Alternatively: I was overthinking Duel Monsters and GX and trying to connect their conflicting lore in a way that makes sense and ended up coming to a crazy conclusion about Yubel.
(Also, massive spoilers for both DM and GX in this theory, don’t read it if you haven’t watched both shows all the way through)
Let me first open with the fact that GX and DM (and 5Ds but I won’t be discussing it here) are supposed to exist in the same universe. GX takes place about five to ten years after DM if I had to guess, as Yugi and Kaiba are still around and even appear occasionally:
So all of the lore and history in both these shows should be consistent. The problem with that is that Duel Monsters isn’t even consistent with itself. In season four of DM, it is established that there is a dimension of duel monster spirits existing parallel to the human world. Pegasus’s card game is actually harnessing and using the power of that world through the cards, which is what makes them so powerful.
However, season five later contradicts this somewhat. In that arc, the Duel Monster spirits (at least a few of them) come from inside people. They’re this magical essence inside them (the wiki calls it ‘ka,’ which may be the term used in the Japanese version) which can be harnessed when the host is alive but when that host dies, they straight up become that essence, or what we would call a duel monster. Kisara became Blue Eyes White Dragon, Mahad became Dark Magician, and Mana later became Dark Magician Girl.
So… are the Duel Monsters beings from another dimension or are they the spirits of dead people magically infused with their essence and then stored in stone tablets and later cards?
...
What has my life come to? How in the world am I comprehending this madness that I’m spewing out right now?
Anyways, you can argue season four’s interpretation simply isn’t canon since season four is a filler arc. If you didn’t know, the Duel Monsters anime was adapted from a then ongoing manga so to fill time for Kazuki Takahashi (may he rest in peace) to write more of the manga for them to adapt, the show writers decided to write a crap ton of filler in the middle of Battle City and between it and the final arc. This filler wasn’t even considered canon at first (at least by the fans). The arc where we learn about the Duel Monster spirit world’s existence is one of these filler arcs and is later seemingly contradicted by the final arc, the latter of which is definitely canon.
However, if you disregard season four of DM you also have to disregard GX since season 3 of GX has the characters go to the monster spirit world established in this DM filler arc, thus making it canon to this timeline while also needing season five’s interpretation to be true too since the entire ending of DM (which GX is a sequel to) wouldn’t have happened without that arc.So by that logic, both sort of have to be true: the monsters that later become the cards (some of them at least) came from the spirits of dead people in Ancient Egypt and they discovered a world that these seemingly immortal spirits live in. But… who’s to say Ancient Egypt were the only ones who knew about this?
This is where my theory about Yubel comes in. Past life Yubel is told by the King (past life Judai’s father) that someone needs to protect Judai before he is able to save the world from The Light of Destruction and later the “harsher” Darkness. Yubel offers to protect him but in order to, they needed to be transformed into… well, for lack of a better term, a monster.
But… how exactly did they do that? We don’t exactly see the process of which Yubel’s body was changed but what little we do see of it makes it look horrific, potentially life threatening considering the way Yubel cries in pain and just the way both Judai reacts to it:
For god’s sake, they’re poking Yubel with scalpels. In what looks to be ancient times. I don’t think they’re actually giving Yubel surgery here, I think they’re killing Yubel, killing them in such a way that they become that indestructible spirit meant to protect Judai. Remember, these “spirits” in DM were very physical, they caused real damage, fought real wars, had a body count. For whatever reason, Duel Monster spirits in ancient times could interact with the real world with the same physicality as a human. Yubel is briefly shown to be the exact same way in this shot of them with Judai:
Yubel, even in this past life scene, works exactly the same as the other monster spirits we see in season five: completely physical in ancient times but more like a ghost in modern times, with the exception of when they are in the spirit world, which yes, applies to all the monsters. Winged Kuriboh, the elemental heroes, they’re all completely physical in the spirit world.
This would also explain Yubel retaining their exact body and memories from hundreds of years ago when Judai didn’t. Judai was in the cycle of reincarnation, losing his memories when he was born again while Yubel’s spirit has been immortalised within this new monster body, so they keep their memories and goal of protecting Judai. How Yubel came to be a card is anyone’s guess. We don’t know exactly how every Duel Monster spirit became a card, just the ones shown in season 5 of DM and Yubel’s card existing at all is proof enough that they don’t all have to be from Ancient Egypt. I don’t know where the heck Judai and Yubel’s past versions were but it certainly wasn’t Egypt. Sure, the Ancient Egyptians had the Millenium Items which may have made some of the things they did possible but the Millenium Items were things they created, not a power that was gifted to them. So who’s to say another ancient civilization couldn’t have a similar power?
So… yeah. In my theory, Yubel didn’t just go through some surgery so they could protect Judai, they died so they could protect Judai, who they continued to love and protect throughout his multiple lives… gosh, if that’s not love, I don’t know what is.
