History Headscratchers / YuGiOh

** It's possible the the magic which minds the monster spirits to the card also works on other forms of magic. Once they tried to bring Atlantean magic back into the world, it took the form of trading cards. Same goes for other unrelated forms of magic like the power of the Earthbound Immortals.

*** ^ Pretty much all of that was just dub nonsense. In the Japanese version, Mokuba wanted to disqualify the RH because he was using counterfeit Exodia cards, not because he "hacked his way into the tournament". The tournament was specifically organized to get the rare hunters to come out, so they were definitely allowing him and the the other [=RHs=] to participate -- no need for them to do any hacking. And Kaiba let the duel go on because he figured Yugi wouldn't be a true duelist if he couldn't defeat someone who uses fake cards, not because he was out for petty revenge. In his mind, if Yugi lost, he wouldn't be worthy of participating and being called Kaiba's rival.

*** "Mai could have used a Trap Card like Sakuretsu Armor or Mirror Force to destroy Yugi's Dark Magician, and then he'd basically be screwed." Black Luster Soldier faced the same risk, though. It's not immune to Traps. "You're forgetting that Yugi actually found out earlier that Mai has Harpie's Feather Duster in her deck -- what if she had used that to destroy Swords of Revealing Light prematurely?" That would have caused Yugi to lose even with the BLS strategy. Had she drawn and played Harpie's Feather Duster at any point in the three turns of the Swords, Harpie's Pet Dragon would have attacked Kuriboh for game. I think what Yugi was actually concerned about was the possibility that if he tried picking off Harpie Ladies one-by-one with Dark Magician, Mai would simply play her own Monster Reborn or use another Elegant Egotist or something to make more of them and the the Dragon would be back to being stronger. Yugi guessed in a previous episode that this version of Mai's deck only uses Harpie Lady and its multiplied forms (Harpie's Pet Dragon is her secret ace), so it stands to reason that he thinks she has lots ways of replacing lost ones. Hell, she *drew* another Harpie Lady she could have summoned on her last turn — she didn't play it because she wasn't expecting Yugi's deck to contain a 3000 ATK monster, and she even beats herself up about it at the end because summoning it meant she could have won.

* Ok, so this might be manga-only, but at one point, Yami Yugi is telling Pegasus that Yugi is ten times the duelist he is because he actually trusts his instincts, is willing to take risks without being certain of the outcome, and doesn't resort to cheap tactics (mind reading). Pegasus says that he's a good duelist because he plans so that he can fight without needing to take risks, then his Toon World combo is promptly taken out in one turn. Pegasus then decides to bring up a Shadow Game and specifically thinks "This is a wizard's battle, no normal mortal can endure it. How long can you take the pressure, Yugi-boy?" Soo, Pegasus is trying to prove that he's the better duelist by... cheating so that Yami Yugi can no longer block out the mind-reading techniques because the other half of their Mind Shuffle is unconscious and dying. Really?

** He [[IncrediblyLamePun panicked]] and forgot all about his tactic.

* This might be explained in the manga, but I've only seen the anime and I have to wonder... okay, so at the very beginning of the series, Seto challenges Solomon Motou for his Blue-Eyes White Dragon card and, after getting it he tears it up so it can never be used against him. But... why bother? The fourth Blue-Eyes was in the care of an old man who was A) not a professional duelist anyway, and B) considered the card to have too much sentimental value to use it. If Seto had just left it alone Mr. Motou would have kept it in that little wooden box that no one was allowed to touch and Seto would never have had to worry about it being used against him!

** Basically, the first half and second half of Episode 1 are very far apart from each other in the manga. In the manga, Seto tried to get Solomon's card before he got the other three. Yami Yugi turned the Blue Eyes against him and made him envision his own death. So Seto set out to get revenge, and may have held a grudge against that particular copy of the card.

* Why exactly does Kaiba's reaction to Yugi fluctuate so much? Midway through Duelist Kingdom, he helps Yugi defeat his own Blue Eyes', when being used by someone else. He's cordial enough towards him when he runs into Yugi and the gang later on during the arc, only turning colder when he has to duel Yugi in order to save his brother. However, the two of them part Duelist Kingdom on pretty decent terms, agreeing that what happened during their second duel doesn't count and that the next time they duel they'll determine which of them is truly the best. Yugi even makes an indication that the two of them could move towards being actual friends. However, just a few episodes later (Which couldn't be more than a few days in-story, since it see's Kaiba and Mokuba returning from Duelist Kingdom to get their company back), during the Legendary Heroes Mini-Arc, when Mokuba tells Kaiba that he went to Yugi for help, Kaiba reacts negatively, saying that Mokuba knows how he feels about Yugi and that Mokuba should have asked ''anyone'' other than Yugi for help...What? Even taking into account their rivalry, he openly thanked Yugi for saving him and his brother at the conclusion to Duelist Kingdom. In fact, it's implied that he gave Yugi and the others a ride back to Domino City on his helicopter, since they mentioned that all the ships were gone and were running towards Kaiba asking for a ride. So, why exactly is Mokuba going to Yugi for help such a big deal when Yugi has 1) helped them in the past and 2) was on good terms with Kaiba the last time they spoke?

