawing the usual card back in Photoshop for the frames it’s in, Gaussian Blurring it so it blends in, before he turns and they’re out of the shot.

After Mei ends his turn having attacked Drillroid with Dark Guardian amused at Shou’s standing back up thanks to Judai, as Judai draws for his turn, his face-down card is miscolored. I recolored it in Photoshop for the few frames it’s in, working it into the footage in Vegas.

After Judai draws from Pot of Greed after the above, he goes on to activate Fusion Gate, but Sparkman on his Disk is reversed; I applied a proxy in AE facing upright, then keyframed it to the zoom-out here in Vegas.

As Judai realizes he’ll need to give up Skyscraper so Tempester can survive Dark Guardian’s attack, the Tempester card on his Disk is reversed; I applied a proxy in AE facing upright, then keyframed it to the zoom-out here in Vegas.

As Judai and Shou reel from the above attack once Kyuu ends his turn, Shou has a Normal Monster card where Drillroid would be on his Disk. I fixed it by slapping on a proxy in AE for the couple of frames it’s visible in before Shou moves his Disk so it’s not onscreen.

I polished my edit to Misawa to keep his sideburns still in episode 12 and added it to the equivalent shot in the preview here.

Episode 12 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

As noted in 11′s #7, I polished my original fix to Misawa’s moving sideburns as a buffed-up Hell Soldier took out his Hydroggedon so it blended in more with the smoke and everything going on in the shot; looks better now.

As Manjoume declares Hell Burner’s attack on Misawa, there are two quick frames where it’s a yellow rectangle on his Disk; I applied a Hell Burner proxy in AE accordingly.

Episode 18 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

After Kagurazaka brings back Berfomet to take the hit from Thunder Giant and he starts his turn, as he activates Reincarnation of the Dead, there’s a quick frame where it shrinks in his hand as the shot zooms out--I fixed this by just duplicating the frame just before where it’s normal.

After Kagurazaka summons the Gazelle he added to his hand above, he then activates Swords of Sealing Light, but there’s a quick frame where it’s just a yellow shape in his hand. Easy fix by slapping a proxy in AE.

Episode 30 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

As Shou and Hayato realize they’re no longer being boiled alive, Hayato audibly asks, “Huh? Where are we?”, but his lips only move for the “Huh?” part of that as he lifts his head. To fix this, I used the couple of flaps as he lifts his head and tweaked/resized them so they would work after his head’s lifted, adjusted to fit his line.

Episode 31 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

As Chronos sets a card down after Camula brings out another Immortal Werewolf, Antique Gear Soldier on his Disk is shown as a Normal Monster Card; I originally fixed this by slapping on a proxy in AfterEffects while the shot was still, then keyframe-zooming it out in Vegas, but at the time, I didn’t account for Chronos’s swinging arm, so the card was superimposed over his hand for a frame or two as it swung over that Zone. I’ve masked his hand over my edit now, so that’s fixed.

Episode 38 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

After Judai summons Wildman in Defense Mode to start the duel and the lights suddenly go out (prompting the “duel of darkness/duel in the seas” mixup...), we see Wildman’s in Attack Mode on the field despite its Defense posture. I fixed it by applying a proxy there, then masking Wildman’s lower body and the shadow coming from his sheathed sword on top of it.

Episode 46 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

As Judai reminisces about the past year, he flashes back to his duel with Ryou in episode 8 and his Featherman being vaporized by Cyber Dragon; I added back the fix I did to Judai’s Disk in removing his destroyed Featherman for the few frames it’s onscreen. Because the flashback fades to white right then too, I also added a quick mostly-transparent layer of white over the blanked zone to replicate the start of the fade to white so it blended in.

As Judai then looks over at Shou and Hayato and he remembers his first encounters with them (a bit reanimated, too), there’s a quick frame where Hayato’s gritted-teeth mouth disappears before it closes into a line for his mouth. Fixed by just reusing a frame of his mouth in the same position and moved it into place in the panning shot.

Episode 51 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

As Ryou notes that Judai’s studied up on him by choosing to go second, Judai slides in on a split-screen, but the top of his hair’s miscolored. Fixed by recoloring it in Photoshop, then working it into the footage in Vegas by moving it into place as he slides in.

As Ryou uses Time Capsule to hide away his Fusion Undone/De-Fusion for later and Judai thinks back to his move in episode 8 leading to his activating Power Bond, I added back my fix to Ryou’s Disk to add on his missing two Cyber Dragons and the one Cyber Dragon in his hand, grayscaling it and adding visual noise to it to blend with the flashback.

Episode 54 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

After Chronos pins his hopes on Manjoume, as Gokaido draws for his turn, we see an error where his Disk apparently partially vanishes for two movement frames--it seems the animation staff forgot to put the background layer behind his Disk there or something, lol. I fixed this by actually filling in the rest of his Disk in Photoshop for those two frames, first by filling in the Disk itself and then painting on the rest of the Monster Zone at the edge of the frame, and then just added them to the video in Vegas.

Episode 59 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

After Shining Flare Wingman returns while Ed explains Misfortune’s effect, of the D-Heroes on his Duel Disk, we see Diamondguy and Diehardguy reversed. I originally slapped on proxies for them positioned correctly in AfterEffects on the frame after the slow zoom-out stops, then in Vegas I used that frame to re-do the initial zoom-out, but while I usually add a slight blur to the proxies, I noticed that they were a bit too blurry as the zoom-out started. So I redid it and lightened the blur, while also touching up the bit as Misfortune’s light envelops Ed and his Disk so the light over them blends in more.

Episode 62 (Original release post, though I didn’t do any fixes before)

As Judai uses Dandylion’s effect to summon his two Fluff Tokens, Cocoon Dolphina--visually in Defense Mode on the field--is in Attack Mode on Judai’s Disk in the panning shot to them. I fixed it by first blanking the Zone in Photoshop, then placing a proxy in the Zone for one frame in AfterEffects before I re-panned that frame for the shot.

#subbing rambling #good to have gotten all that done #thought it'd be good to get that re-finalizing out of the way now #but yeah #main reason why i'd been away for most of the past few weeks #[along with work being a bit stressful as i caught up on stuff]#[you go on vacation for *one* week...]#anyway thanks for bearing with me lol

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cipher-wise · 4 years ago

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YGO! Questionnaire

Tagged by @joeys-red-eyed-dragon

Favorite Series: Anyone who’s spent any length of time with me knows that the answer will always be Arc-V gfhjbjsk The animation is flawless (when it wants to be hdjsksf), the OP, ED, and OSTs are all On Point, the plot is amazing, the voice acting, the ChArAcHtErS!!!!! The decks!!! The duels!!!! This is the first YGO! series that have actually had me invested in their duels all the way through!!

It’s also the only YGO! series besides 0+DM that entertains me the most, lore and story wise. :)

Favorite Protagonist: Yuya!!!! He’s so baby and I just want to see him happy!!! But also seeing him suffer gives me Life.

I’m just a sucker for smiley characters that have.... shall we say, trouble with masks..

Favorite Rival: A tough question for sure! Objectively, I’d choose Reiji Akaba, because, well, he starts out as a pro with all summoning methods down pat already and doesn’t actually lose to Yuya until the very end. I’d like to think, that, although Yuya sees him as a sorta dick in the beginning, he would strive to be as good a duelist as him, especially with how Reiji managed to captivate an audience.

(Seto also has one of the most interesting backstories in all of YGO! ngl...)

Now, emotionally? I’d have to choose the Zexal boys. I feel so much for Kaito, and Shark.... I’m such a sucker for protective older brothers okay? Reincarnation also helps my choice 👀

(That said, who can resist Jun Manjoume bringing the Thunder?)

Favorite BFF: Hhhhhhhh Why must I Choose?

Listen, all the Besties are so Good and Wholesome ;A; And I know this is totally biased but I’mma have to say Noboru Gongenzaka >.< He’s so protective of his friends and so attentive to them! I also really love how straightforward he is, it’s a trait I can get behind.

(As a close second, it would be Johan Anderson 👀)

Favorite GFF: Potential wise, Aki Izayoi was very interesting! However,,,

I’d have to pick Mana and Yuzu, purely because they had the most involvement in their respective stories imo. Don’t get me wrong, I love their characters and how they bounce off their protags, but it felt like they had real agency compared to some of the others.

I also simply don’t know enough about Asuka, Kotori, or Aoi to have many opinions about them. (I’m not really a fan of Anzu either tbh.)

(I know this question is in regards to the protag’s girl bestie but my favorite girl character will forever be Yuya’s mom!! She’s so fucking badass, ja? Very Fruits Basket of her.

Droite also has my fav character design of the girls!)

Favorite Villain: Ah.

Again my bias shows because I love good guys gone bad. Yubel (and Haou) and Zarc (and the Yuubois) are my favorite villains... >.>

Number 96 and Vector also get special mentions here! (Diva has one of my fav designs tho.)

All that aside, Abidos though 👀 The best one shot villain 👌👌👌👌

Favorite Card: Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Favorite Episode: ...Of..? Each series?

Season 0: "Don't Touch the Forbidden Game"

DM: "Attack Me! The Fated Last Turn"

GX: "Judai and Johan of the Gem Beast Deck"

5D’s: "A Life-or-Death Battle! Machine Divine Emperor Dragon Asterisk"

Zexal: "Break Through the Limit!! King of Wishes, Hope Ray Victory"

Arc-V: "Glory on the Academia!"

Vrains: “Self Breakdown”

The reasons why I like all of these episodes the most are probably obvious, and in somewhat of a pattern.. And I haven’t watched SEVENS yet XP

Favorite Decks to Use: Okay, so. The thing is, I’d always really liked Spellcasters and thought they were all I was gonna use. I wasn’t really a big fan of Warriors, or Dragons, or anything else really. It doesn’t help that Spellcasters are one of the most popular and diverse types in Duel monsters. However.

Arc-V’s themes for deck archetypes really got me into a bunch of other types of monsters and decks. I’d never really ever been interested in the actual game before, aside form what was relevant to plot or lore. But Arc-V has decks based on circuses, actors, singers, idols, toys, plushies- well, you can see where I’m going with this.

Now (,again with my bias,) I Adore Yuya’s deck! It has Spellcasters!!! It has cute animals!!! It follows a circus theme!!!!! One thing I Did Not see, was me liking the Dimensional Dragon archetype as much as I did! You can ask any of my friends that I play Duel Monsters against lolol, a modified Dimensional Dragons and Spellcasters Pendulum deck is my primary go to.

Another thing I didn’t foresee was taking to Pendulum quite so much! It’s so versatile!!! All my decks have at least one of each type of summoning method in it, because Pendulum makes it more possible. (Keep in mind this is pre-links I’m talking about here.) My main deck, which I fondly call “Odd-Eyes Magic”, even has Ritual monsters in it! I do use Xys the most after Pendulums I guess tho.

Fusion, Ritual, Synchro, Xyz, Pendulum, or Link: Pendulum lolol

In order of how much I use each summoning method: Pendulum, Xyz, Sycnhro, Ritual, Fusion, and I’ve never Link summoned or rush dueled before vbdjbvdsk

Years in Fandom: Ever since it first came on Kids WB!! I’ve watch it since forever my guys. I remember watching it when the first episode aired.

Who am I tagging??!!!!

@zom-bri @sylvansonia @1apple-fox1 @howaboutalittlehelpneos @kayrockerqog @sioninel

#Cipher Speaks #YGO!#Ask Meme #Personal #Cipher Answers #Tag U'r It!

