#then playing ygo duel links some more

[icantalk710]

🚆

[kaiowut99]

Duel Links Re-Translation Mod Project (Announcement post I guess?) - Dark Yugi In-Duel Line Re-Translation Test (WIP)

(Alternate project tagline: #LetYubelSayLove)

(Forgive some video stuttering, my Nvidia game recording thing was a bit buggy 😩)

~~~~~~~~

So. For the longest, I've been hella curious to figure out where the text for Duel Links is in the file assets, the in-duel lines in particular--as I'm sure most folks know, the English dubtitle text applied for the English dialogue is, nine times out of ten, inaccurate or decently simplified vs the Japanese audio played on the same line, and it's a bit wild that we still don't have a second English option for a more faithful take this long after Konami gave us the Japanese voices natively on Steam and made modding the game to get them a thing of the past. But for all my occasional searching through the files, I had little luck due to encryption and junk; at some point in September, I got curious and did more digging and was able to find some card text, at least, but nowhere near as much as is in the game now, and still no dialogue lines.

And then, 2-3 weeks ago, I saw that Aura (Octomaidly over on Twitter, part of @entamesubs handling Studio Bridge-era YGO fansubs for SEVENS+) had been working with a couple of folks to decrypt and re-translate the in-duel lines for SEVENS characters and came across her video on Twitter sharing her progress; I immediately reached out to find out how they're doing it and mentioned how I'd like to try and re-translate pre-SEVENS stuff, lol. (You can watch her latest video demoing her re-translation for GO RUSH world here; find her work as it develops on the NexusMods page for it.)

After connecting with Aura and the folks helping her and getting set up to work on things, I set up a quick re-translation for Dark Yugi's lines, had it all imported for a test-run, and recorded this demo test vs Kaiba to see 'em in action; I did fix a few things since recording this, like some line breaks here/there, but also fixed the one mention of "Dark Magician" in the cut-in shot since this was a test of my OCG-name translation (more on that below) and thus "Black Magician" should've been there--but all told, it looks pretty good overall!

All that to say that this is now another lil' project on my list 😅 It's very cool that this is finally doable and I'm looking forward to working with Aura and co to make it happen--though do note that it'll be at a bit of a slower pace since work on my finalized GX subs (currently revision work on 117-119 is underway) and Tag Force Special is a bit higher priority. That said, the nice thing is that working on in-duel lines in TFSP kinda does half my work for me here, lol; maybe half of Dark Yugi's lines, for example, are recycled verbatim from TFSP--the only difference being that Shunsuke Kazama is actually voicing him--with the rest being lines newly added for him in DL, from lines for dueling other characters to cards he didn't have lines for in TFSP, and this should be the case across the board for anyone who showed up in TF[SP].

My intention is also to work on two translations: one with OCG card names and one with the TCG names, as we're doing with TFSP, and I'll be starting this off by working on the first five characters from each series that appeared in TFSP, since that's how I'm working on the story events there (so for DM, working on Dark Yugi, Kaiba, Jounouchi, Ishizu, and Mai first), and then once done through VRAINS, that might probably be the first version of the mod I'd release. Or maybe I'll release a version as I get each set of five done; we'll see lol. I do plan to contribute my translations to Aura's project, as well. (Also we just recently dug up event dialogue text so those will be re-translatable, too; doing this for the older series' events that likely won't get reruns will at least be worth it since you can spend Gems to get those event scenes)

But overall, it's pretty encouraging--stay tuned!

[bestygogirl]

BEST YGO GIRL: Round 3, Group B

Match 3

please use this as an opportunity to say why you like a character, not why you don't.

Propaganda under the cut!

Aoi Zaizen

The show hates her but she is a very good character. Trickstars and Marincesses are both hella cool decks.

Aoi’s parents died when she was around 6 and she was mostly raised by her older brother. She’s the 2nd best Duelist in the VRAINS at the start of the series and over the course of the first season goes from being rather shy and only putting on a happy facade to a determined Duelist willing to risk her life to save the world. She even puts a stop to a virus that’s leaving people in comas.

Aoi gets two more avatars (Blue Girl and Blue Maiden) and also obtains a semi-magic AI named Aqua as her partner.

She never lets her trauma keep her down and was a huge inspiration for me in high school!

AOI ZAIZEN IS THE BEST GIRL! She's gonna sweep this whole tournament and here's why:

Is the peak YGO Girl who Deserved Better from the writers

Just a normal everyday girl IRL who secretly turns into an ultra bubbly sweetheart idol who everyone absolutely loves when in the virtual world.

Her VRAINS persona is extremely popular, and none of her fans know that she's just Some Girl.

