Fanfic / State of the Meta

State of the Meta is a Self-Insert Fic of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX by Yung Warrior. It's currently the second most popular self-insert fanfic in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX fandom as well as the second most popular Yu-Gi-Oh! GX fanfic overall.

After dying, a competitive player of the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game finds himself living within the world of Yu-Gi-Oh, reincarnated as a boy who’s about to attend Duel Academy named Jamie Lancaster. Taking his identity, Jamie proceeds to adapt to the strange circumstances and live a second life, believing he can use his knowledge of the series as well as his past life to breeze his way through life. However, Jamie soon realizes that this world isn’t completely identical to the show, and finds out that, with his presence weakening the barriers between dimensions, he’ll be in for unexpected twists after all.

In April of 2023, the author announced that the fanfic was on an indefinite hiatus.

---

This fanfic provides examples of:

• Adaptational Badass: Many characters get this treatment onwards, but some in particular get this more than others.
  • In canon, Bastion's highly intelligent and analytical abilities as a duelist were gradually treated with less respect by his peers and the writers themselves, since the universe he lives in follows the laws of New Powers as the Plot Demands, and by just being Hot-Blooded and believing in the Power of Friendship, you'll be able to perform impractical combos to achieve victory. Essentially, Bastion might as well have been born a decade too early for his talents to be appreciated. Here, Bastion's abilities are treated with much more prominence since those original rules don't apply anymore, and he was able to defeat Don Zaloog by using a combination of his usual applied math in the building of his decks and the belief in the "heart of the cards".
  • Due to dating Bastion, Jasmine started to take dueling much more seriously than she does in canon and improved her skills with him. It's noted during the second year that she became the fifth most skilled duelist in the Obelisk Blue dorm.
• Adaptational Dumbass: Downplayed with Blair. In the show, despite being an elementary school student, her grades were high enough that Banner stated she'd move to Ra Yellow in a few days and it's only due to bad luck that she got exposed as a girl. Here, she has the realistic intelligence of a girl her age and admits to struggling heavily with Duel Academy's school material (high-school level), and her plan is portrayed as being doomed from the start.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • Jasmine does not like Jamie at all and the feeling is mutual. Jasmine hates him because he has no bonds with his cards and comes off as an asshole while Jamie argues that practical dueling triumphs over bonds and that Jasmine tends to pick fights or get Hotheaded at really bad times.
  • Sheppard also views Jamie with contempt, disliking him for having no bonds with his cards, along with viewing him as one of Kaiba's lapdogs.
• Adaptational Karma: In the show, Kagemaru got off with nothing but having his back accidentally broken by Jaden when defeated. Here, after losing to Jaden and Jamie, he crumbles to dust and dies upon being defeated.
• Adaptational Sexuality: While canon never states anything about his sexuality, within the story, Jesse is gay and attracted to Jaden, something Chazz and Jamie pick up on easily.
• Adaptational Superpower Change:
  • Instead of using the anime-only "Alchemy Beast" archetype, Amnael/Banner instead utilized a deck that merely focuses on banishing cards while still having the "Helios" series and "Golden Homunculus".
  • Kagemaru uses the "Predaplants" and "Starving Venom Fusion Dragon" in his tag duel against both Jamie and Jaden instead of a deck that revolves around using the Sacred Beasts in the anime.
• Adaptational Wimp: Much like with the added badassery example above, the inverse is also true.
  • Downplayed in regards to Jaden's extraordinary luck in the The Magic Poker Equation, where he's not always going to be able to win every duel he engages in.
  • Downplayed with the Dark Scorpions. In canon, they weren't that good, but they were at least competent enough to infiltrate the school, steal the Spirit Keys, and put up an okay duel against Chazz. Here, they just trick Bastion into meeting them with a message, don't get a single key, and the only reason Don Zaloog did as good as he did against Bastion was because he forgot to cut Zaloog's deck when shuffling it. This means Zaloog was playing with a stacked deck the entire time. As for why Bastion forgot to? He grabbed the Idiot Ball after getting so excited over finally getting some spotlight.
