Follow TV Tropes

Following

Fridge / Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series

Go To

Fridge Brilliance

  • In Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series, during the 4th Council of Doom, Dartz demands Mai Valentine's dick, but that makes sense only when Marik said in the 1st Council of Doom, "There are no women in Yu-Gi-Oh! There are only extremely girly men!" On second thought, that might be Fridge Horror depending on how you look at it.
    • In fact, that would also explain why Mai and Serenity have male voices (or in Mai's case, had a male voice)... Again, that might be Fridge Horror.
    • But Dartz wanted her (card) DECK; it was his pronunciation issues that made it sound like he said the other word so your point is moot.
    • Well, one of the henchmen did vomit when Dartz said that.
    • Because he misunderstood and thought he said "dick" when he meant "deck".
  • In BBT Abridged, Jaden obsesses over Paradox attacking Venice. Why? Because Yusei said if he could tell him why they were in Venice he'd let him ride his motorcycle. Jaden's trying to find out to take up Yusei's offer.
    • Also, originally the network cut some plot important episodes to get the dub of 5D ready on time, due to it they really don't know what the hell is he doing in Venice.
    • Continuing on Jaden, many point out he seems to be an entirely different character in the movie compared to YGXTAS. But remember that Jaden in-canon had a huge development from how he started to the end of the series, becoming a different character entirely.
  • Although (possibly?) unintentional, Shadi's hatred of the Jews does make sense... After all, he was around when they disobeyed his Pharaoh and brought down all those plagues...
    • Also, he's a parody of the character Borat, who shares his Irrational Hatred of Jews and his distinctive catchphrases.
  • Why does Celtic Guardian seem to hate the Blue Eyes White Dragon so much? Remember when Yugi and Kaiba last dueled? Blue Eyes destroyed Celtic Guardian and defeated Yugi. He still has a grudge.
    • On the subject of Dragons, Yugi makes fun of Kaiba's fetish for dragons, one season later we learn about his hot dragon girlfriend from his past life.
  • In this video, the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past From the Future claims that there is no deity. At first, this causes a bit of confusion given that there are gods in the story's universe, as confirmed by Shadi, but just think back to when Kaiba first saw the ghost. He specifically said he really needed to lay off the drugs. Therefore, the ghost is just a product of Kaiba's subconscious and is only echoing what he himself believes since, by his own admission, he is "the most skeptical person on the planet".
  • Why is Florence such a Card-Carrying Villain? Well, he is the mind of Zorc, Yugioh's God of Evil.
  • Probably the most important case is the fourth wall, in appearance YGOTAS seems to not have a fourth wall, due to the sheer amount of references and random humor, but then you realize that the fourth wall of YGOTAS never gets closed as tapped but the Yu-Gi-Oh! series fourth wall, so when Shadi mentions that the great wall protection has been a great success, he's not wrong, only him, Ishizu (With her millennium necklace which explicitly gives her the ability to do so) and Melvin (A mercenary hired by 4kids to end YGOTAS) know about the fourth wall of YGOTAS itself.
    • By Season 3 everyone seems to reference the real world a lot (even for the show standards). In other words they're Breaking the Fourth Wall. The same Fourth Wall that collapsed during the Season 2 Finale.
  • Season 3 and onward began using footage from the original Japanese anime rather than the English dub. Considering that the majority of the Virtual World arc took place inside the base of 4Kids and that it ended with the base getting destroyed while the gang managed to escape, it all makes sense. No 4Kids means no censorship.
    • Although 4Kids doesn't get destroyed until midway through the season, it still makes sense given that the gang were trapped inside the company that uses the original Japanese version.
    • The second point is Jossed in light of season 4, which still uses the dub footage. Plus the last few episodes of season 2 use footage from the Japanese version. More likely, it’s Real Life Writes the Plot determining what footage is used based on ease of access.
  • In Florence's Day in the Limelight, the first thing he does is break up with Zorc because he says he's started seeing another villain, one who doesn't want to destroy the world. What happened to him in the previous episode? He met Marik Ishtar, whose most evil plan to date is pushing Yugi Mutou off a boat.
    • Also in this episode, Florence seems to contradict his being gay and not British by telling a story about how he got his British accent. Said story is a reference to the speeches the Joker made about how he got his scars in The Dark Knight, all of which are different, and therefore, probably made up. Well that must mean that Florence's story is also made up, and he truly is, as he said, gay and not British!
      • Yami Bakura is not British—he's ancient Egyptian. (And gay.) That's Fridge Brilliance in and of itself!