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wild-battlebond · 4 years ago

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Appmon Ep15 Liveblog

The App Drivers try and get Tellermon to predict the locations of the 7 Code Appmon, and Eri and Astora duke it out over whether or not you should believe fortunes 🔮

eri’s moving on up in the world of idol-job opportunities!

eri: “tell me everything you liked about my commercial! don’t skimp on the details :) :) :)” haru: “um. ummmm. you posed good.”

filming the video with the flowers and butterflies took over half an hour... perhaps Astora is allowed a longer amount of time to film on occasion?

we’ve already seen Eri and Astora butt heads before now, but it has more of a focus in this episode (because this episode also kinda resolves that conflict). Eri is the sort to follow fortunes to the letter and let them affect her outlook and mood for the day, while Astora is the sort to take control of his own fate (which makes sense given how his entire arc is about choosing his own way to pursue his dreams)

what did tellermon tell poor tutomon...?!

it does seem like, if data collection (especially the collection of personal data) continues at the rate it currently is, you probably could get pretty accurate predictions by the year 2045...

if you wanna be ~technical~, Astora’s video should still get a lot of views since there’s probably gonna be a ton of entomologists watching his video to see the butterflies. he gets a ton of comments from entomologists asking about the type of flowers he used and stuff.

just like Gatchmon, Tellermon’s abilities are very expansive and powerful but are limited by the reaches of the internet. and in this case, limited by (presumebly) Minerva.

Rei always sounds so overly confident with his plans. “we’ve been tracking down Mienumon so we set a trap and she fell for it because i’m a genius” Rei i’m not sure you did anything, this sequence of events only seems to have happened because of the others

i’m kind of a fan of Mienumon but i don’t really know why... i guess it’s just her personality? i like ditzy-sounding antagonistic characters who are actually incredibly capable, i guess? appmon’s arc antagonists are all really good...

lol at Eri seriously considering following the fortune crowd for a split second

Tellermon’s ability set is another really interesting & cool one. her ability basically forces the predictions to come true by summoning the unlucky stuff, which is similar to how people will often allow fortunes to become self-fulfilling prophecies.

speaking of, Eri instantly lets Tellermon’s negative predictions get her down. but Astora’s refusal to let fortunes run his life re-motivates her... it’s the duality of the two’s personalities and beliefs that make them such good friends

it’s not really clear how Dosukomon’s chip became active... but it seems to have been a matter of Eri and Dosukomon’s hearts being in sync or something? personally, *points at my url* i think that kind of thing is really, really cool.

OK here’s one of the other trust-representing App Fusion I was talking about the other day. from the start, Eri and Astora’s friendship has been kinda rocky — actually, calling it a friendship might even be a bit of a stretch since the only thing they did was pester each other. their attitudes and preferences are completely different, which causes a lot of conflict. which is basically what this episode is about with following fortunes vs. not doing that. and, this episode is also about the two being able to agree to disagree and ultimately gain some respect for each other. Eri gets inspired by Astora’s carefree attitude, so when he asks if he can use Dosukomon’s chip for app linking with Mediamon, she winds up obliging. even though it’s completely off the cuff, she decides to trust Astora’s judgement — if he messes up, she can always just rescue him again. also, Eri specifically says something along the lines of “be careful with Dosukomon” ... like with Rei before, Eri seems aware that she wouldn’t be able to do much of anything if she lost Doka/Dosukomon, which is why handing over the chip is such a sign of trust

friends :)

they start the episode admonishing each other for not respectfully using each other’s names, and then end it by calling each other by nicknames... poetic cinema. & then they also kinda meet halfway on the fortune telling thing b/c they’ve grown to respect each other. Astora’s way of meeting halfway on the issue come across as a bit awkward, but it’s because he seems to have trouble expressing genuine emotions without cracking a joke or similar. if i remember right, the closest he gets to expressing those kinds of emotions earnestly is during the endgame with Musimon. (that’s not to say that Eri is the greatest at being earnest, either.)

one one hand I really like the episode’s theme of forging your own destiny, but on the other hand... they go and point out how it’s mostly women who use the app, so the episode also kinda feels a bit like “heh, check out how lame this thing that women like is”............ probably a c’nest pa deep moment.

Next time: Narrator Haru’s christmas prediction comes true and dramatic things start happening

#fiftytenlive #digimon #appmon #APM15

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dizzydaikon · 4 years ago

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YGO! Questionnaire

Tagged by @howaboutalittlehelpneos 😸!

Thank you for tagging me!! I actually love doing these although I’m not very good at writing! Please forgive the lack of detail!! Sorry in advance!

Favorite Series: Honestly I want to say DM is my favorite series, but after finally committing to watching GX for the first time, I would have to say it is indefinitely GX that takes the cake! The only shows I have seen were S0(Toei), DM, GX, 5Ds, and I think the first season of ArcV. 😂😔

Favorite Protagonist: Jaden! Just kidding its the original YGO baby, Yugi Muto!! I still love the funky little lad that Jaden is!

Favorite Rival: ......ITS CHAZZ!! I love him, he’s so goofy and I absolutely love how he changes through the series. Now there is Kaiba, who’s rich, a bit much, and his subtle changes in the YGO universe. I was going to do with Jack since I do love the dense funny rival trope!

Favorite BFF: The godfadah of games himself, Joey Wheeler!!! He is pretty much my favorite YGO bff! I think the majority of it is due to the dub voice actor 😂

Favorite GFF: This one is pretty hard since YGO doesn’t really do a fine job of their girl side characters. Alexis was one of the alright girl characters, mostly because I’m not entirely sure if this counts but Mia is one of my favorite girl characters!

Favorite Villain: Hands down its Yubel, I just love their whole backstory and the subtle hint in the earlier seasons that Yubel was going to be an important character later in the story, albeit not actually showing them just that Jaden heard voices when he was younger. Especially their character design and voice acting in the Sub! Absolutely adore the way they had their voice change pitches and tones! They were dealt a little better than poor Bakura :^(

Favorite Card: Okay... so when I was young, still in middle school, my very first ulta rare card (had to ask a friend since I though it was a plain rare rn) that I got from my first card pack was Red Eyes Zombie Dragon. I literally kept that card in the front of my binder and took it with me during the health fair along with my other favorite cards!

Here’s a pic!

Favorite Episode: Okay I have a ton of favorite episodes but one that really stands out to me and I really love is in GX The King of the Copycats! It’s just so absurd and really hits down on the funky odd characters that you’ll encounter later in the series! Any funky episode usually is my favorite unless its something reallllly good! Also I really love Dimitri (Kagurazaka)!! Reminder that I should draw more of him

Favorite Decks to Use: Toons are my all time favorite, even if it’s not a good deck! I just love the concept of wacky versions of monster cards, their effects, and that they can attack directly! You would be surprised how many people forget about that in DL! Zombie and plants are pretty cool to use too!! I especially love this new toon card that came out!!!

Fusion, Ritual, Synchro, Xyz, Pendulum, or Link: I don’t like too many rules when trying to summon a super cool monster so Fusion and Ritual summoning are the easiest, with the new types of summoning it’s all confusing. Plus one of my favorite cards is Relinquished thus making ritual summoning my favorite!

Years in the Fandom: Ummm, gosh I really don’t know, I used to watch it back in middle school every Saturday morning xD! I remember the constant sweepstakes I would enter in the 4kids website just to win a duel disk. Then YGOTAS got me back into ygo I think during 5th grade?? Yugioh was a very on and off fixation for me, I got back into it in high school a few times then I recently got back into it this year because of a yugioh marathon 😂 ! It’s just one of those shows that you come back to!

I honestly don’t know who to tag! I hope you y’all don’t mind! 😅 @theo1016 @ryo-bakura @blairflannigan

#not art #Sorry it took so long to do this!#anyone else can do this I really dont know or interact with people #ITS THE ANXIETY #Again thank you for tagging me!!!

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darkzorua100 · 5 years ago

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In works of fiction, one of the hardest things to do isn’t so much as writing a solid story but trying to find a way to end it with a satisfying conclusion. It could be a happy, sad, or all of the above as long as it fits the story that you have building up to at this point. After all, this is the last thing your viewers are going to be seeing. The last big take away before they have to move on. What is going to be the legacy of this fiction? A ending can make or break a series after all. Just look at Yu-Gi-Oh ARC-V for example. Looking back at it, it was such a groundbreaking entry into the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise for being the first series to make all the Extra Deck Summoning Mechanics relevant to the story instead of pushing them off to the side for the newest one in Pendulum at the time. It was a huge nostalgia trip by paying homage to the past series that came before it from using their locations for the different dimensions to bringing back past characters, in a way anyway, to the forefront. There is just so much more I could say about that spin-off but to put it in a nutshell, ARC-V just did so much right at the time but of course we all can’t forget that damn ending. The way that ARC-V ended just left pretty much everyone who had watched it from the very beginning with such a sour taste in our mouths. I don’t think I need to explain why, anyone who has seen the final knows exactly what I’m talking about, but yeah, it goes to show that a finale leaves a lasting impression and is pretty much why, even to this day, a majority of people consider ARC-V to be the worst Yu-Gi-Oh series to date.

So with all that being said, how did Yu-Gi-Oh Vrains finale do? Was it able to wrap everything up into a perfect little package with a nice bow on top? Well honestly, the package itself was a freaking mess and a half but I will say the bow on top wasn’t half bad for what it was worth. We all knew with Vrains ending way to early compared to the previous series that things were going to be getting rushed at the end but I will say that even if things were rushed, and it wasn’t the most satisfying ending they could have given us, what they did give us still left me feeling fulfilled and with Vrains being the absolute train wreck that it was, at the end of the day, I’ll call that a win.

So let’s start off with the final part of the Playmaker vs Ai duel. These two really were just full on neck and neck that it literally came down to their aces (because yes, Decode Talker is Playmaker’s true ace monster of show) batting each other, once again like from the opening, with Yusaku only being able to pull out the win in the end because Ai wanted to make sure that he was going to be able to finish him off during his turn. If his greed didn’t get the best of him, he would have actually won. That is actually really crazy to think about. At one point, just before Playmaker summoned Accesscode Talker, I seriously thought he was going to summon a Link 8 since he had the total Link Rating on his field with his three monsters plus Darkfluid being a Link 5 but nope, he summoned basically his new combination of the six Ignises in the form of a Code Talker (which all seem to be model after an Ignis anyway). I mean how he was actually able to summon out Accesscode was kinda BS but that’s just normal BS when it comes to the final duels in a Yu-Gi-Oh final. I’m still questioning how in the actual world did Yusaku not deck himself out during this duel. Seriously just how many cards did this boy go through? Way to many from the looks of things.

