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* SenpaiKohai: Pegasus is the sempai to Tenma Yakou and Tenma Gekkou of the ''R'' manga, which is again of debated canonicity.
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* PeekABangs: After he obtains the Millennium Eye. Conveniently used with very good camera angles in the Awakening The Dragon season of the anime and GX to hide that ''one of his eyes is missing''.
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!!'''Pegasus J. Crawford ([[DubNameChange Maximillion J. Pegasus]]) (ペガサス・ジェイ・クロフォード; ''Pegasasu Jei Kurofōdo'')'''
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pegasus_j_crawford_2.png]]
--> Voiced by: Creator/JirouJayTakasugi (JP), Creator/DarrenDunstan (EN), Gabriel Gama (Latin American Spanish), Cholo Moratalla (European Spanish)
->''"Yugi boy... from here on, it isn't just a battle between duelists... it's a battle between those who have been '''chosen''' by the '''Millennium Items'''. From here on... it's a '''Shadow Game'''!"''
The ArcVillain of the fourth arc of the manga (first arc in the anime), Pegasus is the enigmatic creator of Duel Monsters and the bearer of the Millennium Eye. He rarely appears before the public, many of whom have never seen his face. Some time after Yugi defeated Kaiba in his Death-T arena, Pegasus duels with Yugi in a Shadow Game...through a video tape, and ends up winning due to the time limit. Pegasus then inflicts a Penalty Game which seals his grandfather's soul into the video tape (in the anime, a blank Duel Monsters card) and asks Yugi to come to his tournament, Duelist Kingdom. It is later revealed that he desires to take over [=KaibaCorp=], and for that to happen, he needs to defeat Yugi in a official match in order to get the prestige title as top gamer. However, his real goal stretches beyond a mere company takeover...
Although he is killed by Dark Bakura in the manga, he survives in the anime. Resurrecting him is the plot of the manga spinoff ''Manga/YuGiOhR'', and he appears in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', ''Anime/YuGiOhTheMoviePyramidOfLight'' and ''Anime/YuGiOhBondsBeyondTime''. He also appears in the ''VideoGame/YuGiOhReshefOfDestruction'' video game as a main antagonist.
As the creator of Duel Monsters, he uses an exclusive and [[PurposelyOverpowered ridiculously broken]] Toon Deck, whose monsters cannot be destroyed except by other Toon monsters. On the off-chance that his Toons are overcome, he then pulls out the ''even more broken'' "Relinquished" and "Thousand-Eyes Restrict."
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[[folder:Tropes A-K]]
* AbsurdlyHighStakesGame: During his first match against Yugi, he puts Yugi's grandfather's soul on the line through a Shadow Game. Off-panel, he played an unknown game with Mokuba with his soul on the line. During his duel with Seto Kaiba, both Seto and Mokuba's souls are on the line. And during his final duel with Yugi and Dark Yugi, their souls are on the line, with the release of Sugoroku and the Kaiba brothers being the prize, as well as 60% of his company's stock.
* AchillesHeel: He's so reliant on the powers of his Millennium Eye to give him the edge in duels, that without it he's much less threatening. Yugi lectures him that a duelist needs intuition to duel, but Pegasus has relied on the foreknowledge provided by the Eye for so long that he's lost his intuition, and thus Pegasus starts second-guessing his moves and making misplays.
* AdaptationDyeJob: He has blue eyes in the manga, but they are brown in the anime. His white pants were also colored red in the anime.
* AdaptationalHeroism: Due to the fact that he survives past the point where his manga counterpart died, Pegasus becomes somewhat of an ally to Yugi and his friends in his later appearances in the anime.
* AffablyEvil: He may seem like a carefree goof until he gets serious, but even then he's genuinely good-mannered compared to most of the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' villains.
* AgentPeacock: A fashionable gentleman, a vicious soul-stealer, and a very dangerous opponent.
* AlmostKiss: In the anime, with Cecelia. It's interrupted as she turns into a rose and vanishes to symbolize her illness.
* AmbiguouslyGay: His childish, effeminate mannerisms give off this vibe, and yet he is very clearly identified as straight. This is a source of comedy in the AbridgedSeries.
* AnimeHair: He has a [[WebVideo/YugiohTheAbridgedSeries simply]] ''[[WebVideo/YugiohTheAbridgedSeries fabulous]]'' hairstyle.
* AntiVillain: [[SlidingScaleofAntiVillains Type II]]. All that he wanted was to be with his love, but he doesn't care how many people get hurt in the name of his goal.
* ArcVillain: Of the "Duelist Kingdom" arc, though moreso in the manga where he's killed off afterwards. In the anime, he makes several appearances later on, post-HeelFaceTurn.
* ArtifactOfDoom: The Millenium Eye isn't evil the way that the Millenium Ring is, but its power is hard to use for anything positive.
* AscendedFanboy: As a child, he was a huge fan of Western cartoons. In adulthood, he was able to create a deck centered around them, his cards both able to interact with ''him'' as well as overcome his opponent with a wink and a nod. Whenever any of his {{Toon}} monsters are destroyed in battle, he takes it personally.
* TheAtoner: During the anime continuity, where he tries to aid the cast during the DOMA arc and the film, and seems to have genuine regrets about his actions during Duelist Kingdom.
* AuthorAvatar: Of a sort. Pegasus is the in-universe creator of Duel Monsters and shares many traits with series creator Creator/KazukiTakahashi, especially his fondness for card games, [=RPGs=], and American comics and cartoons.
* BadassLongcoat: In ''GX'', when he's fitted with the technology to paint Rainbow Dragon, he is given a black longcoat to wear with all the gadgets on.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Thanks to the Millennium Eye, being an artifact capable of granting a wish, Pegasus does get to meet Cyndia again... but only for a fleeting moment, and it wasn't even the real thing -- just an illusion. It left Pegasus down an eye and in a very precarious mental state.
* BerserkButton: Don't mock Pegasus' Toon Monsters and don't try to take them down. Moreover, don't speak of his past and his plan in front of him.
* BewareTheSillyOnes: He acts foppish, playful, and generally acts like his duels are a big joke. However, he's actually very clever and manipulative, and when he drops the silly act he shows you just how ruthless he can be when he starts taking things seriously.
* ArcVillain: Of the Duelist Kingdom arc and the first parts of ''VideoGame/YuGiOhReshefOfDestruction''.
* BigBadEnsemble: With Dark Bakura during Duelist Kingdom, as Dark Bakura was pulling strings all on his own with Pegasus not even aware of the dark being's existence.
* BigDamnHeroes: In the anime movie ''The Pyramid of Light'', he saves Yugi's friends from death (or at least severe injuries) ''twice''.
* BigNo: A few times, the most known one being the one when he is defeated by Yugi.
* BigOMG: When he discovers the Egyptian Gods' tablet, he shouts "JEEEESUS!" in the Japanese anime. Before that, he actually says "Oh my god!" when Shadi tells him he knows where to find the tablet with the Gods on it.
* BigShutUp: To Dark Bakura in the Japanese version of the anime adaptation.
-->'''Bakura:''' So your social status and your actions are in fact a mask concealing your true intentions. An extremely roundabout way of reaching a goal hidden in the depths of your heart. And this goal is--
-->'''Pegasus:''' SHUT UP! Shut your mouth!
* BigWhat: On a few occasions.
* {{Bishonen}}: With the hair and the suits etc.
* BoringButPractical: In terms of abilities and outright power, his Millenium Eye ranks rather low among its peers, but it's a ridiculously advantageous tool in a game where knowing your opponent's next move all but guarantees victory.
* {{Brainwashed}}: By the Millennium Eye [[spoiler: or rather, the piece of Zorc infecting it]] to create Duel Monsters, a recreation of the Ka Shadow Games of Ancient Egypt, according to Takahashi.
* BreakoutCharacter: Despite being dead in the original manga, in the anime he was so popular that they kept him alive. He returns in several cameo appearances in ''GX'', even getting to duel again, he's a major antagonist again in ''VideoGame/YuGiOhReshefOfDestruction'', and he features in both mainstream movies. Even his Deck, Toons, is a perennial favorite for new support cards and something of a rogue deck. By contrast, the best Bakura and Marik can usually hope for are ''very'' rare cameos in the occasional video game.
* BringMyRedJacket: His eye-related injuries were not pretty. He also wears a [[WhiteShirtOfDeath white shirt]] underneath his red suit. He is killed at the end of Duelist Kingdom (only in the manga; he's kept alive in the anime), and he is actually killed temporarily in the Tenth Anniversary Movie for the NAS Duel Monsters anime.
* BroughtDownToBadass: He no longer has the advantage of mind-reading his opponents, but he's still the creator of Duel Monsters and knows the ins and outs of the game. This is shown when he manages to hold his own against Kaiba in ''Anime/YuGiOhTheMoviePyramidOfLight'' and when he beats Crowler and Napoleon in ''GX''.
* CampStraight: As foppish and well-groomed as he is, he had a girl he loved deeply and is doing everything he does to try and see her again.
* CaptainErsatz: Not Pegasus himself, but the "[[ShowWithinAShow Funny Rabbit]]" series he so often cites as his inspiration is clearly one for WesternAnimation/BugsBunny.
* CharacterDrivenStrategy: Maximillion Pegasus is most famous for his Toon deck; a deck that relies on "Toon World", a Spell card that was never officially released because of how insanely powerful it was. Being the founder of Duel Monsters, he had "Toon World" made due to his childhood love for WesternAnimation, and had based the entire archetype around it. Toon monsters are impossible to destroy using conventional attacks, with many of his strategies involving cards that steal his opponents cards, creating Toon-based parodies of his opponent's monsters. This tells us that Pegasus is a trickster that likes to toy with his opponents, using the power of the Millenium Eye to preemptively guess and subvert his opponent's moves. Like his cheating methods however, his Toon monsters are also incredibly fragile, his strategies falling apart in an instant should "Toon World" be taken off the board.
* CheatersNeverProsper: In Pegasus's case, [[{{Subverted}} they usually do.]] [[DoubleSubverted Take away his ability to cheat via the Millennium Eye, however, and things rapidly fall apart for him.]] Yugi points out that Pegasus is a lousy duelist, having used the item as a crutch for so long.