  • In the show, while it turned out that Abidos the Third's opponents always lost on purpose, he was still a competent duelist and gave Jaden a tough time. Here, Alexis defeats him with no effort, and when he finds out that all of his victories were handed to him, he sobs in an undignified manner.
• Adaptation Name Change: Played with Tyranno Kenzan. Despite all the other anime characters having their 4kids dub names, Kenzan keeps his Japanese dub name instead of being called Hassleberry. Jamie even lampshades this, wondering why this is the case.
• Adaptation Personality Change:
  • Both of the Truesdales are affected by this. Zane is much less stoic than he is canon and awakens to being a sadomasochist following his graduation, while Syrus is an extreme pervert in the story who writes Self-Insert Power Fantasy fanfics.
  • Jaden's not that dense when it comes to romantic and sexual attraction in the story compared to canon, but unable to experience them with others due to his past incarnation's devotion to Yubel.
  • As the result of being a composite of Vegeta and Tony Stark, Kaiba is portrayed as an alcoholic hedonist workaholic who may also smoke pot, along with his over-the-top mannerisms.
  • Aster Phoenix has a heavily religious side to him that wasn't present in canon.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • In canon, Chazz and Jesse barely know each other, and never so much as interact. Here, due to Chazz staying in North Academy, the two get to know each other, resulting in them forming an Odd Friendship.
  • In canon, Viper was a pawn of Yubel's, who worked to give her energy in exchange for her promising to revive his son. Due to Yubel already having a physical form and Pierce being alive in the fanfic, the two have no reason to work together in the story, and as such, have no affiliation with each other.
• Adapted Out:
  • Bonaparte is not present at Duel Academy even when the cast enters their second year like in canon. Jamie briefly wonders why this is the case.
  • The four duelists who comprised Sarina's Light Brigade, Frost, Thunder, T-Bone, and Blaze, are absent in the story. Instead, Duel Spirits of the Monarch monsters act as Sarina's minions.
  • Jaden's Neo-Spacians are completely absent. Instead, after his loss against Aster, he gets Masked Heros as his Next Tier Power-Up.
• Animal Motifs: Lions for Jamie Lancaster, which symbolizes his strength, fortitude, leadership, and ambition to climb to the top.
• Badass Bookworm: Bastion fits this to a T, where he's not only an academic genius but is also a capable duelist.
• Big Bad Ensemble: As of the second year, Jamie finds himself needing to deal with Yubel, Sartorius and The Light of Destruction, Tragoedia, and Hank Ishtar.
• Body Surf: The true nature behind "Jamie's" existence in GX. When the main character died in their first life, their spirit took control of Jamie Lancaster's body, the spirit of the real Jamie being lost to the dimensions.
• Boring, but Practical: Jamie's main deck doesn't have a consistent theme compared to most of the main characters as it's regarded as the usual "stall/burn staple", but it works well for the most part.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Jamie gets some of the highest grades in the school, but he rarely ever studies. Justified as, due to already going through high school in his past life, he already familiarized himself with most of the material.
• Bros Before Hoes: Downplayed. While Bastion does treat his friendship with Jamie seriously, he would also put his relationship with Jasmine first if he ever got into a conflict between them.
• Celibate Hero: Justified and enforced with Jaden. Due to his past life as the Supreme King declaring his eternal love to Yubel, his current life as Jaden Yuki is incapable of feeling romantic or sexual feelings for others.
• Clashing Cousins: Marik, Ishizu, and Odion find themselves conflicting with their cousin, Hank Ishtar.
• Combat Pragmatist:
  • This is Jamie's main dueling philosophy. He could care less whether to run an archetype in his deck (e.g. Jaden) or play in a straightforward and honorable way (e.g. Zane) as long he could win the duel in the most efficient way possible.