IT WAS ERIC AFTER ALL!!!! I'm so glad we got to meet him (before Vil snaps him away with those Infinity Gauntlets) (can't wait to see what happens when we get the matching Infinity Tiara to go with them, there will be no survivors)
(sorry to be so slow/rough lately, just got a lot of stuff on the ol' brain at the moment! alas, if only I could spend all my time drawing incredibly stupid characters I mean I do but)
"Great!" Danny says, clapping his hands together to get everyone's attention. The dinner table falls silent as everyone looks towards him. It's a full house today and, honestly, Danny's a little nervous. "I'm sure you're all wondering why I gathered you here today."
"It's dinnertime. In our house." Duke mutters, while doing a very bad job of concealing his yawn. He holds his fork poised over the braised beef, but, just like everyone else, still looks towards Danny before tucking in. It's intriguing enough to wait.
"Yeah, no one misses Alfie's dinner." Dick says, with a brilliant smile that Danny can't help but return.
"Precisely! What better time to talk to you all than when you're all actually here!"
"Wait, I thought you came round to work on our English essays?" Tim asks, blinking owlishly.
"I'm afraid I've lured you here under false pretences, Tim."
"This is where I live."
"I would still really appreciate help on that essay though, I mean, what the hell is Hamlet even about? I just don't get that old time-y language, like 'Hark! A ghost hath killed me!' - absolute rubbish, what does that even mean?"
"The ghost never kills anyone in Hamlet, he's there to tell Hamlet that he was murdered. Have you actually read it?"
"No, but it sounds like you have. Tim, I want this guy to help me with my essay instead. I know for a fact that you haven't read Hamlet, either."
"So? We don't need Jason, I've read the Sparknotes."
"Hi Jason, I'm Danny, pleasure to meet you, summarise Hamlet in three sentences or less."
"Am I auditioning to help you write your essays? I can't believe you’ve gone through your whole school life without reading it, it’s good!"
"Hamlet, along with a number of other classics, was banned in our house because it portrayed ghosts as intelligent and sympathetic beings rather than evil, animalistic beasts. I didn’t even get to see The Muppet's Christmas Carol until last year with Tim! It was surprisingly good, and I hate Christmas because everyone always argued and it sucked. But we're getting off topic. I—"
"No, no, please go back to that, because what the fu—"
"Boys, please." Bruce interrupts, looking to the world as if he wants to hang his head in his hands. "Danny, you were about to say something?"
"Oh, yeah, Mr. Wayne! Thanks!"
"Please, call me Bruce."
"Well, that very succinctly brings me to my point, because I'd actually really like to call you dad."
Nobody says a word. Nobody even blinks, all as shocked as the other, watching open-mouthed as Danny pulls his laptop out from beside his chair. Bruce can definitely feel a headache coming on.
"Before you say anything, I've prepared a 69 slide PowerPoint presentation on why you, Bruce Wayne, should adopt me, Danny Last-Name-Pending. Please save your questions, comments, and verdict until the end, thank you."
Patience and responsibility....that's a promise....right?
Part 27 First || Previous || Next
--Full Series--
An exorcism? In my family-friendly Deltarune? It's more likely than you may think. The backgrounds here were very interesting! Much more complex than how I usually do them (especially that computer).
the "all customer service people are trained by management to be illiterate apes you can never get any resolutions by design dont be mean about it" crowd would faint to know there is a guy at my bank RIGHT NOW attempting to resolve an issue that would normally take a week
see. i tried to order food (having nothing of note in the house, and too much pain currently to get down 3 flights of stairs about it) and the payment failed on just eat's end.
but it went through fine on my bank's end, so the funds are tied up in "pending"... for a week. my available balance is now 95p so i can't just do it again
the bank cannot typically do anything about this until the normal time frame for collection passes and they funds just release automatically. just eat have zero contactable customer service
but it is for FOOD and there's no more MONEY and i am a DISABLED CUSTOMER so BY FUCKING GOD not on zeeshan's watch
forever obsessed with dynamics between vampires, specifically that of a maker and fledgling, as a way to explore abuse. the creation of a vampire itself can so easily be a literalization of the lasting impacts of trauma and also much more simply the ways a perpetrator might shape their victim’s very identity. the extremes of isolation in the way that the new vampire, in most narratives, must cut all ties to their mortal life, or else go through an elaborate charade to maintain the facade of humanity, while forever still being removed from it. and the sheer dependence and vulnerability of being in an entirely new state of being, wholly uncertain of what it entails, and relying on another person to define… everything.