* ChekhovsHobby: We see him gleefully reading a comic book of Funny Rabbit. We later find out that Pegasus' love for the series and cartoons inspired his nigh invulnerable Toon Deck.
* ChekhovsSkill: While we don't actually see it, it was Pegasus' painting skills which may have saved him from dying horribly when he received the Millennium Eye. According to Takahashi, the Eye found Pegasus' abilities useful and used him to have "Ka battles" recreated as Duel Monsters in order to assemble the Millennium Items.
* TheChessmaster: Everything that happens on the island happens because he moved them there four turns ago.
* ChildhoodFriendRomance: He and Cyndia met when they were children and became attracted to each other, then they got engaged when they grew up (married in the dub). He doesn't get to cherish it for too long, however.
* ComicallyInvincibleHero: Seemingly the reason his Toon monsters have the ability to avoid or block attacks from other monsters; after this happened for the first time, Pegasus cites how the Funny Rabbit character had not once been caught by or hit with a bullet from his policeman nemesis.
* ComplexityAddiction: He organizes a tournament just to have a cover for taking over Kaiba Corporation! All he needed to do is defeat Yugi in an official duel. Granted, we do not know if Pegasus could have taken over the company in a different manner. The manga explains that due to Kaiba's reputation as Japan's #1 gamer being the lynchpin of the company's current success, an official tournament to restore the company's reputation independent of the then-invalid Kaiba was the condition that the Big Five set for Pegasus to take over.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Played with; there's nothing crooked about his game company "Industrial Illusions" (the selling of Duel Monster merchandise, etc) but his Duelist Kingdom tournament is rigged to benefit himself only.
* CripplingOverspecialization: Yami accuses him of having fallen victim to this when he manages to block Pegasus's mind-reading powers, claiming that Pegasus has become so dependent on being able to read his opponent's future moves that he's lost any real tactical ability he ever had for the game. While Pegasus does show more skill in his later duels, this could be attributed to him having time to re-learn his old tricks after losing the Eye, and he certainly finds himself missing his mind-reading ability after he can no longer rely on it in later Shadow Games.
* CuriosityIsACrapshoot: Shadi told him that the village is full of grave robbers and that he should just leave the place, as he will not find a cure to his heartache. Pegasus thinks he had read his mind, which makes him curious and follows him instead. Needless to say, [[EyeScream it does not]] end well.
* CuttingCorners: Pegasus clearly didn't spend a yen on Duelist Kingdom that he didn't have to; while the island does have some impressive dueling setups, the rest is pretty much all flash and no substance. There's no food or sleeping facilities provided for the duelists, losers apparently have to ''row'' back to the mainland themselves, and since the whole tournament was essentially rigged to allow Pegasus to beat Yugi, he never intended to pay out the prize money either.
* TheDandy: Foppish, prefers fancy suits, rich - he fits all the categories.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: As Anzu put it in the manga, "the death of his love was the beginning of his tragedy". Then he created the [[OlympusMons Egyptian God Cards]], which he considered his greatest mistake.
* DeadManWriting: In the anime only, during the Doma arc. Pegasus has his soul taken away by Mai, but he leaves a message behind in the form of a Solid Vision projection of himself for Yugi and his friends.
* DeathIsCheap: While he dies in the manga, he escapes this a few times in the anime.
** By the time of ''[=5D's=]'' he has passed away, likely from old age. [[note]]The "Pegasus J. Crawford Memorial Foundation" is shown as one of the sponsors for the [=WRGP=]. [[/note]]
* DemonicPossession: In the ''Reshef Of Destruction'' video game, he is gradually possessed by Reshef's evil powers, then the entity ultimately worms itself into his heart.
* DespairEventHorizon: After Cynthia's death. He lost all motivation to basically do anything, and went to Egypt due to learning of the ancient beliefs of life and death, but found nothing until he stumbled on Shadi and the Millennium Items. He was then forced to bear the Millennium Eye and ultimately went mad dedicating himself to see Cynthia, no matter what.
* DickDastardlyStopsToCheat: His Deck consists of an army of completely invincible and flagrantly broken monsters of his own creation. Does this stop him from cheating like a bandit with his Millennium Eye or rigging the circumstances? No, sir, it does not. And notably, he tends to be so thrown off when his opponents manage to adapt against his cheating that his own strategies fall apart.
* TheDragon: In ''Reshef Of Destruction'', he is this to Reshef.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: In the ''Tenth Anniversary Movie'' for the NAS Duel Monster anime universe, a building collapses on him thanks to Paradox's attack. It's undone by a ResetButton in the end, though.
* DubNameChange: His name change is unique in that the English manga used it as well.
* {{Eagleland}}: Not as blatant a Flavor 2 as Bandit Keith, but he ''is'' a filthy-rich ManChild obsessed with cartoons, who spouts GratuitousEnglish at the drop of a hat. In addition, the manga enjoys playing up both his {{Greed}} and [[TheScrooge miserliness]]: Kaiba recalls how he turned his duel with Bandit Keith into a glorified commercial, and Duelist Kingdom is rife with CuttingCorners, from the utter lack of accommodations for the contestants[[note]]Half the reason Yugi's gang hooks up with Mai is because she's the only one mature enough to have brought sleeping bags and, y'know, ''food''.[[/note]] to how the losers are expected to ''row'' back to the mainland by themselves. To top it all off, the Player Killer of Darkness (aka Panik) explains part of the Player Killers' jobs are to ensure Pegasus doesn't have to pay the tournament prize money to ''anyone''.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Pegasus's duel strategy involves using first his Toon monsters and then switch to his Illusion monsters if the opponent is tough enough, but in his first duel with Yugi, Pegasus's main force is instead based in weird clown-like monsters and cards which mess with his opponent's mind, most notably the Faceless Mage and the Dragon Piper. They definitely fit Pegasus and his stylized trickster gimmick, but are never used again except the Dragon Piper, which is used as a sacrifice against Kaiba. It's possible he didn't want to show his hand so early, and being [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney the maker]] [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem of the game]], he can use whatever cards he wants.
* EasilyForgiven: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. In the anime, when he turns up in the film and the DOMA arc, the cast are wary, but willing to listen to him.
* EasyComeEasyGo: His anime self isn't too concerned with losing his Millennium Eye, possibly realizing that the ability to see but not touch his lost love was more trouble than it was worth.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: In the anime when Jounouchi beats Keith, he reveals that Keith was cheating the entire duel, and congratulates Jounouchi on winning fairly while his guards haul Keith away, and later drops him down a trap door into the ocean. In the manga, he gives Keith an even worse punishment, turning Keith's hand into a gun and forcing him to play Russian Roulette as a Penalty Game.
** He also [[IGaveMyWord keeps his promises]]. When Yugi successfully defeats Pegasus, the man honors his word and releases the souls of Kaiba, Mokuba, and Yugi's grandfather, proving that even at his worst, he is by no means an oath breaker.
* EvilPlan: Use the tournament and soul hostages to acquire Kaiba Corp by beating the King of Games in Duel Monsters (Kaiba Corp's execs need their CEO to be a top-level gamer), and see and feel his beloved fiancee/wife again using Kaiba Corporation's Solid Vision technology.
* EyeScream: In the manga, when he receives the Millennium Eye (which is not an eye piece, but an entire replacement eye ball), he is heard screaming while we're shown a ShadowDiscretionShot, and it happens again when Bakura steals the Eye and kills him. The anime actually shows Shadi pushing the Eye into his socket, with visible blood afterwards, though Bakura tearing it out is offscreen.
* {{Fanboy}}: Of American cartoons, particularly ''Funny Rabbit''. [[{{Geek}} He also knows exactly how many episodes the series has and how many bullets were fired at the main character by the police.]][[note]]583 episodes and 26,000 bullets, respectively.[[/note]] And he is not happy whenever his Toon Monsters get destroyed...
* FinalBoss: Of the Duelist Kingdom arc. For Dark Yugi to secure the release of all those Pegasus has abducted with his Penalty Games, he first has to beat the billionaire in a duel.
* FixingTheGame: Makes heavy use of his Millennium Eye to read the mind of his opponents, granting him a huge advantage in any duel. If that weren't enough, he makes ''two'' GameBreaker sets of cards. [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem He can do that; he made the game after all]].
* {{Foil}}: His flair, smooth confidence, [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative ability]], and results contrast dramatically with the brutally direct failures of [[SmugSnake Bandit Keith]], the arc's other prominent antagonist.
* FourIsDeath: His four Player Killers.
* FreudianExcuse: Cynthia is this to him; all his evil is for her sake.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: In the anime, given how much trouble he put them through and his own eccentricities, the cast are reluctant to ever cross paths with him again and are immensely distrustful of him when they have to.
* FriendToAllChildren: [[TheUnfettered As long as they don't have something he wants or can be used as leverage against the people who]] ''[[TheUnfettered do]]'', Pegasus is great with kids. During the National Tournament, before dueling against Keith, he explains how to play the card game to the kids there (though Kaiba points out in the manga that it was a move to create positive advertisement for the card game). In ''Yu-Gi-Oh R'', he adopted orphans from all around the world to tutor them as card designers.
%%* GentlemanSnarker: Especially towards Kaiba.
* AGlassOfChianti: He is fond of his wine. It is even listed as one of his favorite foods.
* GoneHorriblyRight: If implanted, the Millennium Eye will kill the host if he is unworthy. Unfortunately for the Mutous and the Kaibas, Pegasus was very worthy.
* GracefulLoser: While he's devastated from losing in his duel against Yugi, he nevertheless keeps his promise and returns his victims' souls.
* GratuitousEnglish: Constantly uses English phrases in his dialogue in the Japanese version, including a despairing ''Shiiiiiiit!'' when he loses to Yugi. In particular, his constantly calling Yugi "Yugi-boy" is taken directly from the Japanese version, where he does it in gratuitous English.
* HiddenAgendaVillain: In the manga. We first know he needs something from Yugi, no matter what. Later, we learn from Mokuba that Pegasus intends to take over Kaiba Corporation and must defeat Yugi in an official duel as part of his deal with the Big Five. We don't know why he needs Kaiba's company until the very end of Duelist Kingdom. The dub, and to a lesser extent the original anime, hints at Pegasus' real goal more clearly with giving more importance to Cyndia's portrait in episode 28 (in the manga, the group viewed it briefly, and that's it) and dub!Pegasus' InnerMonologue in episode 34 clearly reveals what he is fighting for.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: A majority of Pegasus' cards involve exploiting the power of his opponent's monsters, spells, and traps for his own benefit. Shadow Toon deserves special mention as it inflicts life point damage equal to the targeted monster's attack points.