* At the end of the Duelist Kingdom Arc, Yami Bakura goes to Pegasus and [[EyeScream tears out the Millenium Eye]] from Pegasus. Why didn't the latter, y'know, have a glass eye made to replace it? Granted, he keeps it hidden under his PeekABangs, but Kaiba's shocked reaction when Pegasus shows him what's underneath his hair in the Pyramid of Light movie implies that Pegasus ''kept the empty eye socket''.

* Okay I realize this is a world where children's trading card games are SeriousBusiness but why do the characters (especially Tea) act like Joey and Yugi having to duel in the Duelist Kingdom's finals is the equivalent of Pegasus forcing a sadistic fight to the death? It's literally a win-win situation. Yugi wins and then beats Pegasus and he can fight Pegasus have his grandpa's soul free and give Joey the prize money. Joey wins and then beats Pegasus and he has the prize money for his sister's operation and can use Pegasus's one wish to free Yugi's grandpa's soul

** Seems like an unfortunate consequence of being TheChick. At that point, Anzu had only ever been a chronic damsel in distress and an occasional love interest -- never the focus of her own story. Takahashi clearly just wasn't interested in changing her role or giving her more development. Jonouchi, on the other hand, had long, long, long been established as our secondary main character, so he needed a purpose and a quest of his own, so that's where the writer's efforts were focused.

** The more likely explanation is that Rebecca insisted on it, either out of pride ("You're not seriously expecting the ''American Champion'' to actually Duel you on just a regular old table, are you?") or because she wanted to ensure that the stakes of the duel would be upheld. She's dueling for her grandfather's ultra rare card, after all, and she already thinks the Mutos and their friends are untrustworthy, so dueling in a public place where the duel might be recorded in some formal fashion might have offered some credibility if Yugi tried to back out of giving up the card after he lost.

* In the duel between Yugi and Rebecca, why did Swords of Revealing Light disappear so quickly? It hadn't been 3 of Rebecca's turns yet. Yugi played it, Rebecca summoned Cannon Soldier, Yugi destroyed it, then Rebecca passed her turn and Swords disappeared. That's only two turns.

** As murky as the Yu-Gi-Oh reincarnation system is, how disparate the various different individuals who are also sort of the same individual are is up to interpretation, a factor people in the fandom have taken UpToEleven. (It does make a convenient handwaving excuse.) BUT as far as canon is concerned, it's pretty definitive that Atem and Yami Yuugi are meant to be the same person - Yami's "My name is '''Atem'''!" declaration before [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence walking out]] can be considered confirmation.

** As for what the purpose of having Odion pretend to be him was, Marik's initial plan at that point was to use Odion (and it had to be Odion, because Joey sees him right before he's brainwashed by Marik) as a decoy to draw the attention of his enemies away from him so that he could work behind the scenes, gather information, and gain the trust of the good guys. Having Odion participate in the Finals also theoretically doubles Marik's changes of winning, while if "Marik" loses then the good guys end up thinking they've won and get lulled into a false sense of security—which makes it easier to beat them when "Namu" inevitably betrays them and reveals the truth. The ploy didn't work, of course, because Odion and Marik's personalities are very different and they didn't predict that Joey would manage to sniff it out, but if it had worked, it might have completely changed everything.

** As for what the purpose of having Odion pretend to be him was, I imagine that this wasn't any serious plan on Marik's part (which is to say, it wasn't a scheme he was hinging everything on). He was just taking every opportunity to gain any possible advantage he could. Odion is loyal to him, so having him take part in the finals theoretically increased his chances of being victorious since Odion winning would be, for all intents and purposes, the same as Marik winning. Having Odion impersonate him (and it had to be Odion, because Joey sees him after he gets kidnapped and brainwashed) does three things: 1) it makes it so that the good guys focused their attention on "Marik" instead of "Namu" (the fake name the real Marik went by), so that 2) he would be able to get close to the good guys and, perhaps, even gain their trust (and having someone's trust is always a nice thing to have when you're planning on destroying someone), and 3) if "Marik" loses, then the good guys end up thinking they've won and get lulled into a false sense of security, which makes it easier to beat them when "Namu" inevitably betrays them and reveals the truth. The ploy didn't work, of course, because Odion and Marik's personalities are very different and they didn't predict that Joey would manage to sniff it out, but Marik didn't lose much by trying it and if it had worked, it might have given him a very decisive advantage.

** While it may be filler, the explanation that Arthur Hopkins gives after Yugi's duel with Rebecca may serve as a good justification. Even though both he and Rebecca sacrificed Monsters to power up "Shadow Ghoul" in technically the exact same way, Arthur recognized and valued their contribution and honored them by considering them just as important as the "Shadow Ghoul" itself while Rebecca threw all her monsters away as fodder without a second thought. It's not the act of sacrificing monsters itself that matters so much as the context of the player's intent and appreciation of those monster's sacrifice.