#yu gi oh trading card came

[freefallfiction]

File: Masterlist (Criminal Minds)

Last Reviewed: 5/16/2024

Originally posted by tinywolfcoffee

rules No Pedoph!l!c Content No Minor Interaction Send Requests Through The 'Asks' Channel Fem!Reader Unless Requested Otherwise Don't Like Don't Read Mind The Warnings Have Fun

S. Reid

United In Grief

How long can two hurting people hold on with only love keeping them together?

Late Night Concessions

Someone broke into your place; it was just past midnight and the rain was near deafening, but you were sure that was the sound of your front door window being shattered. With your phone on silent and Spencer’s number already dialed, you can only hope they’re here for your purse and tv and not the hiding girl beneath the bed.

Re-Run Special

Spencer finds love with a genius hedonistic girl who turns his world upside down, but their clash of personalities can leave him feeling a little left behind.

Play Your Cards Right

Y/n always loved Yu-Gi-Oh. From watching the show as a kid to trading and playing the card game, it’s always been a part of her life-- she should have known her boyfriend would try to learn it for her.

Coffee, My Secret Admirer

He had been wanting to try out the coffee shop on west and third for a while now, and he finally had the chance. He never thought he’d be caught up in a romance when a beautiful girl hopped over the counter and took his order, nor did he think they’d turn into not-so-secret admirers of one another.

Scale of Mental Stability

When a string of murders pick off where a long-arrested serial killer left off, the FBI’s first stop is the children of the cursed family. The problem? The only person who hates the man more than the son they arrested, is the daughter who’s out for blood.

My Hermes (Sending Me Letters From Above)

A coincidental meeting years ago leaves Spencer enthralled by a voice heard in the most unfortunate of circumstances. Y/n couldn't forget the man who gave her the best gift of all, the phone call of a lifetime.

The Seven Stages Of Loving You

A seven part series where Spencer falls in love with the BAU’s CI, or, Spencer finds out just how hard it is to build a future with someone constantly attacked by their past.

Absquatulate

Years had passed. Cases opened and closed, books were written and sold, the world spun and spun until... until it didn’t. The world kept moving until three am on Halloween night-- six shots of whiskey deep-- the world crashed down. 

A. Hotch

Last Man Standing

No matter what it takes, even as bodies fall all around him and blood paints the streets, he will come home to you.

Just Like The Movies

It was a rare sight even before what will henceforth be known only as 'the incident' for Aarons smile to stretch so wide his eyes crinkled in a boyish manner that everyone believed was lost to time. It must have been a miracle.

The Egg Crusher

Serial killers in their own backyard had a tendency to start fires within the team that burn hotter than usual; one targeting pregnant women was practically begging them to shut him down. Aaron had begged her to take off work and finally start maternity leave. The worst part was she listened; the constant messages to his work email that set of ‘nesting’ alarms in his head had him convinced she had dived head first into it. Then he gets one signed off with the hidden moniker used when one of them gets themselves in trouble.

D. Morgan

Where You Go (I Wanna Go With You)

Derek always believed the job came first; complete the mission however he needed to for the case to close and the rest was simply collateral damage. Even now, when all is said and done, he couldn't say when his priorities shifted.

Where You Go (I Go)

Derek knew what it meant to be a great soldier. He knew how to follow all the rules and take initiative when appropriate; he’d learned these things as a means of survival. Even if the country he serves has dwindled down to one person, he knows to do everything in his power to get to her till his dying breath. (a part two)

Domesticated

The people at work tried to be more encouraging than envious when her boyfriend insists on driving her to and from work some random Tuesday. The imposing figure the man struck was intimidating, yet they all called him her ‘doberman puppy’.

J. Gideon

The Heart

He thought he'd lost it forever; for years it had been pegged as just another thing the horrors of his profession had stolen from him, a risk his mind simply wouldn't allow him to take. He should have known the brain had no power over matters of the heart.

E. Prentiss

Dancing With The Stars

Maybe in another world, when Emily crossed the dimly lit ballroom with a cutting smile and wandering hand, she did it without the mic in her ear.

E. Greenway

Comfort, Come Forth, King Forge

It was a dangerous field; that was all anyone ever said- you're a small girl, they'll eat you alive. For years after the academy she was always a girl first agent second; then she met her.

D. Rossi

Bella, Ciao

He may have chosen the wild life, but his heart remained every faithful in her hands.

These Trembling Hands

He thought it might be over; similar fates have happened to men far more successful than he. A mission gone wrong and they're sent to recovery, a mandates psych eval that already is stamped 'denied' to send him into retirement. He never thought he'd last this long in the first place, and if the pretty psychiatrist was his parting present he'd be a fool to look the gifted horse in the eye.

P. Garcia

Something Lost, Something Gained

It was a gilded reassignment that brought the new liaison to the team; she was, perhaps, the only agent who loathed the idea of being tacked on to the BAU's list of revolving-door members. The Cyber Response Unit had been home ever since the academy, but a single misstep had started the spiral towards madness, better known as the Behavioral Analysis Unit. Hopefully there would be someone on the team that wouldn't inherently know every little secret which had been carefully tucked away.

[linkspooky]

Yu-Gi-Oh GX and Alchemy: The Nigredo

So Yu-Gi-Oh GX is the first successful Yu-Gi-Oh spinoff after the original manga and anime ended, and it began two trends, one a long line of anime spinoffs that would continue to make anime original stories revolving around the trading card game and two that each new anime would focus on a new method of special summoning.

When creating an all new Yu-Gi-Oh story with only some input from the original mangaka, Hikokubo Masashiro stated GX focusing on fusion summons was an idea the staff came up with. Hikokubo felt that polymerization and fusion summoning were rarely used during the duel monsters era, and felt that it was a very underutilized but incredibly interesting mechanic that was unique to Yu-Gi-Oh! When he proposed the idea to have the new summoning be fusion focused, Takahashi loved the idea and was extremely enthused by it.

Now the question before we even begin is why am I analyzing Yu-Gi-Oh? It's because it's a shonen anime and this is the blog where we overanalyze shonen.

Yu-Gi-Oh is literally no different from any anime with a power system, it's like Hunter x Hunter except instead of using an ovceromplicated nen system with a lot of rules, the characters instead play an overcomplicated card game with a lot of rules. The same way a character's nen is thematic and telling of their character in Hunter x Hunter, their cards and dueling style is thematic to them in Yu-Gi-Oh! If you can just get over the fact that it's kind of silly everyone's using cards to fight, it's the same as any other shonen anime. They're all using magic cards to fight each other with magic, the cards are a power system, and the power system means something in regards to the characters in a shonen anime.

By Yu-Gi-Oh GX using fusion as its focus summoning method (combining two or more monsters to summon one) it's also thematically about alchemy - specifically physical alchemy solve et Cogaula. Latin for dissolve and coagulate, the process in which through four elemental stage silver is refined into gold and a philosopher stone is created.

The main character of Yu-Gi-Oh GX is also on a journey to become an alchemist, and create the philosopher's stone / the elixirof life. He is also a duelist who uses an archetype known as the "elemental heroes" that fuses heroes based off the four elements (fire, earth, water, air) and also yin and yang (light and darkness) into different combinations to create stronger monster. A character who's strongest card at the end of the first season is called "Elemental HERO Elixir" and requires featherman (wind), burst lady (fire), clayman (earth), and bubbleman (water) to fuse together in order to summon. A character who's art depicts a man wearing gold armor surrounded by the four elements of the Yu-Gi-Oh cardgame in the background.

However, that's only in season 1 and Judai's journey stretches for four seasons. I only used elixir as an example to show that fusion and the elemental hero archetypes are both things that connect Judai to alchemy, and why his journey is to complete the four stages of alchemy and the creation of the philosopher's stone.

I'm also making this post for Kate who is the only person that will read it that Yu Gi Oh GX incorporates Alchemy research as well as A Song of Ice and Fire and RWBY. Because just as with those shows the formula of "Solve et coagula" is stuck to, though Yu Gi Oh GX uses "Fusion" as its main metaphor for dissolve et coagula.

Anyway, Yu Gi Oh GX has four seasons, with four main story arcs which follow the four stages of Alchemy to a T.

The Seven Star Saga: Nigredo

Society of Light Saga: Albedo

Dimmension World Saga (Citrinitas)

Darkness Saga: Rubedo (Red)

These four stages also proceed in order of four elements, which as I said is the same as the four elements of monster cards in Yu Gi Oh.

Fire

Water

Earth

Air

They also all correspond to four colors as long as we're getting the basics out of the way, because color symbolism is important to aclhemy too. These are:

Nigredo / Black

Abledo / White

Cintrinitas / Yellow

Rubedo / Red

For more proof that Alchemy is baked into the DNA of this show, here's a group shot of what are basically the main characters for opening two, and look what colors they are wearing.

Judai - Red / Black

Fubuki Tenjoin and Asuka Tenjoin - White

Manjoume - Black

Sho, Misawa, Kenzan - Yellow

There's also three main dorms Osiris red, Ra Yellow, Obelisk Blue and yes Obelisk Blue is Blue but the uniforms are Blue and White and they're even replaced by the white dorm in the second season. Characters even change what colors they are wearing to indicate progression in their arc, Fubuki is introduced to us as Darkness possessed by his inner darkness and then switches to an all-white uniform by season 2 nigredo -> albedo. Manjoume sheds his blue uniform for Black and stays in the Osiris Red dorm for three seasons after losing his elitism -> entering the nigerdo stage.

Most importanly though Judai our alchemist is the only character to wear red and black, as Red is the color of the philosopher's stone which is Judai's main goal but Judai like Manjoume also wears black underneath to signifiy he too is going through the nigredo stage. Judai is an alchemist attempting the great work of self, and he must start at stage one - Nigredo.

So, to begin with what is Nigredo?

The Alchemy of Darkness - Nigredo

In alchemy, nigredo, or blackness means putrefacation or decomposition. Many alchemist believe that as a first step in the pathway to the philosopher's stone all alehmical ingredients need to be cleansed and cooked into a uniform black mater. This is sometimes called "blacker than the blackest black>" Nigredo means putrefecation and decomposition.

It's ruled by the planet Saturn and connected to lead, which is ocnsidered to be the basest and most impure metal. Metaphysically, it is tied to the dragon and the destruction of the dragon, symbolized by decapitation and the skull of the raven.

This is an unpleasant and often violent process, because one must face one's darkest flaws. Because one 'reaps what ones sows" and noen gains likel only to what one loses accoring to the Laws of Isis spoken by the Angel Amnael, to change into a final nature one must destroy its flaws - and thus its whole property - so that it might be remade again. In a lab one must cook all components down to a uniform black matter, which takes no less than fourty days - or one year of high school.

