12th Feb: A new policy is being put in place for TRS threads: Make your case that the name/page is broken in the Opening Post, or the thread will be nuked immediately. See Everything You Wanted To Know About Changing Names for what "Make your case" means.
5th Feb: Echo Chamber Season 1 blooper reel on Youtube here
Web Original: Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series aka: Yu-Gi-Oh The Abridged Series
Yami Yugi: Wait a minute! Did you just summon a bunch of monsters in one turn? Seto Kaiba: Yeah. So? Yami: That's against the rules, isn't it? Kaiba:Screw the rules, I have money!
Jokes about the British are used a lot with Bakura ("This looks like a job...for LIMEYMAN!"). All these jokes get even funnier when you realize that LittleKuribohISBritish.
Yugi: Is everyone from England a total spaz, Bakura?
Bakura: Pretty much.
Episode 23
Marik: With my Millenium Rod, I can take control of whoever I want.
Yugi: And you chose Bandit Keith? Why the hell would you choose Bandit Keith, he sucks!
Marik: It's simple. Americans are very easy to brainwash. Isn't that right, mind slave?
Kaiba: And... some kind of evil zebra unicorn thing. (Zooms in on monster) Seriously, what the hell is that supposed to be? Whatever it is, I'll be seeing it in my nightmares.
Also when the characters find that the virtual game's version of Mokuba is a princess, the ending states she will "return in your nightmares".
Happens elsewhere when Yami claims that Kaiba sounds like Brock from Pokémon.
Yami: "Screw the rules, I'm in love with Nurse Joy!"
Another Pokemon allusion: When Mokuba gets "Japanese Puberty", the first thing he says is "Bulbasaur!" That's because Tara Jayne did the first voice for Mokuba and Bulbasaur.
Yet another is made in episode 31. The little boy who thinks he's Ash from Pokemon is a reference to the fact Veronica Taylor voiced the same character...and didn't even bother changing the inflection she used for Ash whatsoever.
Variation in the redubbed Star Trek: The Next Generation opening spoof teaser in episode 32 - most of the characters get vaguely appropriate Abridged voices mapped to theirs, but Geordi Laforge gets Vocal Dissonance as he has the same voice as Serenity - a reference to them both being blind.
In the Episode 38 post credits gag, we see Howl doing Christian Bale's infamous on-set rant.
And then in Marik's Evil Council 3, Marik sends Dan Green to get Yugi's Millennium Puzzle.
In Episode 47, one of the Big Five, formerly voiced by GanXingba, claims that now that Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged is cancelled, children will have to make do with watching Avatar The Last Airbender reruns for anime. When Kaiba points out that Avatar isn't an anime, he responds "It might as well be." GanXingba does Avatar: The Abridged Series, one of the most successful non-anime Abridged Series.
Inverted slightly In the Kami-con Season 4 promo video, Seto Kaiba mentions that Eric Stewart will be attemding, and mentions only that he played Dr.Z from Dinosaur King and Brock from Pokemon. When prompted by Mokuba he also mentions Bastien from Yu-Gi-Oh GX.
Added Alliterative Appeal: In episode 15, during Tea's duel with Mai, Tea says "I'm gonna beat your bleach blond butt back to boobieland!"
Adults Are Useless: As Tristan says, "Don't our parents even care that we're missing?"
Aerith and Bob: Exemplified in Hank and Veronica Ishtar.
Affably Evil: Marik. For an evil villain, he's awfully funny and polite. Melvin, however, is a bastard.
And the demonic door leading to Nesbitt gets her to open it with the promise of ponies. *Twice*
All Just a Dream: Most of the fourth Evil Council episode turns out to be this.
The opening proper (i.e. after the originally-animated musical segment) to the Bonds Beyond Time movie where Jack and Crow have no idea what motorcycles are and are about to play a card game standing completely still on the ground is this. It doubles as foreshadowing, although by the time it comes up Yusei seems to have gotten over his fear of card games that aren't played on motorcycles.
Ambiguously Gay: Almost everyone, though Spice Girls fan Pegasus is the worst. When some of the characters find out he's actually straight, he tries to kill them. Word Of God has admitted in his reuploading of episode 17 that Pegasus is indeed straight (The gaydar was aiming at Croquet, his raspy voiced servant/butler), so he probably just has questionable, effeminate tastes ("Let's celebrate by watching the Spice Girls Movie!".) Of course, he gets to lampshade this a good bit.