Plays an idol deck with Trickstars (toxic meta combo not included)

Is sheltered by her overprotective older step-brother/guardian, but very quickly stands up for herself and what she believes is right.

Mutual protection with said step-brother is the sweetest thing ever, I love Aoi and Akira moments so much!

She does NOT fall head over heels for the main protagonist, but they do share a nice conversation and handshake as they become friends IRL (one of the best VRAINS scenes, honestly)

Absolutely wrecks Soulburner for like 99% of their duel, and only loses because the writers don't understand how to move a plot along if Soulburner doesn't win as many duels as possible

Duels two seasonal antagonists, and completely destroys them both before losing thanks to an OP anime card that will never see the light of day, and a one-off card made specifically to counter her strategy and have her lose.

Her first virtual avatar, Blue Angel, is inspired by the main character from her favorite childhood book. That's adorable!

Her main summoning chants are all about hopes, dreams, and believing in yourself.

In the English dub, she says "I could so swipe left on you right now" implying that Tinder exists in the Yu-Gi-Oh universe.

Never got the Magical Girl transformation sequence she deserved because the writers apparently were not aware that Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS is a Magical Girl show, despite the two main dudes getting that special treatment.

AOI ZAIZEN DESERVED BETTER! Give her what she deserves!

AND SHE'S A TRANS LESBIAN

Condemned Darklord

She literally could not catch a break during the forbidden items line of cards, but at least she has two gfs to match with her link form stole from God Himself FOUR times. iconic behavior honestly

[merryfortune]

Damn someone already asked about Spectre… how about Ghost Girl (Ema Bessho i think is her name?) for the ygo ask meme!!! Gotta get some ladies!!!

Why I like them/why I don’t

I do like her! I wish she got more to do over all. i really loved the Aoi-Ema mentorship subplot, it felt really well paced all things considered.

What I like about their appearance

Her thicc thighs

Do I prefer their dub names or original names?

I guess I prefer Ema over Emma because Ema conveys her ghostly themes better in the Japanese haha

OTP

I am reallyyyyyy into Ema/Kyoko these days

NOTP

Aoi

OT3

Still gotta be Akira/Shoichi/Ema, I will admit. They needed to be a trio so bad, I feel

Favourite card they use

Memorygrant, it fucking slaps. has a huge scythe. peak monster design. Do not ask me anything further, I do not understand how to play Altergeist but I have tried in Duel Links and it felt not good every time I summoned anything that instinctively came across as sub-optimal

Favourite moment they were in

I love how cheeky she gets around Akira and Shoichi. Not sure if its the traffic scene from the early episodes with Akira and her introduction or Shoichi visibly checking her out when she leaves after ordering two hot dogs. I love a woman with an appetite!

Least favourite moment

Rev murking her to mirror force or whatever. so fucking dumb in my opinion.

Would I fuck, marry or kill them

letting her top me couldn't hurt

[offlineblues]

When did you first get into yugioh? I hope you're having a nice day! <3

thank you for your well wishes! i too hope you had a pleasant day!

let's see... to answer your question... it's a little bit of a long story, so i'll make a read more! (there is a TLDR at the bottom if you want)

in late 2017, twitch was broadcasting a marathon of Duel Monsters. at that time, my partner, Jamie, was getting really invested into it, since he had mentioned how he liked it when he was younger. for me, i had heard of YGO on TV when i was younger too, but i felt like i couldn't get invested in it, so i never kept track of it. i was vaguely aware of YGO's continued spin-offs, but i never gave it a chance.

so, after a few weeks, his passion about the show and how much he loved Atem made me want to try giving it a shot, too. because of Megumi Ogata's Yugi Mutou, i was interested in starting from the Very Beginning with the Toei season (season 0). i was curious how subbed YGO might be.

so, we watched all of the Toei season together. i came to really love Yugi the most, as he is a very kindhearted protag (my favorite type of protag) as well as Jounouchi and Kaiba. i was surprised at how the story was about our connections with others. i really loved how different it was compared to what i expected or remembered about the series from the past. the focus on games in general as a medium for the story was really good.

i was hooked on it and respected it. i finally understood the appeal. i wanted to jump into Duel Monsters (sub) right away. and we did! we watched it all together, starting in early 2018.

it took several months to watch, and i enjoyed it! i remember feeling shocked and kinda sad that "the shadow realm" wasn't real, lol. i didn't realize it had been a show that was censored like that. we even watched the DSOD movie after. it was really cool... Yugi really is a character i adore!

for about about a year or so after, i was really invested into puzzleshipping. i didn't draw very much at the time because of my severe untreated carpal tunnel though, so there aren't much past works from me, nor did i ever make any ship art.