** On a bit of a personal level, his grand designs to revive his wife were put down by someone wielding the very cards he invented.
* {{Homage}}: His Toon Monsters are this to American cartoons. Also, he prints cards for special events. [[TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering Richard Garfield]] printed three special cards for his marriage and the birth of his two children.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Calls out Keith for cheating, while he himself uses his Millennium Eye and position as creator of Duel Monsters to full advantage. However, it's averted with regards to how they react to their defeats. Unlike Keith, who proved to be a SoreLoser after his defeat to Joey and tried to threaten Pegasus with a gun, Pegasus [[GracefulLoser accepts his defeat gracefully and honors his promises]]. It should be noted that Pegasus didn't take the drastic step of dumping Keith into the ocean (Anime) or inflicting a lethal Penalty Game (Manga) until ''after'' Keith threatened him with a gun in the former case, and a knife in the latter..
* ICannotSelfTerminate: In ''Reshef Of Destruction'', Reshef worms itself into Pegasus' heart, who then asks the main character to have him sealed away before Reshef takes him over.
* IcyBlueEyes: He's cold and distant as an antagonist.
* IGaveMyWord: Pegasus promises to release the souls of Seto, Mokuba, and his grandfather if Yugi can defeat him. After he is defeated, Yugi tells him to fulfill his promise, which he does.
* InnocentBlueEyes: In the manga - he is fairly innocent and naive as a teenager (he wants to help a stranger in Egypt who got into trouble, who is in fact a graverobber who stole a Millennium Item).
* {{Irony}}: When Pegasus also seals Kaiba's soul and looks at the two Soul Prison cards with Mokuba and Kaiba's souls in them, he mentions that the two brothers will never know the joy of restarting their relationship in this life. Then comes the end of Duelist Kingdom where karma strikes back at Pegasus - he fails to fulfil his dream of reuniting with Cyndia in his life. Upon learning about Pegasus' past, that particular quote becomes somewhat ironic, even.
* IveNeverSeenAnythingLikeThisBefore: One of the reasons why his Toons are so powerful. Nobody's ever seen Toon World or Toon monsters in play, as they were too powerful to be circulated, so nobody knew how to counter them.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes K-Z]]
* KarmaHoudini: In the anime, while he ''does'' get humbled after the Milennium Eye is stolen (and also, y'know, gets one of his eyes gouged out in the process), he largely goes unpunished for his actions in Duelist Kingdom, and his business continues running. [=5Ds=] even implies that he's memorialized as a ''[[HistoricalHeroUpgrade hero]]'' after his death. [[TheAtoner At the same time]], he's shown to have truly turned over a new leaf, working to properly improve ''Duel Monsters'' and in [=GX=] is shown to use his past experiences in regards to those who have lost their way, as seen in his reconciliation with Franz, so his status in that continuity perhaps isn't ''quite'' undeserved. He stays dead in the manga continuity and Gekko Tenma is the one who takes over Industrial Illusions. He is mentioned in Koyo Hibiki's backstory during the [=GX=] manga as the one who gave him Winged Kuriboh, but his face is notably shadowed and ominous there, reminding the reader of his shadier past.
* KickTheDog: Although a majority of the things he does as a villain are in service of a sympathetic goal, the man has way too much fun playing the bad guy along the way and isn't above messing with people for completely unrelated reasons.
* KubrickStare: In the anime, especially during his second duel with Yugi.
* LargeHam: In the original manga, anime, and dub versions he is a showman.
* LaughablyEvil: During Duelist Kingdom. He may be amoral, but he's just so funny while he's doing it. Given that Dark Yugi and Kaiba are [[TheStoic Stoic]] {{Straight M|an}}en in response, perhaps he just can't resist.
-->"What, no 'hello', no 'how are you'? I thought we were friends, Kaiba-boy. Don't tell me that my kidnapping Mokuba and seizing control of your company has put a rift between us. [[SincerityMode It was]] [[NothingPersonal nothing]] ''[[{{Irony}} personal.]]''" ---English dub Pegasus
* {{Leitmotif}}: "Illusion" in the Japanese anime.
* LetsGetDangerous: He made the game, and has the Millennium Eye, yet it's still hard to take him seriously. His duel with Kaiba and ''especially'' his second Shadow Game with Yugi establish just how dangerous this man is.
* LongHairedPrettyBoy: He has shoulder length hair.
* LoveAtFirstSight: He and Cynthia became attracted to each other as soon as they met.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: His desire to reunite with Cynthia leads him to do rather monstrous things.
* MacGuffinDeliveryService: The primary reason Pegasus didn't mind Yugi's friends accompanying him into his private castle (in the anime at least) was that, thanks to Bakura, the group would be bringing him two Millennium Items rather than just the Puzzle. He simply didn't care one way or other in the manga, where he did not know that Bakura had the Ring.
* MagicalEye: The Millennium Eye is a golden trinket in his eye socket that gives him the power of mind reading and, obviously, Shadow Games.
* ManipulativeBastard:
** Using the Millennium Eye to read minds gives him an ''absurd'' advantage over opponents: he can see every card they have, knows every strategy they're thinking of, and can look deeper into their memories to see their entire deck. Aside from his Toons, many of his cards have a Control theme, where he manipulates the opponent's moves and turns their cards back on them, which in tandem with his Eye lets him counter almost anything they might try to throw at him.
** He's also just good at this in general, knowing how to manipulate Yugi and Kaiba perfectly. He abducts Grandpa Muto and Mokuba to force the two to come to his island, when Kaiba is set on rescuing Mokuba he ups the ante by sealing his soul in a card, and when Kaiba tries to force Pegasus to use his Duel Disks, Pegasus agrees on the condition that Kaiba duel Mokuba as Pegasus' proxy, forcing him to back down since he can't bring himself to do it.
* {{Magitek}}: Thematically represents such as a contrast to Yugi and Kaiba's MagicVersusScience rivalry, having the Millennium Eye to combat Yugi's Puzzle while being Kaiba's business partner looking to take over his company. Even more apt in the dub, which states that Pegasus's plan to revive his wife was to combine the Millennium Items with Kaiba Corp's hologram technology.
* MeaningfulName: In Japan, a pegasus is often referred to as a "tenma", or "horse of heaven" (ten=heaven, ma=horse). However, there's another word "tenma". The same "ten" kanji is used for both, but the second tenma's "ma" kanji is the one that translates to "demon". Thus, we have a homonym meaning "demon of heaven"...or, to keep the actual, non-literal intent, "fallen angel".
* MindRape: One of his Penalty Games. He grotesquely morphed Bandit Keith's hand into a gun and, against his will, made him play Russian Roulette with himself (reliving his depression after he was humiliated by Pegasus in the American tournament).
* MissingMom: In the manga, his father can be briefly seen, but nothing is known about his mother.
* MoodWhiplash: Oh boy. Pegasus often changes between a cruel villain and a goofy gentleman, but his duel against Yugi is the best example. Even his deck is this Trope, shifting from the silly Toon Monsters to the bizarre and creepy Illusion Monsters. See VillainousBreakdown below.
* TheMourningAfter: He was willing to do anything to reunite with [[VictoriousChildhoodFriend Cynthia]]... In the manga, he goes to the grave with this wish in his heart. In the anime, the entire subject is dropped after Duelist Kingdom. [[note]]Save for Dark Yugi remembering Pegasus' backstory during the Doma arc in the original anime, but that scene was altered in the dub.[[/note]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Though it happens way before his actual HeelFaceTurn, the carnage caused by his recreation of the Egyptian God Cards completely horrified him.
* MysteriousMiddleInitial: It has never been stated what the J. stands for.
* {{Necromantic}}: The means of his EvilPlan; revive Cyndia, at least in the dub, by using the Millennium Puzzle to bring a hologram of her to life...or something. In the manga, he tragically just wants to feel and see her visage again using Kaiba Corp's Solid Vision.
* {{Nerf}}: Pegasus's Toon cards are this in ''GX''. While they're still useful, they're no longer the {{Game Breaker}}s they were in the original anime. [[FridgeBrilliance Maybe these were the versions he modified and released to the public?]]
* NeverSayDie: The 4Kids dub ''averts'' this with Cyndia.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Being an American game designer who created a popular card game InUniverse, Pegasus' clearly a {{homage}} to ''Creator/RichardGarfield'', who's best-known for being the creator of ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', '''the''' TropeCodifier of TradingCardGame.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: He uses this tactic against Seto Kaiba and Yugi.
* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: He traps Yugi's grandfather's soul in order to force Yugi to come to Duelist Kingdom.
* OhCrap: Gets this look after Yugi summons Magician of Black Chaos.
* PayEvilUntoEvil: In the manga, he deals a brutal and horrific death to Bandit Keith with a penalty game. Few people would shed any tears over him. Downplayed in the anime, where Keith is simply dropped through a trap door into the ocean.
* PeekABangs: After he obtains the Millennium Eye. Conveniently used with very good camera angles in the Awakening The Dragon season of the anime and GX to hide that ''one of his eyes is missing''.
* PetTheDog:
** At his arrival at Shadi's village, upon seeing a terrified graverobber seized by Shadi's men, he ''immediately'' offers to pay for whatever was stolen. And this is supposed to be at the ''nadir'' of his post-Cyndia depression, to boot!
** In the manga, he agrees to forgo the finals duel between Yugi and Joey and lets Yugi duel him outright.
* PosthumousCharacter: In the spin-off manga, ''Yu-Gi-Oh R'', and the manga continuity as a whole.
* PsychopathicManchild: He loves his favorite comic book and his Toon monsters, but there's a broken and ''very'' dangerous man under the childish exterior.
* RedemptionDemotion: As the ArcVillain of Duelist Kingdom, Pegasus was a near-unstoppable force and it took everything in Yugi's arsenal to defeat him. Following that arc's resolution, whenever Pegasus reappears, he is presented as an ally to Yugi and his friends. In those appearance, his prowess is less on display, losing his soul to Mai during the DOMA arc and suffering a defeat at Kaiba's hand in the ''Pyramid of Light'' movie. A JustifiedTrope as, without his Millenium Eye, Pegasus lost his biggest advantage over other players and was no longer able to counter his opponent's strategies as swiftly as he could when he knew what cards they were holding.