Now let’s talk about Playmaker and Ai scenes. My god, those shouldn’t have hurt as much as they did. Just at the beginning when Yusaku was telling Ai about how the bonds between others were the things that created the future, not predetermined simulations, and how Ai just couldn’t understand it just hurt right off the bat because I can understand why Ai can’t think that way. Just like he told Yusaku, he is data. To find a situation to a problem is all he knows. To base something with nothing to support it makes no sense to him especially when he can’t chance it. He has seen the alternative and my god, Ai. We didn’t even see the full simulation play out (but what we did see is definitely getting censored in the dub no questions there) but I could already tell what exactly played out. If Dr. Kogami was right about anything, it is that it is inevitable for humanity not to turn against artificial intelligence out of fear that they would one day surpass humanity and try and take us over or just kill us on the spot. I think the future we saw in that simulation was just that with Yusaku trying to convince them that Ai was no danger to humanity and well....we all saw how well that ended. Honestly I lowkey wished we got to see more of that simulation just to see the moment that Ai snaps and murders anyone. Because lets face it, Yusaku literally is the only family that Ai had left at that point. If something happened to him, Ai was actually going to snap. And it wasn’t even if something terrible would happen to him. Yusaku is still human while Ai is an artificial intelligence. If nothing happened to him, Yusaku would have just aged over time and eventually pass away while Ai would always remain immortal which once again would probably lead to a snap. I honestly don’t blame Ai for picking the path that he did in the end. Even if Lightning never showed him the first simulation, I don’t think it would have been long before Ai would have put the pieces together and start doing his own simulations. Ai was just a goner since the moment he was created as a A.I. with free-will. As for his death scene, I almost did start crying because things shouldn’t have had to have ended this way. I don’t care what Yusaku said. You should have took the fusion deal, young man. It worked out pretty freaking well for Judai and Yubel. Heck, regardless how stupid it was, the Yuu Boys and the Bracelet Girls were all still their own individual people too. I don’t see how that would be any different for you two, especially considering that Ai came from you, Yusaku. I have a lot of feelings about this but I will say that the moments that really hurt for me was when Ai asked Yusaku if he was a good partner, to which Yusaku answered “yes”, and when Yusaku explained to Ai that his name meant “love”. I actually didn’t think they were going to explain the meaning of Ai’s name in the show but I’m so thankful that they did but damn, that freaking hurt! Also Aiballshipping is canon. I actually find it hilarious that Ai stole Yusaku from Ryoken at the last second XD

As for everyone else’s endings. As much as it is still the most convenient bullsh*t ever, I am happy that Jin was able to move on after freaking years of being tormented by his PTSD and by Lightning in season 2 and is now happily working with his brother at the hot dog truck just like Kusanagi always wanted. I’m glad that they are slowly starting to make up for all the time that they have lost together because of this one incident. Aoi seems to be doing okay but I won’t lie, I was bit salty that Miyu wasn’t with her when she was visiting the brothers since it seemed like the perfect opportunity for them to be together and to show that their friendship is still strong after all of these years. Like what the heck? If they are going to force this stupid storyline on us, at least commit to it damn it! It has been three months and wait? Is she still in the damn hospital? Like we literally don’t know what happened to Miyu after all of this and I just find that infuriating but what’s new there? Akira is now CEO of SOL Technologies and I’m kinda mixed on how to feel about this. I mean we all were expecting this since the very beginning but again it is one of those things like what happened to Queen? Vrains threw away the rest of the Chess Pieces long ago but Queen was still a character. I mean I like to think that Queen just up and give Akira the company out of fear of being attacked again by someone else in the future but it is still one of those things that you wished you knew what happened to her as to how Akira got this position. It seems that Vrains has continued to grow and expand during this three month time skip and I don’t know if it was intentional or not but all the connections make it look like The Arrival Cyberse @Ignister and if that truly was the case that was a really nice detail to add, Vrains. Emma and Kengo seemed to have teamed up as a brother and sister bounty hunter team in the network which is fitting. Go is back to being his entertainer self to please his younger fans. I’m planning on giving my full thoughts about Vrains sometime later this week hopefully so I’m get into more detail about him and everyone else there. The Knights of Hanoi are taking Takeru’s declaration to heart and are watching over Link Vrains from Ryoken’s freaking cruise ship apparently while Ryoken and Spectre are watching over everything inside of Link Vrains. Now that Vrains is over, I officially have to ask. Where the actual hell is Ryoken getting all of this money from? Correction, WHERE IS HE GETTING ALL OF THESE BOATS FROM?! Geez and I thought we as a fandom were the shippers. This boy has a freaking navy of them in hiding.

HOMURA TAKERU GOT HIMSELF A GIRLFRIEND! MY BOY IS GETTING LAID TONIGHT!

No but seriously, before they showed the duel disks and just them sitting on the bed, my brain went places. The dialogue did not help. Yes my brain is extremely dirty but that’s besides the point.

ENTRUSTSHIPPING IS CANON! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

I like to think that wherever Flame ended up in the A.I. afterlife, he is looking down at Takeru with a proud smile during this moment. I also just find it fun that since Kiku doesn’t have an avatar, if anyone knows her in real life sees her in Link Vrains with Soulburner, they are obviously going to put the pieces together real quick about who Soulburner actually is. I’m in just such amazement right now over this even though I had any idea that something like this was going to happen. During the closing interviews from the VAs, Kaji Yuuki made a comment about how we were going to be seeing Takeru getting “unmasked” during the finale and I just knew that something like this was going to happen and I was not disappointed at all. I’m sorry but I just have such a huge sh*t eating grin across my face because of this.

THIS IS AWESOME!!!!! I CAN’T BELIEVE THEY ACTUALLY MADE THIS CANON!

How is it that Kiku, a freaking SIDE CHARACTER, ended up being my favorite female of Vrains? I don’t know, I’m just going to move on before I start freaking out again about these two being so freaking adorable.

I do like how Naoki, as soon as he saw these two, makes it his new goal to get himself a special someone of his own. I don’t know how that’s going to work out for him but hey good for him.

And as for Yusaku, the shows ends with him going on some kind of journey, leaving his final fate obscure which is pretty normal for a Yu-Gi-Oh series as they did the same in the past with Judai and Yusei. My guess he’s going around the network to try and find a way to bring back Ai and maybe the rest of the Ignis.

Speaking of which, the last scene we get of this series is that Ai is apparently alive. Maybe. Who actually knows. He could be in A.I. heaven for all we know but if that’s the case I feel they would have shown us a scene of him being greeted and welcomed by the rest of the Ignis but what we got of him instead was him in his eyeball form looking to be restored. Man Ai is literally like a cockroach and I am saying that in the nicest way possibly. He gets his data eaten by a dragon, tore to pieces by a Data Storm, destroyed by a powerful program, and even kills himself by his own hand and yet he still lives. I am very curious to know if anything is going to come from this reveal, such as if YGO 7 actually is a crossover series, or if this was just the writers giving us a break and letting us know that Ai is still alive and there is hope of him returning. I mean I’m happy he is alive, don’t get me wrong, but I feel like it would have just been fine keeping him dead with the rest of the Ignis. Because if he is still alive, won’t Ai just try and kill himself again? Seems kinda counterproductive but I digress.

So yeah, I very much enjoyed the final episode of Vrains. The series had a lot of problems, and I mean A LOT of them, but it had its shining moments, such as this. Like I said, I’m planning to go into more detail about my full thoughts about the series but when it comes to its ending, I think it delivered what it needed to. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you Yu-Gi-Oh Vrains. You were a freaking struggle to watch at times but you were a joy to have around all the same. I guess the best compliment I can give you is that you literally are Ai. You are insufferable at times but you had your charm that kept me coming back for more and I’m sad to see you go just like I was with Ai.

Now it is onto Yu-Gi-Oh 7th and who knows. If it actually is a crossover series, Vrains might just be back sooner then we expect. I hope so because I’m not ready to say goodbye to my meme-lord and my fire child and his new girlfriend yet! I don’t think it has fully hit me yet that Vrains is actually over and it is going to suck when next week comes around and there is just no more episodes.

#vrains #vrains spoilers #Thoughts #theories

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machimachilegends · 6 years ago

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Disclaimer: Duelists within the anime severely lack in Spell-based Monster Removal, Spell/Trap Destruction, Effect Negation and Continuous Spell/Trap cards that prevent the opponent from performing certain actions since cards are notably more difficult to obtain and faith/morale play a bigger role than luck/deck-building with an abnormal Battle Phase fetish.

Therefore, this list ranking the strongest antagonists in Yu-Gi-Oh! Anime so far will sparsely discuss the flaws of each character's Deck. If you have any questions about my list or want my personal thoughts on anything Yu-Gi-Oh!, feel free to ask. I have nothing but time!

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Z-ONE

Has Level 10 Fairy-Type monsters he can normal summon regularly that are impervious to destruction by battle and card effects by normal means with minimal chances of being damaged.

The effects his Timelords possess range from shuffling your opponent's entire GY back to the Deck, dealing 2000+ effect damage instant Life Point recovery should he take damage. The only issue with Deck is the reliance on attacking and average use of one Timelord at a time. While his Continuous Traps over time will eventually disable the opponent from targeting his Timelords and allow him to exceed 20,000 ATK in a flash, his best play is his biggest weakness.

I could go all day explaining the other effects he has after a successful battle, but just know it's essentially a lot of shuffling cards back, returning cards back and burn. He only has one monster that can deal battle damage and that's about it.

And since he still needs to attack, akin to everybody else lower on the list, this is nothing each protagonist and most rivals can't get over, especially in their respective series, despite popular belief saying otherwise -- when Judai can equip Neos with Rainbow Veil or Light Laser to wall you, you know you messed up somewhere.

Zarc / Z-ARC

Fusion, Synchro, Xyz- and to a lesser extent Pendulum barely mean nothing to this guy and his stupendously powerful dragons. Having access to arguably the best Monster Type in the game both in anime and real life, with the added benefit of being Pendulum-based, many fans have very good reasons to hype him up as unbeatable prior to Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V's end.

His ultimate monster Z-ARC boasts and grants immunity to the monster effects of the aforementioned Extra Deck Monsters, in addition to the inability to leave the field by normal means similarly to Z-ONE with a whopping 4000 ATK minus the Battle damage immunity.

It may seem underwhelming at first, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. While Zarc cannot mend the course of a Duel through the Battle Phase, he does possess various ways of demoralizing his foes:

His opponents cannot add cards to their hand outside of the Draw Phase or else their effects will be negated and destroyed.

He can negate the effects of Fusion, Synchro and Xyz Monsters and drain them of their attack by performing the same summon on their Turn, with some of them capable of inflicting effect damage, and each dragon that resides in his Extra Deck has other effects ranging between dramatically exceeding their original ATK or mass removal.

His Supreme King Gates translate battle damage and effect damage into Life Points, while the servants in his Main Deck can protect Z-ARC from attacks and act as an unnecessary extra piece of armor amongst other cards.

And did I forget to mention through Astrograph Sorcerer Z-ARC's summon cannot be negated, which almost guarantees the defeat of his opponents with massage effect damage?

I know it all sounds amazing, but truth be told other than the initial summon of Z-ARC, his Deck is very very fragile in the grand scheme due to how susceptible his Deck is to common Monsters, Spells and Traps' targeting and non-targeting effects that have debut throughout the series.

Recall, since most of his cards only work so long as he controls Z-ARC, while someone like Z-ONE may get trolled by Harpie's Pet Phantasmal Dragon or The Regulation of Tribe once in a blue moon, just call-in Dark Necrofear or Destiny HERO Plasma and it all goes downhill from here.

Dartz

As the practical incarnate of the Orichalcos, Dartz features a Deck revolving around its use. Monsters, Spells, Traps: The whole damn Deck.

While most people would like to focus on the Great Leviathan's lack of built in resistances, despite being an INFINITE ATK point monster that essentially prevents you from losing to any form of damage, this slithery-fuck that required countless souls for its revival planned to be summoned with all three layers/forms of the Orichalcos to be in effect. How else did you expect to acquire 10,000+ Life Points to get the dark thing out? Soul Absorption?

To put sum things up, layer one cannot be destroyed (possibly can't be negated, activation-wise), grants all monsters you control 500 extra ATK, practically enables you to treat your Spell/Trap Zones as extra Main Monster Zones and any monsters summoned there cannot be attacked so long as you have a Monster Zone filled, and if-need-be you can move monsters from the Main Monster Zone to the back, although those last two effects go underused.