  • When Sheppard manages to pin Zane down in their duel, the latter realizes that he can't fight in the same approach took a page out of Jamie's book to turn the tables against his former teacher.
  • Furthermore, The Light-possessed Sartorius took advantage of his ability to manipulate fate to rig the duel against Kaiba.
• Composite Character:
  • Zane Truesdale's personality in the GX season 1 era is basically a mix between the original and English dub depictions.
  • According to the author in chapter 12, Kaiba's personality is a mix between Vegeta and Tony Stark. The former with his over-the-top screaming in excitement along with the latter's position as an influential CEO who's also a bit of a hedonist.
• Cowardice Callout: Erin "take[s] the liberty" of labeling all of Obelisk Force as cowards, because they failed to admit their own shortcomings after their ill-treatment of Jamie was proven by Jamie's actions to be completely unfounded. They take it with their heads hung in shame.
• Crapsaccharine World: As Jamie takes note of in his monologue in chapter 6.
  Two bodies lay crumpled on the floor, and I knew for sure that my suspicions were correct. Oh sure, being a self-insert in Yugioh GX's world would be fun, they said! Nothing strange at all about Yugioh, just a children's card game, they said! I remember Season 0 and the first manga volumes well- this series was originally a horror manga, and darkness still lurked beneath the surface of this world.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Jamie's duel against Chazz, where the latter is utterly destroyed against him.
  • Bastion's duel against Wheeler. As soon as Bastion figured Wheeler used a beast deck, he picked what he believed to be the best counter, resulting in a duel where Wheeler never gets the upper hand.
  • Due to using his Melodious deck, a deck that's far more advanced within the timeline, Jamie defeats Camula with ease.
  • Bastion and Jamie find themselves on the receiving end of this when they duel 2 on 1 against Seto Kaiba. Despite their advantage, Kaiba wins with little difficulty, losing only 1000 life points during the whole duel.
  • When Jamie duels against Seika Kohnata and Harrington Rosewood at the same time, he defeats them with no trouble, taking only 300 damage for the whole duel.
  • Aster defeats Zane far easier than he did in canon. He then goes on to deliver one to Chazz several chapters later.
  • When Yugi duels against Angmarl the Fiendish Monarch, he defeats the latter in a single turn, not taking any damage.
• Death by Adaptation:
  • As mentioned above, Kagemaru dies upon being defeated, crumbling into dust like Banner.
  • The aforementioned Banner doesn't have his soul survive after being defeated by Jaden like in canon, where only his body was destroyed.
  • In canon, Yubel simply sent Jaden's childhood friend Osamu to the hospital. Here, she flat-out murders him.
• Deconstruction: Unlike the canon series' numerous Broken Aesops, this fic plays many of the flaws into realistic conclusions.
  • In regards to each of the main characters playing an archetype, most of their strategies are treated as Awesome, but Impractical due to the way it's built around the concept of New Powers as the Plot Demands and will not always work when going up against duelists who use more practical and well-balanced decks.
  • According to Jamie, the only reason why Jaden was able to avoid all of Dr. Crowler's attempts to expel him from the Academy was due to a combination of luck and developing good connections with others, so he avoids antagonizing Crowler in any sort of manner since he doesn't have the same luck.
  • In his student representative duel against Chazz, Jaden tries to convince him of the importance of dueling for fun rather than for the sake of winning (which is pretty much one of the overall Aesops in the GX series) as an attempt to prevent the latter from being chained down by his cold and semi-emotionally abusive brothers. Unsurprisingly, Chazz rebukes Jaden's words entirely and even rightfully chastises on the hypocrisy of the latter's beliefs given the number of victories he usually rack up.
• Demoted to Extra: Downplayed, but whereas Chazz is one of the main characters in the canon series, he decides to remain at North Academy rather than come back to Central Academy, leaving him absent more often. He still has regular A Day in the Limelight chapters at North Academy alongside Jesse, but his overall presence is lessened compared to canon.