Pegasus: Ohh, I'm so ambiguously camp!
In fact, for the brief time Bakura is regularly accompanying the main characters, his Millennium Ring is said to have had Gaydar installed in it; this serves as a Magnetic Plot Device as it leads the group to Ambiguously Gay villains.
Furthermore, Pegasus was married to Cecelia before she exploded at the altar (she's even thought to be his wife by Bakura). In fact he appears to be the only character in the series with an actual spouse, ironically.
Bakura is not gay (his father installed his gaydar to protect him from gays) but Florence is.
I though Bakura had the gaydar because he's "secretly very lonely."
Bakura: I'm not gay, I'm just British.
Florence: I'm not British, I'm just gay.
Marik: "And we're not gay, by the way. Least, I don't think I am."
Marik has ascended from ambiguity to the Transparent Closet. That he sometimes forgets is there himself.
What, just because a guy likes to dress effeminately, and hang around with another extremely attractive man, and read yaoi, and flaunt his gorgeous abs, and stroke a phallic symbol suggestively in every other scene, that automatically makes him gay?
Florence: Kinda.
Zorc: Yeah, kinda.
Given Marik and Florence's moving duet of "Stand By Me" just before Melvin defeats them both, we can probably consider him just out in general.
Young Marik: Somebody dropped a perfectly good comic book! Hey, this isn't like my scriptures. What is that one guy doing to that other guy? I don't know but it gives me cravings...
(later)
Young Marik: Can I keep the comic book? It is relevant to my interests!
Young Ishizu: Marik, please don't flaunt your yaoi in public!
From the same episode as the above, young!Marik lists one of the things he wants to do on the surface as 'maybe fall in love with a handsome prince?' Apparently he hadn't yet gotten the memo that he was supposed to be straight?
Just watch the Leather Pants video. Marik is now officially a Camp Gay.
Episode 53- "To be honest, I'm not really used to being inside women. I don't like it very much." Yeah, he was talking about posessing Teá, but still..
In Marik Plays Bloodlines episode 6, Marik finally admitted he was gay, though he tried to take it back immediately after. Just in case there was previously any doubt that he is in a Transparent Closet...
And Bakura's gaydar points to Yugi's (fabulous) puzzle. Actually, Yami doesn't really count as ambiguous anymore.
Yami: If you're a ghost, then I'm straight. (It's not a ghost - just a gay clown.)
Or one of his transformation sequences:
Yami and Yugi in unison: Wonder Twin powers: activate. Form of: an Egyptian homosexual.
Ishizu is also possibly gay, going by what happened with Bakura's gaydar before its batteries ran out. It was her or the Giant Rock that truly understood her. Hey, maybe that's why it lied to her.
Kaiba: I mean, look at Bakura. Mokuba: Who the hell is Bakura? Kaiba: Precisely.
Aren't You Forgetting Someone?: When Téa describes her card "Shining Friendship" as having qualities from all her friends, she leaves Bakura out, and he tries to point this out to her, unsuccessfully.
The really funny part of that is Little Kuriboh didn't make up her forgetting. She doesn't mention him in the actual episode.
Art Shift: One flashback to the first episode is done in the style of Toei's Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, in which (among other things) Kaiba had green hair.
((note the quote on top of this page)) Young Kaiba: "Screw the rules, I have green hair!" (quick cut to the present day) Modern Day Kaiba: "Huh. Now that was just weird. I should probably cut down on the drugs."
And another is done as a black and white silent film, with Kaiba having a twirly mustache and the dialogue much more formal and flowery than before.
Episode 46 has two different scenes done as original Flash-style animations. One is a lightsaber duel between Florence and Melvin (done by trainerBAM), and the other is a parody of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, co-starring Zorc (done by Kirbopher, who voices Noah).
Episode 49 has the Boobometer, to measure the boobs on screen. One would think it would be for an episode about Mai. No, it revolves around Tea, whose boobs got an upgrade.
Concrete Giraffes is also done as original Flash animation, courtesy of Rocketgal.
Ascended Meme: The English dubbed voice actors have recognized and used their respective abridged characters' catchphrases at Cons.
4Kids put up a vote on Facebook on what fans would like the new slogan for Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds to be. Guess what they chose? CARD GAMES ON MOTORCYCLES
Asspull: As Melvin aptly points out "Mega Ultra Chicken's Secret ability which I just this second made up."