Layer two takes all the effects of layer one and stacks it with a 500 Life Points gain for every monster you control once per turn and the ability to Tribute a monster you control to destroy an opposing monster.

Still not convinced these layers do much, well how about layer three? Once again it all stacks with the bonus on straight up telling your opponent "No" when they try to affect any of your monsters with a Spell/Trap Effect instantly negating and destroying them on a whim.

Now, we know the glaring hole in all this is the fact Monster Effects can still put in work, but if it's destruction based, you'll be putting all your time into the monsters leading up to the Great Leviathan.

A little sucker (Kyutora) that absorbs that would be inflicted at any time to fuel a stronger golem-like figure (not Gigas but Shunoros) in the Deck should it ever die with a base ATK of whatever was absorbed and two arms that will always be 300+ in ATK or DEF against an opponent's monster (Aristeros & Dexia), a jerk flame gargoyle that will force one of your opponent's monster back in Attack Position and motherfucking Timeater.

Generally speaking, he comes off very mediocre until you realize all he really needs is Mirror Knight Calling to dominate. With those Mirror Knights in conjunction with the Orichalcos he instantly assembles an army of tokens that can battle any monster and come out victorious, since their strength will always match the opposition and survive destruction by removing a single mirror counter that is generated by Mirror Knight Calling at the end of every Turn.

Simply put, he's someone that only gets better with time, unless he has Geh (The Great Leviathan) out. Then he has a solid chance to lose instantly, then again, if he didn't win on the Turn he summoned it, he deserves to lose seeing how he is milling 10 cards per attack from his Infinite ATK monster.

In many ways Zarc is just a better Dartz. For a guy like this, one Gemini Summoned Magical Reflect Slime + protection is all you need.

Don Thousand

Similarly to Z-ONE he comes off very unfair, except he's an offensive behemoth with control over the Overlay Network, opposed to defensive paragon with relative one-shot capabilities like the others. His Deck can be summed up without much need to go into effects, especially with how little we actually see.

Bluntly put, he will start his Turn spitting out 1 through 4 Number Monsters with the same gimmick of doubling their ATK after each attack, easily allowing him to exceed 8000 points of potential battle damage with a built-in Rank-Up play that deals even more lethal damage, essentially making him the true FTK antagonist looming in the back.

Should both attempts fail, he will fall on Number C1000, but that monster really means nothing to any character that possesses no "C" monsters. Rather Number iC1000 is what you really wanted to see. A walking win condition that basically tells your opponent, if you don't attack me, a 100,000 ATK monster you instantly lose the Duel. The only problem here is it can't negate two attacks, and the effect only applies so long as it stands.

Unlike some of the powerhouses higher on the ladder, he at least has Counter Traps, so there's at least some merit why you rarely see YouTubers try to script any Duels with him. Linear af.

I would say the true problem with his Deck/power as a Duelist is the fact he uses a Field Spell to kickstart his FTK's which means any bro like Bastion Misawa could play Curse of the Forbidden Spell and he's a goner. Like, here me out, at least Dartz can still play the game without the Orichalcos.

Bohman

Now, at first I thought Bohman was going to end up stronger than Z-ONE with the blanket Monster Effect negation he had on his Hydradrives when Dueling Blue Maiden, but that turned out to become more nothing more than a dream.

Bohman lacks proper negation for LIGHT & DARK Attributes essentially made Bohman's Deck a very unfocused beatdown strategy like many of the Duelists of the week characters in Link Swarming form, basically trading Majesty's Fiend for Five-Headed Dragon + Wind-Up Rabbit on crack playing dice.

Ignoring his use of Master Storm Access, it's not so much his Hydradrives suck or OTK/FTK potential isn't there- because it is, it's more so everything he does against Playmaker outside of switching dragon heads or rolling some dice (which only sucks irl) can be done better by everyone on the list:

Over 5000 ATK just cause? Check.

Can dominate Battle Phase procedures more than normal? Check.

Inherently prevents adversaries from dealing with monsters via built-in effects? Check.

Can summon more than one powerful monster per turn/Duel if need be? Check.

Safe from most damaging effects? Check.

Counters most of his generation? Check.

Benefits from his opponents' plays somehow? Check.

He's a jack of all trades and master of none but making attributes change with a die. Why he doesn't run DNA Transplant but Half Shut will forever be a mystery in the same world Revolver acquires Imperial Order for the sole purpose of stopping Judgment Arrows.

It sure is a good thing most protagonists/rivals use LIGHT & DARK Attributes over EARTH, WIND, WATER & FIRE or this man would be at the mercy of so many characters. Poor Yusei though.

Nightshroud

Nightshroud's strategies are the utmost straightforward with how it plans to win. Activate Darkness, Set Darkness 1 through 3 + Zero & Infinity, use various Darkness monsters to peep at your Set cards and/or organize them however you like before activating everything between Zero & Infinity.

Darkness 1 destroys up to 3 card your opponent controls based on face-up Darkness traps.

Darkness 2 increase the ATK of one monster you control 1000 to 3000 based on face-up Darkness traps.

Darkness 3 deal 1000 to 3000 per activation based on face-up Darkness traps.

Each of these are Set and randomized in the zones via Darkness (Field Spell) after activation between Zero & Infinity, which means in 2 Turns if the correct Darkness monster is on the field, that's a clean ceiling of 6000 effect damage if Darkness Neosphere is present.

Through these various Darkness Traps controlling the cards present on the field at a time makes it easy to disrupt characters from summoning their strongest monsters via Contact Fusion, Synchro, Xyz and Link Summoning, making the monsters he pumps up through Darkness 2 like Darkness Destroyer game enders via Battle Damage, which would make many come to the conclusion he should rank higher on the list. The main problem with Darkness is he doesn't showcase any further Spells/Traps and anything like Denko Sekka can shut him down in an instant.

Nightshroud's combo is highly susceptible to card destruction, despite boasting some of the finest at his best and other than that poor RNG styled Field Spell.

To cut things short, anything that can't be destroyed by Traps or benefits from destruction will only have to worry about effect damage or higher ATK. And considering how badly Nightshroud needs to go first, he's not only the slowest boss character but has the worst matchup potential, especially against other bosses.

Please don't tell him about Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En or Naturia Rosewhip OR Mister Alister's hmm... I don't know... Oh yeah! ROYAL DECREE!!!

I would say he has it the worse, but it's understandable since he- outside of helping others mend the darkness in their hearts never created/announced anything notably new mid Duel. Very respectable for a skeleton man.

#ooc #outofgata #yugioh dm #yugioh gx #yugioh 5ds #yugioh zexal #yugioh arc v #yugioh vrains

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subserviiient · 5 years ago

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Screw it, YGO verse headcanons:

Anzu has two decks, one she used more in Kimisaki and one she currently uses. Kimisaki is a dark deck with powerful monsters and a lot of traps and spells, it’s a fiend deck and one she loved dearly but as she grew she felt like she no longer deserves it- her new deck is a machine based deck with some powerful monsters and she uses it...decently, although she states she thinks the monster type is hard to get used to due to being so used to her old one.

Ever since he was a kid, Takehiro always thought that most "girly” decks were dismissed for being cute and thought it was a shame since they do have some powerful monsters and an element of strategy to them, so surprisingly enough he plays a Fairy deck. His deck consists of Trickstar monsters and is super spammy with way too many pot of greeds, he’s surprisingly good with trap cards too! He used to play a fusion deck, though. If you make fun of his deck you end up regretting it.

They don’t really duel each other, mostly because they’re not really sure of the others tactics with how they’ve both changed over the years- what with Take taking up link summoning and Anzu trying to learn all the summoning methods she can, they’re not sure how the duel would work out especially with them both getting intense during them.

They always attend each others duels, though, even if Take denies that he’s there for her, they always attend without fail. Anzu cheers him on while Take just watches silently while sipping a coffee, but if she wins he does smile.

D O N O T T A G D U E L T H E M. The one time they can work well together is when they’re up against someone in both physical fights, arguments and duels.

Anzu’s ace card is T.G Halberd Cannon and Take’s is Bella Madonna

#headcanon.#these aren't set in stone but they're super quick headcanosn #*headcanons

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xeno-odyssey · 6 years ago

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Top 10 (Slightly Revised) Smash Ultimate - Fighters Pass Predictions

Keep in mind, these are fighters I personally want in Smash Ultimate. With the surprise reveal of Joker, and that he’ll be joining the roster soon with only a month away, anything is possible at this point. Also, Mii Costumes and Spirits usually does not mean a fighter is de-confirmed. For example, Mario is a fighter and he has multiple Spirits of himself from other Mario games. This will be a slightly lengthy list, so I’ll put a cut underneath.

Rex & Pyra/Mythra - Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Unfortunately they did not make it into the final roster as Smash Ultimate’s development period was around the time Xenoblade 2 released in December 2017, and Smash Ultimate released the next year. As compensation, we got a Mii Fighter costume of Rex if we pre-purchased the Fighters Pass DLC for free. I still have hope for Rex being in Smash. Some people say they want Pyra & Mythra as solo fighters, I have to disagree on that. They share their life-force with Rex, and without him as the Driver, they’re not at full strength, even if they are the Aegises. I COULD see Mythra as a solo fighter, should Sakurai and his team choose to use her Torna iteration. For their special attacks and Final Smash, here’s what I got: Sword Bash in Neutral-B, Rolling Smash is Side-B, Double Spinning Edge is Up-B akin to Link’s Spin Attack, and Down-B can be Blade Switch by changing between Pyra or Mythra respectively. For Rex’s Grab, it can be Anchor Shot akin to Young/Toon Link’s Hookshot, and it can also work as a tether-grab on ledges. For their Final Smash, it can be something like how Ryu and Ken have a 2-in-one Final Smash; Chain Attack - Burning Sword (Pyra), and Chain Attack - Sacred Arrow (Mythra). Rex call upon either Nia & Dromarch, Tora & Poppi, Mòrag & Brighid, and/or Zeke & Pandoria. They let their Blades go all out with the Special Attacks, and Rex deals the finishing blow with Pyra or Mythra using either of their respective Level 4 Special Attack.

Elma - Xenoblade Chronicles X Elma is one of many highly requested fighters to be in Smash, especially during the Fighter Ballot back in 2016 for Smash 4. Even if Elma doesn’t make, I can see the avatar, Cross, be in it. Elma’s moveset can be directly pulled from her origin game, and from Xenoblade 2: Neutral-B is Stream Edge, Side-B is Sliding Slinger, Up-B is Shadow Strike, and Down-B is Ghost Factory as counter akin to Lucario’s Double Team. For her Final Smash, it can be call Full Metal Jaguar Overdrive: This can be similar to Shulk’s Chain Attack in a way. Elma activates Overdrive, then splits clones of herself with Ghost Factory like in her boss fight from Xenoblade 2. Elma and her clones then go all out using moves like Violent Streak, Executioner, Electric Surge, Hundred Shells, and the original Elma finishes the attack with her signature Art being Shadow Strike. For a special aesthetic, one of Elma’s alternate costumes can be her True Form, where she’s actually one of the mysterious peaceful aliens trying to protect humanity from the Ganglion Alliance.

