History YMMV / YuGiOhGX

* RootingForTheEmpire: Yeah, Chazz is technically the "bad guy" whenever he's dueling Jaden, but by God, so many people just want to see him come out on top for once! [[spoiler:In their final duel, he actually ''could'' have]].

* ToughActToFollow: Most fans will widely agree that the ''GX'' manga was easily the best after the original, and subsequent manga haven't lived up to the bar that it set. The ''Arc-V'' manga came close to toppling it, unfortunately, its ending broke the fanbase even more than the anime ending.

** Intially, Yubel got shunted off to the side a lot in the English-speaking fandom but they (and their relationship with Jaden) appear fairly popular in Japanese fan art. Part of this is likely because their complex motivation was degraded from a sadomasochistic view of love to just being a PsychopathicManchild in the dub. That said time has been kind to Yubel and their popularity in the English-speaking fandom has increased considerably over the decades and their now widely held as one of the franchise's greatest villains in both sides of the fandom.

** Yubel gets shunted off to the side a lot in the English-speaking fandom (though their popularity has increased more over the years), but they (and their relationship with Jaden) appear fairly popular in Japanese fan art. Part of this is likely because their complex motivation was degraded from a sadomasochistic view of love to just being a PsychopathicManchild in the dub.

** Jaden's friends who suffer from the HatePlague (Tyranno, Chazz, Alexis, Atticus and Syrus) during the Dark World arc of Season 3. While it's certainly true that Jaden had an unhealthy obsession with finding Jesse, the way they keep blaming him for everything bad that happens to them can end up more grating than saddening, especially after they had ignored Jaden's protests to their following him into the Dark World. We're supposed to think that Jaden is at fault for them getting captured to be sacrificed for Super Polymerization, as they apparently can't take responsibility for themselves. When Jaden realizes that they'll die each time he damages Brron, he isn't willing to surrender (which would kill him, and leave them at Brron's mercy anyway), but avoids attacking. Then Brron uses a Spell Card that forces Jaden's monsters to attack Brron against his will, and his dying friends claim that he sacrificed them to win even though, again, ''his monsters were forced to attack against his will'' (Syrus at least had the excuse of not seeing the Spell's activation). Ultimately, with the exception of Syrus, their sole purpose in the arc was to throw Jaden into a HeroicBSOD with unfair accusations over their inability to look after themselves.

** Jaden's Neo-Spacians came about because Seto Kaiba held a contest for someone to design cards and they'd be sent into space on a capsule, because "if there ''is'' intelligent life out there, let's teach them how to duel!" While this came off as ridiculously silly at the time, later ''Yu-Gi-Oh'' franchises establish that alien races do indeed exist beyond the Neo-Spacians and they know about Duel Monsters too, and seemingly predate the Neo-Spacians. So not omly did Kaiba manage to make first contact with his idea, but there was more merit to it than even he realized. On the other hand, ''VideoGame/YuGiOhTheFalseboundKingdom'' has Kaiba meeting Moisture Creature, who claims to be an alien that came to Earth but was trapped in the virtual world and turned into a Duel Monster. If one wants to treat the game as canon, this could be where Kaiba got the idea in the first place - he secretly knew aliens existed and could comprehend Duel Monsters. Finally there's the movie ''Dark Side of Dimensions'', where Kaiba has built a space station shaped like the [=KaibaCorp=] logo and orientated to point outward, as if he's making sure that on the chance alien lifeforms find his capsule and come to visit Earth, they'll see his company's logo plastered over the atmosphere and know they came to the right place.

** Jaden's Neo-Spacians came about because Seto Kaiba held a contest for someone to design cards and they'd be sent into space on a capsule, because "if there ''is'' intelligent life out there, let's teach them how to duel!" While this came off as ridiculously silly at the time, later ''Yu-Gi-Oh'' franchises establish that alien races do indeed exist beyond the Neo-Spacians and they know about Duel Monsters too, and seemingly predate the Neo-Spacians. So it's possible Kaiba really did make first contact with them and they learned the game from his capsule. On the other hand, ''VideoGame/YuGiOhTheFalseboundKingdom'' has Kaiba meeting Moisture Creature, who claims to be an alien that came to Earth but was trapped in the virtual world and turned into a Duel Monster; if one wants to treat the game as canon, this could be where Kaiba got the idea in the first place - he secretly knew aliens existed and could comprehend Duel Monsters. Finally there's the movie ''Dark Side of Dimensions'', where Kaiba has built a space station shaped like the [=KaibaCorp=] logo and orientated to point outward, as if he's making sure that on the chance alien lifeforms find his capsule and come to visit Earth, they'll see his company's logo plastered over the atmosphere and know they came to the right place.