Jamie got invested into the spin-off YGO and started watching VRAINS while it was airing after seeing a post about Yusaku/Playmaker on here. i gave it a few episodes, and immediately gravitated to liking Ai. but, i was going through a tough time personally and felt a little fatigued (in general) and of YGO because it was such a long series. i didn't think i could do another 150+ anime. so, i dropped it after 3 episodes and did other things for a few years.

he would talk to me about how much he loved how VRAINS was going and about datastormshipping, and i happily listened even though i didn't understand. it was nice to be a support at the time when i felt too tired and stressed to participate. this went on into 2019 as it finished, and well after into 2020. though, it shifted into aiballshipping, but he kept me safe from spoilers.

on a whim, in the middle of 2022, i suggested we watch VRAINS together because i felt up for it again, and i wanted to watch an anime together. i was excited to learn about Ai more, as i saw some vague spoilers here and there about him. i immediately grew to love Yusaku and Ai a whole lot! i was excited every weekend we could watch together. it only took 3 months to watch all 120 episodes because i was that invested. i again felt like a fool for not continuing in the past...

...and you know the rest. it's impacted me a lot. i haven't stopped thinking or talking about them for nearly a year now. i'm even more impacted by their story than the Toei season or DM. i like the characters and story a lot more for VRAINS, so it's my favorite. i even picked up Duel Links because i wanted to learn how to play (i'm kind of bad at it). i'm currently in the middle of ZEXAL now, but i want to check out all the others eventually, too. exciting!

TLDR:

i got into it in 2017 because of my partner's influence. watched season 0, DM, and DSOD and loved it. fell off for personal difficulties in real life and fatigue with long series. picked up VRAINS again in 2022 after dropping it in 2018 after 3 episodes. am now insane (positive) and invested in YGO because it's so fun and good. i'm happy to be here and hope i can be for a long time

[raintides]

Out of curiosity which ygo series have you watched already and what are your opinions of them ?

OOPS i completely missed this ask but i've watched gx and i'm 2/3 of the way through vrains! i haven't watched enough of the other series for anything in-depth, so i'll just answer it for these two!

gx: for such a huge main cast, i was surprised by how much all the characters grew on me. even the one-off side characters are memorable (abidos the third, i'll never forget you). i also love how stupidly ridiculous some of the episodes get? it never fails to make me laugh

judai is also one of my favorite characters ever. i love dumbasses with hearts of gold. i love his single-minded passion for dueling. i love his fearlessly endless optimism, his unfaltering determination, and the way he naturally brings people together by just being himself. he gets more jaded later (his depression era) but he manages to rekindle his passion for the things he loves while still retaining everything he learned through those life experiences and i'm just. ugh. i love him

vrains: this series is what got me back into the actual physical tcg (salamangreat represent!!!) (i play rikka sunavalon now but salads are forever) so if anything it'll have a soft spot in my heart because of that. i'm around episode... 80ish right now? so i haven't gotten to The Major Stuff yet (soon). but i really like it so far!! i'm the kind of person who gets into things primarily because i like the characters and vrains 100% nailed that. I LOVEEE TAKERU this is a soulburner appreciation page. yusaku and ryoken are also my babygirls

characters aside, my favorite thing about vrains are the duels??? they're so fun??? yusaku pulling off an extra link was legit one of the most hype moments in the entire show. on that note, i'm personally offended ghost girl didn't win more duels? her deck is atrocious (i am saying this positively). she runs imperm?? this girl plays meta. i cant believe she lost to mirror force. i think i actually laughed so hard i cried when revolver revealed his ultra powerful secret card and it was mirror force

[riddlerlesbian]

ygo oc week day 7

my obligatory "series i made up" protag, Yuval Elkayim

picrew link

Duel Monsters being able to be used as a power source has been incredibly helpful in space exploration. Small communities live on asteroids, which have been terraformed to harvest crops. Yuval grew up in one of these and eventually found a way to play Duel Monsters that made the game pace a bit longer and steadier, which made a more efficient stream of energy. Because of this, ze was selected for a larger program on a small planet nearby, working to connect the small enclaves scattered about the planet with an rail infrastructure, while having to deal with various environmental hazards.

@ygoc-week

drabble under cut

Yuval hadn’t expected much to come of zir innovations on Dueling. When ze shared it with the commune on the next asteroid over, it was because it was something that would help them, not something ze wanted recognition for. But then Yuval got a message from the System Authority that zir new Duel style–the Level Ramp–was perfect for the infrastructure project on the nearest planet.

The planet was large and the terraforming projects were going very slowly, so there were several cities and enclaves scattered about the planet, but traversing between them was impossible. Yuval’s Level Ramping could change that by making it possible to build railways connecting the cities. It was surreal. It felt like ze had won a competition that ze hadn’t entered in.