Kazuma Kiryu - Yakuza series I know what some of you might be thinking; “But Kiryu has never been on a Nintendo console before!” This is where I say, not true! The first two Yakuza games had HD ports on the Wii U. Sales didn’t do so well though.... But that’s okay! If we can get characters like Bayonetta and Joker, why not Kiryu? For Kiryu’s fighting style taken straight from 0 and Kiwami 1 & 2, he has Brawler, Rush, Beast, and Dragon of Dojima. For most of his standard and aerial attacks, Kiryu can use both Brawler and DoD styles. When dodging, that’s where Rush Style comes in. For his grab attacks and throws, Beast Style is in play. So all in all, Kiryu will mainly be using Dragon of Dojima with hints of his other 3 fighting styles mixed into one, just like in Kiwami 2 and onward. I’m not entirely sure what his B-specials can be like, but they’ll be something straight out of his DoD style. For example, his Down-B can be the Tiger Drop as a counterattack, where Kiryu gut-punches foes causing them to be stunned, similar to Ryu & Ken’s Focus Attack. For his Final Smash, Kiryu goes into Extreme Heat, unleashing powerful Heat Action attacks on anyone that gets in his way. The finisher is using his signature high kick, causing foes to be sent flying. A Kiwami symbol (極) will appear as an aesthetic when the Final Smash is finished.

Byleth - Fire Emblem: Three Houses With FE: 3 Houses recently announced and coming to Nintendo Switch soon, it won’t be a surprise if yet another FE avatar makes it into the roster alongside Robin and Corrin. Corrin especially since both them and Roy were originally put into Smash to promote both of their respective origin games. Roy being The Binding Blade, and Corrin being Fates of course. Robin, Corrin, and Byleth. Wouldn’t that be amazing? As of making this list, we don’t know much of Byleth other than they can use swords and have mysterious powers in Three Houses and how that’ll be incorporated into Smash Ultimate, but I have a feeling they’ll be an original FE fighter much like Robin & Corrin. Robin using their tomes & Levin Sword, Corrin wielding the Omega Yato & using their Dragon Fang ability, so I’m curious and I’d like to see what Byleth could bring to the table.

Shantae - Shantae series Reminder once again, Spirits don’t usually de-confirm fighters. In Smash Ultimate, Shantae & Risky’s Spirits are represented in their Half-Genie Hero appearances & design. So what I’m thinking is that we can bring in the “recent” Shantae iteration from one of her more popular games being The Pirate’s Curse. Shantae’s Smash design can be a mix of all of her past and present iterations, like her vest from PC. All of Shantae’s attacks can derive from all of her games. She can use her magic, and use other means of weapons & attacks from Pirate’s Curse. Shantae can be slightly similar to Robin, and how they use swords & magic. Like she can use her signature Hair Whip attack on the ground, shoot magic fireballs or use a flintlock pistol for projectile attacks, and use a pirate cutlass for her aerial attacks. She can even use moves like Power, Drill & Uppercut Kicks. Her dodge can even come from her notable Backdash. Her most iconic magical bellydances can be her special attacks, and her taunts. Shantae’s Final Smash can be something like unleashing powerful Genie Magic via her magic bellydancing.

Phoenix Wright - Ace Attorney series & VS. Capcom series I mean, c’mon now. We gotta have another joke-fighter in Smash. Nick works as a joke fighter in the VS. Capcom games because most of his moves are taken from his games and from Project X Zone 2. Shouting an “Objection!” can be a forward-Smash attack, his Up-B can be a powerful sneeze, and other attacks can involve his partners such as Maya & Pearl Fey (with the Steel Samurai), Apollo Justice, and Athena Cykes. For his Final Smash, the name can be something like “Final Evidence Presentation” A.K.A., “TAKE THAT!” Phoenix presents the final key evidence on the “suspect”, belittling them even further that they were at the crime scene with no alibi and hope left, with the finisher being a powerful “TAKE THAT!” shout sending the suspects flying. For this, both Apollo and Athena join Nick like they both did in Dual Destinies.

Neku Sakuraba - The World Ends With You I was one of the people that voted for Neku to be in Smash during the Fighter Ballot. If you’ve played TWEWY, you probably already know how Neku can fight. Most of Neku’s powers come from pins, allowing him to use pyrokinesis, electrokinesis, shockwaves, energy projectiles, quakes, soundwaves, and more. If he were to be a fighter, Neku can be similar to Robin. In his game, the pins’ powers have a limit use and time limit. After a certain amount of use, Neku must wait to use the pin again until it reboots. This goes for all of his special attacks. Neutral-B can be Energy/Force Rounds, Side-B can be Shockwave akin to Marth/Lucina/Roy’s Dancing Blade, Up-B is Vulcan Uppercut or Teleport, and his Down-B is Pyrokinesis which is controllable. Neku’s Final Smash will be Final Fusion. He summons Shiki, Joshua and Beat where they put all of their power in the Harmonizer Pin with Neku dealing the finishing blow. If Final Fusion manages to KO opponents, this fully reboots all of Neku’s pins.

Monster Hunter - Monster Hunter series Smash Ultimate feels nearly complete as it already has the armor as Mii Costumes and Rathalos as a boss & Assist Trophy. I know very little of the Monster Hunter games, but they can work as a fighter with their various weapons.

Ruby Rose - RWBY series Ruby seems very unlikely for a fighting game like Smash Ultimate, but she already has her own game which is RWBY: Grimm Eclipse, and stars in another crossover fighting game being BLAZBLUE: Cross Tag Battle. But what she can bring to the table is that she’s the most unique fighter out of everyone in Smash. Ruby wields her favorite weapon, Crescent Rose, a high-impact sniper-rifle scythe hybrid weapon. Most of her attacks from the show involve using her Speed Semblance, and attacking from a distance thanks to the rifle part. In a way, she can be similar to Bayonetta as both characters uses guns and attack from far away. Her speed can even match Sonic’s and Shulk’s Monado Speed. For Ruby’s Final Smash, it can be similar to Shulk’s Chain Attack, where she summons the rest of Team RWBY; Weiss, Blake, and Yang. All four girls use their unique team attacks, and the finishing blow is all four of them attacking together with their respective weapons.

Sora - Kingdom Hearts series Sora is on the very bottom for this list because I feel he’s highly unlikely to be the next DLC fighter. He’s technically a Disney character, and Square-Enix is usually careful with their IPs, though some producers seem to be okay with his inclusion in Smash Ultimate. Anyway, should Sora become a fighter, of course he would bring his Keyblade, the Kingdom Key to the battle. All of his attacks can derive from his origin games, like moves from Limit & Second Form. Sliding Dash is his Dash-Attack, Ripple Drive can be his Up-Smash, Stun Impact can be his Down-Smash akin to Zero Suit Samus’s, and Magnet Burst can be a Neutral-Air as an example. I’m not sure what his Neutral-B will be like though for the rest of the Special Attacks; Side-B will be Strike Raid akin to Link’s boomerang, Up-B is Aeroga, and Down-B is a Counterattack being Zantetzuken (or even his latest reprisals from KH3). Sora’s Final Smash is a bit tricky as he has a lot of powerful finishers and attacks. They can be either Ragnarok, Sonic Blade, Ars Arcanum, Union χ, Ancient Light, or Trinity where he teams up with Donald & Goofy to unleash a powerful attack.

#nintendo #nintendo switch #super smash bros.#super smash bros ultimate #predictions #top 10 list #xenoblade chronicles 2 #xenoblade chronicles x #yakuza #yakuza kiwami #fire emblem #fire emblem: three houses #shantae #phoenix wright #ace attorney #the world ends with you #monster hunter #rwby #kingdom hearts

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kristinarambles · 6 years ago

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Gem Glow

Analysis Two:

Going into this re-watch I know that the animation has changed slightly and that the models are not always consistent but that is not what I’m going to be paying attention to. Any changes in the visuals I’ll be referring to throughout all my posts are the ones that were intentional, like Sadie’s scar after Island Adventure or how Steven slims down after he starts actively working out, not little differences in heights or anything like that. I’m here to analyze a show I love, not to nitpick.

So we are introduced to Steven not with a bang but a shout. Sugar and her references starting out right away by Steven yelling about dreams and throwing himself on Lars lol. I wonder if Cookie Cat versus Lion Lickers means anything, they make a lot of things deeper than they seem at first. It could be Cookie Cat is Pink and Lion Lickers is Rose? Rose replaces Pink and Steven as a stand in for the Diamonds is distraught and believes that Cookie Cats are superior, how could you replace them with Lion Lickers? No one likes them. I’m just speculating, maybe this is the one thing in the whole show that doesn’t have a deeper meaning lol.

I love the character growth in this show, but my favorite thing is consistency of personality. They grow and mature but they still stay essentially the same person. Sadie and Lars are our [the viewers] first glimpse into Beach City’s general population. At first they are just the doughnut shop workers, The Big Donut being one of the main staples of the boardwalk and the closest one to Steven’s house, but as the show progresses we learn that “Sadie is nice” and “Lars is grumpy” as the first impression is true but also the reasoning behind it and all the other facets of their personalities. And then later they are also The Off Colors first impression of Beach City, although Lars does a much better job of impressing them than he did me. I will admit I wasn’t very fond of him in the beginning and often questioned why Steven was so attached to him. But he’s supposed to be obnoxious at first, and looking back on my own life I know there are times I tried to be likeable to a certain group dynamic and overcompensated to the point of being annoying so I kind of feel bad for my assumptions. I think that this episode is the most we ever see Lars actually work though lol. And of course he is the one who introduces us to Steven’s “magic belly button”. It really shows how used these people are to the Gems that he can be so flippant about it. Frankly if I were introduced to any of this stuff I would probably freak out a little bit, but I didn’t grow up with it. I also wonder if Sadie should have let him take the freezer. I mean, obviously it was a great thing for her to do but having worked in fast food I really don’t think that’s something she would have been allowed to do lol.

Our first glimpse of the temple is impressive and our introduction to the Gems follows the same formula as meeting Lars and Sadie, we get a general idea of who they are, which is accurate but not everything there is to them. Amethyst rescues Steven right away, big sister to the rescue “’Sup Steven”. Pearl doing her ballet twirls fighting off the centipeedles. Garnet doesn’t say a word but just knows what to do. Pearl explains the centipeetles with a perfectly polite apology, but only after being prompted by Stevens question. Interesting that they call the whole house his room, but then it is one room kind of like a studio apartment, and it’s actually smaller than all of their rooms within the temple. I do wonder how they know to call them centipeetles though, I think she’s the only Gem Monster that gets a clear label other than the pufferfish [I’ll be keeping a running tally of all the Corrupted Gems we run into that I’ll post when I’m done with my re-watch]. Later in the show Pearl admits that the monsters are drawn to the Gems themselves, and Peridot says that the Gem Mutants are forever looking for their missing pieces, and here Pearl says that she thinks the centipeetle babies were trying to get to the temple. A lot of the monsters they fight near home really do seem to be aiming for the temple so I wonder if they can sense all the many gems bubbled in the basement [or maybe even the active gem in the lighthouse above]. Amethyst gives us our first hint that the monsters are actually Corrupted Gems by observing that the little ones don’t have gems, while picking her nose of course. Garnets first words are “That must mean there’s a mother somewhere nearby” which just opens up all sorts of questions. Can all Gems do that? Make little copies of themselves? This may be the first time we’re introduced to the concept but certainly not the last, we see that Drill Gem later on make little drill things that fly off unaided and unguided, Pearl makes her HoloPearls, and then there’s Steven of course. Rebecca even says that Rose could have made Steven wholly human and continued to live but she chose to give up her physical form and pass on her gem. These centipeedle babies just poof with not a whole lot of effort though, so I guess without a gem they aren’t as stable or maybe not as real? They don’t have hair and their rock pattern is on their bellies and not on their back, but that could just be because they’re babies. That acid they’re spitting sure is real though and the drill babies left pretty real holes in the rock face. Maybe if they were left to mature and somehow gain energy and power they could grow gems? Geez, so many questions

Moving on. Pearl tells Steven that until he learns to control the power in his gem that they’ll take care of protecting humanity when he asks to come find the mother, our first indication that he’s in training. I think the reason this is the first episode is because this is the first time he was ever actually involved in the fighting, but based on how he reacted to the centipeetles he’s obviously seen Gem Monsters before. A little more insight to the Gems personalities when Steven finds the cookie cats in the freezer [and that shot of Garnet cracking her knuckles at the last baby, oh Jesus I love her], Amethyst saying she stole them, Pearl irritatingly sticking to the rules by insisting on payment, it was Garnets idea because of her future vision even though we didn’t know it back then. And when we see inside the freezer we can also see Connie’s glow bracelet. Also I would eat the ears first too lol.