* AssPull: In true series tradition.
** Jaden's deck focuses on Fusion, so count on him constantly fusing his [=E-HEROes=] in different ways never seen before, and the new one will be able to do exactly what is needed to help him win. Not to mention all the E-HERO support cards that are not too useful in real life due to how situational they are, but in the show are pulled out in instances that always let Jaden win.
** Zane's last couple of moves in his duel with Atticus in episode 83. Not many players can win after throwing out nearly their entire decks via Power Wall.

** In Banner's duels before he faces Jaden, he wins with a card that causes a meteor shower. You'd think this would foreshadowing for a card he uses against Jaden, but he doesn't play any spell or trap cards that cause a meteor shower, and none of his monsters attack that way either.

* FriendlyFandoms: ''5Ds'' and ''GX'' fans typically like each other a lot more then they like ''ZEXAL'' and the original series fans, largely due to how they had entire seasons not dubbed by 4Kids. It's also likely because the people who quit after ''DM'' probably didn't get back in with ''5Ds'', while people who stuck through ''GX'' probably stuck through ''5Ds'' as well. Then there's a massive FanPreferredCouple including the two main characters... Starshipping, anyone?

*** In episode 24 of NGE, there's a new male character named Nagisa Kaworu who is immediately be able to befriend and get closer to Shinji, and their relationship switches between HoYay and downright HomoeroticSubtext. Does this sound similar to Judai and Johan? However, there are two differences in that, Johan [[spoiler: does not have a SecretIdentity like Kaworu does]] and their relationship has a much happier and more optimistic tone than Shinji and Kaworu's relationship, which ends very [[SuicideByCop messily]] and [[TearJerker/NeonGenesisEvangelion tragically]].

* DracoInLeatherPants: Zane Truesdale for many of his fans after he [[FreakOut freaks out]] and adopts the "Hell Kaiser" persona (featuring [[HellBentForLeather actual leather pants]]) in Episode 65. It's at its worst in Season 2, wherein he doesn't seem to have a single redeeming quality beyond [[EvilIsSexy being hot]]; he's still a ''very'' dark AntiHero in Season 3, but at least the "hero" part of that label fits again.

* EvilIsSexy:
** Post-FountainOfYouth Kagemaru, Hell Kaiser/Zane, Possessed Jesse, Darkness/Nightshroud possessed Atticus and The Supreme King.
** The ladies have less to offer, but there's still the Shadow Rider vampire Camula.
** Yubel is in a category all on their own since their AmbiguousGender means they can easily appeal to every gender and orientation.

** Camula's three-part episode is one of the bright spots of the first season (and the show as a whole for people who don't like the third and fourth seasons). This is due to its [[EvilIsSexy attractive villain]], frightening atmosphere, and some very impressive duels that don't involve Jaden.

** A meme known as "[[WebOriginal/VirginVsChad The Virgin and The Chad]]" became popular years after the anime, which compares a loser character to a "cool," usually JerkJock character. Chazz Princeton's self-given nickname is "The Chazz," [[https://www.reddit.com/r/DuelLinks/comments/7lq3jx/oc_meme_the_virgin_vs_the_chazz/ making GX an easy target for the meme.]] Ironically, his ButtMonkey status and inability to win over Alexis means he can also fit into "The Virgin" category.

** One of the biggest mockeries regarding how ridiculously influential the card game has become in the world was the very existence of Duel Academy itself, stating it to be the biggest waste of time and money. Come the rise of professional e-sports in the late 2010's, coupled with the game now having so many new terms, mechanics, and how long and complex the card effects and combos have become, and suddenly a school for dueling isn't so unreasonable.