Judai begins his journey wearing inverted colors, black school uniform on the outside and red on the inside. He also is marked in the first episode and season 2 as the Fool. Saio a character with the ability to see the future who plays a tarot themed deck, sees Judai as the fool, the wildcard in which fate can change.

The fool's journey, and the process of alchemy are similiar, they're both things Jung references for the development of the self. Tarot is season 2 territory so all you need to know right now is Judai is the fool in both senses of the word, he is at once innocent and ignorant. His innocence inspires people, and his ignorance causes problems, though that won't be highlighted until season 3. The fool is on a journey to gain wisdom, which is why Judai's first action in the anime is meeting up with a magician (Yugi, who's ace card is the black magician) who gives him guidance by giving him winged kuriboh.

The story of the Tarot is actually a paralel to the alchemist's journey, and the Fool--who begins his trek untouched by the world around him because he sees and understands nothing--is the fledgling alchemist, with his powers and potentials all untapped and unknown. This is a childlike figure in many ways, and the symbolism here is capable of being both that of innocent oblivion and the callous disregard that children (and Judai) are also so capable of. In fact Judai's entire character revolves around the dual faces of the fool, that innocence and ignorance can be the same thing, and that jUdai may not mean harm in his ignorance but that doesn't mean it's not harmful and his ignorance is why he needs to go on a quest for knowledge in the first place.

And Yu-Gi-Oh GX is primarily about Judai's journey. There are other characters who grow up besides Judai, but it is primarily about Judai going on a journey from childhood into adulthood. I will be mentioning other characters here, but when they change it's usually meant to reflect Judai in a way too.

Either way, Judai's role as the alchemist is indicated right away in his first duel, as he uses flame wingman - his favorite card a fusion monster that is specifically a fusion between man (featherman) and woman (burst lady) in order to cook crowler's antique gear soldier which is made of metal. This not only sets up the formula for how he'll win every major duel in the show, fuse weaker monsters into stronger mosnters. It also serves as some early, early foreshadowing for the appearance of the Rebis the fusion of man and woman that happens in the final stage of alchemy. The Rebis in this case being Yubel but that's season 3 territory.

Flame Wingmna's appearance is foreshadowing for Yubel, it's also pretty clearly a Rebis, it's a fusion of a featherman and burst lady, and it also has a dragon head appearaing on one of its arms. It's also the first succesful fusion / attempt at alchemy we see Judai perform in the show and it's what lets him win his first duel. It even appears in front of the moon because Judai played Skyscraper, switching the time in the duel from night to day.

However, alchemy doesn't just happen once. It's a process of continual refinement where the alchemist dissolves and coagulates over and over again in order to purify himself, the same way that Judai's entire sidedeck is countless different attempted fusions of his elemental hero monsters, each fusion serving a purpose in a different situation.

Chemical weddings, the union of opposite elements don't happen once in this show but over and over again. This is important to point out for all three seasons to show how much alchemy symbolism happens in this show and how much alchemy is a continual process.

The Stages of Alchemy

However, before continuing forward I need to say Yu Gi Oh GX is a pretty weirdly paced show, the first 100 episodes or so are setup for a dark deconstruction that happens in the next 90 after that. So Season 1 and Season 2 are both a lot of set up for both changes and alchemical processes that will happen mainly in Seasons 3 and 4. Which as I said, chemical weddings happen multiple times not just once and alchemy may have stages but it's not necessarily a strictly linear process. The series however does still follow the 4-part structure of alchemy and even makes specific references to medieval paintings which describe the alchemical processes.

There are also several allusions to the Splendor Solis - 22 illustrated plates which describe the alchemical process [source]

Which are divided into 4 groups like this:

4 introductory plates - they present the protagonists of the alchemical journey.

7 Parables - they describe the alchemical death and rebirth

7 flaks plates - they describe the alchemical process from a practical point of view

4 final plates - they describe the alchemical process from a spiritual point of view.

Seasons 1 and 2 being one long introduction for the second half of the anime, both include references to the four introductory plates. We'll be covering references to those two as we continue our journey into season 1.

I bring this up now because in episode 3 we are already at our first reference to Splendor Solis, Plate 4 the meeting of the king and the queen, the male and female, the yin and yang, the sun and the moon. The opposition of two equally matched forces, what most call the chemical wedding.

Judai and Asuka in the third episode duel each other over water with both of thme standing on boats. Asuka is the queen of the obelisk blues called that by several characters, and Judai not only quickly becomes the best male duelist in the school he's also on his journey to being a king in season 3. Judai's flame wingman (fire) actually clashes with her Cyber Blader (ice) during the duel atop the water.

Asuka primarily wears white, which is associated with Abledo. She is also associated with water and ice (she uses an ice deck when brainwashed by sartorius in season 2). In Jungian symbolism, the Albedo stage of alchemy is also tied to the union of anima and animus. There will be more time to cover this in my season 2 meta, but just as a starter Asuka in this episode is basically set up to be a female Judai, something compounded upon later in the season.

The basic premise of this episode is that Cronos puts a fake love note from Asuka to Judai in order to try luring Judai into a trap to visit the girl's dorm at night. When Sho gets lured by the trap, Asuka thinking very much like Judai does, doesn't see a potential romantic partner but a potential duel rival.

Asuka's true love isn't boys, but dueling itself much like Judai who for the first two seasons seems either oblivious or weirded out by women showing affection for him and who's primary method of making friends and connecting to people is by dueling others.

Judai and Asuka's first meeting isn't necessarily a romantic chemical wedding, because one happens in season 3 and it's with someone who's not Asuka - but it is still a union of opposites. Anima and Animus is something I plan to cover more in season 2 but basically Jung divides the psyche into two part, the feminine aspects of personality and the masculine aspects and makes the observation that most men aren't accustomed to their feminine side and vice versa. Men must therefore come into touch with their feminine side and integrate their feminine traits into their everyday life in order to become fully realized people.

Judai is basically dueling with the female version of himself, another person who loves dueling above everything else and uses it as a way of conencting with other,s and Asuka even pulls a Judai-like move, she threatens to get Judai and Sho expelled to extort a duel out of Judai because she wanted to size him up as a potential dueling rival.

Asuka also plays the role of the high priestess in the fool's journey, to Yugi's magician. As it's through his encounter with Asuka that Judai gains passive guidance for what his role will be in season 1 - as she's the one actively looking for her brother Fubuki which will lead Judai to the seven stars plotline. In fact, while Judai came to the anbadoned dorm because him and Sho were sharing scary stories, he sticks around and explores it deeper specifically because he heard Asuka make a mention that her brother went missing there.

This leads to the introduction of shadow duels - duels where characters bet their souls on the line and the consequence for losing is being consumed by darkness, otherwords a failure in alchemy.

The entirety of season one is basically one long pattern of Judai who only duels for fun and to connect to other people learning that there are darker sides to dueling (shadow games) and going through one long process of realizing that not everything is for fun and there are times you duel with your life on the line. Or at least, that's what he should be doing but a lot of Judai's development is stalled until season 3. However, that stage is still set up here.

Judai does not really grow a lot in season one, but we have other characters going through their own mini-alchemeical journeys in order to reflect Judai. For instance, each season Judai has a rival / foil that contests with him for the hero role. In season 1 it's Manjoume who thinks he's the one more set up to inherit the next king of games.

Manjoume goes through a pretty common arc for shonen characters. He's suddenly defeated by the appearance of a new rival, he loses all confidence in himself, he goes off somewhere else to train and then returns to defeat the rival that knocked him off his pedestal.

However, that usually happens to protagonists. Manjoume, a rival character, goes through more of a journey than the main character of his own show at least in season 1. Manjoume follows the nigredo formula pretty much to a T.

We see Manjoume break down completely. He loses to Judai even after getting cards from Crowler (his Dragon card is even killed by Judai) he then has a mental breakdown and tries to cheat against Misawa only to lose again and leave the school entirely. Even his deck goes through the process of dissolve and coagulate, as he has to get rid of his old deck and then find 40 new cards in the northern tundra and put together a new deck from scratch. He even returns to Duel Academy wearing black and purple after having gone through the process of breaking down entirely and reforming to signify his change in the nigredo stage.

This is the kind of arc and internal struggles you give your main character so we find their growth and journey compelling, but Judai's basically already a dueling prodigy he doesn't need to become stronger as a duelist. In fact Manojoume's internal insecurities are more at focus in this arc than the main character's too.

Judai is usually the character who duels the main boss, but in season 1 and 2 he rarely if ever feels the pressure to win the same way that Manjoume does in just this one duel with relatively little stakes. In fact if alchemy especially nigredo requires boiling and pressure in order to change the chemical composition of the metal that they're currently boiling, Manjoume is more emblematic of that chemical change -> heat and pressure allowing him to metamorphosize into a new person.

In fact Judai purposefully doesn't talk to Manjoume during this scene because he doesn't feel like there's anything he could say on an emotional level that would help him b/c Judai isn't really mature enough to understand that feeling of responsibility and pressure Manjoume is struggling under - he just tries to work it out in a duel instead.

Season 1 is all about Nigredo, about plunging into darkness but Manjoume who plunges into darkness to find himself and to an extent Asuka who journeys into the darkness to find her brother are the oens who actually experience a change while Judai remains a mostly static character. He is the impetus of change for both of these characters, but he doesn't really change himself just yet.

So Asuka has an exernal objective -> find Fubuki, and Manjoume has an internal flaw -> His insecurity and inferiority complex and both of them need to plunge into darkness in order to remedy these things. Judai doesn't have any objective at all, but because he comes into contact with Asuka and Manjoume he helps Asuka with her quest and Manjoume with his internal insecurity.

From early on Judai despite literaly fighting with a deck called the "Elemental Heroes" is more of a designated hero, then an actual hero. As I pointed out above other characters struggle with the kind of insecurities that protagonists usually struggle with. Judai doesn't need to learn to believe in himself or be a better duelist, he's already a dueling prodigy, that's Sho, and Manjoume's struggles. Asuka is the one who has a personal motivation to save someone because she wants to save her brother, Judai only helps because he wants to help Asuka. Judai is picked to fight once the seven stars start appearing not because he is the most heroic character, but because he is the best duelist.

It's not that Judai doesn't help when someone asks him for a helping hand. He always gives his help when asked for it, but otherwise he's an incredibly passive character who continually "only duels for fun" even when the stakes get higher. He only feels the pressure to win that Manjoume did for one episode after the gauntlet of Darkness Camula and even then it's immediately resolved with a duel against Kaibaman.

However, despite not having the things usual main character have, an outward objective, or an obvious internal flaw that he needs to fix or boil away in the alchemy sense he's still the central character of the show. Fubuki is Asuka's brother, and yet when he appears again it's Judai who duels him.