  • Téa is upset when she finds out the spoiler for the last Harry Potter book (she ships Harry/Hedwig), this is a good year before the book came out. Book comes out and Hedwig dies one chapter in. No wonder she was so upset...
    • Téa, a self-described shipper, is the one shown giving Bakura’s Millennium Item to Marik.
  • In episode 46 "Melvin'd" Bakura mentions that Zork got a job in "The sweet life of Zork and Cody". Four episodes prior Zack fell off the blimp and they needed a replacement.
  • In episode 36, Marik said that, if the fanfiction he's read is correct, the one Yugi loves most is Joey, and seemed shocked when Odion suggested that he loved Téa. Why? Because ever since he's a kid he's been a Yaoi Fanboy.
  • At first, the second episode of Season Zero Abridged looks like it provides a straight up continuity error when Tristan angrily shouts at Yugi that his parents are dead. Then you remember the rest of the seasons are the 4Kids Censored Versions. In other words, they were were able to be alive during Episode 41 (when Tristan said "Hi" to them while he and Duke were dangling over the edge of the KaibaCorp blimp) because Never Say "Die" was in effect.
    • Season Zero is an Alternate Universe, so when you look at it the other way, it doesn't make a difference.
  • In "Pharaoh's Throne", the Pharaoh asks if Lady Gaga is an Egyptian god. He may have been referring to Hapi, who is depicted as a hermaphodite in ancient Egypt! Intentional, it's awesome that LK is researching, unintentional? Awesome!
  • In Episode 52, why does Duke hate the song "99 Duel Monsters Cards on the Wall"? Because it's the song Tristan kept singing while they were dangling over the edge of the blimp in Episode 41.
  • In episode 55 Seto calls Noa “Munchkin”, it could be a jab at his height, it can also be because munchkin is a term used to describe players so dead set on winning that resort to creative in their interpretations of rules or outright cheating if they think they won’t get caught. Which is easy if you literally control the world.
  • In episode 52, after Mokuba has been kidnapped (again) by Noah, he mentions his past kidnappers let him watch cartoons. It would be perfectly in-character for Pegasus to do that, considering his admiration for American animation. It also makes sense for Marik, whose definition of evil is so silly and non-threatening that he would let his hostage do whatever he wants, including watching cartoons.
  • There's a scene in episode 59 where Melvin is admiring himself in a mirror and comments, "Would you fuck me? I'd fuck me". Considering that Melvin is the personification of a Split-Personality Takeover, his ability to literally go fuck himself might actually be within the realm of possibility.
    • Since this is Melvin we're talking about, that creates all sorts of Fridge Horror.
  • Joey's duel with Yami at the end of Season 3 ended with Joey winning in a way that Yami couldn't fathom. Knowing that Joey just plays his cards without checking their effects first would explain a lot: he cheated.
    • If so, that would also explain why Joey easily lost to Kaiba whereas Kaiba easily lost to Yugi: Kaiba is MUCH better at screwing the rules than Joey ever was, helped by the fact he's played the game longer, thus robbing Joey of one of his few advantages.
  • Yami tries to convince Yugi to go after Mai on a few occasions, even though he's not really into women. He's most likely just trying to get rid of Téa by shipping his host with an even sexier woman.
    • Though Yami also does seem to have wanted to push Yugi toward Rebecca Hawkins when she reappeared in Season 5. And declared it a "damn shame" when Yugi said he wasn't interested in "hitting that"
    • Just because Yami is into men doesn't mean that Yugi isn't into women. Yami could just be trying to do Yugi a solid by getting him interested in other women. That and possibly character evolution over time has developed Yami into being bi with an overt preference for men over women rather than gay. Especially since the "What Would Yugi Do" video has him state that he "can go either way, really".
  • In episode 66, Kaiba finds out that somebody has been buying a majority of KaibaCorp's shares. His first guess is Yugi, then Yugi again, then Pegasus. That's not entirely Kaiba's obsession clouding his reason, as there are technically two Yugis (the original Yugi and his alter-ego Yami).
  • At first, it doesn't make sense that Zorc is such a Manchild since he's Yu-Gi-Oh's God of Evil. But anyone who's completed the series knows that the Card-Carrying Villain Florence is essentially Zorc's mind. So Zorc's kindness is understandable: He's naturally kind and simple without his mind.
  • In the series proper, anyone can tell the difference between Yami and Yugi, but not in Season 0. Why is that? Simple, look at the difference in how the Pharaoh takes over Yugi's body. In Abridged, Yugi gets slightly taller, has a different face, and even a new voice when Yami takes over him, which will make his change more obvious and noticeable. In Season 0, on the hand, only Yugi's facial expression changes, and Yami's personality simply manifests through him, coming off more as a change of personality than a physical change.