* RetiredMonster: In the ''Pyramid of Light'' movie--he's not technically a villain anymore, but he's not really good either, and generally seems to prefer staying out of the affairs of the main cast until it becomes clear that something more sinister is going on. The anime moves him to a proper HeelFaceTurn that is better seen in [=GX=].
* SadClown: Throughout the series, he is shown being a overly-competent GigglingVillain and a cheap-skate who is willing to hold souls hostage, humiliate his opponents and lie and cheat to get what he wants. After Yugi and Yami defeats him, it is revealed that everything he ever did was just so that he could be reunited with his dead love Cyndia.
* SanitySlippage: After getting the Eye: constantly seeing Cyndia just out of reach, unable to touch her and knowing that she's just an illusion cannot have been good for his mental stability.
* SarcasticClapping: In the anime, when Kaiba finds Mokuba in the dungeon.
* ScarsAreForever: Post-Duelist Kingdom in the anime, much to the horror to those who witness his empty eye socket.
* SchrodingersCast: He's dead and gone in the manga following Duelist Kingdom, but in the anime he survived. The manga spin-off ''Manga/YuGiOhR'' introduced his protégé Yako Tenma who planned to resurrect him, and Gekko Tenma, Yako's twin brother who stepped in to run the company after Pegasus passed. The anime eventually brought him back for the movie, Seasons 4 and 5 and ''GX'', and in the video game ''VideoGame/YuGiOhReshefOfDestruction'' he gets possessed by Reshef after the events of Battle City and is one of the game's main antagonist, being sealed away with the entity afterwards.
* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: As the creator of Duel Monsters, Pegasus creates cards that are in-universe {{Game Breaker}}s, such as Toon World, Relinquished, and Thousand-Eyes Restrict, all of which have very powerful effects that singlehandedly turn the tide of duels and are very difficult to counter. Then he never releases them to the public and keeps them for himself. The heroes lampshade that this is obscenely unfair. His Toon monsters also fall under NewRulesAsThePlotDemands, as their effects are tweaked every time he uses them until ''GX'' brings them in-line with their real-life counterparts.
** In Duelist Kingdom, Jounochi and Keith arguably entered the tournament illegally, since they don't have their own dueling gloves or entry cards. Pegasus waves this off and simply treats them as regular competitors.
** Possibly averted by the time of ''GX'', since by that time his Toon cards are somewhat {{Nerfed}} and more like their real-life versions. [[FridgeBrilliance These newer versions may have been released to the public.]]
* SenpaiKohai: Pegasus is the sempai to Tenma Yakou and Tenma Gekkou of the ''R'' manga, which is again of debated canonicity.
* ShowerScene: In the novelization of the ''Pyramid of Light'' movie. While we don't see it in the actual movie, [[{{Fanservice}} it is lovingly detailed in the novel]].
-->"Pegasus’ entire body is drenched with a cold sweat. Flinging off his silk pajamas to expose his naked white body, he took a hot shower."
* SissyVillain: He's foppish, childish, and thin, but he's still an intimidating force to reckon with.
* SlasherSmile: In the anime once his duel with Yugi becomes a Shadow Game and he's on the cusp of winning.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: He's the anime's StarterVillain and an ArcVillain in the manga, but setting up Duel Monsters arguably makes everything in the franchise past his arc possible. Including several near end of the world scenarios. He still counts as this in the manga, as his creation of the God Cards and introduction of the Millennium Eye set up several of the arc conflicts afterwards, with ''Dungeon Dice Monsters'' as the only exception.
* SparedByTheAdaptation: Dark Bakura kills him in the manga after he steals his Millennium Eye, but Pegasus survives in the anime and anime-based spinoffs and movies.
* SquishyWizard: While he's quite smart and manipulates people rather well, he's described as physically weak in the ''Pyramid of Light'' novelization, and in the original manga, he tells Kaiba he's not good at physical sports when the Duel Disk prototype is suggested. He's thus a contrast to Bandit Keith, who takes up the role of the big, strong thug.
* StarCrossedLovers: With Cyndia. He tries to reunite with her twice, failing both of the times. But in the manga, they do reunite after Pegasus is killed by Bakura and atones for his sins.
* StartOfDarkness: His backstory shows how he went from a lovestruck painter to a man who steals souls.
* StealingTheCredit: While rich to start with, he became obscenely wealthy because he "created" Duel Monsters when many of its initial game components and rules were created by the ancient Egyptians.
* StepfordSmiler: His silly and childish exterior hides both insanity and desperation.
* TalkingToTheDead: In the anime, he addresses his beloved's portrait before realizing he's being watched by Dark Bakura.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Plans to use Jigen Bakudan to nuke his own field while Relinquished has absorbed Yugi's monsters. Pegasus's score would be unaffected due to Relinquished's Attack Power being zero, but Yami Yugi would take the full 3900 Attack Points of damage that Relinquished had absorbed. Let's keep in mind that Yugi only had 400 Life Points left on that turn. Overkill is kinda putting it mildly.
* TogetherInDeath: With Cyndia in the manga, according to Takahashi.
* TooAwesomeToUse: Outside of the cards based on those used in the Egyptian Shadow Games, the expansions Pegasus and his development teams made to Duel Monsters occasionally fell into this. Some of these he keeps to himself (the Toons). Others that were either too powerful or simply unfinished were offered as tournament prizes to be won and owned, but never played. The Egyptian God Cards are the most well-known examples, as their connection to the actual entities turned the cards into incredibly dangerous magical artifacts on top of being powerful cards, which hadn't been Pegasus' intention when he created them, leading to him giving the cards to Ishizu for safe-keeping. Another example is the Golden Castle of Stromberg from the ''KC Grand Prix'' filler arc, which was a partially-developed tournament prize that was never supposed to be used in actual competition.
* TookALevelInBadass: A mild example. As other entries note, Pegasus originally had trouble improvising when opponents found a way around his Toon cards and Millennium Eye. However, by the time of ''GX'' he beats Crowler and Bonaparte in convincing fashion without any special advantages (he uses Toon Kingdom, but it's been deliberately nerfed to be balanced). Since his previous defeats by Yugi and Kaiba, Pegasus has clearly been polishing his dueling skills.
* {{Toon}}: His Toon World magic card transforms monsters into classic toons, complete with the ability to stretch out of the way of attacks. They include Toon Mermaid, Manga Ryu-Ran, Toon Summoned Skull, and the exceptionally powerful Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon.
* TragicDream: His desire to spend the rest of his life with Cyndia makes him a TragicVillain.
* TrapDoor: When Bandit Keith threatens his life in the anime, Pegasus presses a button with his foot that opens a trap door around the perimeter of his seat that sends Keith into the ocean.
* TheTrickster: One of the more malevolent examples. His deck and play-style have a strong emphasis on rule-bending to just straight-up cheating and his Millenium Eye allows him to plan ways to subvert his opponent's strategies turns in advance. His toons are evocative of {{Karmic Trickster}}s and {{Screwball Squirrel}}s in WesternAnimation, with every other card being clown-esque in some way.
* TroubledFetalPosition[=/=]DullEyesOfUnhappiness: After Cyndia's death he completely shuts down, only recovering after his trip to Egypt.
* TheUnfettered: For his beloved Cyndia, he will steal souls, buy whole companies and crush anyone he needs to.
* UnskilledButStrong: He has the most powerful deck of his time by a wide margin and supernatural magic on his side. But whenever he can't rely on either, his strategies tend to devolve into firing blindly with his strongest cards while ignoring any defenses the opponent might have set up (which, both times against Yugi, is what does him in).
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Bringing Duel Monsters into the modern era makes him responsible for the original series, its successors, and all the wondrous and cataclysmic events therein.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: In his flashbacks, he was shown to be a kind boy.
* VerbalTic: "Deeeesu!" and "Maaaasu!" in the Japanese. In both versions, he tends to tack a person's gender onto the end of their name, IE "Kaiba-boy."
* VillainForgotToLevelGrind: Dark Yugi suspects that Pegasus's dueling skills have decayed quite a bit since he started using the Millennium Eye, forcing him to heavily rely on the effects of his overpowered Toons and Thousand-Eyes Restrict when the Eye's magic is blocked. He's proven right when these effects are worked around and Pegasus is defeated. Later duels in the series don't go much better for him, though he's apparently grown out of this by the time of ''GX''.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: In the anime, he survives the Duelist Kingdom arc and remains a beloved cultural icon in the eyes of the world with his crimes of kidnapping and corporate espionage never coming up.
* VillainousBreakdown: When Yugi and Dark Yugi manage to use their Mind Shuffle tactic to evade Pegasus' Mind Scan ability ''and'' destroy all his Toon Monsters. Pegasus immediately drops his silly persona and stops toying around, starting a high-level Shadow Game where he even manages to psychically wear out the regular Yugi, albeit temporarily. It's underscored by him changing from the dangerous, yet still goofy Toons to the horrifying, outwardly malevolent Illusion monsters.
* VillainsOutShopping: He is shown drinking wine and reading his Funny Rabbit manga during the Duelist Kingdom tournament.
* VillainSong: For the English 4Kids dub: ''Face Up, Face Down''.
* VocalDissonance: His campy and flowery way of speaking, compared to all the horrible things he does. It's even worse in the Japanese version.
* WhiteHairBlackHeart: He's a cold and manipulative villain, though he does have some sympathetic qualities and [[HeelFaceTurn and he drops this quality after he is defeated.]]
* WickedCultured: He's sophisticated, smart, drinks fine wine and dresses well.
* TheWonka: He's the creator of Duel Monsters, and is very rich. He's also fond of metaphors, cartoons and has an [[GratuitousEnglish odd]] [[VerbalTic speech pattern]]. His only close friends are Cyndia (who died), or at the most, Mr. Croquet, his bodyguard. He also has his adopted children in ''Yu-Gi-Oh R''. Nonetheless, he has made his eccentricities, specifically his passion for toons, around which he created an entire archetype, work to his advantage as a game designer.
* WouldHurtAChild: Though this stops after Yugi defeats him.
* YoungerThanHeLooks: Many people assume he's in his thirties or is much older due to both his white hair and his aristocrat vibe. He's only 24 years old during Duelist Kingdom.