And that was before Yuval found out that there had been a contest, pitching solutions for this problem. Zir work was submitted on zir behalf and Level Ramping had won. Yuval would be more excited by that if it weren't for the harsh looks ze received when meeting the rest of the group.

“The thing is,” one of them was nice enough to explain, “when we submitted ours, we were also training to go on this expedition. It's pretty annoying that someone from a farming asteroid gets to come along without enough knowing what you're doing.”

“I had to come along in case the Duel Disks need maintenance. I'm a quick learner, so I won't be any trouble.” But she clearly still has her doubts. Yuval will have to prove zirself in some other way over time. Words are easy after all.

[lyricalchrysanthemum]

Sorry to hear you're feeling bad, I hope you feel better soon. :( I'd like to ask more about Piper in a YGO setting if it's alright! What are his favorite cards of each category (Normal, Effect, Spell, Trap, etc.)

HII I'm home and I'm tired but I am feeling better. Thank u ^^

His favorite YGO cards hmmmm

Normal - this one is just vibes i think. he likes this one a lot. i can see it being like a first card given to him as like a good luck charm for him to achieve his dreams. he has a fondness for it when he reads the card text.

Effect - IGNORING THE OBVIOUS. I'd say Nibiru the Primal Being for this one. I think he's very fond of hand traps in general but Nibiru SPECIFICALLY is satisfying for him to play. Getting to tribute your entire opponents field away in favor of a giant rock. Making them waste resources. It's entertaining

Spell - AS SOMEONE WHOS GONE ON SAYING HE WOULD TAKE DELIGHT IN GISHKI FTK. I think Piper would be pretty fond of Mystic Mine when its legal. Like its the ultimate "don't play" card. Combine that with stategies like Mine Burn and I think he'd be living for it. Super poly is another card that comes to mind. but i think mystic mine just sticks out to me a lot.

Trap - This is another. Piper really likes being annoying at the game. And also another hand trap. I think he finds it especially funny when he goes straight to battle phase IMMEDIATELY and he sees his opponent openly displeased at what he's pulled.

Fusion - I think Piper in general goes for decks of all playstyles in general (jack of all trades. master of none.) and i think the type of win con chimeratech overdragon enables is very much something up his alley. Combine it with powerbond+limiter removal and piper is gonna blast u

Synchro - this one i dont really have much of a reason for imma be honest. i just think he'd really like adamancipators.

XYZ - i think outside of NC piper would find this card insanely fucking funny. if only because i remember when this win strat was all over master duel and was botted. and i think yeah piper would use a strat like that at some point. if not this i can see him being pretty fond of either zeus or galaxy eyes after glow dragon.

Link - this card is like evenly and nibiru where its like. everywhere. and is so good u cant really play the game without it. but idk i just look at the monster design and think "awe yeah this is pipercore". plus its like a lot of his other favs. tried and true.

[queeriboh]

YGO ask game - 13, 21, 31?

13. Favorite deck archetype

Red Eyes /: /: /: but when I told some dudes at work that, they started like. literally teasing me over it. and I think they were trying to be playful about it but hearing over and over that the thing you were proud of is apparently terrible in another version of the game (which you don't play) when you're already stressed at work is. not fun

so idk apparently it's bad but I have fun when I use it in Duel Links

second is aromages!! idk what people think of that one lol

21. Which Millennium Item would you want and why?

the Puzzle probably, it doesn't really have any drawbacks or uses beyond Friend

31. Favorite duel (because they are often a series of episodes)

the Yu/Jo duel!!!!!!!!!!!!!! from getting to see Yugi not only duel for himself but also STAND UP to Yami and insist on it, to Yugi putting the Puzzle on Joey, and the "I love you Jounochi." it's so so so SO good. I tend to skim over a lot of the Duels but that one holds my attention from beginning to end. I love how you get to see a different side of Yugi. I think the dub kind of waters down how Yugi stood up for himself when he takes off the Puzzle and makes that decision seem more mutual than the manga does. it drives me crazyyyyy the amount of character that gets shown in that match

[nettleshuttle]

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

My girl Akiza! :)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[blueeyeswhitegarden]

Day 29: Into the Games! @arcvmonth

I wanted to have more proper Arc V video games so badly back while the series was running. I would have paid some good money for a 3DS Arc V game. I'm not surprised that didn't really happen. While I liked a lot of the DS era YGO games, I suspect that they weren't selling well in either Japan or the U.S. So the Arc V World in Duel Links is probably the closest we'll get for a Arc V video game and I really love it. I had been waiting for years for that update and it was worth the wait. Honestly, I was just happy to get new artwork of the characters and lines recorded by the cast. That has always been one of the selling points of Duel Links in my opinion, along with the character interactions.