There’s been so many theories about the cookie cat song that I’m not going into it myself, although I do think it’s adorable how the Gems all react to his singing. I do want to talk about the weapon summoning though. Pearl tells him not to force it, but she’s so excited to explain to him how it’s done. She’s so cute and excited to show her son how to use his powers. We get the Gems themes in the background of each of their explanations and their way of summoning their weapons directly corresponds to how they fight. Pearl wasn’t made to fight and so had to work hard and dedicated her life to fighting alongside Rose. She equates the weapon summoning to a dance because it’s what was familiar to her. She often punctuates her speeches with big sweeping movements, using her whole body to communicate and not just her voice. Amethyst is clearly familiar with Pearl’s teaching strategy, which tells us for the first time that she is in fact younger than the rest of them. But she summons her weapon with no effort, entirely on instinct. This could be because she’s a quartz and designed to fight but I think it’s also just because of who she is. Maybe because she’s a chest gem, maybe just because that’s who she is at the core of her being, but Amethyst does what feels right. She’s impulsive, but strong. Lars exclaims “again!” at her slicing the dumpster apart which implies that she has done This Specific Thing before, but he apparently just reacts this way whenever something crazy happens to the dumpster. I guess it’s a popular thing to destroy lol. Last but not least, Garnet. I remember watching that bit for the first time I texted my sister to ask why she had two gems but the others only had one lol. I noticed it when she got rid of her gauntlets first but after seeing the split screen that drew attention to them I was very curious. My OCD self was especially irritated that they didn’t even match, one had a triangle and one was a square lol. My sister didn’t spoil it however and told me it would make sense later, and after meeting Opal I dwelled a lot on the possibility that she was a fusion. Which of course she was. Her explanation of how she links her mind with the universe to call out her weapon reminds me a lot of her explanation of how she views the future as a river, or I guess since that comes later the future vision explanation reminds me of this? She may become more open as the series progresses and we see more of her dork side than her stoic side but it bothers me when people say she becomes all about fusion and nothing else. Didn’t they say the same thing about her future vision when it was revealed? I think those people are just looking for problems because the writing was on the wall for both of those things the whole time, she was just doing her best to keep it from Steven until he was ready to handle it. But it was there all along, part of who she is. Sugar, you’re a genius. Hiding these things in plain sight and giving us hints so we could draw our own conclusions .

In his recreation to try to make his gem glow again I find it pretty funny that he recreated it wrong, and absolutely hilarious that Garnet just lets him move her face around lol. Everyone made her out to be the strict mom for so long but she’s really the pushover. I just love all of them reassuring him, they’re so sweet and supportive. I think the Gems marvel [it’s not necessarily surprise] at Steven’s weapon being a shield because they didn’t know if Steven would get his own weapon because he is his own person or if he would inherit Rose’s the way he inherited her gem. It’s obvious that no one ever told him about Rose’s weapon though. I think that they only tell him things about his mother when it’s relevant or if he asks point blank. It’s also a counterpoint to how the Diamonds eventually interact with him. They constantly compare the two, ask him if he remembers this or that but the Crystal Gems have long ago come to terms with the fact that Steven is not Rose and they do their best to keep him separate in their minds. To the point of not even connecting the way his powers work to the way Rose’s powers worked, not that she probably shared that with any of them except possibly Pearl. Of course WE know now that Stevens powers are tied to his emotions and when his glow starts it’s because of how happy he is that they’re all showing him how much they love him, but it’s really cute how he thinks it’s because of the ice cream.

And here comes Centipeetle, who we know now is Nephrite Facet 413 Cabochon 12 [Homestuck anyone?]. She is truly impressive and powerful, such that all three of the senior Crystal Gems are having trouble taking her down. Steven is so inexperienced trying to just go after her, but I think it’s interesting that she doesn’t attack him right away, she seems to go slower towards him even when she does start spitting acid. I wonder if a part of her recognizes her Diamond. That moment where the other Gems get their weapons out all at once is so beautiful, that pose, that poise! And we see for the first time a real Gem get poofed and not just one of her babies, it’s pretty much an explosion. Then, also for the first time, we see a Gem without its light body, and Garnet is the first one we see bubble one and then send it home. Back then we didn’t know where it went or what the bubble meant, but now we know it keeps the Gem safe and in stasis. My sister and I were discussing it the other day and we believe that the bubble passes time differently. The Gems consciousness is frozen but they’re able to heal and set their new form so when the bubble pops they’re able to reform right away even if they would normally take longer. Although Change Your Mind gave us an exception to that if Yellow poofs you herself.

It’s kind of sad that Steven went through all of his cookie cats, and that his freezer was ruined, but it was pretty ingenious of him to use it to electrocute Centipeetle. I wonder if he knew it would do that or if he was just throwing it in anger. All in all I think it’s a beautiful episode, it really does a wonderful job of introducing us to Steven’s world and his family. From Lars making fun of his magic, to Amethyst telling him they aren’t the Crystal Gems without him, to Pearl and Garnet saying he’ll figure out how to work his gem in his own Steven-y way. Just the right amount of exposition without getting too deep into it so we’re still left wondering. Words can’t express how much I love this show, and you can really tell the people working on it love it too.

The end theme is the instrumental version of Love Like you, as the theme evolves I’ll discuss it more but I wanted to just mention it here to start.

Total TV’s destroyed: 1

One last thing, in this post I called Amethyst big sister, referred to Steven as Pearl’s son, and called Garnet a mom. In a lot of ways they do all function as a family with three mothers but I always read it as Amethyst being a sister more than a mom. She’s just as protective of him as the other two but she’s treated as lesser and younger just like Steven is and we see later so much insecurity from her and the two of them bond over that. They spend more time just hanging out together where Garnet and Pearl try more to guide him. You’re all welcome to view it however you want but throughout my analyses I will be functioning under the assumption that Pearl and Garnet have a more motherly relationship with him and Amethyst has a more sisterly one. I am both a mom and a big sister and I feel Pearl and Garnet in the way I am with my kids, but I feel Amethyst more in the way I am with my younger siblings.

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love-takes-work · 7 years ago

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Steven Universe Podcast: Volume 2, Episode 6: Lapis

Season 2, Episode 6 of the Steven Universe Podcast, released March 1, 2018, is about Lapis Lazuli! The official description:

Lapis Lazuli may have left Earth, but she made one quick stop before her ultimate departure, and that was here on the Steven Universe Podcast! She's talking about being trapped in a mirror, her feelings about shoes, and why she loves a good fart joke! And Steven Universe creator Rebecca Sugar and former Executive Producer Ian Jones-Quartey provide insight into the background and development of Lapis, the significance of her gem placement, and what her departure from Earth means for her character on the show. Plus, actress Jennifer Paz, who voices Lapis, and Storyboard Supervisor Hilary Florido share their favorite Lapis moments and episodes.

Coming at you with another long podcast recap, I'm doing a highlights bullet list and following it under the cut with a detailed description of the discussion.

Highlights:

Lapis is based on one of Rebecca's oldest comic characters, Margo: an amalgam of Rebecca's teen angst.

Jeff Liu invented Lapis's water wings.

Lapis and Jasper's toxic relationship was (of course) born out of Lapis's need to take control in response to feeling helpless.

Rebecca did not initially know that the stone malachite is toxic in water. That was a lucky coincidence.

Lapis's Gem placement on her back represents vulnerability--having an important part of oneself obscured from one's own view, but exposed to everyone else.

Paul Villeco spearheaded the striking visuals of Lapis's initial formation in the show, and both Rebecca and Ian contributed to boards during those momentous scenes.

The arc about Lapis and Peridot's relationship is far from over (to the surprise of really no one), though Rebecca suggests saying so is a bit of a spoiler.

Hilary sometimes puts action notes on line delivery in the scripts.

Jen Paz and Hilary Florido think of Lapis as a realist, a pessimist, and a jaded character who is able to provide counterpoint to the more optimistic members of the cast.

Lapis is said to be "securing her mask" (as in on a depressurized aircraft) as a metaphor for how she's turning to self-preservation in the face of danger. First you secure your own mask, and then you assist others.

Hilary wants people to know Lapis can't just be "better" in the course of a single episode. She has lasting trauma and it will take sustained work to see progress.

Lapis's love of fart jokes shows that she does have a sense of humor in there.

Jen, in character as Lapis, answers that she wanted to have pumpkin seeds in the toilet and cat hair balls all over the barn, but her plans were foiled by others. Also, she prefers salt water to fresh water.

The detailed summary, including Rebecca and Ian discussing Lapis's development as a character, Hilary Florido and Jennifer Paz discussing writing and giving voice to Lapis, and fan questions answered in character . . .

Read it all below!

[Archive of Steven Universe Podcast Summaries]

Rebecca Sugar and Ian Jones-Quartey:

McKenzie opens by asking Rebecca and Ian to talk about the development of Lapis's character. Rebecca says the idea of Lapis goes back before the show, based on the unfinished comic character Margo (chronicler's note: she’s talking about "Margo in Bed," which we can see pieces of in the Frontier spotlight on Rebecca). Rebecca's comic focused on an exploration of love that later became an understanding of how love can be toxic. Her earliest designs did not include water wings because Jeff Liu invented those.

Ian thought she'd be a moody character, and Rebecca described her as vulnerable and taken advantage of, but interested in opening up to Steven. The Margo character from Rebecca's early comics had the support of a "happy-go-lucky kid," and that became Lapis's relationship with Steven. In discussing the comic, Rebecca highlights the importance of water and the Margo character being held prisoner by an evil dog who could control the weather, and then there's another dog who's cool and surfs on the waves summoned by the evil dog. Except they're actually the same character and Margo loves them both.

McKenzie brings up the manipulation theme and asks if Rebecca can describe what they were trying to do with the manipulation involved in the Lapis and Jasper arc. Rebecca says she wanted to express something she hadn't really seen in media before: being in an awful situation with someone who makes you believe everything is your fault, that you need and depend on them, and then you feel helpless and unable to control anything, to the point that you take the first chance you can get to control something. Lapis exercised control to take everything out on Jasper, and then when they separated she had no avenue for that desire--which Jasper then later uses against her because she knows deeply what Lapis was experiencing and why it made her feel so powerful.

Lapis is VERY self-destructive and everything about their relationship was toxic. Rebecca was very surprised when she learned the stone malachite is toxic in water! She calls it a lucky coincidence, and jokes that they should cut her admission that she didn't know from the beginning. (Rebecca started doing more research about gemstones as they developed later characters--especially Smoky Quartz, whose stone represents teamwork, which is perfect for how Rebecca sees the Amethyst/Steven relationship as similar to her own relationship with her brother.)

Next, McKenzie prompts Ian and Rebecca to discuss Lapis's Gem placement. Rebecca says her Gem placement on her back indicates having no control, lack of understanding of herself, being vulnerable--she won't be able to find direction because she can't see a big part of herself clearly even when it's totally exposed to everyone else. That's echoed in how the mirror was designed, too.