Attention Whore: The filming of Marik's "magnum opus" is gatecrashed by a strange man with no face who just demands to be in every shot.
Hey guuuuys. Can I be in the movie? I would like to be in the movie.
Dude shows up again in the third Christmas special.
Author Filibuster: In the Bonds Beyond Time movie, when Paradox turns Stardust Dragon into "a cwappy thwee-dee effect", the movie pauses for a moment and a voiceover quickly states "We at Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged would like to apologise for the lack of 3D content in this movie. However, we'd like to think this is totally justified since 3D is bulls**t and adds absolutely nothing to the cinema experience. So please, enjoy your 2D movie. Because it's cheaper and much less obnoxious."
Badass Boast: In Episode 47, Kaiba threatens the Big Five by saying "Fool me once (Big Five teaming up with Pegasus), shame on you. Fool me twice (Virtual World), shame on me. Fool me three times, you're gonna get curbstomped by Seto Kaiba."
Badass Long Coat: Mentioned in Episode 44 when Joey and Tristan talk about how they didn't think Kaiba's coat could get any more badass than it already was.
Badass Creed: In Episode 47, the Big Five parody the infamous Team Rocket motto, complete with the BGM.
Marik: Don't worry, Bakura! This is the part where Yugi shows up and saves everybody from certain damnation...! Any minute now!
Big "NO!": Joey: "I just realized—now that the tournament's over, we have to go back to school." Tristan: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO—" * cut to credits*
Tristan gets another one much later when he discovers his conversion into a robot monkey.
Bilingual Bonus: Most likely unintended, but during the "Leather Pants" song, Marik starts attempting to sing in French. However it sounds like he's saying "spoon" in a manner reminiscent of the Burgund king...
He's just saying "cuir" (leather) in a drawn-out manner that makes it sound sort of like "cuillere" (spoon).
Even more so with "C'est une série abrégée!", a remake of the entire first episode in French.
Bizarro Universe: Season Zero, according to Word Of God. Namely Yami being out and out evil rather, Kaiba being genuinly nice (though still with a money fetish) and Mokuba telling Seto to shut up.
Breaking the Fourth Wall: Joey and Tristan complain about how LittleKuriboh takes too long to post videos, and that they should complain about it. And Ishizu Ishtar explicitly states that she has the power to break the fourth wall in her introductory episode.
Half of the series is breaking the fourth wall! There are jokes ranging from the nature of the Abridged Series to the fact that Bakura's entire shtick is that he's a "minor character" and nobody knows who he is.
In fact, according to Episode 41, Shadi's job is to protect the fourth wall because, if it was broken, bad things would happen. Even if that's limited to only breaks of the abridged series's own wall, he's been doing a lousy job.
Pegasus: If you knew this would happen, then why did you take me to the Pharaoh's tomb in the first place!?
Shadi: I am, how you say, kind of a dick.
This is an important job though. Without it, man will become as the animal, animal will become as the dirt, dirt will become as the Jew.
Shadi himself acknowledges what a terrible job he does of protecting the fourth wall by sarcastically commenting "Great Success!"
Duke Devlin breaks it when he and Tristan are holding on to the blimp in the same episode.
Devlin: "I can't believe I'm actually gonna die in a show about f***ing card games!"
It actually officially falls in Episode 46 with a thunderclap.
There's possibly some more walls beyond the fourth: Little Kuriboh confirmed a third season at the very end of the second, but the show was canceled by characters in the Yu-Gi-Oh world. Just watch the episode, it makes much more sense.
More than possibly, the title of Episode 47 is Episode 47 - Beyond the Fourth Wall.
Time is measured in episodes.
Break the Haughty: Kaiba gets a brutal one in episode 44. He goes on a Hannibal Lecture to Ishizu about not caring about the 4th wall and is about to play Obelisk the Tormentor. Then Ishizu plays a card that allows her to get her and Kaiba to swap all the cards in their deck for the ones in their card graveyards. Kaiba basically defeated all her cards and ONLY LOST SIX. He takes a good minute just saying one long fuck.
Brick Joke: In episode 31 a bird lands on Marik's shoulder (Well, Marik's mind slave, Steve the mime). He names it Mr. Tweetums. In episode 43, Melvin and Mai play a shadow game in which any time a monster is killed, the player loses memories of their loved ones. Melvin announces that he doesn't have any loved ones to worry about forgetting, but then he loses his memories of Mr. Tweetums, and takes it badly.