I adore seeing the new artwork for the characters. I love that their victory and defeat poses often are references to poses they made in the anime too. I love getting to hear the voice actors record new dialogue for their characters. Getting to hear Yuya and Yuzu perform an Action Duel chant while loading up Duel Links is a thing of beauty. I do wish that there were more dialogue reactions when they face off against a new character, but that's been a bit of an issue with Duel Links for awhile and they'll still have some unique reactions when characters duel each other. I adore getting to hear new lines for all of the cast, but especially Yuya and Yuzu. Hearing their unique lines when they duel each other is so sweet. I love getting new music for the characters. Getting mew mats and sleeves based around the Arc V cast and their cards has been really fun too. I loved the Action Duel events. Getting to hear different characters perform the Action Duel chant has been great and I love getting to see some of the Action Fields. The Action Duel event with chibi Yuya riding on Odd Eyes Pendulum Dragon was really cute too. I love that the Arc V cast is included in the Riding Duel Tournaments. Having a few more characters and skills as options really made getting to the end of that tournament actually doable for me. I love the Tag Duel Tournaments featuring the Arc V cast teaming up together. Seeing different team ups between different characters is really fun.

Getting to unlock the first few characters shortly after the update when live was so great. I love being able to play as the Arc V characters. I finally got to use Pendulum cards for the first time. I don't play the game outside of video games, so this was my first experience with actually using the summoning method and it was so great. I love being able to use both Performapal cards and Odd Eyes cards. Yuya's current skill to get Odd Eyes Raging Dragon is so cool and probably a bit too overpowered, but I love power decks, so getting an easier way to summon his new Dragon is pretty cool. I love playing Melodious cards as Yuzu and this is where my desire for Pendulum support for that archetype started. I really love playing Reiji's D/D/D deck. It has been a huge help in every Riding Duel Tournament since they started to include Arc V characters. Getting to play Superheavy Samurai with Gongenzaka at last was so great too. I'm still getting used to Raid Raptor cards with Shun, still don't have a lot of cards I need for Yuto's Phantom Knights deck and haven't done much with Sawatari's decks yet, but I've enjoyed playing with pretty much every character. I'm trying to get Sora's skills while getting used to his Frightfur deck. I need to work on Yugo's Speedroid deck since the one I used during his event was really good too. I'm looking forward to getting Serena later this month since I'll be able to use Lunalight monsters with her too. I love a lot of archetypes introduced in Arc V, so finally getting to use them has been a lot of fun. So far, I've only fully leveled up Yuya, Yuzu and Reiji, but I'm also trying to just enjoy dueling as the Arc V cast instead of just level grinding them like I do with most of the other characters in different worlds.

The character interactions and events have been really great too. Sometimes Duel Links will provide interactions for characters you never thought of bringing together. I think Yuto not having memories when he first arrived made a lot of sense given he was the first to merge with Yuya. Sora apologizing to Yuto was also really nice. While I don't like that Shun's event kind of fueled the notion that he was sad and alone post finale, an interpretation that I strongly disagree with, his reunion with Yuto was still nice too. I loved getting to see Yuya and Shun interact again too since I liked their friendship. Getting to see Yuya and Yugo interact was really fun too. Honestly getting to see Yugo in general interact with the cast was fun. I never really had a problem with how isolated he was from most of the cast. I figured that was kind of the point given that he and Yuya meeting each other could have led to Zarc's revival even sooner. While I don't consider this a canon continuation of the anime, it still provided some interesting ideas like Yuzu having some memories from other other counterparts and that merging instantly allowed the Dragon Boys to understand each other. I think that those are cool concepts for this post-canon AU setting for the characters

I prefer the implication that Yuto, and by extension all of the counterparts that will appear in Duel Links, recreation based on memories instead of actually unmerging with Yuya and Yuzu. I think that makes more sense within the lore of Duel Links, it's what they heavily implied at the end of the Yuto event given that Yuya felt that Yuto was still a part of him and doesn't negate the anime's ending. I actually like the ending, so while I can understand why fans want the counterparts to get their own bodies back, I'm a bit to burned out by that premise after all these years to really get behind it at this point. Although, I'm positive that they're using the counterparts appearing less as a means to change the anime's ending and more so to buildup to future events, especially Zarc. It seems like they've been hinting at Zarc's inevitable arrival in Duel Links since the end of the Yuto event. It seems like they've been acting as if they have really unmerged starting with the Shun event, but I don't know if that's a translation issue or just an issue with how it's framed, especially with my interpretation of the characters and ending in mind. I'm also probably really over thinking things about a mobile gotcha game designed to eat our money, but it has admittedly kind of upset me with the last couple of events, especially when I'll see comments using Duel Links to further complain about the anime. It doesn’t sour the events for me fortunately, but it is a bit upsetting to say the least.