  • Yugi and Yami both dislike fangirls, which is why neither of them return Tea's feelings when she flirts with them (despite Yugi being apparently attracted to her on most occasions).
  • Joey doesn't like it when Tristan and Duke flirt with his sister Serenity. It turns out that Serenity is actually 12-years-old (at least according to Duke), so it's no wonder why he tries to keep older men from perpetually hitting on her.
    • On the other hand, Joey is also very uncaring towards Serenity most of the time, so this creates some Fridge Horror when you realize that he's basically neglecting a child.
  • It may seem pretty stupid of Melvin to never take the chance to just straight up murder someone while the main characters are off the blimp in Season 3 or when he literally has a knife ready to stab Odion before he's about to duel Mai. Until you realize that he's Marik's evil half, of course he'd make such a mistake!
  • In episode 65, Dark Magician Girl explains that Duel Monsters live in a world that has a symbiosis relationship with the human world. This explains why several monsters like Celtic Guardian, Kuriboh, and Flame Swordsman/Frank are capable of talking and interacting with humans in past episodes, they're all inhabitants of that world being summoned during a duel.
  • Yugi's dislike towards slavery (ei. being superior to someone) may have come from being a bullied victim at school. Yet, being an ass towards someone who loses to you is somehow okay.
  • Yami's Jerkass tendencies. Let's be real here, how often do you hear about rulers in the past being described as nice people?
  • Yami Yugi complained how in his time as Pharaoh, nobody makes a fuss about him dying. Considering how he treated them and his general attitude as king, it's no surprise.
  • Kaiba "has the weirdest boner" as he enters a Blue-Eyes White Dragon train. Considering how Blue-Eyes was more or less Kaiba's girlfriend (in the form of Kisara) in a past life, it takes a new meaning in "being inside of someone you love".
  • Even if the story may not be true, Kaiba being a robot built by Freeza could explain some of the stuff he's capable of in the series. He got his finger cut off by a helicopter blade yet was able to reattach it back to his hand, survived an exploding motorcycle without a scratch, and was able to throw a card hard enough to hurt somebody's hand via Fallout-style interface. A lot of these things no ordinary human can do.
  • Remember when Tristan believes Bakura to be Spider-Man? Well Kaiba mentioned the CEO of Stark Industries in Season 4 so he can fire him, meaning perhaps the whole Marvel Comics universe exists in the YGOTAS universe, thus giving credence to Tristan's seemingly childish belief of a fictional hero existing in front of him.
  • Yugi sarcastically suggested that Pegasus should've torn up the Egyptian God Cards instead of locking them up to keep them from wreaking havoc. But given how the Gods punish those who play a counterfeit of them, it's very likely the God Cards would try to kill Pegasus before he even attempts to that.
  • Marik's more recent appearances (noticeably in newer "Marik Plays" and "Counseling Evil") play up his Harmless Villain traits to a point where it almost seems out of character for him. He's been know to outright threaten to maim and assault people in the past (even if that wasn't his main goal as a villain), but he now seems opposed to physically harming anyone at all. What stops this from being Character Derailment is that he is only characterized this way in videos that came out after the episode "Winged Dragon of Rawr". Even if he's falling short of a full Heel–Face Turn, it's not surprising that he's acting noticeably kinder now that he's gotten rid of Melvin, made up with both of his siblings, and is on at least somewhat better terms with Yugi and the pharaoh.
  • Rex explains in Episode 73 that the Power of Orichalcos allows you to Retcon your past, as it's how he and Weevil stopped being Beavis And Butthead Expies. This would also explain how Mai got an actual female voice actress earlier in the season, and why Dartz and the other motorcycle-riding henchmen changed personalities and quirks (and voice, in Dartz's case).
    • Jossed in regards to Mai. She just got The Other Darrin treatment.
      • This does create some Fridge Horror in that, the last time someone’s voice was changed, it was because Tristan Taylor’s voice had died, meaning that Mai’s voice went the same route. And because the discount Shadow Game known as the seal of orichalcos is gone, there is no way to bring it back.
  • Why did Weevil throw away the Exodia cards instead of keeping them for himself? Because stealing from a guy whose friends are bigger and stronger than you are is pretty pointless. Joey and Tristan would have gotten Yugi's Exodia cards back before the sun could rise (y'know, in a few hours).
  • Yami didn't pick up on Pegasus's Camp Gay actually Camp Straight mannerisms and refers to him as super manly, because he's from ancient Egypt. The standards for what's considered manly changed a lot over the centuries.