Yami no Game - Versus Darkness

The first instance of actual plot in this show happens in episode 29 (Yu Gi Oh is a well paced show / sarcasm) when Fubuki / Darkness appears as a member of the seven stars, to challenge Judai for his key, kidnapping his friends and holding them hostage in a volcano for an ante. This entire duel is steeped with alchemy symbolism and is to be honest one of my favorite in the series. It's also Judai's first real "yami no game" if one counts the duel at the dorm and the duel against Jinzo as warmups.

To recap from above, Nigredo is the first step of alchemy, it's usually associated with fire, the color black, and the death of a dragon. This duel takes place in a volcano. A volcano where dragons made of flame rise up from the lava, and Judai's opponent Darkness walks right out of the fire to face him.

Darkness not only hits all the symbols for the first stage of alchemy, his deck also corresponds to this stage. He's running a red eyes black dragon deck, a deck who's ace monster "Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon" gets stronger for every single monster in your graveyard. If Nigredo is initiated by the death of a dragon. They fight on what is basically a graveyard of dragons with dragon spirits constantly jumping out of the lava, the dead spirits empowering Red Eyes Darkness Dragon even further.

Red Eyes Darkness Dragon - Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must be Special Summoned (from your hand) by Tributing 1 "Red-Eyes Black Dragon". Gains 300 ATK for each Dragon monster in your GY.

Fubuki arrives in practically a storm of fire, promising to melt everything away if Judai doesn't take things seriously. He even calls Judai half-hearted for not realizing what is at stake here. Once again he's applying heat and pressure to try to force a transformation inside of Judai.

It is the first and last time for awhile someone challenges Judai seriously on this level (as most of the seven star matches bar Camula get kind of silly after this) but it also incorporates the Nigredo and the Work of Self, 'if you cannot overcome the blackness and despair of your own self, you will be burned away'. The volcano, the dragon graveyard, red eyes darkness dragon all incorporate the image of the skull, the dragon and the fire which reduces one to black matter.

In a normal narrative this is where Judai would succumb to the pressure like Manjoume did and start to take things seriously, but once again Yu Gi Oh Gx is building up a three season long-con. The one who changes isn't Judai, but rather Fubuki who's internal darkness is purified by the end and we see him return to his usual self, though he'll call upon the darkness again in season 2 and then season 4 because purification isn't' a one and done process.

We're shown other characters around Judai changing, and Judai often being the impetus for that change, but we're not shown exactly why until all the way in episode 45 when Amnael decides to play his hand, because Yu-Gi-Oh Gx is a well paced show (sarcasm).

If we focus on the duels that develop Judai as a character it goes a little something like:

1st duel against crowler establishes his use of fusion

1st duel against asuka - chemical wedding / anima + animus

1st duel against zane - establishes relationship with sho

3 duels against Manjoume - Manjoume's arc

Judai vs Misawa - More for Misawa's arc because it teaches him that isntinct can win against obsessive thinking over strategy.

Judai's 3 shadow duels (vs Titan, vs. Jinzo, vs. the Gravekeepers)

Finally, vs. Darkness / Fubuki

The only duels that really are about Judai as a character are Yami no Games, the ones where Judai is forced to bet his life on the line in a duel because those are the duels that challenge his philosophy that dueling is just for fun and his desire to duel purely for his own entertainment. Basically every other duel that Judai gets into up until this point is for other characters not him, only the Yami no Games int true Nigredo fashion push Judai's arc along as he slowly realizes there are times where he needs to carry responsibility and weight on his shoulders and keep going.

When the pressure of dueling becomes too much for him after Darkness and Camula he does receive an alchemcial bath, in the form of a hotsprings episode where he gets to fight Kaibaman in a low stakes duel which relieves him of the pressure temporarily. Kaibaman is also dressed in white, and plays the blue eyes white dargon the counterpart to the red eyes black dragon.

The impetus for this episode is a dream where Judai sees himself losing against an unknown shadowy dragon, which causes both of his friends to burn away in fire while he's consumed by the darkness as a price for losing the yami no game.

In those last minutes too Judai's more concerned with his friends who are crying out for his help then he is for the fact that he himself is being consumed by the darkness. Something which will come back in season 3, because Seasons 1 and 2 are excellent at setup and foreshadowing if nothing else.

Foreshadowing because there is a scene where Judai's friends do burn away and he does sink into darkness, his nigrido and all his anxieties reflected in this dream here prove true but once again it happens in season 3.

Things that seem like they are neatly resolved in seasons 1 and 2 will always be called back to in Season 3. Judai goes through several mini arcs of "I need to take dueling more seriously" only to revert back to his usual carefree irresponsible attitude, because in seasons 1 and 2 the consequences for Judai not taking thing seriously and messing up aren't as severe as they'll eventually be.

Judai is called to in his Yami no Games plunge the depths of his own personal darkness, Daitokuji leads him to three shadow games to make him realize there are games where real life people can get hurt - Fubuki yells at the top of his lungs not to half-ass this duel or his friends will burn away into nothing. Judai is called to explore those depths of darkness... he just doesn't. Manjoume does, Fubuki does, Asuka does, even Sho and Ryo have an honest conversation about their relationship as brothers when Camula holds Sho hostage so Ryo will lose the duel.

I'd argue there are hints that Judai does have an inner darkness that he's refusing to examine all the way back in season 1 too, because the foreshadowing in this show is excellent. In episode 5 when they're all sharing ghost stories, Judai shares a story about how he thought he could hear the voices of his duel monsters when he was asleep.

Only for Judai to jokingly end the horror story by declaring that he didn't see a thing.

Those who have watched season 3 know that this is a bald-faced lie, because it was right around that age that Judai was given a haunted card by his father that put all of his friends into comas and made it so no one wanted to duel with him let alone be around him. Judai used to be able to see card spirits, until the traumatic incident of one dark card spirit made him cut off his ability to see them entirely. Judai tells Sho half the story, and then blows the rest off as a joke.

This scene is pretty clear season 3 foreshadowing, but also in a sense of alchemy, Judai is failing to confront the darkness here because he remains ignorant of his repressed childhood memory. He muses for a second on the fact that he can remember hearing card spirits when he was younger, but doesn't reflect on why he stopped hearing them because he's coping poorly with that traumatic childhood incident still. Which is why he is so stagnant because even when he's given opportunities too - he doesn't reflect on his past, or even reflect on who he is whatsoever.

This small detail of his backstory doesn't come until season 3 so technically I'm spoiling you, we're given no information at all in season 1 why Judai loves dueling so much and why it seems to be the only thing he cares about not because the writing is bad but because Judai himself never reflects on those things.

As Judai plunged into the world of Yami no Games, he could have reflected more seriously on these things, but he didn't because Judai is also more concerned with other people, and forced to duel to save other people first before himself.

Judai fails to commit nigredo, and this normally would result in reverse alchemy or even character stagnation but that doesn't happen until season 3 - mainly because in season 1 Judai has a mentor to sweep in and kind of fix his mistakes for him.

There's a whole bunch of duels in between this, but really Judai's next plot relevant duel is episode 44 the Seventh Shadow. When Daitokuji goes missing the gang goes out searching for him, only to find that he's facing Daitokuji as the alchemist Amnael and the sevenths star.

There's a billion alchemy references in this duel, because as I said Judai has only three really plot important alchemy duels this season the first being darkness, the second amnael, and the third Kagemaru and so all the symbolism is frontloaded into this one.

First off, Daitokuji carries around an emerald tablet for a millenium item gifted to him by Kagemaru and he also uses this symbol - which resembles the alchemy symbol for the sun, but also a traditional depiction of an ouroboros a snake eating itself.

The ouroboros a symbol that appeared in alcehmy in Graeco-roman egypt, the same era that the Amneal Story appears from. A symbol which ties to the sun, mercurius (hermes) and his caducous staff which contained a male and female snake interlaced.

In Egypt the sun went on a journey to the underworld every night, only to come back to the world of the living every morning. In the duel itself, Daitokuji is long dead, and Judai must in a way kill his mentor as apprentice in order to replace him as alchemist. Daitokuji also comes right back immediately as a ghost, because life and death are an eternal cycle like the ouroboros itself.

Daitokuji goes by the name of Amnael an angel who appeared before Isis to reveal the great mystery to her. Amnael becomes a lover to Isis and reveals the secret to her, but first makes her swear a mighty oath by "fire and water, like and darkness, by fire, water, air, and earth" and a variety of Greek and Egyptian Deities.

The great secret in question:

“So go then, my child, to a certain laborer named Achaab, and ask him what he has sown and what he has harvested, and you will learn from him that the man who sows wheat also harvests wheat, and the man who sows barley also harvests barley. For a nature rejoices another nature, and a nature conquers another nature.”

In other words the great secret of alchemy is that you reap what you sew. In other words alchemy, like chemical reactions is all about actions and consequences.

This also ties to the phrase "as above, so below" which is chanted constantly in the two episode duel against Daitokuji. A phrase which is on the emerald tablet, (borrowing this from Kate). The emerald tablet is also wielded by hermes, so once again, greco-roman / egyptian alchemy lore.

"That which is above is like to that which is below, and that which is below is like to that which is above."

Things in the macrocrosm are mirrored in the microcosm, or in other words BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO BE IN THE WORLD. You have to change yourself before you can change others. The personal change that an alchemist goes through in acquiring the philosopher's stone and finishing a chemical wedding will radiate out to the rest of the world.

This is the role that the master alchemist gives to his apprentice.

Amnael and Judai's duel is basically a crash course of alchemy for dummies. Amnael's card archetype the Alchemy Beasts uses a distillation to summon seven different alchemy beasts which resembles the seven step process of alchemy.

Aretos the time

Ekanos the Mercury

Leon the Lead

Moonface the Silver

Ouoroboros the Bronze

Salamandra the Steel

Golden Homonculus

Coincidentally the number seven shows up a lot this season. The seven stars are the duelists that the main characters have to face in yami no games, probably a reference to the fact that there are seven heavenly bodies in the ancient medieval world, saturn, jupite,r mars, venus, mercury, moon, and sun which also correspond with the seven steps of refining metal into gold listed above. Sun being gold, and again sun being associated with Judai.

While also using support spell cards that reference the nigrido, albedo and rubedo. Before finally using the Macro-cosmos card... which is again covered above changes on the microscale effect the macroscale.

All in the world originates from a single substance altered in various ways to form heaven and earth. Even the world of man known as the microcosmos and the world of the heavens known as the macrocosmos. So, humans and outerspace are connected?

Amnael then procees to push the sun through three phases, helios - the primordial sun, Helios - Duo Megistus, and Helios - tris magestius. The second stage being a reference to this.

Outside the building where this standard is housed are two men. Their body postures might suggest they are teacher and initiate. The master points to the standard, separated from them by swirling and overflowing waters. There is also a three-step platform leading up to the standard, possibly reflective of the tria prima which all alchemical substances are made from; Paracelsus defined these as Mercury (Spirit), Salt (Body), and Sulfur (Soul)

The master is teaching the student - there are two men, two suns, ad even two babboons in this piece. Sharing and art. Giving and taking. The teacher shares, and the student takes, indicative of the fact this is Daitokuji's final lesson.