* YourSoulIsMine: Most of his Penalty Games involve sealing the loser's soul in inanimate objects. Unfortunately for Bandit Keith in the manga, he got the only downright lethal one.
[[/folder]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pegasus_j_crawford_2.png]]
--> Voiced by: Creator/JirouJayTakasugi (JP), Creator/DarrenDunstan (EN), Gabriel Gama (Latin American Spanish), Cholo Moratalla (European Spanish)
->''"Yugi boy... from here on, it isn't just a battle between duelists... it's a battle between those who have been '''chosen''' by the '''Millennium Items'''. From here on... it's a '''Shadow Game'''!"''
The ArcVillain of the fourth arc of the manga (first arc in the anime), Pegasus is the enigmatic creator of Duel Monsters and the bearer of the Millennium Eye. He rarely appears before the public, many of whom have never seen his face. Some time after Yugi defeated Kaiba in his Death-T arena, Pegasus duels with Yugi in a Shadow Game...through a video tape, and ends up winning due to the time limit. Pegasus then inflicts a Penalty Game which seals his grandfather's soul into the video tape (in the anime, a blank Duel Monsters card) and asks Yugi to come to his tournament, Duelist Kingdom. It is later revealed that he desires to take over [=KaibaCorp=], and for that to happen, he needs to defeat Yugi in a official match in order to get the prestige title as top gamer. However, his real goal stretches beyond a mere company takeover...
Although he is killed by Dark Bakura in the manga, he survives in the anime. Resurrecting him is the plot of the manga spinoff ''Manga/YuGiOhR'', and he appears in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', ''Anime/YuGiOhTheMoviePyramidOfLight'' and ''Anime/YuGiOhBondsBeyondTime''. He also appears in the ''VideoGame/YuGiOhReshefOfDestruction'' video game as a main antagonist.
As the creator of Duel Monsters, he uses an exclusive and [[PurposelyOverpowered ridiculously broken]] Toon Deck, whose monsters cannot be destroyed except by other Toon monsters. On the off-chance that his Toons are overcome, he then pulls out the ''even more broken'' "Relinquished" and "Thousand-Eyes Restrict."
-----
[[folder:Tropes A-K]]
* AbsurdlyHighStakesGame: During his first match against Yugi, he puts Yugi's grandfather's soul on the line through a Shadow Game. Off-panel, he played an unknown game with Mokuba with his soul on the line. During his duel with Seto Kaiba, both Seto and Mokuba's souls are on the line. And during his final duel with Yugi and Dark Yugi, their souls are on the line, with the release of Sugoroku and the Kaiba brothers being the prize, as well as 60% of his company's stock.
* AchillesHeel: He's so reliant on the powers of his Millennium Eye to give him the edge in duels, that without it he's much less threatening. Yugi lectures him that a duelist needs intuition to duel, but Pegasus has relied on the foreknowledge provided by the Eye for so long that he's lost his intuition, and thus Pegasus starts second-guessing his moves and making misplays.
* AdaptationDyeJob: He has blue eyes in the manga, but they are brown in the anime. His white pants were also colored red in the anime.
* AdaptationalHeroism: Due to the fact that he survives past the point where his manga counterpart died, Pegasus becomes somewhat of an ally to Yugi and his friends in his later appearances in the anime.
* AffablyEvil: He may seem like a carefree goof until he gets serious, but even then he's genuinely good-mannered compared to most of the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' villains.
* AgentPeacock: A fashionable gentleman, a vicious soul-stealer, and a very dangerous opponent.
* AlmostKiss: In the anime, with Cecelia. It's interrupted as she turns into a rose and vanishes to symbolize her illness.
* AmbiguouslyGay: His childish, effeminate mannerisms give off this vibe, and yet he is very clearly identified as straight. This is a source of comedy in the AbridgedSeries.
* AnimeHair: He has a [[WebVideo/YugiohTheAbridgedSeries simply]] ''[[WebVideo/YugiohTheAbridgedSeries fabulous]]'' hairstyle.
* AntiVillain: [[SlidingScaleofAntiVillains Type II]]. All that he wanted was to be with his love, but he doesn't care how many people get hurt in the name of his goal.
* ArcVillain: Of the "Duelist Kingdom" arc, though moreso in the manga where he's killed off afterwards. In the anime, he makes several appearances later on, post-HeelFaceTurn.
* ArtifactOfDoom: The Millenium Eye isn't evil the way that the Millenium Ring is, but its power is hard to use for anything positive.
* AscendedFanboy: As a child, he was a huge fan of Western cartoons. In adulthood, he was able to create a deck centered around them, his cards both able to interact with ''him'' as well as overcome his opponent with a wink and a nod. Whenever any of his {{Toon}} monsters are destroyed in battle, he takes it personally.
* TheAtoner: During the anime continuity, where he tries to aid the cast during the DOMA arc and the film, and seems to have genuine regrets about his actions during Duelist Kingdom.
* AuthorAvatar: Of a sort. Pegasus is the in-universe creator of Duel Monsters and shares many traits with series creator Creator/KazukiTakahashi, especially his fondness for card games, [=RPGs=], and American comics and cartoons.
* BadassLongcoat: In ''GX'', when he's fitted with the technology to paint Rainbow Dragon, he is given a black longcoat to wear with all the gadgets on.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Thanks to the Millennium Eye, being an artifact capable of granting a wish, Pegasus does get to meet Cyndia again... but only for a fleeting moment, and it wasn't even the real thing -- just an illusion. It left Pegasus down an eye and in a very precarious mental state.
* BerserkButton: Don't mock Pegasus' Toon Monsters and don't try to take them down. Moreover, don't speak of his past and his plan in front of him.
* BewareTheSillyOnes: He acts foppish, playful, and generally acts like his duels are a big joke. However, he's actually very clever and manipulative, and when he drops the silly act he shows you just how ruthless he can be when he starts taking things seriously.
* ArcVillain: Of the Duelist Kingdom arc and the first parts of ''VideoGame/YuGiOhReshefOfDestruction''.
* BigBadEnsemble: With Dark Bakura during Duelist Kingdom, as Dark Bakura was pulling strings all on his own with Pegasus not even aware of the dark being's existence.
* BigDamnHeroes: In the anime movie ''The Pyramid of Light'', he saves Yugi's friends from death (or at least severe injuries) ''twice''.
* BigNo: A few times, the most known one being the one when he is defeated by Yugi.
* BigOMG: When he discovers the Egyptian Gods' tablet, he shouts "JEEEESUS!" in the Japanese anime. Before that, he actually says "Oh my god!" when Shadi tells him he knows where to find the tablet with the Gods on it.
* BigShutUp: To Dark Bakura in the Japanese version of the anime adaptation.
-->'''Bakura:''' So your social status and your actions are in fact a mask concealing your true intentions. An extremely roundabout way of reaching a goal hidden in the depths of your heart. And this goal is--
-->'''Pegasus:''' SHUT UP! Shut your mouth!
* BigWhat: On a few occasions.
* {{Bishonen}}: With the hair and the suits etc.
* BoringButPractical: In terms of abilities and outright power, his Millenium Eye ranks rather low among its peers, but it's a ridiculously advantageous tool in a game where knowing your opponent's next move all but guarantees victory.
* {{Brainwashed}}: By the Millennium Eye [[spoiler: or rather, the piece of Zorc infecting it]] to create Duel Monsters, a recreation of the Ka Shadow Games of Ancient Egypt, according to Takahashi.
* BreakoutCharacter: Despite being dead in the original manga, in the anime he was so popular that they kept him alive. He returns in several cameo appearances in ''GX'', even getting to duel again, he's a major antagonist again in ''VideoGame/YuGiOhReshefOfDestruction'', and he features in both mainstream movies. Even his Deck, Toons, is a perennial favorite for new support cards and something of a rogue deck. By contrast, the best Bakura and Marik can usually hope for are ''very'' rare cameos in the occasional video game.
* BringMyRedJacket: His eye-related injuries were not pretty. He also wears a [[WhiteShirtOfDeath white shirt]] underneath his red suit. He is killed at the end of Duelist Kingdom (only in the manga; he's kept alive in the anime), and he is actually killed temporarily in the Tenth Anniversary Movie for the NAS Duel Monsters anime.
* BroughtDownToBadass: He no longer has the advantage of mind-reading his opponents, but he's still the creator of Duel Monsters and knows the ins and outs of the game. This is shown when he manages to hold his own against Kaiba in ''Anime/YuGiOhTheMoviePyramidOfLight'' and when he beats Crowler and Napoleon in ''GX''.
* CampStraight: As foppish and well-groomed as he is, he had a girl he loved deeply and is doing everything he does to try and see her again.
* CaptainErsatz: Not Pegasus himself, but the "[[ShowWithinAShow Funny Rabbit]]" series he so often cites as his inspiration is clearly one for WesternAnimation/BugsBunny.
* CharacterDrivenStrategy: Maximillion Pegasus is most famous for his Toon deck; a deck that relies on "Toon World", a Spell card that was never officially released because of how insanely powerful it was. Being the founder of Duel Monsters, he had "Toon World" made due to his childhood love for WesternAnimation, and had based the entire archetype around it. Toon monsters are impossible to destroy using conventional attacks, with many of his strategies involving cards that steal his opponents cards, creating Toon-based parodies of his opponent's monsters. This tells us that Pegasus is a trickster that likes to toy with his opponents, using the power of the Millenium Eye to preemptively guess and subvert his opponent's moves. Like his cheating methods however, his Toon monsters are also incredibly fragile, his strategies falling apart in an instant should "Toon World" be taken off the board.
* CheatersNeverProsper: In Pegasus's case, [[{{Subverted}} they usually do.]] [[DoubleSubverted Take away his ability to cheat via the Millennium Eye, however, and things rapidly fall apart for him.]] Yugi points out that Pegasus is a lousy duelist, having used the item as a crutch for so long.
* ChekhovsHobby: We see him gleefully reading a comic book of Funny Rabbit. We later find out that Pegasus' love for the series and cartoons inspired his nigh invulnerable Toon Deck.
* ChekhovsSkill: While we don't actually see it, it was Pegasus' painting skills which may have saved him from dying horribly when he received the Millennium Eye. According to Takahashi, the Eye found Pegasus' abilities useful and used him to have "Ka battles" recreated as Duel Monsters in order to assemble the Millennium Items.
