#talking with: atem

[alliebirb]

v old art meme i found in my files, w/ mana!!

[kathairoscloset]

Yknow, I know we like making fun of Kaiba for being so obsessed with Atem that he builds a portal to the afterlife "just to challenge the pharaoh to a card game", but I find it so fascinating at the same time because in many ways, Kaiba's grief feels a bit like a reflection of the fans' grief about Atem's departure.

Granted none of us can do the insane bullshit that Kaiba can lol, but many fans do think that having Atem depart isn't real closure, no? For many, Atem dying in this way isn't him 'moving on', it's him just, dying. He was a boy who never got to be a man, a boy who never got to live, and according to the narrative the only way he gets to live is to... die? The hell does that mean, bish he should've stayed! He should've gotten to experience life's ups and downs, play card games, eat falafel, just live life. This is absolutely unfair, it doesn't fit with the story's theme of choice vs. fate, and so and so forth.

And so going to Kaiba, I think a bit of his grief represents that. His lack of closure in his relationship with Atem, the one person who managed to understand him, whose strength he respected, hoped to surpass... is just fucken dead? The hell does that mean, bish he should've stayed! I needed to beat him! I needed him to be here! I need my fucken friend rival back!

And because of that, he goes through everything possible to bring him back. He takes the Puzzle, he disregards Yuugi's worth as just "a vessel", and even after, he still builds that damn elevator just to see Atem again. It's that wish of "he needs to come back" that fans have, only to its absolute extreme, and I find that parallels to it very interesting.

[fat-butch-dyke]

You ever think about how the ceremonial duel was Atem's funeral, how it was the only one he ever got.

He had all the people he cared about around him, all the people he'd spent the previous years knowing and growing alongside and who he'd come to love. His best friends.

There was a game, duel monster, one of his favorites. It was a good game too, a tense one with everyone on the edge of their seat. And there were tears and smiles and laughter, there was the feeling of grief and joy in equal measure surrounding him.

And Yugi. Yugi was there. The person he'd shared a body and soul with, the person he was sure would always have a piece of him still there. A grounding precense during his shaky uncertainty in the puzzle. His partner, even now. The one and only Yugi Muto. His Yugi.

And Atem wouldn't want anyone else to lead him into the end.

[teatitty]

"I want to stay with you forever, I don't care if I never get my memories back" "I also want to stay with you forever. I'll give you all my memories" rotating that scene in my head 24 fucking 7 literally what the hell was all this gay ass fucking goth romance at its core

[mermer404]

Hi! Can't believe you noticed little old me. Great to have you.

I never meant to hurt your feelings, or anybody's. If you were celebrating the death of civillians you deserve to be called out, but not, at least in my opinion, bullied. I think bullying is mean and counterproductive to anything, but it's nice to see someone having fun at a time like this.

I understand you need to keep feeling like your online activism is helping, like it's strong, because the world is fucked and you can't do much about it, so you do whatever you actually can. I get that. We're all human. But once that gets in the way of you being a person, once your need for self importance makes you hate those who fight alongside you, you are not only being a bad person, you are being a bad ally, and you are weighing down the movement.

The Israeli left is immeasurably valuable and does actual footwork. I will not name or link any organizations or details here, your minds and hearts are too small to have any dignity towards them. But the Israeli left get the Palestinians you tokenize medicine, food, a platform, donations, homes. Meanwhile what do you do? Post Twitter screenshots? Tear down posters of kidnapped children?

I don't know what caused your hearts to become so small and withered, and I am sad for you, and I am sad for the movement. Activism guided and centered on hate is no longer activism, it makes you a hate group.

You are guided by hate. I'd say you do nothing but harm, but honestly you just do nothing but Tumblr drama.

Do some actual good instead of posting hate speech. See how that makes you feel.

Goodluck.

[heroictoonz]

The thing I love best about Yugioh is that you’d think it’s the dead pharaoh spirit haunting an ancient cursed artifact who uses games of darkness as the fucking wheel of punishment when someone pisses him off or is mean to his friends would be the goth kid here BUT WHEN YA REALLY THINK ABOUT IT it’s the squeaky toy with sailor moon eyes he shares a body with that clearly owns a closet full of hot topic and spensers accessories

[hanase]

A few drawings I did in magma (the collab canva thing) with a friend. She drew her stuff but hid the layers and I only have the little blue Yuugi hahaha. It's been years since the last time I drew online with someone, I had way too much fun!