Given the lore behind Duel Links itself and some of my issue with the characterizations or framing in mind, I still think it makes more sense to see the Arc V World as basically a post canon AU fan fic rather than a continuation of the anime, or at least I think it makes more sense that way. I'm still happy to have new Arc V content and getting to play as the cast has been something I've wanted to do for years, so I'm more than happy that it exists.

I also want to give a mention to Cross Duel. I love getting to see 3D models of the Arc V cast and new dialogue as you level up your friendship is wonderful too. I really liked the Sawatari event too. It made him more endearing than I thought it would. I don't dislike Sawatari, but he just came off as more likable than I was expecting, especially when it seemed like he was more genuine about Entertainment Duels. It was a nice surprise and a fun event that turned out to be the only Arc V event for Cross Duel. I still need to unlock all of Yuya's lines at least, but it is a shame that the game couldn't even last a full year. I'm not surprised since the gameplay itself is really not fun. It's rather tedious and relies too much on gotcha luck and skill mechanics for the monsters. Honestly, they should have leaned more towards this being the friendship/dating YGO simulator fans have always wanted since that was the main selling point of the game. Either that or just make it a Tag Force mobile game featuring characters from across the franchise since fans would have been all over that too. I still really love getting more Arc V content from this game as well and I hope that those resources can be somehow used in future games. Getting the voice actors to record new lines and animating the 3D models probably wasn't cheap, so hopefully they can be used again in the future at least.

[cyberdragoninfinity]

Ruka/Luna for the character meme, if you're still doing it?

YESSSS I LOVE LUNA

favorite thing about them: Luna is my top favorite yugioh girl as of right now i love her so much!!!!!! I love her bond with Leo and I love just like...her character concept?? Girl falling into the Monster World via her brain when she was itty bitty and then a giant dragon told her it was her job to save and protect everyone. Luna had Undertale happen to her when she was like 4 and we just have to live with that and she just has to live with that too.

least favorite thing about them: unfortunately, she is a girl in a yugioh series. DOUBLE UNFORTUNATELY she is suffering from Girl In the Back Half of 5D's Disease. like i will go to bat for a lot in s2 of 5ds but MAN. THE GIRLS PROBLEM. luna's concept (the fucking fact she can talk to duel spirits!!!) is so cool and the show does barely anything with it except for that agonizing Monkey Miniarc during the dark signers. sad!!! LET HER DO MORE!!!!

favorite line: I can't think of any lines from the show proper off the top of my head but i Love if you play as leo in duel links and challenge her she says something like "Duel you? No way! You always complain when you lose!!"...i just love their dynamic so much ;__;

brOTP: HER AND LEO OF COURSE i love ygo siblings and leo and luna are my favorite 5ds characters (despite. my madnesses.)...their bond is just so so sweet and i love that you can tell even though leo's so rambunctious and obnoxious sometimes (a lot of the time) she still loves him so much. Also I'm insane and have been lost in the gx/5ds post canon crossover AU that exists in my brain where teenage luna is friends with 40-something year old chazz. one day i will talk more about this. i also have a lot i could say about Aporia and Luna having a dynamic but that would take another 3 paragraphs so I will restrain myself for now. <3

OTP: i dont have one. shes 12.

nOTP: if you ship her with any of her older/adult friends i am going to rip your bones out.

random headcanon: Trans girl, has had an on/off childhood attachment to maybe being a veterinarian when she grows up, collects books of old fairy tales, occasionally has nightmares about leo dying. :( cuz...you know. tbh luna is turning a bit into a ygo girl im just making shit up about but they forgot to give her much so im just filling in the gaps.

unpopular opinion: her and leo aren't annoying and their place on team 5D's is meaningful and sweet!!!!!!!!!

song i associate with them: It's a little bit of a 5D's on the Whole song for me but Daniel in the Den by Bastille has some big luna vibes for me primarily via "and you thought the lions were bad/well they tried to kill my brothers".....thinks about a certain leonine looking guy who did. in fact. try to kill her brother. twice. <:)

favorite picture of them:

sorry it's a group shot but i love whenever the twins hug yusei ;__; hes their fuckign DAD!!!!

[newspropaganda]

For the record, I don’t give two sh*ts about Go Rush!! because I knew from the start that it was stupid and childish. It felt like the writers just gave up on it. No one wants to watch Go Rush!! because it was so bad that it made VRAINS and Zexal seem like actually good shows again. The problem is obvious. The whole point of Go Rush!! was to target kids with these twisted, poorly written stories aimed at a younger audience. I knew months before its premiere that it would be bad, since Konami was too lazy to hire a decent writer with real experience.