When Tristan and Duke are hanging from the blimp, one of Tristan's imaginary shoulder Zack/Cody heads falls off the blimp and the other is unsure which it was. After watching The Suite Life of Zorc and Cody in episode 46, it can be inferred that it was Zack who fell to his death.
Shortly after that scene we get a callback all the way back to around episode three:
Tristan: In another few hours the sun will rise.
Devlin: What the f*** does that even mean!?
Tristan: [distraught] I don't know, but it's true!
One Brick Joke turned into a Running Gag: In episode 19, Yugi responds to the sight of Kaiba smiling at Mokuba with "Every time Kaiba smiles, a puppy dies.". The next time he smiles (in episode 30), a caption of "+ 1 Dead Puppies" appears. The number would upgrade every time Kaiba smiled again.
In episode 14, during a flashback to "the 4Kids version" of how Yugi and Tea met, Tea explains that she wants to save up money to become a table dancer in New York. During the credits to The Movie, while explaining what happens to each character after the movie ends, it's explained that Tea does in fact become a table dancer.
Also, during his date with Tea, Yami is attacking his milkshake for no apparent reason. When Kaiba and Ishizu are dueling he wonders what happened to that milkshake.
The very existence of Kaiba's Real Father - Conclusion is one. There are also several near the end of the video, the most obvious of which is lampshaded and relates to the conclusion and a Plot Hole it causes.
Episode 48 opens with Yugi remarking on LittleKuriboh's British accent slipping in during Episode 6, then cuts to a flashback of said episode with the British slang and accent taken Up to Eleven. Later still, Everyone Loves Mako does the same.
Episode 47 makes a reference all the way back to episode 8, referencing when Tristan (temporarily) got a new voice.
Gansley: 4Kids took pity on us, they gave us new voices!
Tristan: Your voices changed!? That's impossible!
In episode 48, Duke tells Tristan that he has a disease where if he doesn't "have half naked girls applied to his body at regular intervals", he'll die. In episode 49, he grabs Serenity's hand and asks her is she doesn't mind him taking her top off for a moment. Moments later Serenity is heard telling Duke, "I'm glad I could help cure you."
In the Deleted Scenes episode, Yugi warns Tristan that quoting any abridged series not made by Little Kuriboh will get his legs broken by a wrench. Near the end of the episode, Tristan changes Duke's theme song to Ghost Nappa's theme song, resulting in Yugi breaking his kneecaps
Yugi: Gee, I wonder who could have broken Tristan's kneecaps. With a wrench. Specifically this one.
In the episode when Tea dueled Mai one of her cards was the penguin from happy feet, and now in episode 49 she asked a penguin to meet him.
"Besides, no one can hear you in outer space."
"Zach and Cody are my imaginary friends."
"Snot him!"
And then from Episode 53, "Apply the handbrake you moron!"
Also from 53, Kaiba has to admit that Yami looks damn good in a tutu.
Burn the Witch!: Tristan, after observing some of Duke Devlin's dice tricks and leaping to the obvious (for him) conclusion.
But He Sounds Handsome: Inverted by Odion. When he stands in for Marik, he owns up to all the insults hurled at him and even adds a few of his own. "Malik", meanwhile, plays it completely straight.
Call Back ("I spy with my little eye something that begins with 'Gay clown'.")
Kaiba: Wait a minute, did you just summon a bunch of monsters in one turn?
Computer: Affirmative. So?
"It's funny because 'wang' means 'penis.'"
In a flashback in episode 50, Kemo ("The Hair Guy") mentions that he's considering taking child-grabbing classes.
In Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Movie, after suffering an attack by Kaiba's Blue Eyes Shining Dragon, Yugi falls on his keys. Then, in episode 43, after being struck by Mega Ultra Chicken's blast, he falls "once again, right on my keys."
Doubly hilarious, because in the the un-Abridged Yu-Gi-Oh canon, the movie comes after that episode.
"What a digital dummy."
In an early episode, the gang is surprised that Bakura's Gaydar works inside of a seemingly random cave. Joey claims that gay people live in caves, and Tea claims that he means bats. Joey replies, "Bats. Gay people. Same thing." In Episode 51, they're in another cave and Joey is afraid of running into gay vampires. Yugi claims that he means vampire bats. Joey replies, "I know what I said."