In alchemy three suns also appear to show the three stages of aclehmy, the blakckun, white, sun and red sun. The black sun is considered important for the dissolution stage of alchemy. The man holding the flask contianing the golden liquid, made from the four elementsor rather Plate 2 is also referenced in this duel.

Daitokuji is the old man with the flask, the duel also concludes with an elixir created from the four elements of nature. Judai creates elemetal hero elixir by fusing four elemental heroes of different elements in his graveyard. After her reflects upon what he's gained in the past year at Duel Acamdey compared to what he didn't have before - friends.

At which finally Daitokuji elucidates why he chose Judai of all people as his chosen pupil.

"Alchemy 's ability to change all into gold is merely a superficial phenomenon. It's true aim is to change the hearts of people into purer, nobler things."

Judai as we'll find out in season 3 started out the story as a friendless loser, and his desire to connect to others through dueling, causes him to purify the people around him by enduring many trials and tribulations for their sakes.

Amnael is also the first to notice the potential of Judai, and that this potential lies within Judai's darkness. Though, even though Judai is pushed to do a little self reflection in this duel (admitting to himself that he was lonely before he came to duel academy and this is the first time in his life he's had friends) he doesn't actually look inside that darkness towards those repressed childhood memories we were looking at earlier.

If anything while Daitokuji's lesson is a short-term fix, like a bandage over Judai, it doesn't actually help him in the long-run. This is because the reason why Judai is succesful in this season is not really anything of Judai's doing, but because Daitokuji the master rigs it for him. Daitokuji is the one who prepares challenges to increase Judai's strength at dueling, Daitokuji is the one who hands Judai the emerald tablet that lets him make a philosopher's stone during his duel with Kagemaru, Daitokuji is the architect of most of the plot in season 1 and Judai just kind of passively follow his script. Judai is not the alchemist in the first season, he's the apprentice and basically he only makes his first step in his journey by consuming his master and that's in episode 45, when the season is 4/5ths of the way over.

Judai is the alchemist, he's supposed to change others by forming relationships with them the same way that he can fuse two monsters together to form a stronger monster. However, he also has to change himself in order for that to happen and Judai doesn't change through seasons 1 and 2 - he gets by in the short term but it costs him long term development.

Because the duels Judai gets into are always about other people and not about himself. Even the climactic duel of the season against Kagemaru, Judai barely knows who this guy is. Judai's not there by choice, Judai is there because Daitokuji set things up so that his student Judai would defeat Kagemaru the main villain.

Judai's not dueling for himself so we barely learn anything from these duels, and Judai still doesn't really take this duel seriously. The one small thing we get from him is this:

"I feel sorry for you, you can control all the powerful monsters you want, but if you're the one wiping out duel monsters... no one is going to see you as a friend. And that'd make you lonely right? Live as long as you want, but without friends around, it'd just be boring right?"

Which sounds like a pretty shallow statement, but is telling of Judai. Judai had no friends before coming to Duel Academy. Judai gained friends because he was a strong duelist, Sho looks up to him because he's a dueling prodigy like Ryo, Asuka befriended him as a duel rival first, Manjoume only views him as a rival, Ryo sees Judai as someone who's potential for growth surpasses him because Ryo being a perfectionist feels like his perfectionism is stagnant. Judai's only way to connect with people is through duel monsters, and the reason most of these people have an interest in him is because he's a dueling prodigy. Thus, Judai equates dueling with making friends, and believes he has to keep getting into duels like this for the sake of his friends rather than himself.

Judai only wants to duel for fun, but is put into situations where he has to duel with high stakes, because everyone relies on him as the best duelist around, and because he thinks the only reason he made friends in the first place is his skill as a duelist.

Thus, Judai even when forced into these stressful duels, will fall back on his whole "I'm just trying to have fun" thing in order to cope because he's not really here because he wants to but because other people have put him into this situation. Therefore, he doubles down on his own personal enjoyment to convince himself he's here because he wants to and so the pressure doesn't get to him the way he's seen it get to other people like Manjoume.

Judai goes through several trials that seem like Nigredo in season 1. He goes through yami no duels where his life are on the line, challenging his philosophy of only dueling thrilling opponents for fun. He's put through literal trial by fire twice, first by Darkness, then by Daitokuji, situations where he will literally burn away into ash if he doesn't perform. He even duels a Yami no Game with Kagemaru where he forges a philoopsher's stone to create 3 custom cards to win the duel - but once again that's not really Judai who forged it because Daitokuji did it for him.

Daitokuji argues that the true alchemy changes the hearts of other people into nobler, purer things which Judai has arguably done for his friends - but what about his own heart?

Other people around Judai change, and are changed by Judai, but Judai himself for the first two seasons does not change. Even in incredibly plot important duels, and I'm including season 2 as well, because in both cases Kagemaru and Saio Judai wasn't really facing himslf or even a reflection of himself. Kagemaru is Daitokuji's enemy and mess to clean up he passed onto Judai, and Saio is Edo's chilhood best friend who became a victim to the light of destruciton. In both cases Judai swept in to fix things because that's what Judai does, he fights others battles for them because he himself lacks either an internal or external reason to duel - and he doubts his abiltiy to make friends if he didn't go around fixing everyone's problems.

As Above, So Below

It is other characters who go through a Nigrido phase in Season 1. However - their Nigrido phases will be reflected in Season 3. These characters experiencing their own inner turmoils mirror the obstacles that Judai has to face ahead of him.

Asuka

Season 1: Judai helps Asuka searching for her brother who's disappeared into the darkness.

vs. Season 3: Judai travels into another dimmension to find Johan after he disappears from this world, only to find he's possessed the same way Fubuki is. Judai also blames himself for Johan's disappearance and takes on the burden to save him entrely by himself, like how Asuka leads the search for her brother.

Manjoume

Season 1: Manjoume is completely crushed by his responsibility to always win that his brother's force onto his shoulders.

vs.

Season 3: Judai being told to his face he wont' be able to win because he doesn't carry any burdens or serious responsibilities, because that's what drives people to try hard when they're pushed into a corner. Only for Johan to tell Judai that much like Manjoume is being pressured by both of his brothers, Judai has always had to carry everyone's hopes on his shoulders. When he cant carry them anymore, he has a breakdown that pretty much mirrors Manjoume's season one breakdown word for word.

But, even then I won. The others hope their hopes on me, and I won! But still...!! They're all gone. There really was something missing within me. But what is it? What was missing?

Sho

In season one: Judai basically becomes the replacement for Sho's brother, who he has a poor relationship with and Sho has to face his inferiority complex towards his brother head on.

vs.

In season three: Shoe becomes the trigger for Judai's growth when he rejects Judai entirely and stops calling him "aniki" being the last one to abandon him in the dark world when just about everything goes wrong.

But, I guess I thought wrong. Big bro you've just been dueling to satisfiy yourself. You're not my big bro (aniki). You're not my big bro (aniki).

Fubuki

Judai even becomes lost and faces his inner darkness like Fubuki does, the first person to appear before Judai and challenge him to a Yami no Game. Fubuki who was possessed by a dark version of himself who valued power above everything else and then got lost in that darkness.

Judai has no arc in season one, and instead helps other characters along in their arcs. However, Judai's inability to change himself or confront his own inner darkness bites him when two seasons later.

Judai's arc then reflects aspects of all of their arcs. Sho's afraid that his brother doesn't love or respect him because he's an inferior duelist to Ryo. Judai loses Sho's love and respect. Asuka has to go on a journey into a darkness to find her loved one and fears Fubuki may never return. Judai repeats that same journey for Johan. Manjoume's cracks under the pressure his brothers put onto him to always win because his family's love is very conditional. Judai finally cracks when he realizes a lot of his friendship was built on the very conditional fact that he had to always win duels for them and fight for other people's hopes and dreams and not his own. In season one Judai cleanses Fubuki's inner darkness, in season 3 Judai sinks into his own inner darkness that's been there and ignored all along, and so on.

The nigredo phase is about cleansing your own impurities, and Judai is presented to us like a pure shonen hero who doesn't need to be cleansed so he spends his entire time cleansing other people - only for it to turn out his heart turned out to be darker and more selfish than anyone expected.

[toreii]

Idia birthday goods finally arrived💙 It’s a bit of a chore to monitor the listings hoping to find a decent seller. But, I’m so happy to grow my Idia collection again!! I definitely need a new shelf on my wall😅. I was also surprised to learn that twst has a trading card game. My Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon card game days are long over, so I think I might get rid of that last one. It came with one of the acrylics so it’s fine.

Also, I finally got my hands on this plush😭 Would have totally looked amazing on my twst purse. Nearly two years of searching🥲 I mean, I had found it on Suraga-ya, but I sure as hell was not going to spend over $60 in shipping for one item. My Vil plush has been through a lot that the chain is not looking so good anymore. So, I think I will keep this Idia plush in my room for safe keeping.🌸

[stelladess]

On power creep, card games (mostly as an example) and gacha. Also how to prioritize what characters/cards to try and get. Kinda felt the discussion around power creep in the context of gacha is often kind of... incendiary and not very helpful, we are all here to have a good time.

So, this was mostly some stuff I have been thinking about in relation to Arknights, because I do not play Star Rail as seriously and play no other gachas then those two. I have played the yu-gi-oh card game since I was a little kid (some of my earliest memories is learning the game from my brothers or playing Kaiba the revenge on PC) so I am coming at this from a primarily TCG perspective and with the prior background of "has played game which has been made unrecognizable by power creep, and still loved playing it." So obviously, this already predisposes me to not see power creep as the biggest deal.

So... first of all, the incentives that causes power creep! Well this is pretty straightforward, the way a trading card game or a gacha makes money is by making you want to spend money on new cards/characters. You also need to have a solid team or deck as a whole, usually you cannot just brute force your way on a single powerful card or character. As a result to prevent players from just getting one strong team/deck and then never updating again is why we end up with power creep, since the option of just outright banning cards tends to piss people off even more and is straight up not a thing they do in gacha games. As a result, since players will usually not want to spend money/pulls on a character who will not improve their team/deck, especially when its so often chance based what you even get, it means that to make people keep pulling packs you gotta upgrade the power over time of new units. Generally the developers want to keep this at a slower pace, since it feels bad if someone gets a great character/card and then one month later they are weak, and if people feel like what they put in do not pay off they will not keep playing. But occasionally there are bigger bursts of power creep to kind of bring the state of the game to a new level, often brought on by accidentally making something too strong, at least that is how I think this goes from my experience. But for example, if when Typhon came out her damage was worse or just on par with Rosa, how many would have pulled for her? Sure you´d get some who would because they like her story, personality, design, etc. But not that many would have if we are being completely honest here.