* TheChessmaster: Everything that happens on the island happens because he moved them there four turns ago.
* ChildhoodFriendRomance: He and Cyndia met when they were children and became attracted to each other, then they got engaged when they grew up (married in the dub). He doesn't get to cherish it for too long, however.
* ComicallyInvincibleHero: Seemingly the reason his Toon monsters have the ability to avoid or block attacks from other monsters; after this happened for the first time, Pegasus cites how the Funny Rabbit character had not once been caught by or hit with a bullet from his policeman nemesis.
* ComplexityAddiction: He organizes a tournament just to have a cover for taking over Kaiba Corporation! All he needed to do is defeat Yugi in an official duel. Granted, we do not know if Pegasus could have taken over the company in a different manner. The manga explains that due to Kaiba's reputation as Japan's #1 gamer being the lynchpin of the company's current success, an official tournament to restore the company's reputation independent of the then-invalid Kaiba was the condition that the Big Five set for Pegasus to take over.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Played with; there's nothing crooked about his game company "Industrial Illusions" (the selling of Duel Monster merchandise, etc) but his Duelist Kingdom tournament is rigged to benefit himself only.
* CripplingOverspecialization: Yami accuses him of having fallen victim to this when he manages to block Pegasus's mind-reading powers, claiming that Pegasus has become so dependent on being able to read his opponent's future moves that he's lost any real tactical ability he ever had for the game. While Pegasus does show more skill in his later duels, this could be attributed to him having time to re-learn his old tricks after losing the Eye, and he certainly finds himself missing his mind-reading ability after he can no longer rely on it in later Shadow Games.
* CuriosityIsACrapshoot: Shadi told him that the village is full of grave robbers and that he should just leave the place, as he will not find a cure to his heartache. Pegasus thinks he had read his mind, which makes him curious and follows him instead. Needless to say, [[EyeScream it does not]] end well.
* CuttingCorners: Pegasus clearly didn't spend a yen on Duelist Kingdom that he didn't have to; while the island does have some impressive dueling setups, the rest is pretty much all flash and no substance. There's no food or sleeping facilities provided for the duelists, losers apparently have to ''row'' back to the mainland themselves, and since the whole tournament was essentially rigged to allow Pegasus to beat Yugi, he never intended to pay out the prize money either.
* TheDandy: Foppish, prefers fancy suits, rich - he fits all the categories.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: As Anzu put it in the manga, "the death of his love was the beginning of his tragedy". Then he created the [[OlympusMons Egyptian God Cards]], which he considered his greatest mistake.
* DeadManWriting: In the anime only, during the Doma arc. Pegasus has his soul taken away by Mai, but he leaves a message behind in the form of a Solid Vision projection of himself for Yugi and his friends.
* DeathIsCheap: While he dies in the manga, he escapes this a few times in the anime.
** By the time of ''[=5D's=]'' he has passed away, likely from old age. [[note]]The "Pegasus J. Crawford Memorial Foundation" is shown as one of the sponsors for the [=WRGP=]. [[/note]]
* DemonicPossession: In the ''Reshef Of Destruction'' video game, he is gradually possessed by Reshef's evil powers, then the entity ultimately worms itself into his heart.
* DespairEventHorizon: After Cynthia's death. He lost all motivation to basically do anything, and went to Egypt due to learning of the ancient beliefs of life and death, but found nothing until he stumbled on Shadi and the Millennium Items. He was then forced to bear the Millennium Eye and ultimately went mad dedicating himself to see Cynthia, no matter what.
* DickDastardlyStopsToCheat: His Deck consists of an army of completely invincible and flagrantly broken monsters of his own creation. Does this stop him from cheating like a bandit with his Millennium Eye or rigging the circumstances? No, sir, it does not. And notably, he tends to be so thrown off when his opponents manage to adapt against his cheating that his own strategies fall apart.
* TheDragon: In ''Reshef Of Destruction'', he is this to Reshef.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: In the ''Tenth Anniversary Movie'' for the NAS Duel Monster anime universe, a building collapses on him thanks to Paradox's attack. It's undone by a ResetButton in the end, though.
* DubNameChange: His name change is unique in that the English manga used it as well.
* {{Eagleland}}: Not as blatant a Flavor 2 as Bandit Keith, but he ''is'' a filthy-rich ManChild obsessed with cartoons, who spouts GratuitousEnglish at the drop of a hat. In addition, the manga enjoys playing up both his {{Greed}} and [[TheScrooge miserliness]]: Kaiba recalls how he turned his duel with Bandit Keith into a glorified commercial, and Duelist Kingdom is rife with CuttingCorners, from the utter lack of accommodations for the contestants[[note]]Half the reason Yugi's gang hooks up with Mai is because she's the only one mature enough to have brought sleeping bags and, y'know, ''food''.[[/note]] to how the losers are expected to ''row'' back to the mainland by themselves. To top it all off, the Player Killer of Darkness (aka Panik) explains part of the Player Killers' jobs are to ensure Pegasus doesn't have to pay the tournament prize money to ''anyone''.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Pegasus's duel strategy involves using first his Toon monsters and then switch to his Illusion monsters if the opponent is tough enough, but in his first duel with Yugi, Pegasus's main force is instead based in weird clown-like monsters and cards which mess with his opponent's mind, most notably the Faceless Mage and the Dragon Piper. They definitely fit Pegasus and his stylized trickster gimmick, but are never used again except the Dragon Piper, which is used as a sacrifice against Kaiba. It's possible he didn't want to show his hand so early, and being [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney the maker]] [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem of the game]], he can use whatever cards he wants.
* EasilyForgiven: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. In the anime, when he turns up in the film and the DOMA arc, the cast are wary, but willing to listen to him.
* EasyComeEasyGo: His anime self isn't too concerned with losing his Millennium Eye, possibly realizing that the ability to see but not touch his lost love was more trouble than it was worth.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: In the anime when Jounouchi beats Keith, he reveals that Keith was cheating the entire duel, and congratulates Jounouchi on winning fairly while his guards haul Keith away, and later drops him down a trap door into the ocean. In the manga, he gives Keith an even worse punishment, turning Keith's hand into a gun and forcing him to play Russian Roulette as a Penalty Game.
** He also [[IGaveMyWord keeps his promises]]. When Yugi successfully defeats Pegasus, the man honors his word and releases the souls of Kaiba, Mokuba, and Yugi's grandfather, proving that even at his worst, he is by no means an oath breaker.
* EvilPlan: Use the tournament and soul hostages to acquire Kaiba Corp by beating the King of Games in Duel Monsters (Kaiba Corp's execs need their CEO to be a top-level gamer), and see and feel his beloved fiancee/wife again using Kaiba Corporation's Solid Vision technology.
* EyeScream: In the manga, when he receives the Millennium Eye (which is not an eye piece, but an entire replacement eye ball), he is heard screaming while we're shown a ShadowDiscretionShot, and it happens again when Bakura steals the Eye and kills him. The anime actually shows Shadi pushing the Eye into his socket, with visible blood afterwards, though Bakura tearing it out is offscreen.
* {{Fanboy}}: Of American cartoons, particularly ''Funny Rabbit''. [[{{Geek}} He also knows exactly how many episodes the series has and how many bullets were fired at the main character by the police.]][[note]]583 episodes and 26,000 bullets, respectively.[[/note]] And he is not happy whenever his Toon Monsters get destroyed...
* FinalBoss: Of the Duelist Kingdom arc. For Dark Yugi to secure the release of all those Pegasus has abducted with his Penalty Games, he first has to beat the billionaire in a duel.
* FixingTheGame: Makes heavy use of his Millennium Eye to read the mind of his opponents, granting him a huge advantage in any duel. If that weren't enough, he makes ''two'' GameBreaker sets of cards. [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem He can do that; he made the game after all]].
* {{Foil}}: His flair, smooth confidence, [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative ability]], and results contrast dramatically with the brutally direct failures of [[SmugSnake Bandit Keith]], the arc's other prominent antagonist.
* FourIsDeath: His four Player Killers.
* FreudianExcuse: Cynthia is this to him; all his evil is for her sake.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: In the anime, given how much trouble he put them through and his own eccentricities, the cast are reluctant to ever cross paths with him again and are immensely distrustful of him when they have to.
* FriendToAllChildren: [[TheUnfettered As long as they don't have something he wants or can be used as leverage against the people who]] ''[[TheUnfettered do]]'', Pegasus is great with kids. During the National Tournament, before dueling against Keith, he explains how to play the card game to the kids there (though Kaiba points out in the manga that it was a move to create positive advertisement for the card game). In ''Yu-Gi-Oh R'', he adopted orphans from all around the world to tutor them as card designers.
%%* GentlemanSnarker: Especially towards Kaiba.
* AGlassOfChianti: He is fond of his wine. It is even listed as one of his favorite foods.
* GoneHorriblyRight: If implanted, the Millennium Eye will kill the host if he is unworthy. Unfortunately for the Mutous and the Kaibas, Pegasus was very worthy.
* GracefulLoser: While he's devastated from losing in his duel against Yugi, he nevertheless keeps his promise and returns his victims' souls.
* GratuitousEnglish: Constantly uses English phrases in his dialogue in the Japanese version, including a despairing ''Shiiiiiiit!'' when he loses to Yugi. In particular, his constantly calling Yugi "Yugi-boy" is taken directly from the Japanese version, where he does it in gratuitous English.
* HiddenAgendaVillain: In the manga. We first know he needs something from Yugi, no matter what. Later, we learn from Mokuba that Pegasus intends to take over Kaiba Corporation and must defeat Yugi in an official duel as part of his deal with the Big Five. We don't know why he needs Kaiba's company until the very end of Duelist Kingdom. The dub, and to a lesser extent the original anime, hints at Pegasus' real goal more clearly with giving more importance to Cyndia's portrait in episode 28 (in the manga, the group viewed it briefly, and that's it) and dub!Pegasus' InnerMonologue in episode 34 clearly reveals what he is fighting for.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: A majority of Pegasus' cards involve exploiting the power of his opponent's monsters, spells, and traps for his own benefit. Shadow Toon deserves special mention as it inflicts life point damage equal to the targeted monster's attack points.