    • Yugi and his friends have also read Pegasus's diary which includes details of Pegasus's wife. Not only does this help confirm that he is straight, the fact that Pegasus will gladly do anything to bring Cecilia back from the dead could be seen as an act of manliness by Yami. That, and Pegasus trolls Kaiba on purpose.
    Kaiba: What are you, gay?
    Pegasus: Bitch, I might be.
  • Shadi warns the protagonists about the perils of fourth wall breaking... long after it's been broken. He was also late to warn Ishizu and Marik about their father.
  • In the episode when Mokuba thinks he's a Pokemon, the first one he pretends to be is Bulbasaur. The voice actress for Mokuba in the 4kids dub has also voiced several Pokemon for them, including Bulbasaur.
  • Yami and Kaiba often disregard the game's rules- well, they've played it long before it was a game, back when it was a significantly more lawless and bloody method of battling with spirits...
  • The Pharaohs weren't judged by how nice or kind they were, but rather their ability to maintain order and stability. This is why Yami will frequently joke about all the horrible stuff he did, while still calling himself a good ruler unironically. He was a good ruler by his society's standards.
  • On a meta level, when the gang laments the deaths of the Big Five, they point out that despite 4Kids's stringent censorship meddling with the story, they still brought happy childhood memories. This could also apply to the abridged series itself; as Joey points out in court, it might not be the original, but it made the fandom more prosperous than ever.
  • As much as the Duel AI is mocked in Episode 83, it theoretically works as an amusement park attraction. You can already play anywhere? Only if you have a duel disk, which does not come cheap. The kid spent $200 in five hours, and assuming that he's so bad he loses every ten to twenty minutes, that comes to $4-8 a duel. Not economical for a real duelist, but it's a reasonably priced arcade game (if we compare a duel disk to a cutting-edge video game console, which often price above $300, the kid still hasn't broken the cost-effectiveness ceiling). Adding data from multiple duelists makes it useless? Since you usually have to spend money before a ride, once the kid is hooked by the "best duelists in the world" tagline, the park already won, and there's no need to beat the kid. You can only play against a computer? All right, that's a good point.
  • While the mechanics of magic aren't super clear, both Crump and Marik are capable of possessing Téa at the same time. Crump took over her body by overriding her brain, but ancient Egyptians believed that the heart did the thinking, not the brain. If there's a physical location for the piece of Marik's soul influencing Téa's mind, it's in her heart, which Crump can't touch.
  • Why does Yugi think that Yami's soul room would have video games? His soul room is full of toys, and in the manga, Téa's soul room is a dance studio and there's a professor whose soul is full of books. Every other soul room has some kind of entertainment, and Yami's is unusual.
  • Melvin is eviler and smarter (to a point) then in canon, and Marik is dumber and less evil. Melvin claims to have been eating Marik's soul for the past ten years; maybe Melvin stole the brains and evil, too.
  • Joey claiming Valon's motive for working with Dartz (he just really hates people) is the most sensible motive of any villain isn't just a jab at season 4. Considering nearly everyone in YGOTAS is either a complete moron, an asshole or both, is it really that surprising?

Fridge Horror

  • Probably deliberate and Played for Laughs, but this exchange from Episode 25 definitely qualifies:
    Tristan: Your sister's the sexiest thing I've ever seen! I'm going to sleep with her!
    Joey: If you do, I'll kill you with my bare hands.
    Tristan: You're just jealous!
  • Episode 52. Gozaburo chooses to use all his money for weapons of mass-destruction, Kaiba of all people responded with "That's insane!" This is the guy who blackmailed a company into giving him money.
  • In Season Zero 2, Kaiba comes across as an overly cheerful Stepford Smiler with hints of Empty Shell in there. It's hilarious until we see that in this continuity MOKUBA is the bad guy. What do you think "Emperor" Mokuba might have done to him to turn him into...that?
    • He even shows hints of being a masochist.
    Pharaoh: So Kaiba, are you ready to enter a world of pain?
    Kaiba: Sounds delightful.
  • Fridge Tear Jerker: So much of Marik and Florence's Will They or Won't They? is Played for Laughs. It becomes less funny once you take a closer look and/or read Marik and Bakura Go To [CENSORED] Town. Marik is miles deep in his Transparent Closet and Implausible Deniability. Florence, meanwhile, is a Dogged Nice Guy Type 2 who genuinely cares for Marik, but simply cannot read Marik's feelings since the latter is the Master of the Mixed Message. All this is painfully familiar to many who've been on the wrong side of Incompatible Orientation; doubly so if their crush actually MIGHT be interested. But how would Little Kuriboh know about that, let alone care enough to work it into the plot? oh... wait.