McKenzie says the images associated with Lapis are "striking" and that she remembers Matt and Ben discussing the image of the water tower on a sticky note. She asks about conceptualizing the other memorable visuals, and Rebecca credits Paul Villeco for the sequences when Lapis emerges, with Ian and Rebecca contributing. Rebecca loves the music in that scene too--Aivi created a really cool leitmotif for Lapis. Ian wanted the tower's music to echo Link's Awakening (for Game Boy). Ian points out that this was one of the earliest times when Steven disobeyed the Gems. McKenzie loves to show "Mirror Gem" and "Ocean Gem" to people to get them hooked on the show.

McKenzie asks about Lapis leaving with the barn in more recent episodes. Ian says you could see the moment coming between Peridot and Lapis--there are cracks in their partnership, and their relationship isn't totally healthy, though Rebecca doesn't want to talk about it too much because this arc is far from over. (Spoiler? Spoiler. Except nobody thinks it would ever end that way, with Lapis just disappearing.) Lapis had a lot of baggage from her time in the mirror, then Homeworld's imprisonment, then trapped in a Fusion with Jasper, so it was bound to explode in her next relationship.

Rebecca reminds us that Lapis is very afraid--she's at the barn with Peridot, but they're IN HIDING, not just hanging out. She doesn't see a lot of difference between leaving Earth the way she did and the way they've been hiding like refugees on Earth together. And it's important to remember that Lapis has more fear because she's experienced the horror Homeworld can dish out, versus Peridot who's never really been through that and has been able to win her fights so far. Both characters have a lot of growing to do.

Jennifer Paz and Hilary Florido:

McKenzie has her guests introduce themselves: Jennifer is the voice of Lapis Lazuli, and Hilary is a Storyboard Supervisor on the show. Their paths never really cross in their work on the show, they say; Jen and Hilary hung out at a party once and that's about it.

McKenzie asks Hilary to discuss direction on the dialogue, and Hilary says she'll add action notes if she thinks they'll be necessary for proper delivery. Lapis's lines are often very deadpan and "dry," which Jen thinks is hilarious for someone with water powers. Hilary prefers writing lines for Jen, not so much with the sad stuff, and she likes the slow burn on Lapis's emotional development.

The next question for Jen is about what it's like to receive a new script. Jen gets the script ahead of time (and is super curious about where the story is going!), and she loves learning about Lapis's mysteries and all of her new experiences. Jen references Lapis's first episode (as discussed on a previous podcast) where she shows what incredible power she has but also likes fart jokes and is awkward; finding out what direction they'll take her is so interesting. Hilary loves Lapis's potential.

Hilary really liked writing "Barn Mates" (and loves Jen and Shelby's vocal performances in it). Especially when Lapis is like "Water? Seriously?" Hilary also really loves the dark realness Lapis can drop . . . but super casually. McKenzie asks about favorite episodes in reference to Lapis, and Jen loves "Room for Ruby," how the Ruby was about to get accepted by everyone but Lapis, and she was so happy to have been RIGHT at the end, even as a pessimist who was reluctantly going along with her optimist friends. Jen relates as the jaded member of her relationship with her upbeat partner. Jen especially likes how Lapis took herself out of the action and reflected on whether something might be really wrong with her because she can't adjust flawlessly like this happy Ruby. And how she tries not to blame the Ruby.

Hilary praises Lapis's character trait of being able to pull back and reflect. As the realist, she acknowledges that Homeworld is targeting Earth and she isn't okay with that while everyone else seems to be ignoring it. Jen feels like Lapis is "securing her mask" the way you would on a depressurized airplane.

McKenzie asks about Lapis's mindset at this current story point, and Jen thinks she's given herself a time out, and Hilary thinks all the emotion pushes her to a fight or flight situation, and she doesn't want to deal with any possibility of interaction with the Diamonds. Hilary thinks she isn't used to a non-battle setting that's peaceful. Jen relates to Lapis because she has trouble asking for help even though her partner could help her solve problems, and she tries to solve problems on her own without him.

“What is your favorite part of working on Lapis?” asks McKenzie. Jen just says "Everything!" Hilary likes Lapis's dialogue, her flowy skirt, and her water powers. Jen likes how they're addressing Lapis's difficulties on several levels. Like in "Alone at Sea," you can be strong enough to get out of even the most horrible situations--it can get better on the other side. Hilary thinks Lapis can't be made "better" in an episode; she has longstanding trauma that she has to keep working through. Jen thinks she needs some therapy, and Hilary agrees that she is learning to ask questions and bounces feelings off Steven. Not to mention . . . the fart jokes. A sense of humor.

Lapis answers questions:

McKenzie: What is the best idea for a meepmorp that you've ever had?

Lapis: I love a good fart joke. So I wanted to include the pumpkin seeds in the toilet, but Peridot shot that down. I thought it was a great idea! But she shot it down.

McKenzie: Did you ever have any ideas for meepmorps that sounded good but just didn't come together?

Lapis: I wanted to have like, a bunch of cat hair, like cat balls around the walls, in the barn, but Pumpkin got jealous of me trying to find cats. So that was not good. Pumpkin is territorial.

McKenzie: Do you think water is wet?

Lapis: It's certainly salty. I like that no matter what, my hair is always intact in the water. So I don't really know if it's wet. I don't even know what that means.

McKenzie: I don't think anyone does. I think that's the big question there. But that's some good commentary.

Lapis: What do YOU think?

McKenzie: I think water itself can't really BE wet? Water can make other things, if you're on a surface that's not normally wet and you put water on it, that makes it wet, but like, water is always, you can't put water on water. I don't know. These are questions beyond my pay grade.

Lapis: Between salt water and fresh water, I like salt water.

McKenzie: Why don't you wear shoes?

Lapis: Being trapped in a mirror for thousands and thousands of years, I never really got out, so I didn't have any footwear. You really don't need shoes to fly around, so I just kind of got used to it. Who needs shoes in the air?

McKenzie: What's the point of walking if you can fly? Thanks so much for coming on to talk to me!

Lapis: Okay, bye!

[Archive of Steven Universe Podcast Summaries]

#steven universe #steven universe podcast #lapis lazuli #jennifer paz #rebecca sugar #ian jones-quartey #mckenzie atwood #hilary florido #myblog

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dreamofcentipedes · 7 years ago

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Love and Death in Avengers: Infinity War

So I finally watched Infinity War, with half of it spoiled already for me by the world’s collective inability to keep their mouths shut :) Regardless of that, I still liked it A LOT and the Russos prove just how awesome they are yet again.

We all knew Infinity War would be focused on death - it’s in Thanos’ name (a contraction of the Ancient Greek word for Death, Thanatos) - but when watching it I was struck by there was just as much focus on love in this film, and especially on how the two intermingle. To save others from suffering my fate, I’ll explore this under the cut. This will obviously contain spoilers.

In the comics, Thanos’ motivation for his various genocides is not to ‘balance’ the universe as in the movie but to win the love of the personification of Death. You can see suggestions of this in Thanos’ first cinematic appearance at the end of the first Avengers, when his goon tells him that to challenge earth would be to court death. This, for Thanos, is obviously a good thing, which is why we get that toothy grin.

But the Russos took Thanos in a different direction than Whedon had in mind - perhaps because Hela, goddess of death, had already been killed in Ragnarok - or perhaps as part of the MCU’s general project of rationalising a lot of the mysticism of the comics. Either way, ingrained in Thanos’ character is the absurd fusion of love and death, and this is present in the film as well.

The purpose of Thanos’ mass murdering is to preserve life. Lamenting the loss of his home planet, he sets out to save all the others by killing half their populations. As he explains to Gamora, after his doling of death on her home planet, the quality of life of the survivors has drastically increased. So it is a kind of love and benevolence that motivates Thanos, but it’s one completely inseparable with the very kind of death that he is trying to prevent. The intermingling is a core component of his ends-justify-the-means philosophy, only, of course, we are meant to question it and challenge it. How can we believe that this death will lead to superior life when the love it strives for is so intertwined with death?

Thanos’ sacrifice of Gamora is the most explicit example of this, but it is not just our villain, but our heroes, too, who fall into Thanos’ ideological trap. When the question of whether to kill Vision crops up, Steve rejects such a mercenary way of thinking to Vision’s own objections. But in the end, Vision must be destroyed by his own lover at his request. The sacrifice is paralleled earlier in the movie when Quill summons the strength to pull the trigger on his lover, Gamora, (as of this movie, no less) to which Thanos responds: “I like you”. He is watching the Avengers step into his own territory. Both sides are resorting to terrible extremes to save the universe from the other - and both watch love melange with death.

Another consistent feature of the movie is Thanos putting friends at risk to elicit information out of the heroes. This happens with Thor & Loki, Nebula & Gamora, and Tony & Strange. Here love leads to the death on an even greater scale. As Thanos’ influence increases, they become extremely difficult to separate - whether you sacrifice love for the greater good or not, the end result is still death: both Quill and Wanda’s attempts fail. Just as how, at the end of the movie, despite all the efforts of our countless heroes, the end result is just that - death.

We see tension over this from the beginning with Pepper’s concerns for Tony’s well-being, and Peter merging the macrocosm with the microcosm - “How can I be a friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man if there is no neighbourhood?” - that we see in the hard choices the Avengers and Thanos come to make. Gamora’s reluctant love of Thanos is mingled with her hatred of him for what he did to her people; she gained a father by losing a mother.

But why this theme? Why merge love and death? It’s an idea with a long-standing history: Freud interpreted the human subconsciousness as driven by the twin desires of Eros, Love, linked also with Life, and, you guessed it, Thanatos, Death. If these forces lie at the heart of our psychologies, then it is long past time that the superhero genre explored it more searchingly - after all, it has always been concerned with beating up the bad guys to save the innocents. And when pushed to the possibility of Armageddon, a possibility that happens in almost every superhero movie but can only be felt really effectively in this one, it’s only fitting to see how existing internal contradictions should come to the fore under such immense pressure as the Apocalypse warrants.

Thanos rationalises his actions when talking with Gamora by claiming that you cannot have infinite life in a finite universe. So the Infinity War is Thanos’ war on this infinity - to cut the world, and indeed the ever-growing cast of the Avengers, back down to size. This is very much his movie, to the extent that is even his victory, and when the text after the end credits would usually state the return of the titular hero(es), instead it’s “Thanos will return”. He watches a sunset, the birth of a new day, on the ashes of countless deaths. The lines have been blurred indeed.

#not tg #infinity war #avengers #mcu #thanos #avengers spoilers #infinity war spoilers

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saeitoshi · 7 years ago

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Alright, this is going to be a theory post first of all focusing on Flame possibly cheating to help Soulburner whenever he uses his “Burning Draw” skill. The overall question being addressed is: Are the Ignis cheating to help their duelists win?

If Flame cheating for Soulburner is true, then the possibility opens up to Ai also cheating for Playmaker with his “Storm Access” skill. However, there’s not really any concrete evidence for this case that I can think of from the top of my head (plus I unfortunately don��t have the time to rewatch all 50+ episodes), but I will address this case as much as I can.

The post will wrap up with the significance of this theory if it does end up being true, which focuses mainly on the information we learn in Episode 43. I did not expect this part to be such a long section at all, but re-watching the episode surprised me with much more potential foreshadowing than I expected.

A quick heads up, this is by no means defending the writing, but simply a theory that may explain the purpose behind the direction that the writers have taken.