** On a bit of a personal level, his grand designs to revive his wife were put down by someone wielding the very cards he invented.
* {{Homage}}: His Toon Monsters are this to American cartoons. Also, he prints cards for special events. [[TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering Richard Garfield]] printed three special cards for his marriage and the birth of his two children.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Calls out Keith for cheating, while he himself uses his Millennium Eye and position as creator of Duel Monsters to full advantage. However, it's averted with regards to how they react to their defeats. Unlike Keith, who proved to be a SoreLoser after his defeat to Joey and tried to threaten Pegasus with a gun, Pegasus [[GracefulLoser accepts his defeat gracefully and honors his promises]]. It should be noted that Pegasus didn't take the drastic step of dumping Keith into the ocean (Anime) or inflicting a lethal Penalty Game (Manga) until ''after'' Keith threatened him with a gun in the former case, and a knife in the latter..
* ICannotSelfTerminate: In ''Reshef Of Destruction'', Reshef worms itself into Pegasus' heart, who then asks the main character to have him sealed away before Reshef takes him over.
* IcyBlueEyes: He's cold and distant as an antagonist.
* IGaveMyWord: Pegasus promises to release the souls of Seto, Mokuba, and his grandfather if Yugi can defeat him. After he is defeated, Yugi tells him to fulfill his promise, which he does.
* InnocentBlueEyes: In the manga - he is fairly innocent and naive as a teenager (he wants to help a stranger in Egypt who got into trouble, who is in fact a graverobber who stole a Millennium Item).
* {{Irony}}: When Pegasus also seals Kaiba's soul and looks at the two Soul Prison cards with Mokuba and Kaiba's souls in them, he mentions that the two brothers will never know the joy of restarting their relationship in this life. Then comes the end of Duelist Kingdom where karma strikes back at Pegasus - he fails to fulfil his dream of reuniting with Cyndia in his life. Upon learning about Pegasus' past, that particular quote becomes somewhat ironic, even.
* IveNeverSeenAnythingLikeThisBefore: One of the reasons why his Toons are so powerful. Nobody's ever seen Toon World or Toon monsters in play, as they were too powerful to be circulated, so nobody knew how to counter them.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes K-Z]]
* KarmaHoudini: In the anime, while he ''does'' get humbled after the Milennium Eye is stolen (and also, y'know, gets one of his eyes gouged out in the process), he largely goes unpunished for his actions in Duelist Kingdom, and his business continues running. [=5Ds=] even implies that he's memorialized as a ''[[HistoricalHeroUpgrade hero]]'' after his death. [[TheAtoner At the same time]], he's shown to have truly turned over a new leaf, working to properly improve ''Duel Monsters'' and in [=GX=] is shown to use his past experiences in regards to those who have lost their way, as seen in his reconciliation with Franz, so his status in that continuity perhaps isn't ''quite'' undeserved. He stays dead in the manga continuity and Gekko Tenma is the one who takes over Industrial Illusions. He is mentioned in Koyo Hibiki's backstory during the [=GX=] manga as the one who gave him Winged Kuriboh, but his face is notably shadowed and ominous there, reminding the reader of his shadier past.
* KickTheDog: Although a majority of the things he does as a villain are in service of a sympathetic goal, the man has way too much fun playing the bad guy along the way and isn't above messing with people for completely unrelated reasons.
* KubrickStare: In the anime, especially during his second duel with Yugi.
* LargeHam: In the original manga, anime, and dub versions he is a showman.
* LaughablyEvil: During Duelist Kingdom. He may be amoral, but he's just so funny while he's doing it. Given that Dark Yugi and Kaiba are [[TheStoic Stoic]] {{Straight M|an}}en in response, perhaps he just can't resist.
-->"What, no 'hello', no 'how are you'? I thought we were friends, Kaiba-boy. Don't tell me that my kidnapping Mokuba and seizing control of your company has put a rift between us. [[SincerityMode It was]] [[NothingPersonal nothing]] ''[[{{Irony}} personal.]]''" ---English dub Pegasus
* {{Leitmotif}}: "Illusion" in the Japanese anime.
* LetsGetDangerous: He made the game, and has the Millennium Eye, yet it's still hard to take him seriously. His duel with Kaiba and ''especially'' his second Shadow Game with Yugi establish just how dangerous this man is.
* LongHairedPrettyBoy: He has shoulder length hair.
* LoveAtFirstSight: He and Cynthia became attracted to each other as soon as they met.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: His desire to reunite with Cynthia leads him to do rather monstrous things.
* MacGuffinDeliveryService: The primary reason Pegasus didn't mind Yugi's friends accompanying him into his private castle (in the anime at least) was that, thanks to Bakura, the group would be bringing him two Millennium Items rather than just the Puzzle. He simply didn't care one way or other in the manga, where he did not know that Bakura had the Ring.
* MagicalEye: The Millennium Eye is a golden trinket in his eye socket that gives him the power of mind reading and, obviously, Shadow Games.
* ManipulativeBastard:
** Using the Millennium Eye to read minds gives him an ''absurd'' advantage over opponents: he can see every card they have, knows every strategy they're thinking of, and can look deeper into their memories to see their entire deck. Aside from his Toons, many of his cards have a Control theme, where he manipulates the opponent's moves and turns their cards back on them, which in tandem with his Eye lets him counter almost anything they might try to throw at him.
** He's also just good at this in general, knowing how to manipulate Yugi and Kaiba perfectly. He abducts Grandpa Muto and Mokuba to force the two to come to his island, when Kaiba is set on rescuing Mokuba he ups the ante by sealing his soul in a card, and when Kaiba tries to force Pegasus to use his Duel Disks, Pegasus agrees on the condition that Kaiba duel Mokuba as Pegasus' proxy, forcing him to back down since he can't bring himself to do it.
* {{Magitek}}: Thematically represents such as a contrast to Yugi and Kaiba's MagicVersusScience rivalry, having the Millennium Eye to combat Yugi's Puzzle while being Kaiba's business partner looking to take over his company. Even more apt in the dub, which states that Pegasus's plan to revive his wife was to combine the Millennium Items with Kaiba Corp's hologram technology.
* MeaningfulName: In Japan, a pegasus is often referred to as a "tenma", or "horse of heaven" (ten=heaven, ma=horse). However, there's another word "tenma". The same "ten" kanji is used for both, but the second tenma's "ma" kanji is the one that translates to "demon". Thus, we have a homonym meaning "demon of heaven"...or, to keep the actual, non-literal intent, "fallen angel".
* MindRape: One of his Penalty Games. He grotesquely morphed Bandit Keith's hand into a gun and, against his will, made him play Russian Roulette with himself (reliving his depression after he was humiliated by Pegasus in the American tournament).
* MissingMom: In the manga, his father can be briefly seen, but nothing is known about his mother.
* MoodWhiplash: Oh boy. Pegasus often changes between a cruel villain and a goofy gentleman, but his duel against Yugi is the best example. Even his deck is this Trope, shifting from the silly Toon Monsters to the bizarre and creepy Illusion Monsters. See VillainousBreakdown below.
* TheMourningAfter: He was willing to do anything to reunite with [[VictoriousChildhoodFriend Cynthia]]... In the manga, he goes to the grave with this wish in his heart. In the anime, the entire subject is dropped after Duelist Kingdom. [[note]]Save for Dark Yugi remembering Pegasus' backstory during the Doma arc in the original anime, but that scene was altered in the dub.[[/note]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Though it happens way before his actual HeelFaceTurn, the carnage caused by his recreation of the Egyptian God Cards completely horrified him.
* MysteriousMiddleInitial: It has never been stated what the J. stands for.
* {{Necromantic}}: The means of his EvilPlan; revive Cyndia, at least in the dub, by using the Millennium Puzzle to bring a hologram of her to life...or something. In the manga, he tragically just wants to feel and see her visage again using Kaiba Corp's Solid Vision.
* {{Nerf}}: Pegasus's Toon cards are this in ''GX''. While they're still useful, they're no longer the {{Game Breaker}}s they were in the original anime. [[FridgeBrilliance Maybe these were the versions he modified and released to the public?]]
* NeverSayDie: The 4Kids dub ''averts'' this with Cyndia.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Being an American game designer who created a popular card game InUniverse, Pegasus' clearly a {{homage}} to ''Creator/RichardGarfield'', who's best-known for being the creator of ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', '''the''' TropeCodifier of TradingCardGame.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: He uses this tactic against Seto Kaiba and Yugi.
* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: He traps Yugi's grandfather's soul in order to force Yugi to come to Duelist Kingdom.
* OhCrap: Gets this look after Yugi summons Magician of Black Chaos.
* PayEvilUntoEvil: In the manga, he deals a brutal and horrific death to Bandit Keith with a penalty game. Few people would shed any tears over him. Downplayed in the anime, where Keith is simply dropped through a trap door into the ocean.
* PeekABangs: After he obtains the Millennium Eye. Conveniently used with very good camera angles in the Awakening The Dragon season of the anime and GX to hide that ''one of his eyes is missing''.
* PetTheDog:
** At his arrival at Shadi's village, upon seeing a terrified graverobber seized by Shadi's men, he ''immediately'' offers to pay for whatever was stolen. And this is supposed to be at the ''nadir'' of his post-Cyndia depression, to boot!
** In the manga, he agrees to forgo the finals duel between Yugi and Joey and lets Yugi duel him outright.
* PosthumousCharacter: In the spin-off manga, ''Yu-Gi-Oh R'', and the manga continuity as a whole.
* PsychopathicManchild: He loves his favorite comic book and his Toon monsters, but there's a broken and ''very'' dangerous man under the childish exterior.
* RedemptionDemotion: As the ArcVillain of Duelist Kingdom, Pegasus was a near-unstoppable force and it took everything in Yugi's arsenal to defeat him. Following that arc's resolution, whenever Pegasus reappears, he is presented as an ally to Yugi and his friends. In those appearance, his prowess is less on display, losing his soul to Mai during the DOMA arc and suffering a defeat at Kaiba's hand in the ''Pyramid of Light'' movie. A JustifiedTrope as, without his Millenium Eye, Pegasus lost his biggest advantage over other players and was no longer able to counter his opponent's strategies as swiftly as he could when he knew what cards they were holding.