  • In Episode 45, Marik reveals that Melvin was created as his imaginary friend to "give him all the hugs he ever needed". Heartrending in itself, then you realize that Melvin uses "hug" as a euphemism for "fatal stabbing", which means Marik was suicidal at around age 10.
    • Also, the Omnicidal Maniac Melvin is eerily willing to kill Marik off on a whim, despite admitting that there's a good chance this will mean his own end too. He describes himself as "Die-Curious''. That's right, he decides to gamble with his own life even before he gets the chance to kill his main targets just because. (Contrast this with his canon self, for whom this was never a danger and who always defaulted to self-preservation.)
    • Another thing about Marik's age... although we don't get to see his direct influences until Marik is about 10, Melvin still describes himself in the present day as having been feeding on Marik's soul for "a good ten years now". Meaning that Marik has had an evil split personality since he was six years old.
  • Noah's Leitmotif towards the end of the series is Mad World—specifically, the remix used in Donnie Darko (the song, FYI, was originally by Tears for Fears). A viewer might dismiss it as just a stock "sad song"... until they remember the lyrics. The song's bemused narrator reflects on how he can't connect with other people or find meaning in the world around himself, and mentions that his favorite dreams are the ones in which he dies. Noah is trapped in a fake world full of fake things and people because he's an AI. Nothing he can do here makes any difference. These things gave rise to his Lack of Empathy. His story ends with a debatably Heroic Sacrifice. ...ouch.
  • Marik's petty acts of villainy against Yugi make more sense when you take his father into account. Hank Ishtar treated him like a chew toy his entire childhood, all the while acting like this was how loving parents behave towards their children. For an isolated child like Marik, harmless pranks are as villainous as he can get before confusing it with affection. Poor kid.
    • Having Yugi duel Joey to the death also ties into this. As someone obsessed with Yaoi and fan-fiction, Marik sees that they're closer than brothers and wants to act it out vicariously, which to him means trying to kill one or both of them.
    • Given how Hank Ishtar is, it's also possible that Marik is often punished or beaten for minor felonies (ei. Hank punished Odion just for saving Marik's life), thus making him believe that even the most minor of things are huge offenses. To us his acts are childish at best and petty at worst, but in his point of view, he's constantly committing acts equivalent in depravity to murder.
  • In Episode 69, Duke says that he knows the back of Yugi's cards like he knows the back of the last girl he was with. Wasn't that Serenity?
    • Knowing Duke Devlin, he's probably referring to some random girl he was with offscreen.
    • The most we know that Duke did was ask Serenity to press herself against him shirtless. Which happened within the span of a few minutes, and Serenity was fully clothed again when Tristan showed back up again. Considering the time gap between Duelist Kingdom and that episode, it likely was some other offscreen girl. And even if it was Serenity... well he definitely would have had a chance to see her back if she was topless.
  • Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl can both talk and are sentient, implying there's still a bit of Mahad and Mana in them. However, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, despite being Kaiba's favorite card, never speaks nor does it respond to Seto's affections. Does this mean that, at some point of time, Kisara is now Deader than Dead?
  • Thanks to Foregone Conclusion, Zorc and Yami Bakura will both die inevitably at the end of the series. Without Bakura around, Marik will lose the closest friend he ever had in his life. And this is right after the hell Marik went through during the Battle City because of his evil half. And keep in mind, Zorc is much nicer here than he is in canon, which will probably mean he'll be less deserving of Atem killing him.
    • A recent livestream of Marik Plays Overwatch included a casual comment from Marik that even as obsessed as Bakura is with revenge, he's still certain that Bakura would never think that defeating the pharaoh would be something worth dying over, and that he himself wouldn't get any joy out of the Pharaoh's defeat unless Bakura was alive to celebrate the victory with him. Oh no.
  • Florence claims to be a Serial Killer in Marik's Let's Plays. Maybe he can dodge the law now, but if/when he leaves at the end of the series, normal Bakura will be stuck with the crime.
  • Fridge Tearjerker. Sure, kid Marik flaunting about the poverty and disease might be ridiculous and amusing. But given that he was sheltered in a tomb withouth being able to so much even see the world around him, having no friends, no contact with vendors or so much as dirt roads, arguably not even a chance to have sunlight on a regular basis and having literally no life experiences outside of the cavern, poverty and disease it's actually such an upgrade compared to his extremely shitty life. Marik just simply doesn't know any better so something as rather mundane and even undesirable for others it's such a wonder for him.

Top