I just want to show people what's going on in the Go Rush!! fandom right now. There's this person having a meltdown, like it's the end of the world, similar to how some reacted when Donald Trump got elected as President. They won’t even allow themselves to accept reality because they already know the outcome. I stopped watching Go Rush!! in 2023 because it became too hard to keep up with, and I knew it was predictable from the start. The show is literally a Yu-Gi-Oh! starter kit for children, and only they can enjoy it.

The reason is simple: Bridge-era Yu-Gi-Oh! shows are not good. They come across as watered-down, poorly written kids' versions of the classic Gallop Yu-Gi-Oh! shows, which people had higher expectations for. Sevens was decent but still mid, and Go Rush!! has one of the most complicated plots and twists, making it hard to follow—I can barely understand what's happening. Gallop Yu-Gi-Oh! (the subbed versions, not to be confused with the badly dubbed ones) had more peak moments, even when shows like Zexal and VRAINS struggled. At least they still gave us a feel that the fandom can never forget. The whole Rush era feels like an insult to Yu-Gi-Oh!, and the only people hyping this up are Dylan from YGO Everything and Octomantley from Twitter, both of whom are dumb and clueless.

I’m better off working at my job and playing old-school games rather than watching Rush-era Yu-Gi-Oh! Season 2 or wasting time on Duel Links. I can’t wait for people to see the dub versions of Go Rush!! and go absolutely bananas because I knew from the moment the staff was revealed that the show was going to suck. I’d rather rewatch old Pokémon episodes from Gen 3 than sit through Go Rush!!. Heck, even Zexal, the worst Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, is better than Go Rush!!. I hated Zexal because its fandom keeps milking it with their "Niconico ratings" and "animation over story" nonsense instead of taking it seriously. You can’t even criticize Zexal or its writing without the fandom getting upset and telling you to "watch the damn show" from behind their keyboards, thinking they’re some kind of cancel culture warriors or something. The biggest problem with the Rush era of Yu-Gi-Oh! is the female characters—they’re basically Mary Sue types, written more for people like Kathleen Kennedy and SJW crowds. If you want to see good Yu-Gi-Oh! girls, go read OCG Stories on any manga website. And don’t ask me for links because I’m sick of people asking stupid questions. I’d rather read OCG Stories until we finally get a new Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, even if Yu-Gi-Oh! 9 ends up sucking or not. I’m done with the Rush era until we get a proper anime.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to catch up on some anime I missed, since Halloween is less than 24 hours away. MWAHAHAHA! Happy Halloween, plebs!

[http-caedis]

SWIM (yeah right) is ready and rarin' to accept all manner of makeouts~

[Is there a totally cool and intelligent chill way to express grabby hands??]

If I were legit intelligent and smart I would know how to play the actual YGO card game by now... woops. I'm just pulling ideas out of my very fine butt over here.

SO on that note:

My first inclination would be to say that any monster or god card with a second-tier merge option would have to be established beforehand. "Combine Obelisk + Blue eyes = ____(double merge into Godly Blue Eyes or w/e)__." "Combine Obelisk + Mega Ultra Chicken = ___(double the god stats, double the fun?? rotisserie style)__." But maybe there are also some monster/god cards that can't be merged at all?

I'm also very tempted to say that with moves on the table like Tier Two Merge or whatever you want to call it, there should really be some built-in mechanic that makes the regular cards play some part in facilitating or deterring certain merges. Kinda like what I said before... if each regular turn has a chance to give you the right kind of attributes/power/stats/idk to initiate the first merge, then the game would sort of guide you toward which merges were possible based on your draws. Then, once again, you'd have to build up some power or something with a few regular game turns before you even think about trying to execute a Tier Two Mere.

...wow I really hope any of that was even halfway coherent. :'D

It's hard to say if the game would run more smoothly or way slower than necessary after adding in the "build up" part of the normal rounds. That's have to be tested a few times to see if it's realistic.

