aaaaaaaaaa little bit of a ramble talking about ygo and what it means to me, theme of the day

it’s funny bc as some of you know i wasn’t allowed to watch ygo when i was a little kid. it was on all the time, same as pokemon and i wanted to watch it bc i liked the cards. i already collected pokemon cards by then, i was probably 5 or 6, so of course i wanted more. but my mother thought it would “invite the devil into the house” so she refused to let me watch it.

which, of course, made me MORE curious hahaha. i started trading pokemon cards for particular yugioh cards at school in secret. i still remember my very first one, bubonic vermin, lmao. i had no idea what the show was about but cards were cool! 

years later, though, i think i was 11 and watching... megumi?? that weird cartoon network thing before toonami where they’d air the more kid friendly anime. and gx was on. i saw the theme song (which still slaps, btw) and saw jaden yuki and i fell in love immediately. by that point i knew how to torrent and how to watch anime online and verrrryyyy quickly binged the whole series that was out at the time. i was totally obsessed. i remember, so vividly, begging my dad for jaden’s e-hero deck on ebay, and trying to learn how to sew so i could have my very own winged kuriboh. which never happened, but now i think i might have to, haha. (i do own e-heroes now, even if i don’t play them.)

ygo continued to be a passion of mine for years, particularly gx and dm. i wasn’t terribly interested in the tcg yet, but the anime made me really happy.

and from then it was history. i’ve watched most of the ygo series, multiple times. when i was really struggling in my depression after graduating high school, i binge watched the entirety of dm all over again, and it was what got me hooked onto arc v, and from there, i started reaching out to friends again - i made a new twitter, i started talking to people more actively. 

when vrains came out, i was still deep in my arc v feelings so i wasn’t sure what to do. i ignored it for awhile, but when i started watching it... i watched 72 episodes in a week lmao. i couldn’t put it down. vrains was, and still is, the ygo - and just a series by itself - that i connected with very deeply. ygo has never shied away from depicting serious things, but something about the way the trauma was handled in vrains really meant something to me.

and vrains... like, actually, really saved my life. for one thing, i started writing again because of vrains. within the year i got really into it, 2019, i wrote and published over 300k on ao3. i had barely written 10k the year before. in 2019, i also lost one of my best friends. without vrains, and it’s very potent messages about moving on after death and trauma and grief, i don’t know if i would’ve been able to pull myself back together so quickly. 

and also, i started playing the tcg because of vrains. and i met so many new friends, and became closer to people i knew irl who played. i didn’t even realize one of my best friends played until i mentioned i had binged through vrains! then we started talking about the new episodes every week, new releases with cards, dueling each other when we could... i taught some friends how to duel, too. it was fun! it was a bonding experience and everyone was having a good time. those are memories i cherish, made because of yugioh. 

this story isn’t unique. so many people have been sharing the same sentiments all day. how yugioh impacted them. how it changed their life, for the better. how it brought people together, how it helped someone, how it made someone smile in a dark place. yugioh means so many different things to so many different people, and i’m really glad i got to exist at the same time as it. i’m glad i got to experience so much of it as it happened, and i’m glad that kazuki takahashi brought this series to life.

not just the game, but the story. the characters. the communities that have been created because of his creations. i hope he knew how special what he did was. i hope he knew how much his stories were loved. i hope his family is doing alright, throughout all of this. 

rest in paradise, takahashi. you deserve nothing but the best. thank you for sharing your world with us. 

"I loathe him. And, despite myself, I respect a worthy opponent...Which he isn't because he's a demon and I cannot respect a demon. Or like one."

decided to draw a small part of the bookshop opening deleted scene bc not one day goes by where I don't think about it 🥺 we lost so bad by not getting this one 😭😭 especially bc it contrasts the season 2 finale so well… I could write entire dissertations about it 🤧

This is supposed to be the outfit that "protects" Link from acquiring frostbite pfffttt

Between this top and the mandatory acrylics that come with the new arm, gotta say I'm loving how much Nintendo keeps leaning into GNC Link XD

MINI UPDATE: (Guys, I've already updated this post with the correct info. The "protects" part was supposed to be a joke about how skimpy the outfit was. I didn't realize the outfit gave an attack bonus at first, either. That was it. That was the post. You don't need to keep sending me messages trying to inform me about the frost attack. I know, I promise).

Update I: Just realized they gave him a set of blue acrylics for his left hand

Link really do be out here serving cunt 💅💅✨✨

Update II: Many thanks to the people who pointed out that this outfit gives you a special frost attack when in cold temperature areas, it doesn't actually protect you from the elements. I'll be honest, I am purposely avoiding any guides or walkthroughs for my TotK playthrough (since I'm trying to replicate my BotW experience). When I found the Frostbite Shirt, I was just happy that I finally had a piece of clothing that I thought could protect me from dying of hypothermia (was chugging spicy elixirs like you wouldn't believe) so I didn't notice the attack bonus until a bunch of you pointed it out lol

Sometimes girlhood is matching hello kitty oodies with your mortal enemy

here is the life i've always longed for.....!!

one thing about ik is that she will always reach out

I animated a trailer for my webcomic and it took forever

Please look!

i haven't even gotten to this point of the game yet and i'm already devastated (prints!)

wanted to do draw something quick to cheer my beloved a little bit during a rough time..

I admired Disco Elysium fandom from afar for some time now, but I was too intimidated by its quality to post anything. But while doing random scribbles I've got carried away, ended up with this, and I think it's kinda ok???

It's so wild seeing the official Tazercraft account posting old videos of the boys doing random stuff when they were all teenagers, but it's also sorta sweet seeing Pac, Mike, Cellbit, and Felps all hanging out and being friends, even way back then. :')

[ID in ALT] Steph and Damian doodle! This taps a bit into their pre-52 dynamic so that's what I was thinking design wise at first but I wanted to draw it w their more recent designs as well to stay hashtag current and topical, so you get both/a fusion, lol

My page for @destinytriofanzine! I drew something about kids always dreaming of far off places

[id in alt!]

dey're like his wingmen

hi everyone how are we doing i'll go first i'm doing Bad :)