Also, in Episode 41, Tristan and Duke Devlin end up hanging on the blimp, dangerously close to falling to their deaths... when Tristan starts singing "99 Duel Monster cards". Fast-forward to Episode 52, Joey starts singing the same song, and Duke promptly replies "Guys, I hate this song!".
Episode 53 has Joey losing control of a truck, with his sister screaming "Apply the hand brake, you moron!" In an early flashback, Joey was teaching Serenity to drive and yelled as she lost control, "Apply the hand brake, you dumb broad!"
In Episode 11, Yami states that he "looks damn good in a tutu." A picture in episode 53 has Seto concur.
Remember Serentiy trying to drive a car? Turns out that she ran over Noah.
Captain Ersatz: Kaiba's duel robot is GlaDOS, the Exodia Rare Hunter is Marvin The Martian, virtual Kuriboh is Action Hot Dog, and Weevil and Rex are Beavis And Butthead.
Umbra and Lumis have become the Mooninites. And it is HILARIOUS.
In the Bonds Before Time movie, Paradox is [[Dexter'sLaboratory Mandark]]. And it is ALSO HILARIOUS.
Yugi: Be very careful, Joey! Subtitle: Actual 4Kids dialogue. Téa: Great advice, Pharaoh. Later that duel: Yugi: Joey, be very VERY careful! After Joey gets hit by lightning: Yugi: If only he had been careful! When Joey runs to Mai's aid during her duel against Melvin: Yugi:(climbing up to save Joey) Joey, what did I tell you about being careful?
"Oh Black Luster Soldier. No-one must ever know of our forbidden love."
Possible Ishizu with the giant rock.
Yusei and his D-Wheel, which he refers to as his girlfriend.
Catapult Nightmare: Bonds Beyond Time. Apparently, Yusei's nightmares involve Jack finding the idea of card games on motorcycles stupid and then playing a card game with Crow while standing still.
Cerebus Retcon: You know that gag back in Season 1 where Joey was teaching Serenity how to drive?*
"Joey, stop this crazy thing!" "Apply the handbrake, you dumb broad!"
Yeah, that killed Noah according to "They Saved Tristan's Brain."
Cerebus Syndrome: Although it's not really any more serious in tone than it was when it started, it's begun to have more of an overarching plot besides being "just" a parody series. One that strays almost completely from the original series' plot, no less. Not that anyone is complaining.
Chew Bubblegum: "I'm here to kick ass and play card games, and I'm all out of cards." Yugi immediately gives Kaiba his deck back however. A couple of other variations on the line are used.
Bakura: I'm here to kick ass and drink cups of tea. And I'm all out of tea.
Yami: I'm here to kick ass and play card games, and I'm all out of ass.
Christmas Special: Three of them. One is a Christmas Carol spoof starring Kaiba. The second is... something else. Let's put it this way: half of it tells the tale of "Slavemas" by means of an Affectionate Parody of How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
The third is the story of the birth of Jesus, as told by HankIshtar.
Yami: Huh? Yugi, you little [bleep]! You son of a [bleep]ing [bleep] [bleep] [bleep]! (Téa overhears) I'm going to tear off your [bleep] and shove them right up your [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] and then [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] on your [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] with [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] in the [bleep] [bleep] and [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] your [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] so then you'll have to [bleep] sideways! (slight pause) [Bleep]! Hmm? (looks up and sees Téa) hi there.
Marik in "Marik's Council of Doom" often slips into multiple F Bombs while berating his associates, using his own Sound Effect Bleep. One particularly hilarious moment was when he received a prank call during the 2nd council meeting:
Marik: "I don't have a (EFF)ing refrigerator! I'm an evil mastermind who lives underground in (EFF)ing Egypt, for (EFF)'s sake! Why would I need a refrigerator?"
Dartz: "Then you'd better go and catch it!" * hangs up*
Perhaps an even better example is the remastered first episode. Even after incorporating the theme song and stinger that all current episodes feature, it's still shorter than the original.
Compelling Voice: Marik, though it only works on people called "Steve". Melvin claims to be able to do it to anyone, but it doesn't seem to work.
Melvin: I am in control of your mind! Yugi: No you're not. Melvin: That is exactly what I wanted you to say, mind slave! Yugi: Look, we're not intimidated by your silly behavio- Melvin: I am the king! Yugi:...You're aloony. Melvin:Binky-boy.