This is not to say that power creep cannot be a problem, especially if too severe, as already touched on earlier it feels really bad when your favorites no longer hold up. I just want to highlight that it is an inherent part of the game that cannot really be avoided. It can also add a big pressure to feel like you have to keep up by getting all the new characters or cards, which can cause a lot of stress due to the random nature of who you get. Which is where the other thing I wanted to talk about comes in....

You do not need every strong or limited character. And in fact you wont use most of them because you have finite team space. In a trading card game you focus in on a playstyle you like, or a few if its affordable enough, and then focus on building and enhancing those instead of getting every good card in the game. I think this is the healthiest way to view it in a gacha too. Prioritize who suits your playstyle and your team, or to fill weak spots you got (or you just like as a character of course). You do not need all the top tier characters in the game. You can skip multiple top tier characters in fact and still do just fine, these games are not balanced around the assumption you have *every* single one of the best characters or cards. And in fact, having to slowly make adjustments to better suit your needs is, to me at least, one of the most fun parts. And a lot of the strategy and fun of these kinds of games disappear if you have access to all the strongest options and can just brute force things. It is not healthy for your mental state to fret over having to have all the best options and it makes the game less fun, to me at least. These games assume you only have maybe half of the top tier options, and you can beat pretty much everything with that if you put some effort into strategizing, which is fun~!

[transcending-chaos]

I always found it fascinating how a card game like Chaotic had such a long and fascinating history. From starting as a Danish trading card game popular in Demark in the 80s to being revised three times and having its name changed since its original inception to the card game, we all know today. To getting a cartoon show and an online game to being shut down and now being revived.

Even now more information about the show and card games cancellation just came to light in the form of a reddit post from two years ago stating that after the poster dug through some publicly posted earnings and investor calls during the time of Chaotic they found a coloration that the game was actually losing 4kids money during the 2008 recession and onwards and that it was the primary reason why it got cancelled and they couldn't find any trace of the 4kids/Bryan Gannon lawsuit.

Basically, 4kids wanted Chaotic to bring in between 20-30 million which it did but they were disappointed that it didn't exceed expectations. 4kids also wanted Chaotic to be on par with Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokémon without realizing that Konami had other divisions to make up the failings if Yu-Gi-Oh ever had any same as Pokémon has Nintendo and their divisions while 4kids only had Chaotic and a cartoon block.

To this day no one knows why 4kids/4licencing hanged on to Chaotic since they weren't doing anything with it, and they didn't want to sell it for some reason until either the licensed expired or until Bryan bought the license off of them.

I always assumed it was because 4Kids/4Licensing had some sort of legal battle with the other parties making claim to the IP; but I do not know the reality of what may have happened.

I know from growing up during that time period, the cards and products weren't anywhere. They didn't stay in stores long, and the scraps you did find were single packs, but nothing enough to make a functional deck. It stunk.

As a kid, I always wondered why this show acted like it had stuff you could get, because it just didn't exist in any of the shops, card/comic stores, or collectible places my brothers and I went to.

It was strange to see this thing I really loved just disappear, which is why I just poured so much of myself into the fandom -even especially if it was just a cringey mess.

[kyletogaz]

You think he was ever a Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, or beyblade kid? Or something else 🤔

pokémon. since kyle was born in 1993, he would have been 4 years old when the show came out. i like to think that he became interested in pokémon by accident. his older sister was a poké fan first.

it only took one episode for little kyle to become curious. he’d ask his big sister any & every question he could think of when it came to the show. he’d been over the moon when he received his first stuffed pikachu. and over the years, he collected trading cards, t-shirts, replica poké balls, stuffies, pokémon figurines, etc.

kyle’s top 5 pokémon types: fighting, bug, water, psychic, grass

even in adulthood, you’ll catch him wearing a slightly faded pokémon graphic tee. hell, he’s played pokémon go a handful of times when he was bored.

[tychodorian]

Do you like trading cards (Pokemon, Yu-gi-oh, etc.?) Have you heard of artist trading cards? @NeonMob is a digital art trading card site that lets you collect and trade millions of cards designed by indie artists like me! My brand new series just came out!

This trading card series showcases art from my webcomic Heaven's Equal, specifically everything from Volume 01. If you like Sun Wukong or Journey to the West, you won't want to miss out! Collecting is free, and if you follow my link, you get a free pack.

Have fun collecting, and thank you so much to the NeonMob team for being cool and letting me share my art on their website!

[kcdodger]

I'm a blue collar worker, no matter which way you cut it. I trained at Hohokus School of Trades for a year for Plate Welding and I've worked Janitorial, Waitress, something-adjacent-to-manager (for those who just don't get promotions but the whole store trusts you, you get it), so on, so forth.

If you're wondering why that's at all relevant, it's because in the Coffee Industry, there's a lot of views and takes and a lot of stuffiness about flavor profiles and sources and so on. So, as someone with plenty of low-end experience just entering her thirties, who's lived a very frank life and is just getting into formally reviewing things, I figured why not start with one of my greatest loves?

That's coffee, in case that wasn't too terribly clear.

When I was a young lad, I was big into Yu-Gi-Oh and the Books-A-Million nearby was hosting tournaments. When I wasn't getting first-round-eliminated, I was hanging with my folks in the coffee section. Back when they sold those big monocolored iced cookies. I told my folks I wanted to try some coffee, they made some argument that I was too young for it, but I was persistent. I decided that I'd try some of my mom's and she gave in, bless her.

I wasn't big on it. But she said I could try to sweeten it. So, I did just that, and I'd keep doing just that. Over time as I grew up, I put less sugar and less cream in my brew. When I'd go out with my great aunt during my all too long stint in Illinois, y'know, twelve years long, I'd grab a mug or two to keep me going after a sleepless night of puttering about on the keyboard writing fanfiction.

Just like whatever fandom I was writing for at the time, I couldn't put down the beany brew.

Times change and so do I. Things happened in my life. I lost my home, had to quit my job, I'd just started Hormone Therapy and dating a wonderful Filipina from New Jersey over long distance, and I had to get out of state. Notably, to the aforementioned girlfriend who is now my Fiance three and a half years later. Of all the things I didn't lose, my love of a good cup of joe was still kickin'.

You can imagine my delight when she came home every evening, smelling of a far-too-busy Starbucks in suburban New Jersey. That was probably one of the best parts of late 2019.

But again, times change. COVID-19 hit, she had to leave her job, I struggled to find employment and to be frank, I was pushing 400 lbs (318 now!). Something had to give. So I started Keto on the off-chance it'd work. Researched what I could drink - luckily Tea and Coffee were on the cards but… No sugar.

That's when I learned to love my Coffee with just cream. Sometimes I couldn't budget out for cream or even milk. So I figured I'd learn to love it black. In my experience, that's a pretty common way to learn to appreciate Black Coffee. Something, somewhere, has to push you out of your cream and sugar laden comfort zone.

Now I can't start my morning without it.

I don't have to tell you about the rigors of 2019-2023. I don't have to cover the crushing financial breakdowns millions of people and their families had to deal with and I certainly don't have to go over all the little things we did and tried to comfort or re-learn to comfort ourselves. Between my betrothed and I, coffee was an ever present constant to the point that when we were out, it was distressing, and who needed more stressors in that time?

Things are stable now though. At least moreso. Now, I work as a Barista at a Barnes & Noble, a new trainee with a southern drawl, a busty chest I basically have to peek over to see shorter customers, since I stand at 6'3, and a Viking side shave and ponytail that hangs over my apron. My boss loves me and my customers do too, I got the singles-filled-wallet to prove it.

That's why I brought up the journey-thus-far, you might call it. Because it starts at a bookstore cafe and goes down a winding path towards one. Don't worry about my whole life story, I'm writing about that elsewhere, you're bound to see it if you stick around.

You're here for the laywoman's view about some seriously nice coffee.

Fogbuster was founded in 1994, and I'd be a wee toddler at this time. As far as Coffee retailers go that makes them pretty recent, so that they're sticking so long despite being so recent in the grand scheme is pretty cool.

Fogbuster caught my eye a few weeks ago when I was futzing about on twitter, referred to coffee as "Foreplay" and how I would not survive without my French Press. Fogbuster's account found that funny, commented and I saw the neatest thing. They were FairTrade and Kosher!

Remember how I said I have a Filipino Fiance?

Yeah, FairTrade matters to me. I probably don't have to tell you that I'm also quite a busy activist.

Anyway, I said "Send me a bag and I'll do a review" and well, here we are! Gotta' say though, if I'd known they had a Blonde Bombshell roast, I'd have gotten that just for the joke, on account of being, well… A blonde bombshell.

But, the stuff that's interesting about Fogbuster is how they handle the beans themselves. They do a cool air roasting technique where they successfully separate the chaff that other companies just kinda' fry with the bean, from the aforementioned coffee bean, clearing it of detritus and chaff, resulting in a much more clean flavor profile.

They ain't kiddin' either. That air roasting works wonders. These things looked like they'd each been individually polished when I opened the bag and gave it a hearty whiff. The initial sight's firmly stuck in my mind's eye.

'Cause that's part of it too. Packaging, how you open it, how it feels and smells, how it looks? That leaves an impression. I gotta' say, I really like the smooth zebra striped packaging. It's eye-catching and really cool to look at. 

The title and information about the flavor gets a colorful label to contrast with the monochrome packaging. Blondes get yellow, Mediums get blue, Darks get purple, you get the picture. Every category, and I do mean every category of roast, gets a colored sticker.

A couple days prior to my first shift at my new job and to penning this section of the review, my Fogbuster package arrived. At that moment it occurred to me that I didn't have a Coffee grinder and that had to be rectified as soon as possible. So, on my first day off from my job, my woman and I decided to go get one! The very first thing I ground was this lovely brew, so that honor goes to you, Fogbuster!

I use a French Press for my daily coffee that I procured from Wal-Mart about a year ago. It's always done the job and done it well. For the past while I've been using some out-of-big-tin stuff, mix of caf and decaf (look, I'm on a budget! Or I was!) to keep me going from the morning 'til the night. I made sure to clean it out as thoroughly as I could, cracked open my bag of Smoldering Volcano, brewed it all in my press and sat down with my Fiance to enjoy it as intended - black as night. When pouring, the stuff looked like liquid bronze, it was gorgeous. It sat in our respective cups, coarse ground particulate swirling into a very thin but visible film atop the coffee and Odin as my witness, that film all but shouted at me to observe and be reminded of the surface tension of water, hugging the inner side of my mug.

I was pretty excited.