* RetiredMonster: In the ''Pyramid of Light'' movie--he's not technically a villain anymore, but he's not really good either, and generally seems to prefer staying out of the affairs of the main cast until it becomes clear that something more sinister is going on. The anime moves him to a proper HeelFaceTurn that is better seen in [=GX=].
* SadClown: Throughout the series, he is shown being a overly-competent GigglingVillain and a cheap-skate who is willing to hold souls hostage, humiliate his opponents and lie and cheat to get what he wants. After Yugi and Yami defeats him, it is revealed that everything he ever did was just so that he could be reunited with his dead love Cyndia.
* SanitySlippage: After getting the Eye: constantly seeing Cyndia just out of reach, unable to touch her and knowing that she's just an illusion cannot have been good for his mental stability.
* SarcasticClapping: In the anime, when Kaiba finds Mokuba in the dungeon.
* ScarsAreForever: Post-Duelist Kingdom in the anime, much to the horror to those who witness his empty eye socket.
* SchrodingersCast: He's dead and gone in the manga following Duelist Kingdom, but in the anime he survived. The manga spin-off ''Manga/YuGiOhR'' introduced his protégé Yako Tenma who planned to resurrect him, and Gekko Tenma, Yako's twin brother who stepped in to run the company after Pegasus passed. The anime eventually brought him back for the movie, Seasons 4 and 5 and ''GX'', and in the video game ''VideoGame/YuGiOhReshefOfDestruction'' he gets possessed by Reshef after the events of Battle City and is one of the game's main antagonist, being sealed away with the entity afterwards.
* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: As the creator of Duel Monsters, Pegasus creates cards that are in-universe {{Game Breaker}}s, such as Toon World, Relinquished, and Thousand-Eyes Restrict, all of which have very powerful effects that singlehandedly turn the tide of duels and are very difficult to counter. Then he never releases them to the public and keeps them for himself. The heroes lampshade that this is obscenely unfair. His Toon monsters also fall under NewRulesAsThePlotDemands, as their effects are tweaked every time he uses them until ''GX'' brings them in-line with their real-life counterparts.
** In Duelist Kingdom, Jounochi and Keith arguably entered the tournament illegally, since they don't have their own dueling gloves or entry cards. Pegasus waves this off and simply treats them as regular competitors.
** Possibly averted by the time of ''GX'', since by that time his Toon cards are somewhat {{Nerfed}} and more like their real-life versions. [[FridgeBrilliance These newer versions may have been released to the public.]]
* SenpaiKohai: Pegasus is the sempai to Tenma Yakou and Tenma Gekkou of the ''R'' manga, which is again of debated canonicity.
* ShowerScene: In the novelization of the ''Pyramid of Light'' movie. While we don't see it in the actual movie, [[{{Fanservice}} it is lovingly detailed in the novel]].
-->"Pegasus’ entire body is drenched with a cold sweat. Flinging off his silk pajamas to expose his naked white body, he took a hot shower."
* SissyVillain: He's foppish, childish, and thin, but he's still an intimidating force to reckon with.
* SlasherSmile: In the anime once his duel with Yugi becomes a Shadow Game and he's on the cusp of winning.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: He's the anime's StarterVillain and an ArcVillain in the manga, but setting up Duel Monsters arguably makes everything in the franchise past his arc possible. Including several near end of the world scenarios. He still counts as this in the manga, as his creation of the God Cards and introduction of the Millennium Eye set up several of the arc conflicts afterwards, with ''Dungeon Dice Monsters'' as the only exception.
* SparedByTheAdaptation: Dark Bakura kills him in the manga after he steals his Millennium Eye, but Pegasus survives in the anime and anime-based spinoffs and movies.
* SquishyWizard: While he's quite smart and manipulates people rather well, he's described as physically weak in the ''Pyramid of Light'' novelization, and in the original manga, he tells Kaiba he's not good at physical sports when the Duel Disk prototype is suggested. He's thus a contrast to Bandit Keith, who takes up the role of the big, strong thug.
* StarCrossedLovers: With Cyndia. He tries to reunite with her twice, failing both of the times. But in the manga, they do reunite after Pegasus is killed by Bakura and atones for his sins.
* StartOfDarkness: His backstory shows how he went from a lovestruck painter to a man who steals souls.
* StealingTheCredit: While rich to start with, he became obscenely wealthy because he "created" Duel Monsters when many of its initial game components and rules were created by the ancient Egyptians.
* StepfordSmiler: His silly and childish exterior hides both insanity and desperation.
* TalkingToTheDead: In the anime, he addresses his beloved's portrait before realizing he's being watched by Dark Bakura.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Plans to use Jigen Bakudan to nuke his own field while Relinquished has absorbed Yugi's monsters. Pegasus's score would be unaffected due to Relinquished's Attack Power being zero, but Yami Yugi would take the full 3900 Attack Points of damage that Relinquished had absorbed. Let's keep in mind that Yugi only had 400 Life Points left on that turn. Overkill is kinda putting it mildly.
* TogetherInDeath: With Cyndia in the manga, according to Takahashi.
* TooAwesomeToUse: Outside of the cards based on those used in the Egyptian Shadow Games, the expansions Pegasus and his development teams made to Duel Monsters occasionally fell into this. Some of these he keeps to himself (the Toons). Others that were either too powerful or simply unfinished were offered as tournament prizes to be won and owned, but never played. The Egyptian God Cards are the most well-known examples, as their connection to the actual entities turned the cards into incredibly dangerous magical artifacts on top of being powerful cards, which hadn't been Pegasus' intention when he created them, leading to him giving the cards to Ishizu for safe-keeping. Another example is the Golden Castle of Stromberg from the ''KC Grand Prix'' filler arc, which was a partially-developed tournament prize that was never supposed to be used in actual competition.
* TookALevelInBadass: A mild example. As other entries note, Pegasus originally had trouble improvising when opponents found a way around his Toon cards and Millennium Eye. However, by the time of ''GX'' he beats Crowler and Bonaparte in convincing fashion without any special advantages (he uses Toon Kingdom, but it's been deliberately nerfed to be balanced). Since his previous defeats by Yugi and Kaiba, Pegasus has clearly been polishing his dueling skills.
* {{Toon}}: His Toon World magic card transforms monsters into classic toons, complete with the ability to stretch out of the way of attacks. They include Toon Mermaid, Manga Ryu-Ran, Toon Summoned Skull, and the exceptionally powerful Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon.
* TragicDream: His desire to spend the rest of his life with Cyndia makes him a TragicVillain.
* TrapDoor: When Bandit Keith threatens his life in the anime, Pegasus presses a button with his foot that opens a trap door around the perimeter of his seat that sends Keith into the ocean.
* TheTrickster: One of the more malevolent examples. His deck and play-style have a strong emphasis on rule-bending to just straight-up cheating and his Millenium Eye allows him to plan ways to subvert his opponent's strategies turns in advance. His toons are evocative of {{Karmic Trickster}}s and {{Screwball Squirrel}}s in WesternAnimation, with every other card being clown-esque in some way.
* TroubledFetalPosition[=/=]DullEyesOfUnhappiness: After Cyndia's death he completely shuts down, only recovering after his trip to Egypt.
* TheUnfettered: For his beloved Cyndia, he will steal souls, buy whole companies and crush anyone he needs to.
* UnskilledButStrong: He has the most powerful deck of his time by a wide margin and supernatural magic on his side. But whenever he can't rely on either, his strategies tend to devolve into firing blindly with his strongest cards while ignoring any defenses the opponent might have set up (which, both times against Yugi, is what does him in).
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Bringing Duel Monsters into the modern era makes him responsible for the original series, its successors, and all the wondrous and cataclysmic events therein.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: In his flashbacks, he was shown to be a kind boy.
* VerbalTic: "Deeeesu!" and "Maaaasu!" in the Japanese. In both versions, he tends to tack a person's gender onto the end of their name, IE "Kaiba-boy."
* VillainForgotToLevelGrind: Dark Yugi suspects that Pegasus's dueling skills have decayed quite a bit since he started using the Millennium Eye, forcing him to heavily rely on the effects of his overpowered Toons and Thousand-Eyes Restrict when the Eye's magic is blocked. He's proven right when these effects are worked around and Pegasus is defeated. Later duels in the series don't go much better for him, though he's apparently grown out of this by the time of ''GX''.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: In the anime, he survives the Duelist Kingdom arc and remains a beloved cultural icon in the eyes of the world with his crimes of kidnapping and corporate espionage never coming up.
* VillainousBreakdown: When Yugi and Dark Yugi manage to use their Mind Shuffle tactic to evade Pegasus' Mind Scan ability ''and'' destroy all his Toon Monsters. Pegasus immediately drops his silly persona and stops toying around, starting a high-level Shadow Game where he even manages to psychically wear out the regular Yugi, albeit temporarily. It's underscored by him changing from the dangerous, yet still goofy Toons to the horrifying, outwardly malevolent Illusion monsters.
* VillainsOutShopping: He is shown drinking wine and reading his Funny Rabbit manga during the Duelist Kingdom tournament.
* VillainSong: For the English 4Kids dub: ''Face Up, Face Down''.
* VocalDissonance: His campy and flowery way of speaking, compared to all the horrible things he does. It's even worse in the Japanese version.
* WhiteHairBlackHeart: He's a cold and manipulative villain, though he does have some sympathetic qualities and [[HeelFaceTurn and he drops this quality after he is defeated.]]
* WickedCultured: He's sophisticated, smart, drinks fine wine and dresses well.
* TheWonka: He's the creator of Duel Monsters, and is very rich. He's also fond of metaphors, cartoons and has an [[GratuitousEnglish odd]] [[VerbalTic speech pattern]]. His only close friends are Cyndia (who died), or at the most, Mr. Croquet, his bodyguard. He also has his adopted children in ''Yu-Gi-Oh R''. Nonetheless, he has made his eccentricities, specifically his passion for toons, around which he created an entire archetype, work to his advantage as a game designer.
* WouldHurtAChild: Though this stops after Yugi defeats him.
* YoungerThanHeLooks: Many people assume he's in his thirties or is much older due to both his white hair and his aristocrat vibe. He's only 24 years old during Duelist Kingdom.
* YourSoulIsMine: Most of his Penalty Games involve sealing the loser's soul in inanimate objects. Unfortunately for Bandit Keith in the manga, he got the only downright lethal one.
[[/folder]]