1. Flame’s potential cheating with Soulburner’s “Burning Draw.”

A major issue that has many worried is the constant Soulburner wins since his appearance, especially the back-to-back victories against Go and Blue Girl. Could it be purely poor writing? Perhaps. However, it could also be exceptional writing as it deliberately shows his victories repeatedly. All of Soulburner’s wins so far ultimately rely on his skill “Burning Draw,” which depletes his LP to 100 but allows him to draw a card for every 1000 LP he lost.

What if his skill, however, is being manipulated by Flame? What if whenever Soulburner uses “Burning Draw,” Flame hijacks the duel disk and shuffles the deck so that Soulburner draws the exact card that he needs to win? This would give reason to showing Soulburner winning again and again, to emphasize that he only wins through Flame’s cheating, and not through his own prowess.

For Flame and Soulburner’s case, this post is only going to be looking at Episode 56, since I feel like the earlier episodes with them didn’t give any obvious hints towards this possibility. If this theory is true, then I believe that the writers deliberately placed these hints in this particular duel where Soulburner was being pushed to his limits, where he struggled the most in the entire series thus far.

It started in the middle of the duel when Soulburner is down to 900 LP at the end of his turn. When Flame notes that Soulburner is whining, he says this:

Now these comments by themselves can be easily played off as Flame being the sarcastic AI that he is, as even Soulburner notes, but he continues on:

I’m going to analyze these two lines first before showing more screenshots.

a) For the first line, Flame is repeating the exact words that Soulburner said in reference to Soulburner praising Blue Girl for her dueling skills as the charismatic duelist and hero of LINK VRAINS, and yet this line still holds meaning in Flame’s case.

If Flame is using it in the same manner as Soulburner did, then Flame “being an excellent AI partner” that gives Soulburner “the edge” over Blue Girl is an objective truth. If Flame was simply the “compassionate observer” that he teases that he is, then this is less of an objective form of assistance, but more of a subjective form based on feelings and emotions that doesn’t necessarily actually help Soulburner with his duel. An objective form of help is more concrete, like something that can actually affect the end result of the duel.

b) The second line is much more apparent, as Flame notes that with his help, Soulburner’s “dormant abilities may bloom.” This line implies that Flame can do much more than simply cheer from the sidelines to aid him in the duel. Especially in the context of duels in VRAINS, Flame could be referencing to Soulburner’s skill when he says “abilities.”

Moving on to later on in the duel, by the end of Blue Girl’s next turn, Soulburner states that he is in a “pretty bad situation.” Flame responds as so:

Flame mentions that there is ONE card that will turn the duel around, and both Soulburner and Flame know exactly which one it is (the card “Fusion of Fire”). Notice the LARGE amount of cards in Soulburner’s deck, and yet Flame insists that it is still possible to win. However, it would take a miracle to make it happen with that many cards left in the deck.

Soulburner then proceeds to draw, but is not able to draw the card he needs to win and says this line:

Flame’s response to this is the most intriguing to me, and made me start thinking about the theory in the first place:

Although again, this can be played off as his sarcastic self, another way to interpret this is that Soulburner never relied on destiny in the first place to help win any of his duels, including those that he won with his skill. Soulburner instead had other ways that ensured his victory, and that his amazing draws that won him duels were not simply due to luck.

Flame continues his response with this:

This can also be interpreted as Flame not wanting Soulburner to lose, but Flame is purposefully taunting Soulburner to use his skill. However Flame keeps mentioning to Soulburner to forget about destiny, because it’s irrelevant in the outcome of the duel itself.

Of course when Soulburner does use his skill, lo and behold:

Soulburner gets the card he needed. Flame also mentions destiny a third time over the course of a couple of minutes, as if to imply to Soulburner that he doesn’t need a “Goddess of Destiny” to draw the right card; he just needs Flame to do it.

This basically results in the end of the duel, so there’s not much else to mention for Flame and Soulburner’s case. In my opinion, this was the most vocal that Flame has been during a duel with Soulburner, which brought his comments into my awareness even more than it normally would.

An ending note: after the duel when Soulburner praises Blue Girl for becoming stronger, Flame ends it off repeating this same line again:

Flame, I get it, you’re important.

On a more serious note, repetition can be a very important factor in the context of foreshadowing. Similar to how Flame kept on mentioning “destiny,” the fact that he continues to say that Soulburner won because he had “an excellent AI” to help him starts to bring this fact to the viewers’ attention, that perhaps Flame was actually the deciding factor of Soulburner winning the duel, through his possible manipulation of Soulburner’s skill in the final turn.

2. Ai’s potential cheating with Playmaker’s “Storm Access.”

Like I mentioned before, there is not really any obvious hints that I know of which Ai gives away about possibly cheating (and therefore no screenshots to accompany this section). Even so, there may possibly be foreshadowing in the previous episodes that I'm not aware of, but won’t be addressed here unfortunately.

However, I will address the possible implications pertaining to Ai’s influence with Playmaker’s skill “Storm Access,” which allows Playmaker to grab a new card from the Data Storm when his LP reaches 1000 or lower. Similar to Soulburner, Playmaker has not yet had any losses in the series, and Playmaker’s winning streak all started with the first duel in Episode 2 when he first used his skill.

We all know that by this current arc, Ai is able to fully manipulate the Data Storm where he can freely summon and dissipate it at will. However the question remains, how much control did he have before this?

In Episode 1, Ai was able to at least summon the Data Storm, but whether that was the full extent of his control is unknown. Although it is possible that after leaving Yusaku for 3 months, he went from having almost no control of the Data Storm to having complete control of it, the power gap seems to be an extreme one to leave off-screen. However, what if instead of it being a large power jump, Ai actually had much more control than was initially assumed?

By Episode 42, we can tell that Ai could not control the instability of the Data Storm, so what else could he have control of if he did have more than we thought? The cards available for Playmaker.

Again, I’m not aware of any blatant signs that Ai has dropped to imply this, but if Flame does prove to actually hijack Soulburner’s skill, then it is also a viable possibility that Ai would do the same. Ai has been known to lie to Playmaker before with no ill intentions, and since we know that Ai from the beginning was aware that Playmaker was his duelist from the Lost Incident, Ai would be more than willing to influence the cards that Playmaker would receive in the Data Storm to help him win his duels.

3. What is the significance of this theory to the plot if it’s true?

The significance is essentially found in the major plot point of this series. Revisiting Episode 43, Ryoken explains the entire backstory of Dr. Kogami and the Ignis, and talks about Dr. Kogami’s prediction after “billions of simulations:”

If we assume the “billions of simulations” are in fact true, then the Ignis will be the cause of humanity’s downfall. This heavily implies that there will be tension between humans and AIs in the near future. However, if there are humans like Yusaku and Takeru who get along with their Ignis, then how would this ultimately become an issue? As long as the winning team (aka Playmaker and Soulburner) keep winning, the end result should be that humans and AIs live peacefully.

There are two possible reasons that this could occur:

a) Playmaker and Soulburner both lose and SOL Technologies/the other unknown enemy begin to mistreat the AIs and trigger a war between humans and AIs.

This is certainly a possible route that can happen, but it’s less likely of the two. The main reason is that Dr. Kogami never predicts that only some of the Ignis will be the cause of humanity’s end, but rather all of the Ignis play a certain role in this, including Ai and Flame.

In this first situation, Ai and Flame would both still stay by Playmaker and Soulburner’s side regardless of whether they lost or not. Therefore they would not be able to have any part in being a part of humanity’s enemy.

(Also if this theory also becomes true, then there is no way Playmaker and Soulburner would ever lose with Ai and Flame’s help and this reason becomes a completely moot point.)

b) Ai and Flame ends up being the ones distrusted by the duelist counterparts, and inadvertently trigger the war between humans and AIs.

This reason is more plausible, especially because we know that the Ignis are more than capable of lying when they need to after Ai’s example.

There’s no denying that both Yusaku and Takeru have a deep bond with their AIs. Even though Yusaku denied having any trust in Ai early on in Episode 42, there have been subtle hints in the following episodes that show that Yusaku does care about Ai.

The trust that Yusaku has with Ai isn’t necessarily spoken, given Yusaku’s reserved nature, but rather in Yusaku’s facial expressions. Throughout the series, there are even moments of silence in some episodes where you simply observe Yusaku’s expressions to understand him as a character (this could even be made into its own post). Regardless of whether he speaks it or simply shows it with his expressions, Yusaku does view Ai as a close companion.

However, what happens if Yusaku and Takeru’s trust between Ai and Flame dissolves? The tension between humans and AIs that already exists (as we saw with Windy’s distrust in humans in Episode 55) would grow even more, and without any Ignis/human pair able to mitigate the tension, it would only continue to augment through the help of SOL Technologies/the other unknown enemy.

If this second reason does end up being the correct one, how would the trust between the two pairs be lost? We can find the answer in this theory. If indeed this theory is true, then Yusaku and Takeru’s trust in their AI partners can easily be lost if they find out that all of their duels have been rigged by them.

Dr. Kogami continues his explanation further:

Even Dr. Kogami himself is shocked to find out that AIs will become enemies to humans. He believed that the Ignis only have good intentions for humans, and that they could coincide peacefully with each other.

Then we can start to wonder, what if both the simulations and Dr. Kogami’s belief that the Ignis simply want to help people are correct?

It could easily be possible, again, with this theory. If Flame and Ai actually are cheating, they have pure intentions to assist Soulburner and Playmaker to help them win their matches. However, this could also lead to a potential strain in their trust if the two duelists ever found out about it, leading to an eventual tension between humans and AIs.

In fact, if we keep listening in on Ryoken’s conversation with his father, when Ryoken asks why the Ignis would do such a thing, this is what Dr. Kogami explains:

These are the exact words that Dr. Kogami says is the primary cause. Let’s dissect these two lines for a moment.

c) In the first line, he mentions that the AIs will essentially be watching over humans. If we think about the current Ignis that are with their duelists, they are basically “supervising” humans, specifically their human partner from the Lost Incident.

Now we start to think, what is the actual definition of “supervision” by the AIs that Dr. Kogami is referring to? Is it simply just observing, or giving emotional encouragement? Or is it something more practical, like, for instance, useful assistance to make sure that their duelists will be okay no matter what? (a.k.a. Flame and Ai cheating through Soulburner’s and Playmaker’s skills to ensure that those two always win.)

d) The second line is much more prominent when you align it with this theory. The concept of Flame and Ai cheating through their “supervision” would cause people (i.e. Soulburner and Playmaker) to view AIs as their enemy due to their distrust of them. Once again, this would lead to the inevitable clash between humans and AIs.

This is basically all of the information provided in Episode 43, and there’s not much to say beyond this. I do want to emphasize that in regards to this theory, if the humans and AIs do become enemies because of everything listed, Hanoi would still ironically be the main culprit that started it all.

This in itself could also be its own post, but basically Hanoi were the ones who attacked Cyberse first, the ones who ultimately caused the reunion of humans and Ignis who were living in their own separate worlds. They were the ones who instigated the distrust between humans and AIs (which is confirmed by Windy’s distrust in humans after the Hanoi incident).

Even though the distrust would be amplified due to this theory, the original cause would still be from Hanoi’s hands, in spite of their ultimate goal to avoid conflict between humans and AIs.

#vrains #yugioh vrains #ygo vrains #yugioh #ygo #spoilers #theories #text #long post #random me #this took an extreme amount of time but i hope you all enjoy it! i certainly had fun making it :')#the total time making this was over 8 hours haha #thank you to all who managed to read it! i really appreciate it if you were able to ^^#feel free to leave any additional hints that you may have noticed throughout the series or any comments as well!

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