Now, this may or may not surprise you but I made the mistake of trying it less than a minute after a full 8 minute steep. It was mostly heat and that's my fault. But, even then, my love and I deliberated over the flavor. Even if I couldn't quite make it out yet, one thing was clear. It was smooth. It wasn't watery, it wasn't weak in texture, no. It was gently smooth. Even in the all too eagerly consumed blistering heat, I could tell. We let it cool a bit longer and my lovely Fiance pulled over our bundle of Red Velvet cookies from 7/11 I managed to snag on my EBT and I grabbed some Ferrero Rocher white chocolate to see how it'd pair.

Whoa.

So, by now the coffee was a fair bit cooler but still hot. Putting the bite of cookie into my mouth and following it up with a sip and goodness gracious, let me tell you. Shoot, let us tell you.

My girl says she tasted a fairly sweet cookie gain an almost nutty flavor profile in tandem with Smoldering Volcano. But when I was done recovering from the explosion of flavor in my mouth, I articulated that a cookie with no dark chocolate in it whatsoever, suddenly tasted like it was made almost entirely of it. It was pretty incredible. We got somewhat carried away with this batch, consuming a couple of cookies to augment with the rich, full taste of SmolVol.

Which I have to say is pretty interesting! The further down our cups we got the richer the flavor was. She reminded me to aerate it a little and my goodness what a difference that made. I just had to try the increasingly flavorful coffee with some of that white chocolatey goodness.

How familiar are you with Hazelnut? 

I'm a fan of its flavor, how it tastes like breaking off a piece of maple wood might taste (Yes, I am aware of Maple's toxicity, please do not actually bite a piece of maple wood!), but good golly holly. When I pulled in a swig of SmolVol and got a bite of the Rocher, between the white chocolate melting instantly and the tangible release of flavor, as if I'd cracked open the world's richest hazelnut, I was two steps from the next life. 

My girl could and would tell you, my reaction was strong. It was like the chocolate square had puffed a shot of aerosolized hazelnut concentrate straight into my tastebuds. Thing is, that was only possible thanks to the rich, full contrast of the coffee.

I tried the chocolate alone later and… nothing, nothing like what I experienced with the coffee.

I don't know, dear reader. This coffee is extremely good and pairs amazingly well. Without the soot you'd find on other beans, this clean bean, as they call it, really does have the ability to bring out the absolute best of whatever you're pairing with it has to offer. I simply have to try it with tomorrow's breakfast.

The review does not end here by the way. Oh no. I was sent a free bag as a deal to review this coffee and as I told you in the first section of this review, I love coffee in almost all of its forms. I'm dating this right now, 04/19/23, so that you know I'm going through this every day I can to try every combination of ingredients I like to add to my coffee.

We did jump the gun a little, admittedly, with a ten minute steep and barely any cooling before drinking. Tomorrow, I'll have it with cream, steeped for 15, cooled for five if necessary, though creams tend to shave off the heat life of coffee.

…

So, it's been about a month since I started writing this review and I feel like that bears highlighting, because I started my job at B&N's Cafe and that's been very difficult to handle because my training manager left basically the week I got started… and it's been difficult to keep up.

I will say, I ended up stopping recording my findings. You might recall me saying that my beloved fiance isn't much of a coffee girl, and we did stop having morning coffee together. So it was up to me to write about it further… and dear reader, that's the most interesting part.

Budget hit me, and I didn't have a lot to pair it with. But I did have just the coffee, still. Every single morning, I'd take two and a half scoops into my bean grinder and mix it up. Generally on a finer grind, dumped straight in and brewed with my trusty french press. Eventually, I ran out.

My goodness, did I run out.

And I've missed it ever since.

No, dear reader, my mornings have not been the same or as relaxing without Fogbuster's brew. I'm back to Maxwell until my next paycheck, where I can grab a bag or two from Fog's and have the good beans once again… because you know what? Yeah. A month later, after not having the beans for a bit, they were really something special.

No shade on my current employer, but the coffee we serve doesn't compare. I think even the biggest fans of the place would agree, too. Where else can you get that lovely clean bean?

Because seriously, with what I've had lately, there's sooty muck at the bottom of my mug. I'm a cretin, a creature, an animal, and I put in a little water to get the last of it, just so I'm not missing any caffeine. A level of auto-debasement I never had to resort to with Fogbuster.

With it, my mug never had soot, never had sludge, never had residue. Every single cup was as clean as clean gets. Gang, it's something else and I can say firmly, comfortably, confidently, that Smoldering Volcano in particular, is best had iced with your creamer of choice. It's good sweet but it's best unsweetened in my opinion. It's rich, it's full, it's just…

I miss it. Pardon the drop of the professional reviewer veneer. It's the night of a hard shift and I'm up listening to my Viking Chill playlist on Youtube, tip-tapping away at my keyboard with a friend over my Science-Fantasy project, getting mentally ready for the next day of work, figuring out how to fix some of the troubles I've been facing… and one of the worst parts is that I'll have to do it without Fogbuster to wake me up.

Which is really unfortunate, because that coffee really is fantastic. Maxwell ain't wakin' me up, readers. It's not doing its job, I still need a kick from my job. But I didn't need that with Fogbuster. Just half a press was all I needed.

I don't know what magic Fogbuster is working over there. I can honestly say it's the best coffee I've ever had and I can reassure you, I wasn't paid to say that either, no. I got a bag of coffee and they wanted the thoughts of a stressed out transgender dog woman.

That's what you're getting, right now. Those thoughts, unfiltered.

I think this section of the review is important. I think this frank bookend is important. Because it's very unfiltered and I'm actually really, really sad I'm not waking up to that brew tomorrow.

Their work is unique. It's great. Every cup of Joe I've had since has paled in comparison. With Fogbuster I forged a memory and experience with my fiance that I'm not going to forget. I was peppy and ready to go in the morning! I could chug down Folger's, Maxwell, maybe even sigh in relief at hitting juuuuuuuust the right blend of cream, coffee and ice (let me tell you, I make one mean Iced Macchiato now.).

But it's not the same. The ritual of opening my bag, measuring out the beans, dumping them in my grinder, the brutally loud churr of the grinder getting to work, the fresh baked scent of Fogbuster's beans when I crack it open, and tap-dump it into my freshly cleaned press…

Max doesn't make me clean my press. I don't use my grinder. My coffee is, at this moment, extremely utilitarian, and I think, honestly, reader, that makes me enjoy life so much less.

Some months ago after a hard day and night, I told my love as I undressed, energy gone from my voice as I stood bare with just my amulets on, "The Rituals keep us here. They're important."

Every single night, I take off my Yggdrasil, Mjolnir, Aegishjalmur amulets, align their cords in a 90 degree bent to the left against out windowsill, and in the bend I place my bracelet where Skoll and Hati share a ring atop the table and I take out my earrings, Hugin and Munin, Odin's ravens, to rest in the bracelet.

Then, I go to bed. The following morning I shower, don my amulets - Aegishjalmur-Mjolnir-Yggdrasil, Hugin and Munin, Skoll and Hati, in that order.

And at this moment I recognize the absence of Fogbuster in a way I hadn't before. You see, I've been looking for beans to take home and grind, but I can't find any at my stores, and… I know they're not as good.

I know full well they are not as good.

So, soon, I'm going to rectify that. This time in a couple of weeks, I'll be waking up, putting my jewelry on, heading downstairs, throwing on the kettle and getting Fogbusters ready to steep. I wonder if they'll ever get a source from The Philippines? To have something from The Visayas would be quite special, I have to admit.

Even still.

My mornings have not been the same without Fogbuster. I will rectify that as soon as possible, because I can say in earnest, this is my favorite coffee brand. Their stuff is ethically sourced, damned tasty, freshly prepared and ready to brew. The only way you can mess it up is by botching it yourself, because honestly they've done 90% of the work for you.

And that last 10%..?

That's the ritual that keeps you here. When you take a sip of that freshly ground coffee you're enjoying the fruits of your labor, your rituals, your life, just a little more. It's a special feeling.

It is one I long for.

Thanks for the beans, Fogbuster. You've got a lifelong loyal customer.

-------------------------

If you want a taste of what I had, feel free to follow this link here, 

Like I said before, best had iced. It's really good that way. Which is somewhat ironic given its name, but the best part of a volcano is that glossy, glassy obsidian, in my opinion. You only get that once it's cooled.

[munsons-maiden]

Ok I’m the anon that asked about cheerleaders/nerds. I def think Hollywood exaggerates things, but I wonder if in the 80s/90s groups really were that separate. Maybe it’s diff in extremely wealthy areas(esp in areas like LA), I feel like those people are all about hierarchy. At my HS, there were some distinct groups but there wasnt much of a hierarchy. Like jocks didn’t bully the more nerdy kids, simply bc they were nerdy. People just grouped up by interest, and I don’t think there was a ton of overlap.. like I’d be surprised if a cheerleader had a friend group that was clearly very nerdy and they traded like, yu gi oh cards. I’m making generalizations but the cheerleaders typically hung out with other girls that were feminine/fun/liked makeup etc and guys that were either athletic or “cool”. but I also didn’t pay much attention to them so I’m basing this on general impressions I remember having. I was in the more alt/punk/rock/metal group and we didn’t really have athletes in our group. There was a bit of cross pollination between groups.. like some people from the “popular” crowd/normal people came into ours but, these groups didn’t hang out as one big group. we were all friendly towards each other tho, I had a lot of “class friends” that were outside my friend group, and we would share music and stuff. Sometimes people would date between groups or have crushes on diff people. But yeah, that being said, i would have been surprised if an athletic person/cheerleader/etc hung out with people that clearly had very nerdy interests. I do wonder if it’s different nowadays though, a lot of things have changed.

...when I tell you they taught me how to play yugi oh as well 😂 I was invincible. (Blue-Eyes White Dragon My Beloved).

But that makes sense, so the media are exaggerating. I'm relieved to hear that😅 But I can imagine hierarchy being a lot more stricly in the 80s, especially in a town like Hawkins.

[kamenstrikerace]

20 Reasons why Yugioh 5D's was disrespected by bad Yugioh Fans

Fandom Drama: Over the years, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's has been a frequent source of debate within the fandom. Some fans hold it as a high point of the franchise for its mature storytelling and complex characters, while others criticize its departure from the more lighthearted tone of earlier series like Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters.This divide has occasionally led to heated arguments within the community.In fact, I don't blame anyone. Sure, yugioh was a silly card game anime, but it never tried to be mainstream when it came to its anime, just fewer people were invested in it. The problem was that Yugioh fans tend to be annoying when a show is put in debate

Initial Skepticism: When Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's was first announced, it faced a lot of skepticism. The concept of card games on motorcycles (Riding Duels) was mocked and met with confusion, leading many fans to dismiss the series before it even aired.

Konami's Silence: Konami, the company behind the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, has never provided a clear explanation or addressed the initial backlash against 5D's. This lack of communication has left many fans frustrated, feeling that their concerns were never acknowledged.