MEGA ULTRA CHICKEN 🗣️🗣️‼️‼️

Oh wait rq are you speaking for like the actual card game? Bc I meant the characters like design wise and everything 😭😭😭

I mean it can totally apply to the card game as well, but I’ve been talking about like each individual character and them merging with thE monster, similarly to Jaden and Yubel :3

But no I totally think like you said the double monsters should have a mixed name! Like Blue Eyes the Tormentor,, or Obelisk the White Dragon? Pretty epic sounding no matter how it’s put together 🙏

Going off of Duel Links and the anime, another combination could be Bakura and Dark Necrofear? How they’d look could be a slightly more feminine, androgynous build and becoming ball jointed, yknow what I mean? Like I’m using polymerization to combine a character and a monster 😭 There’s some interesting cases though, like Jaden, who eventually merges with Yubel, but can see and talk to monsters… there’s also Noah, who is literally ai 😭 I haven’t seen much of zexal, so I don’t really know the whole deal with Yuma and Astral, which can maybe interfere with the whole merging concept,,

If ur more knowledgeable on zexal than I am, explain those two to me bc what iS Astral lmao

[krawlernyannyan]

YGOMD 12-14-23

Finally playing some duels today! Haven't been able to fit time in for MD in my schedule the last couple of days but I'm back at it again in Ranked. Starting today at Silver II.

1. Labrynth vs Raidraptors. This one took like 25 minutes but fate be praised this one was a rush.

They made me go second and my only point of interaction was a Chandraglier in hand and a Lady, and I had to hit both of those early because Ultimate Falcon has a "no more playing" effect on it. I drew into Arianna, which made them proc a Fog Sword to negate her, I try and use Big Welcome to bounce it back to hand and get the effect off, but they activated a Set Infinite Impermance in the same column to make sure I couldn't use her search, but THAT just let Lady Set a copy of Daruma Karma Cannon. At that point I had no other plays so I had to pass it back to them.

At that point they did nothing but Set another Fog Blade and go to battle, at which point I activated the Daruma Karma Cannon to flip their entire field down and get rid of the Ultimate Falcon. My board's also face-down at this point but I had a Welcome available to get a Lovely out, and she got to pop the Fog Blade. They've only got three Xyzes that do basically nothing at this point, so on my turn I just ram into all of them and clear the board by battle. They finally scooped after they tried to revive the Rusty Bardiche that got sent to the GY from the Karma Cannon but I hit 'em with Ice Dragon's Prison to steal it from their GY.

Extremely long game but it's so satisfying to win these. Especially when you rank up to Silver I out of 'em!

2. Labrynth vs Dragon Link. Put up a good fight here but they Ashed my only Welcome and I just couldn't get the resources together to deal with their follow-up. [Surrender]

That's actually all the time I have today, that Raidraptor match ate up SO much of my allotted YGO time.

[authoratmidnight]

Potentially controversial YGO fandom opinion but...

Yu-Gi-Oh Sevens is good actually. In fact I think I might have to put it as one of my favourites.

Now that it’s over (alas) I wanna ramble about it. Cause it IS good. It’s fun and entertaining. Yes it is aimed at a younger audience than some of the past series (like VRAINS) but that doesn’t make it bad. And yes, the animation is different since it’s by a different studio and different animators but, again, that doesn’t make it bad. The art style works and it looks just fine imo. (Also Gallop ain’t coming back to do ygo again, fuck I don’t think they’re even doing *anime* any more period, all the animators are spread out to the wind to other studios. save for like, one long running show that’s been going since like 1996 so)

But I digress.

Honestly, it gives me early GX vibes with the zaniness and off the walls weird shit it does (which is a lot). But it works! And the foreshadowing and set up, is great! Like, probably better than a lot of the past series if I’m being honest. Stuff that you thought was a one off-throw away gag suddenly returns and you’re like ‘holy shit it was important!’ And I love that shit! And the characters really do capture the essence of being a bunch of cringey, excitable tweens. Cause that’s what they are. And it’s great.

Also on the topic of the characters. Do you like girl characters who DO things? Who have good win rates? Who can and do beat the boys and not just the other girls? Well boy does Sevens have those for you. In spades. Like I know the bar for YGO ladies is literally on the ground but I think these are, probably some of the best handled female characters we’ve had? I love them, they’re great.

I actually like the concept of Rush Duels and introducing a whole new type of duelling instead of trying to come up with a new Extra Deck summoning method for the already massively bloated Extra Deck. Plus it’s FUN. It looks like a lot of fun with it’s new rule set and playstyle!

(Side note but, you also gotta remember, YGO is and will always be a glorified 25 minutes card game ad so it’s all about shilling the new format-which from what I hear is selling *really* well in Japan-and making money)

Plus, it’s really good for beginners/ppl who want to play Duel Monsters but find the TCG far to complicated to get into and play (which it is. it really is). Cause it’s not just a smaller field and deck like Speed Duels/Duel Links, it is a whole new format with it’s own cards and everything.

When it was first announced I was apprehensive, especially since I was still coming off the abrupt ending that was Vrains and the hurt from that. But I told myself I wasn’t going to judge based on the promo alone(since it was an early promo and the first ep was like 6 months out), and I would at least watch the first episode and judge for myself. And I did. And it was really fun. 

Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens is a damn good show and I’m not afraid to say it.