Shen Yuan getting transported into pidw isn't "the system punishing him for being a lazy internet hater," but instead representative of "step 1 of the creative process: getting so mad at something you decide to go write your own fucking book" in this essay I will
Quackity: These past days I've been in many calls, and I'm not done yet. I've spoken to a lot of people and creators. I've read your comments and I'm well aware of what needs to be done to carry out this project. I want to tell you all, beforehand, that for me the team's well-being is fundamental. I'm very involved in this topic to sort it out and I want to make that very clear. I want to tell you something... I want to tell you all that the administrative staff responsible for so much harm to the project has been fired. Specifically, those who made decisions without my permission, affecting the administrative and financial area of the project. Consequently, after this, I was in charge of doing a financial analysis that's carrying out for the QSMP.
Guys, to be really honest, it was not going to last. Therefore, I've had to make deep drastic structural changes that have lead me to reduce the performance of the server down to the most essential, and this is in order to ensure the well being of everyone involved in it. Having said this, I want to give a very important update: I want to let you all know that the QSMP will have to slow down temporarily. This is to ensure this new structure adapts to the project, because it's a restructuring that's taking place. I'm letting you know, and I reiterate, there are no voluntary positions inside the QSMP.
At the moment, there will not be any more individual update accounts of all 5 existing languages in the project. In any case, during this transition, there's going to be a temporal absence of all Eggs and NPCs. I know these are difficult changes, and I repeat, it's temporary until we adjust to these new conditions that will improve the performance of this new structure that's being made from scratch, both in the administrative and financial part. I'd like to reintegrate people fro the QSMP as time goes by if a financial viability can be found for the project Taking advantage of this update to tell you guys that within the changes of the server as it is, creators will have full control of their lore and stories. The team will not intervene in the way that it was being done. Moreover, efforts will be made to change the competitive dynamics inside the game so as to ease up the game style for the creators. Like I'm saying, all of these changes, and more, are being carrying out to have the project as best as possible, and they're being done little by little. This is a whole new structure that will ensure the best continuity and experience for the creators, the community and the team behind.
Guys, I want to make very clear that this is restructuring process, and again, it's not a fast one. The server being open does not mean everything's perfect, I understand that very well. Conversations will keep taking place, communication will continue and the constant improvement of the project as well. I ask, please, for everyone's patience and understanding regarding all changes. Please do wait for official announcements since a lot of incomplete and incorrect information is being spread. I want to tell you all something- if you don't trust in these changes or have many doubts about it, and don't want to consume any more of the project's content, I understand 100%. I have a personal commitment with the QSMP and I will work until it functions in the way it is supposed to do.
Lastly, I want to let you know that it was being worked on for months on finalizing the integration of Korean creators to the QSMP. For that reason, tomorrow we will be welcoming the new Korean creators of the QSMP, of course, taking into account all the changes I've just mentioned. I hope you can give the new Korean members warm welcome to the project. And as you know, their schedules are earlier. For everyone who would like to watch, they will be joining at 11am Mexico time and at 9am US time. Basically, I wanted to give that update regarding everything that's being done within the project. Again, thank you for your patience and understanding- these are necessary changes and I'm glad they're being done now. And many more things will keep being adjusted.
Hi it's just to let you know that the official romanization of Revaan's name is Raverne ! Also they have romanized Baul's name to Baur !
Twst coming back at us again with the least expected romanization! thank you everybody (oh god my inbox) (no it's great, I literally asked for this and the reactions have been INCREDIBLE, thank you all!)
I do like Raverne though, I think it's got a nice fancy sound to it! (I had kinda suspected it was going to be an R instead of an L, so the fact that it's SO close to Laverne except for that is hilarious to me personally.) and Dragoneye Duke is honestly probably the best translation for his title, I wasn't envying the localizers that one. :') Baur instead of Baul I was NOT expecting, but in retrospect I think his name's supposed to be a reference to the Bauru crocodile, so that actually makes way more sense!
someone else also said Meleanor has become Maleanor, which is the REALLY weird one to me, because I was so surprised it was written as Mel instead of Mal in the first place?! oh god no I can't decide which one I like better. 😭 (I wonder if they might change it to Mal...they have made romanization changes before) (like I remember House of Distraction being corrected to House of Destruction in Playful Land) (I did check and she's still Mel for now, but I dunno, they might Mal her up and some point and save me from having to make a decision about which one to use) (HECK I CAN'T DECIDE)
uhhhh thank you for letting me ramble about anime names, let's just say MONOGRAMMED SWEATERS FOR EVERYONE
When ppl will create a "curvy" girl character and get pretty much the whole body's proportions right, obviously they're putting emphasis on bust/hips but it seems like it's being executed well--- except that they completely, fully, and deliberately, skip the stomach entirely. Just nothin there. Not even a whisper. I'm like. Just sack up, make it make sense and be honest with yourself by making it official and say it's canon that they got a tummy tuck. You cowardly ass, yellow bellied, wet brained, upside-down dog mouthed dirty bitch.