Continuity Nod: Like Tristan and Marik before him, Kaiba also sings a theme-song while riding his motorcycle.
Conveniently Empty City: Jaden points this out as he is being attacked by the main villain of the Bonds Beyond Time Abridged movie.
Jaden: It's a good thing Venice is apparently empty! Or that might've been kind of dangerous.
Cooking Duel: In Episode 51, Duke and Nesbitt have a Theme Music Battle.
Cool and Unusual Punishment: In Episode 46, the members of the 4Kids board all have different ideas about what to do with the cast now that the show has been canceled. Death by drowning! Death by robots! Death by justice! Death by bad publicity! Death by penguins!
Also Fridge Brilliance/Foreshadowing if you remember what Deck Masters the five use in the Virtual World arc. Yes, one of them uses a penguin monster.
So what precisely does Jinzo have to do with bad publicity?
Jinzo's power in the abridged series is destroying internet references.
Couch Gag: Yami's opening line is often a quick one-liner, and as of Episode 35 the cards flying across the screen bear different pictures.
Yugi: (About Joey) He's just excited because this is the first episode that actually revolves around his character.
Tristan: I can't wait until I get my own episode!
*crickets chirping*
Tristan: It's never going to happen, is it?
Tea: Do the words "robot monkey" mean anything to you?
Dead Little Sister: This is the motivation behind Joey's laughably ineffectual run at the Duelist Kingdom jackpot, though Serenity isn't actually dead, just blind... or something.
Death by Irony: CardGamesFTW had its videos taken down and was banned altogether (not by 4Kids, though) after the fiftieth episode, in which Joey justifies his reasons for having the Abridged Series stay up. Then subverted, when LittleKuriboh's account became un-banned. Then re-straightened when the account was banned yet again by the same bot. It's gotten to the point where someone really needs to get YouTube to put some CAPTCHA on the copyright claimers.
Marik: (In front of Joey and Téa) "Those fools have no idea that it is really I, the evil Marik Ishtar, who plans to turn them against their best friend, Yugi Moto, so that I can rule the world! "
Joey: "Malik, we can kinda hear everything you're saying."
Marik: "Oh, (EFF) it. Minions! (three Steves appear) Beat their collective asses!"
The whole point is that he's poking fun at the Did Not Do The Bloody Research trope, rather than just because he's British.
Didn't We Use This Joke Already?: In episode 33, the "L'Oreal, because I'm worth it!" joke is reused, and Bakura says "I think we did that joke already."
Dissimile: "Wow, an entire island all to ourselves. It's sorta like that book, "Lord of the Flies," only with a lot less subtext and a lot more card games."
Also, playing a children's card game is like making love. Somehow.
"Because you do it on a table and feel deeply ashamed afterwards"
Kaiba: (Referring to the 10th Anniversary Movie In 3D) Just like James Cameron's Avatar, only instead of intergalactic smurfs fighting giant robots...it's a children's card game.
Wow, this just like Tron, except with less motorcycles and more card games.
Also possibly Grampa, after what Yugi presumably witnesses: X-rated acts by his senile grandfather to a poster of the Black Luster Soldier.
Discredited Meme: Littlekuriboh has been trying to do this to the "card games on motorcycles" meme he created himself. In "Seto Kaiba VS The World", Lecter demonstrates Jinzo's anti-meme powers by destroying it, and adds that he's been waiting a whole year for the chance. invoked
Distress Ball: Mokuba. Also in the original, but naturally the abridged series lampshades the hell out of it.
The Ditz: Tristan. Sometimes Joey... but mostly Tristan.
Arkana: You'll regret those words once you realize that this duel is about more than cards; it's also about survival! Because, in case you hadn't already guessed, this episode is a parody of the Saw franchise!
The Running Gag of "It is funny because 'wang' means penis!"
Downer Ending: Hilarious versions can be found on occasion. Notably, episode 49 where Crump defeats Tea and claims her body, which is the exact opposite of what happened in the actual anime.
Draco in Leather Pants: In-Universe. "Now do you understand why so many people love me even though I'm the biggest dick in this entire show? It's because I'm Seto-freaking-Kaiba. Accept no substitutes!"
Later on, Florence ends up wearing Yami's Leather Pants.
Dr. Feelgood: Joey's doctor after he's struck by lightning in the face.