Yusei Fudo's Character: The protagonist, Yusei Fudo, is a polarizing figure. His stoic and serious demeanor is praised by some for being a refreshing change from previous protagonists but criticized by others for being too bland or emotionless, contributing to a divided fanbase.People forgot about Yusaki from Vrains, who was just a self-inserted Yusei, because they ruined it with their mental gymnastics.

5. Modern Yu-Gi-Oh! Fans: Newer generations of Yu-Gi-Oh! fans, who were introduced to the franchise through later series like Zexal or Arc-V, sometimes overlook 5D's, either because of its age or its different tone. This generational divide can lead to 5D's being underappreciated by the broader fanbase.

6. Card Mechanics Complexity: The introduction of Synchro Summoning was initially seen as overly complex by some fans accustomed to simpler gameplay mechanics. This perception of complexity contributed to a mixed reception among players who were hesitant to adapt to the new system.

7. Anime's Shift in Tone: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's was darker and more mature compared to its predecessors, focusing on themes like class disparity and dystopian society. This shift alienated some younger viewers and those who preferred the lighter, more fantastical elements of previous series.

8. Censorship and Localization: The English dubbed version of 5D's suffered from significant censorship and localization changes, altering character names, dialogue, and scenes to be more child-friendly. These changes often diluted the show's intended impact and alienated older fans who sought a more faithful adaptation.

9. Marketing and Merchandising: Compared to other Yu-Gi-Oh! series, 5D's received less aggressive marketing and merchandising efforts. This lack of promotion contributed to it being less prominent in the minds of both old and new fans.

10. Legacy in the TCG: While Synchro Summoning has become a staple in the Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game (TCG), some players felt that 5D's didn't receive the recognition it deserved for its contributions. The focus quickly shifted to newer mechanics like XYZ and Pendulum Summoning, overshadowing the innovations introduced in 5D's.

11. Mean-Spirited Disputes: The disagreements over 5D's have sometimes turned mean-spirited. Proponents of 5D's often accuse detractors of being unable to appreciate the series' depth and sophistication. On the other hand, critics of 5D's sometimes dismiss its fans as elitist or out of touch with what made Yu-Gi-Oh! fun in the first place.

12. Character Assassination: Some fans have gone so far as to attack characters personally. Yusei Fudo, for example, is a frequent target. Critics of his stoic personality often describe him as boring or emotionless, while his supporters argue that his calm demeanor and strategic mind make him a compelling and unique protagonist.

13. Nostalgia vs. Evolution: A significant part of the debate revolves around nostalgia. Fans of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters series sometimes view 5D's as a betrayal of the franchise's roots. They argue that the shift to a darker, more complex narrative was unnecessary and alienated younger viewers. Meanwhile, fans of 5D's argue that the franchise needed to evolve and mature to stay relevant.

14. Riding Duels Controversy: The introduction of Riding Duels (dueling on motorcycles) was a particular flashpoint. Some fans ridiculed the concept as absurd and a gimmick, leading to derogatory nicknames and memes that persist to this day. Supporters of 5D's argue that Riding Duels added a dynamic and exciting new element to the series.

15. Factionalism: The Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom has, at times, split into factions, with different groups staunchly supporting their favorite series. This factionalism can lead to exclusionary behavior, where fans of one series belittle or ostracize fans of another. This has been particularly noticeable with 5D's, as it often stands out due to its distinct tone and themes.

16. Dismissal of Criticism: On both sides, there's a tendency to dismiss legitimate criticism. Fans of 5D's may brush off critiques as merely a lack of understanding, while detractors may ignore the series' strengths, such as its intricate plot and character development, in favor of pointing out its perceived flaws.

17. Social Media Battles: The rise of social media has only intensified these disputes. Platforms like Twitter, Reddit, and various Yu-Gi-Oh! forums have seen countless threads and discussions devolve into arguments over the merits of 5D's. These debates often escalate quickly, with insults and accusations being thrown around liberally.

18. Impact on New Fans: This ongoing drama can be intimidating for new fans who are just discovering the series. The aggressive nature of some discussions might discourage them from expressing their opinions or exploring different parts of the franchise.

19. Misrepresentation: There's a tendency for both sides to misrepresent the other's arguments. Fans of 5D's might characterize all detractors as immature or stuck in the past, while critics might portray 5D's supporters as pretentious or overly serious. This misrepresentation only serves to further entrench the divide within the fandom.

20. Understanding: There's a recurring complaint among 5D's supporters that many Yu-Gi-Oh! fans "can't read shit or understand our culture." This harsh sentiment stems from frustration over perceived misinterpretations of the series' themes and characters. Fans of 5D's feel that the series' complex narrative and mature themes are often misunderstood or undervalued by those who prefer the more straightforward storytelling of earlier series. This cultural gap exacerbates tensions, as each side feels the other fails to grasp the essence of what makes their preferred series special.

Yugioh fans are their own worst enemy and can't read shit.

[fmp1catherinek-g]

Other types of cards :)

Sea Raiders (released 1933):

Sea Raiders are collectible cards from chewing gum packets that feature cool illustration on the front of the card and some information on the back (usually about the drawing). These cards have quite a different look to them compered to trading card game cards (e.g Pokemon).

Yu Gi Oh (released 1999):

These cards have a rather generic lay out when comes to playing cards with the name of the card at the top and the cards abilities near the bottom. Despite the similarities between this genres of cards, the art styles are what sets them apart form each other. I quite like how the Yu Gi Oh art style can go from something quite serious too something so cute.

Digimon (released 2000):

Digimon is another example of a trading/playing card and it follows some of the traits they tend to have however these cards seem to have more of a full art illustration too them instead of a drawing in a box which I find more makes the design more free flowing.

Mars Attacks (released 1962, banded later on in the 60's):

Mars attacks cards are another example of an art card as the whole front of the card is a drawing. These drawings are nicely detailed and have a good look to them however they came in to some controversy as many found them too graphic and violent.

Magic the gathering (released 1993):

Magic the Gathering, again, uses a very similar card layout to other card games but what sets them apart is there amazingly detailed style and mythical themes/characters.

[kikotsukino]

Don't know why, recently, I feel like 'Dueling' again, so was going through my cards, and found this. 

I like the Slifer & Obelisk from the second photo better, looks more 'majestic' imo.

First pic: God Cards vs Sacred Beasts!!

And the Maiden with Eyes of Blue goes well with Blue Eyes White Dragon IMO

[silversmoke-20]

Hello, let me know if you get tired of my barrage of asks or want me to change it up I won’t be mad. For this one can I get Yang with an s/o who has an opposite fighting style where they prefer stealth and hit n run tactics to defeat their enemies. Their semblance Shadow Walk allows them to literally step into shadows and appear wherever there are shadows, even the shadows of people. Her s/o’s team often team up with other teams to support them by sneaking ahead to take care of any traps/ambushes, weaken enemies, or just scout. Her s/o also has a habit of scaring the daylights out of people when they pop out of said shadows to report or meet up with the teams.

I won't be able to get tired with these asks, just as long as they help me with my writing! So I think I'm going to be make some Yu-Gi-Oh references and I am going to give out some wholesome angst if that's cool?

Trigger warning: Neck Scar, slight Edginess.

The Sunny Dragon's Shadow.

There's one thing that will always baffle you to no end....And that's this weird blonde that had to make so much jokes of your Semblance.

But you can't deny that some of them do get a laugh out of you.

Yang will always ask if you are comfortable considering your neck as a large scar that goes around your entire neck.

She will place soft kisses on them to make the 'Pain' go away.

Only Yang is allowed to touch your Collar scar....Well except Ruby but that was because she was curious what your scar feels like.

Yang will try to convince you to keep your hair long and wild and will help you tame in exchange for you getting a chance to touch her hair.

_________________________________________

Yang: "Hey Y/n, I wanna show you something!"

Y/n looking up from their tarot card collection, decides to head over to their girlfriend as she had a weird device strapped to her arm.

Y/n: "I was busy counting my tarot card collection, the only thing that makes me feel hu-."

Yang immediately cuts you off as she waves her hand dismissively as she quickly explains.

Yang: "Yeah Yeah yeah! Tarot card, Sad edgy backstory and all that mumbo-jumbo Emo boy stuff. Check this out!"

Rolling your eyes as Yang press a button on the strange device as it sprung into a long mini deck for cards as she holds one up.

Yang: "I am now going to send you into the shadow realm."

Confused by this she quickly kissed your lips before pushing you into a shady tree as you quickly activate your semblance and enter the depths of the shadow realm. She was making a Yu-Gi-Oh reference was the sudden realisation that came to your head, you swam through the black void as your head slowly rise from the tree's shade with an unamused face as Yang was laughing her lungs out as you slowly climbed out of the shadow.

Yang: "That was so good! I can't believe you would fall for that, it was so obvious."

Y/n rolled their eyes with a smirk on their face before sitting down next to Yang as she sits herself up.

Y/n: "You got me and I am impressed, I think that warrants a reward?"

Yang immediately felt your hands grab her jacket shirt as you pull her towards as she expected a sweet passionate kiss from her lover.

Only to taste the dirt, quickly spitting out the disgusting ground taste as you popped your head out of her shadow as you let out a laugh as she frowns before sighing softly.

Yang: "you got me, y'know it's nice to have someone like you and I won't trade that with anyone"

Y/n: "same to you...I love you."

Yang: "and I love you too."

_________________________________________

It was Yang who got you into a habit of scaring the living daylights out of people when using your semblance.

You have never gotten a laugh in your entire life.

When it comes to combat missions, you are often a hit and run kinda fighter, always taking out the smaller threats and leaving your team and rwby's to take on the bigger threat.

Oh let's not forget your weapon, several throwing knives that when using gravity dust they all combine into a large sharp whip and it literally rips and tear.

Remember when you love scaring people thanks to Yang, well you love to scare her at time.

"Aaahh!"....."Hey Yang...Stop Screaming....Are we out of Doritos?"....."Dammit Y/n, I'm Showering!"...."So that's a no."...."Obviously!".

You are not allowed to use your semblance when she showers for that one reason only.

The sunny dragon will always be the Shining fire in your darkness days.

[2ndwind]

World of Memory: A Personal YGO Retrospective

(I don't fancy myself a writer, but these thoughts just poured out of me. This is for me, more than anything. But if anyone reads it, I hope it's amusing enough.)

I must've been in the second grade when Yu-Gi-Oh came to the US.

I remember all the boys in my class trading cards and challenging one another to duels. I remember gazing wistfully at the checkout of every major supermarket chain, pleading with my parents to buy some cards. When they refused, I decided to make my own fantasy trading cards! Using graph paper! But I quickly learned how hard it was not only to create the cards but also to design mechanics that people would actually want to play.