• Didn't See That Coming: One of the sources of drama in this fanfic is the deviations in canon from what Jamie knows of the GX World and canon. When it deviates, doubly so when it can affect his life on campus, Jamie finds himself in some serious trouble. In one chapter, Jamie creates an Obelisk Force to be ready to battle off the Light of Destruction and the Society of Light, masking it as giving the Obelisks a means to remember why they are the elites of the school. But come chapter 42, everyone's deck improves tremendously, and they start to think they have the means to take on Jamie; creating more stress than he needs to deal with when the Society of Light will start up soon.
  • He's also prone to underestimating. Jamie had the right idea to create an Obelisk Force of students from Obelisk Blue...but despite the skilled members they have; the Society of Light simply overtook the lesser skilled yet heavily populated Ra Yellow dorms and have the numbers to go against the Obelisk Force. If you can't win by dueling, you'd likely win by the law of averages and attrition.
• Evil vs. Evil: Yubel duels against Brron, Mad King of Dark World, in Chapter 52 for control over the Spirit World that Brron rules over.
• Fiction 500: Like in the canon series, Kaiba's wealth and power are so influential to the point where he muses of being unsure how powerful he really is.
• Foreshadowing: During the Spirit Day Festival, Jamie dresses up as Blade Knight. During the Saga of the True Name, we find out that the man beneath the real Blade Knight's mask is the real Jamie Lancaster.
• The Friends Who Never Hang: Despite having almost as important a role in the story as Jamie, Jaden scarcely ever hangs out with him on his own, the aftermath of their team-up against Kagemaru being the closest to a one-on-one interaction they get.
• The Gadfly: Jamie's Melodious monsters like to embarrass him whenever he uses them by singing pop songs as they battle.
• Graceful Loser: True to his beliefs of "dueling for fun", Jaden takes his loss against Chazz in stride after their respective academy's annual duel. In the aftermath, Jamie notes that Jaden was truly unaffected by the snide remarks he'd gotten from the other students for his loss and that he was more saddened by the fact that he couldn't convince Chazz to come back to Duel Academy.
• I Let You Win: Adrian allows Alexis to defeat him during their duel in the inter-school tournament so that he can leave the event as soon as possible for the sake of his own goal of obtaining Exodia.
• Intercontinuity Crossover: While it starts as a straightforward Self-Insert Fic set in GX, Jamie's presence weakens the dimensional boundaries, allowing other dimensions to interact. In addition, this version of GX is not the same one he knows.
  • The manga events exist simultaneously, with Reggie Mackenzie and Tragoedia both appearing.
  • Kagemaru enters a pact with Starving Venom Fusion Dragon, and he refers to the terror that is the Supreme King Z-ARC and Starving Venom's search for its fellow Dimension Dragons.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Jamie tends to be rude and sarcastic, but he genuinely cares for the well-being of others.
• Love Triangle: Jamie finds himself attracted to both Alexis Rhodes and Erin Reid, who are both attracted to him as well. Eventually, Jamie starts to date Alexis while he and Erin remain friends.
• The Main Characters Do Everything: Frequently discussed throughout the fic with Jamie.
• Mid-Season Upgrade: An energy wave released during the 2nd school year upgrades the decks of most of the major characters with cards from the future, the sole exceptions being Jaden, whose cards instead turned blank similar to when he lost to Aster in canon, and Jamie, who already possessed cards stronger than normal for the reality. Including giving them access to Synchro and Xyz monsters.
• Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds: "Jamie's" presence is causing the dimensional boundary to weaken, and creating tears in the fabric of reality. So long as he continues to exist, the dimensions are at risk of complete destruction.
• No Ending: Because of the indefinite hiatus, the last chapter shows an unforeseen future regarding Jamie's victory over the Supreme King and both of them recuperating in the manor of the Dragonmaids.
• No Name Given: The true name of the main protagonist has yet to be revealed, only being referred to as Jamie by both the characters and the author.
• Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: While the Melodious archetype and Xyz monsters that Jamie uses in 2016 were relatively new, it's not considered particularly strong compare to other deck combos, but in the world of GX, it's practically a Game-Breaker for him until his tag duel with Jaden against Kagemaru. After the events of chapter 41, it's pretty much averted with the world gaining Synchro and Xyz monsters.
• Odd Friendship: Pretty much nearly everyone has this with their unique personalities.
  • On one hand, there's Jamie Lancaster who's an ambitious and unapologetically arrogant duelist seeking his way to the top of the social hierarchy. On the other hand, he's best friends with the intelligent and humble Bastion Misawa.
  • Chazz has one with Jesse Anderson. Even Chazz notes how strange it is for him and Jesse to get along so well considering how much Jesse reminds Chazz of Jaden.
  • Yugi and Kaiba's dynamic consists of this compared to their teenage years.
• Official Couple:
  • Bastion and Jasmine start dating by the end of the first semester.
  • Jamie hooks up with Alexis during summer break.
• Only Friend: Due to Chazz staying in North Academy and having a much more hostile relationship with the Central Academy students than in canon, Jesse is the only one of the cast that he truly considers a friend.
• Pass the Popcorn: During Bastion's duel against Wheeler after the latter kidnapped Jasmine, two Kaibacorp employees who were helping with the experiment on Wheeler start eating sunflower seeds while watching, Jamie eventually joining them.
• "Reason You Suck" Speech: Erin gives one to Jasmine and the Obelisk Force for their hostility towards Jamie despite Jamie forming the group to help them.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Erin is the Hot-Blooded, energetic, and somewhat rebellious Red Oni compared to Alexis, who is calmer and more respectful.
• Running Gag: Jamie saying that he's not a Harem protagonist.
• Sex for Solace: Confirmed by Mackenzie, where she reveals to Jamie that she knows of this happening between him and Alexis in chapter 48.
• Shout-Out:
  • To which Jamie himself lampshades with his name, along with the name of his mother, and his lion motif; it's a nod to Game of Thrones.
  • During Chazz's duel against Zaborg the Thunder Monarch in chapter 50, Jesse made a reference to the D-Wheels (Duel Runners in the dub) from 5D's when musing about the idea of dueling on motorcycles.
• Shown Their Work: Being a fanboy and competitive player for the series itself, the author wrote numerous terminologies used in the game and utilized practicality within the deck balance.
• Sliding Scale of Free Will vs. Fate: A central theme throughout the fic.
• Spared by the Adaptation:
  • Downplayed. The Dark Scorpions didn't die in canon, but Don Zaloog's Shadow Charm triggered following their loss to Chazz, reducing them back to Duel Spirits. Here, since the duel wasn't a Shadow Game, Bastion beating the Dark Scorpions didn't strip them of their physical forms, Bastion instead told them to get the hell off of and stay away from Duel Academy Island. While they agree to do so, Bastion holds no illusions that they won't come back the first chance they get.
  • Viper's adopted son, Pierce, is alive and well in this fanfic, as opposed to the Posthumous Character he was in canon.
• Technician Versus Performer: Bastion and Adam Sugihara. Bastion firmly believes that calculations and strict planning lead to victory while Adam, who uses a luck-based deck, believes that the game's more fun when you leave things up to chance. Jamie notes how the two represent opposite extremes of the game.
• Transparent Closet: According to Jamie and Chazz, it's blatantly obvious that Jesse is gay, Chazz saying that he didn't even know Jesse was trying to hide it.
• Unknown Rival: The Duel Spirit Blade Knight detests Jamie for reasons unknown, yet Jamie remains entirely unaware. It's revealed that Blade Knight is the real Jamie Lancaster who wishes to take back his stolen life from the main character.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Zane and Jamie become this after they duel.
• World of Snark: Nearly everybody has a sarcastic edge to them, Jamie easily being the snarkiest.

---