[nevertem]

I don't know, I do wish we had more of Atem and Yuugi's daily adventures, but I always thought that was sort of part of the narrative. As in, Atem is a remarkably quiet and not-present character most of the time. While the manga has a lot of screentime dedicated to him, Yuugi has to drag Atem out for Atem to socialize, and he's remarkably bad at it. Guy clearly has no experience with it. Konami puts him all over the place, but the narrative makes it a point to show the fact that Yuugi's friends are Yuugi's friends first. Whenever Yuugi has a conflict, down to whether or not Atem would accept the star chips, his friends side with Yuugi. Jounouchi tells him to leave the Puzzle behind in the fire, Jounouchi threatens to tell Dark Yuugi to leave Yuugi alone about the star chips, when Yuugi says he's afraid of Dark Yuugi, Jounouchi takes Yuugi's side immediately. We don't see much of Dark Yuugi interacting with anyone except the date with Anzu and Anzu giving him the cartouche. Atem's friends care about him, they really do, the love keychain test game was adorable with Jounouchi and Honda going to immediately support him, but they're Yuugi's friends first. Atem is just....such a quiet character. And I always though that was a part of it. He was genuinely surprised his friends came to meet him in Memory World. He blushes over it.

[zombiemollusk]

somewhere in the yugioh multiverse there is a universe where deathshipping is canon and anzu is horrified by it and bakura says "don't give me that, you fell for a ghost after he possessed your childhood friend and set someone on fire"

[arcatsk]

hii quick question what’s your favorite moments between yami and Kaiba ?:))

OMG! I LOVE EVERY MOMENT BETWEEN THEM! Every single interaction makes my heart bounce! (and my (and other's) headcanons make my heart jump around too) I JUST LOVE THEM SO MUCH! <3 I can't pick one but I really love them teaming up. Especially with full harmony against Dartz, especially ep 180 (cause ofc, PAIN) where Kaiba being very protective of Atem despite in this ep Atem is clearly holding them both back from winning.

and OFC that prideshipping scene after killed me totally~ XwX Kaiba paid the price for protecting his dear one.. TT (cries)

So yeah, prideshipping is my main OTP and I will die with that ship! Now pardon me, I'll go back to cry from overwatching this episode. The feeling hit so hard! OWO

[alliebirb]

🍷💋‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

[sbd-laytall]

Some Duelist No One Has Even Heard Of Before This Day: *to Atem* Yuugi hates you, actually.

Atem: Oh My God, he really does!

Yuugi: No? I don't? I actually love and appreciate him, but go off, I guess.

[romanceddawn]

tbh im really liking this duel so far, and its a shame because i've heard that ryuji and yugi's rivalry gets ironed out and the story moves on at some point but man he is such a good rival set up for yugi, they make a good parallel to yami and kaiba

[fat-butch-dyke]

Puzzleshipping:

Atem "partner, am I burden?"

Yugi "what are you talking about?"

Atem "Sometimes I worry I'm a hindrance, that your life would be better without me. That I'm only dragging you down and that someday you'll grow tired once you realize I'm not that special."

Yugi "Oh, other me no, my life is only improved having you there. I'm so grateful to know you, to get to be beside you. I'm so proud of you"

.

Tendershipping:

Bakura "Hey landlord am I burden?"

Ryou "very much, yes"

[teatitty]

Atem is simultaneously 16, 3000 and 19. He died when he was 16 but he's been living in the puzzle for 3000 years and the exact amount of time he was conscious in said puzzle is super iffy because he physically saved Sugoroku in the 60's but has no memory of doing so and then he's 19 when he finally passes onto the afterlife because he spent 3 years with Yugi fully conscious and aware of himself, thus letting him age up with everyone else. Ya know.

[sparklee-gem]

So I’ve had a fic in progress for about *checks watch* almost a year and a half, and I finally got to a point where I got chapter one almost polished, and feel confident enough to post it. I’ve had fun writing it, but I’m usually only writing within one shots, so this will be my first multi chapter fic and that’s exciting but also nerve wracking lol

Figured I’d give a preview of the last writing session I had, and some older art for an idea of the neon sign Atem spots Yugi under one night.

Hopefully this will be out soon! I’ll be keeping y’all updated, and thanks for the love on my recent art 💖