I remember my parents surprising me that fateful Christmas of 2002 with the original Starter Deck Yugi. Even though 90% of the monsters were weak and vanilla, the smell of the freshly unwrapped cards was CRACK. Better yet, I was finally cool enough to hang out with the boys. Well, I didn't actually play the game very much with people other than my sister, and eventually, the school administration banned trading cards altogether. But it was endlessly fun to talk about. I even went to China one year and bought a TON of fake YGO cards to flaunt and trade with the other kids. Yes, we were all kids cheating other kids.

I remember my heart absolutely racing in anticipation of watching the show on Kids WB, and the crushing disappointment of turning on the TV just a moment too late (I'm reminding myself that Netflix didn't exist back then). The visual style was just so striking, so much cooler than Pokémon's. The plot felt so much more serious. And don't even get me started on the characters. I was literally head-over-heels in love with a Nameless Pharaoh. I was a Revolutionshipper before shipping was even a thing. It's pretty obvious from my Tumblr archive lol.

I remember the first fanart I made, which was me trying to copy the cover of the Starter Deck Yugi instruction manual. It was the hardest thing I'd ever drawn up to that point, and I specifically colored Yugi's eyes gray. Because people didn't have purple eyes, of course. I wish I held onto that drawing because it sparked something in me. Maybe it was my obsession with ancient Egypt, which predated my obsession with YGO. Maybe it was my frustration with my drawing skills. Whatever it was, it would stay with me for a long time. Beyond classmates paying me in change to draw their favorite monsters. Even beyond my fairly brief stint posting YGO fanart to DeviantArt (yikes).

I remember finding the original manga at Barnes & Noble and feeling very confused. Why didn't Yugi have a nose? Where was Duel Monsters? Wait, are people actually dying?? These were the questions I asked myself as I learned what manga actually was. Subsequently, I would devour every copy of the manga and even Monthly Shonen Jump that I could get my hands on. In that way, YGO actually became a gateway to several other manga/anime series. It was a gateway to my now lifelong appreciation of Japanese culture as a whole.

20 years! 20 WHOLE YEARS after my first love of YGO, I can look back and laugh at how much money I spent on the TCG and manga. I can cringe at the silly fanficcy stories locked up in my head and the overly sentimental (or just straight-up copying) fanart I drew. I can, as an adult, appreciate the themes, but also be more critical of certain elements (the whole Doma Arc, how the series portrays women, the ancient Egyptians themselves, the clear references to the occult...etc.).

YGO shaped me into who I am right now: a designer who dabbles in fanart, an avid Egyptology nerd, an appreciator of animation and sequential art, and even an aspiring developer of a card-based game (my grad school thesis! For real). And as much as I sometimes weary of this dumpster-fire world, I still thank God that I was born at a time when I could experience the original YGO and grow up alongside it.

With all these fond memories of YGO, you can imagine my utter shock and sadness when I learned of Kazuki Takahashi's passing. It's even more surreal because I'm still following the man, himself, on Instagram. I hope he truly knew the depth of so many people's love for him and his work. And I hope that, one day, as the endless ages roll on, I'll find him and thank him, myself. For now, this rambling and a few pieces of art will have to do. Rest in peace, Sensei.

[nomadicauthor287]

Magic AU

I created a whole ass magic system on the fly. @eyecandyeoz helped me finetune these headcanons. Also this features the Survivor trio

There are 3 ways that magic is acquired and boosted

Knowledge

Deals

Mana boost

Knowledge

By studying different magic types the user can increase the range of types of magic the user can use

If you understand how different types of magic work you, in turn, can use it

Mana

all things contain some amount of magical powers

the objects or food near leylines have higher magical properties

consuming the food with high mana it boosts internal mana levels for 6 hours

Another way to absorb mana is to keep the object with a high mana count on your person

Deals

This is the most high-risk technique for boosting and acquiring magic

In order to do this process, you need to pick a deity and bring an offering

There are many deities to choose from: angels, demons, gods, spirits, ghosts, etc.

Once you've chosen a deity you offer up an offering and then strike a deal

By striking a deal you've agreed to become an extension of the deity

Your magic now comes from that deity and are bound by contract

The contract is very strict

Depending on what is staked in the deal it also affects the strength of the magic

If something very important is staked in the deal then the magic is strong

Ex.) Necromancy in exchange for the soul- high-level magic

Ex.) Light magic in exchange for a cheeseburger- low-level magic

Familiars

Can store and use magic/mana

can range from creatures to objects

Ex.) Sentient pocket watch

Crosshair

Portal magic

can go literary anywhere but chooses to stay with the Empire

uses his portals to shoot anywhere

Made a deal with a space entity

Contract mark: the circle on his crosshair tattoo

When he uses his magic the circle glows red

He staked his life because he wanted to be strong and dramatic

Omega

Bubble/gum

can steal mana

make explosions from the stored mana in the bubble

Either use bubblegum or soap bubbles or glass bubbles

Can store mana in bubble-like objects

made a deal with a goddess of healing

Contract mark- ring around her thumb and pointer finger

By dipping her mark in the bubble liquid and creating a bubble the mark glows white

Staked her agility

Wrecker

Fire and explosive magic

can create fire and explosives from his fists

siphons heat from objects of from peppers

can control explosions if he understands how it was created

Mainly uses his fire for cooking which boosts mana levels for 6 hours

Always on the lookout for high-level mana ingredients

Struck a deal with a fire sprite

Contract mark: scars on his hands and forearms

When he uses his magic his scarred eye glows orange with his fists

Tech

uses runes, knowledge, and alchemy

he uses runes/spell cards to fight mainly like Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokemon

Makes potion capsules for mana boosts or containing different magic

It's like ninja smoke bombs

When they visit a village or city Tech will wander off to go trade rune cards

Ditches the others to go to collectors gatherings

Struck a deal with a god of knowledge and a god of strategy

In exchange for his sight and his majestic hair

This is why his vision is shit and his hair makes him look like he's 50 years old

Contract mark: intricate tattoos on his forearms

When he uses his magic his glasses glare up and the wind blows his long robes around dramatically with a green glow around him

Echo

uses elemental magic/controls the elements around him

uses magic to create prosthetic limbs

the strongest out of the entire batch magic wise

When Rex finds Echo again he makes a deal with a demon to save him

Rex trades his ability to be surprised and Echo's fucks to give

As soon as he wakes up he uses his magic to get his melanin back

He's kinda like a bard

Go in punching, ask questions later

10/10 has and will screw a dragon

The demon who saved Echo said there was a drawback to his magic

Echo has to use 20 sided dice to keep his magic in check

That led to him making his decisions based on a dice roll

If he gets a bad roll he just bodyslams the obstacle

keeps a wide array of elements on his person at all times

Uses beskar with a high mana level for his leg prosthetics

Contract mark- scars on his amputated appendages

depending on the element his aura is that color.

Hunter

Animal instinct

his senses are enhanced

his senses and strength are enhanced depending on the animal he decides to mimic

usually uses predators to mimic

while mimicking an animal their diet becomes his

there are times when he turns feral

he made a deal with a god of animals

gave up some of his common sense

Contract mark: his skeleton tattoo on his chest

When he uses his magic the animal he chooses is what his aura is shaped as

Rex

he struck a deal with a god of patience

The god gave him everlasting peace with a side of dealing with Banthashit

he saves all the spite for later when he bitch slaps sense into the others

According to @eyecandyeoz he reserves the strongest bitch slap for the biggest dumbass Anakin, Fives, and Hardcase

He traded his natural hair color for this power

Fun fact of the day: stress can turn your hair white

Contract mark: his hands glow red along with his eyes

Wolffe

After his fight with Asajj Ventress he was left in the snow

A pack of wolves find him and offer him a deal

They would heal him

In exchange at every full moon Wolffe would join a the pack as a wolf

Contract mark: his scarred eye glows

His powers turn him into a wolf at will

Gregor

This guy made a deal with the bouncey ball that belonged to a hyena

he did this when he got drunk and wandered into a zoo

the ball gave him the power to bounce back from anything within reason

Contract mark: ass tattoo of the pixar bouncey ball

Lore

Before the fall of the Republic only the Jedi held the secrets to magic. The Jedi claimed they were the gatekeepers of magic. They taught their students by intense studying and meditation. It was thought that suppressing emotions would make their magic stronger but it wasn't true for most.

Most people knew about the jedi and thought they were myths. But they were feared by parents because they took their children away claiming that they were made for a higher purpose. If not the jedi then the other practioners of magic would sweep the children away, the Sith. The Sith mainly used the deals side of magic in order to become stronger than their light-sided counterparts. But that all came to an end with the rise of a so called "savior" and a war fought with slaves.

The savior was corrupted by the darkest wizard of them all, Sheev Palpatine. With his corruption came the end of a war and a new era dawned on the worlds.

@itsjml @dreamy-day-daze @agentmarymargaretskitz @kratosfan6632466 @eyecandyeoz @echoy-naak @zaffrefox @soundwavetherav

[smorgasbordofobsessions]

liveblog: yugioh ep101

the last time i watched this series was about a decade ago, maybe a smidge more. so this should be fun to rewatch! i don't know if i'll do a post for each episode, but we'll see.

IT'S TIME TO D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-DUEL

joey's fucking new york accent ohmygoooodddd

though gotta love the explanation of the card game off the bat

oh shit i really forgot that kaiba and yugi were in the same class ohmygod hahahahahha

"rare card/ my special card?"

THE BLUE EYES WHITE DRAGON

"i never let it leave my hands" tristen takes it

god joey's accent kills me haha

i also never understood tristan's hair

"me? duel you?i would have more of a challenge playing solitaire"

i'm about to cry that's hysterical

wow kaiba came STOCKED to trade for that blue eyes

kaiba literally unable to comprehend sentimetanl value of a card

"the heart of the cards, ridiculous"

i love when this comes to take a huge chunk out of kaiba's ass

i love that we use gofers to issue a duel challenge amazing

all i need to know is this: if kaiba has a shitton of money what the fuck is he doing going to the same school as yugi?

or! is yugi and co somehow going to some exclusive private school?

I FORGOT HE TORE THE BLUE EYES CARD UP

oh wow what a stupid thing to have done

gotta say that this episode is moving quite quickly in terms of plot

so yugi's grandfather is on the floor near writhing in pain but we have time to draw on our hands

YU GI OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH

HELLO YAMI/ATEM HOW ARE YOU TODAY ON THIS FINE DAY

"prepare yourself because it's time to duel!"

props to kaiba, coming up with a holographic duel stadium is actually a brilliant fucking idea

yugi saying that kaiba knows the game really well when he was literally describing a basic function of the game

DARK MAGICIAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you know what it really was dumb of kaiba to have ripped up the fourth blue eyes card like imagine you had FOUR blue eyes? maybe he could've created a four-headed dragon like who knows

kaiba'a skeleton face when exodia gets summoned

exodia, obliterate!

iconic scene

pegasus!!!!