Drinking Game: In-universe, Episode 36, which tells the viewers to take a drink everytime the word "friendship" or "friend" is said, while a counter on the lower right corner keeps track. By the end of the episode, it's at 20.
In the third anniversary video, Marik keeps trying to create one for him and Florence, but without any luck.
Zorc, who appeared a whole two hundred episodes before he actually does.
In the Abridged Movie, Noah Kaiba is "Best Boy" in the credits.
Dartz and his gang of Evil Motorcycle Riding Henchmen.
Ear Worm: In-Universe. Marik is shown clutching his forehead in pain as Melvin takes over... all while the theme to Beverly Hills Chihuahua plays in his skull.
Effeminate Misogynistic Guy: Marik loudly proclaims himself the most effeminate guy around, and generally disdains women. Of course, given the women's characterization...
Embarrassing Nickname: Marik varies from calling Yami Bakura "Florence," "Fluffy," and one time even "Kitty." Technically "Florence" isn't a nickname, as it was retconned to being Yami Bakura's actual name, but before the retcon it would've been this.
Esoteric Happy Ending: In-universe. Yami's story, "How the Thief King Stole Slavemas," ends with the Pharaoh making every day into Slavemas.
Yugi: Huh, I was expecting a happy ending. Yami: What are you talking about? That was a happy ending. Yugi: Yeah, but only for the Pharaoh. Everybody else was miserable. Yami: What's your point?
Melvin: I have doomed you to exist in your own worst nightmare: a world where everyone's breasts are bigger than yours! Mai Valentine: Even Tristan's? Melvin: Especially Tristan's.
And two episodes before:
Croquet: Yeah...Everyone involved with the Egyptian God Cards is now dead. Pegasus: What? Even Chad from accounting? (Cut to clip of Chad from accounting being thrown out a window) Croquet:Especially Chad from accounting.
Everything's Better with Penguins: Subverted at the end of episode 46; when 4Kids is discussing how to take care of the cast now that the series has been "cancelled," Crump suggests "Death by Penguins!" Noah goes on to remark "Hm... all of these are very good ideas, very good ideas indeed, except for yours, Crump, that was dumb and so are you."
In Episode 49, we get to see Crump in person, and it turns out that he is, in fact, a human-sized penguin wearing a tuxedo. Crump loves penguins in every way possible, platonically and physically. When he was a kid he practically worshipped penguins. And now that he's grown up, he intends to achieve his lifelong dream to become... a young teenage girl in Japan.
The Egyptians: Marik, Ishizu, and Shadi. Marik is definitely evil; Ishizu is a well-meaning asshole at best; and Shadi is "how you say, kind of a dick."
Odion's still Egyptian (well, probably) and he's still a stand up guy, if very bland.
Americans aren't treated much better. Bandit Keith is an out-right jerk, Rebecca Hawkins is a naiive girl with a teddybear possessed by a demon, and Jean Claude Magnum is a member of the Church of Scientology.
Evil Is Cool: In-universe. Kaiba has "the best outfits", "all the cool gadgets," and is "the only reason people watch this show" (as he claims in The Movie, while going wildly off-script).
Evil Is Not a Toy: Pegasus realizes this only after he makes and markets toys out of an ancient evil... and continues using it to make boatloads of money anyway.
Evil Is Sexy: In-universe; Tea is quite into Marik when she first meets him.
Evil vs. Evil: Florence and Marik vs Melvin and Team Four Kids.
Naruto: The presents have arrived! (brandishing a ticking time bomb) This one's from Team Four Star! I don't know how yet, but I'm going to smoke it! Marik: Ooo! New Drinking Game! Every time we all explode and die, we take a— (BOOOOOOOOOM!!!)
Failed a Spot Check: Yugi never knows what time it is! He should try looking up and to his left.
It's fairly easy to tell early on too. The biggest example is episode 6, "Everybody Hates Mako", where Yugi suddenly has a distinct English accent while he's yelling at Mako for lobbing a freakin' harpoon at him.
In Episode 48, we have a call back to that moment, which is then exaggerated to a ridiculous extreme.
Thug: "Don't move a muscle or we'll shoot you with our invisible guns!"
Subverted in episode 47. When Noah tells the cast to start walking and threatens them with rows of automated guns, they don't believe them:
Kaiba: Get real! What are those? Guns that shoot magical bullets that send us to the Shadow Realm?
Joey: Yeah, knowing 4Kids they probably just shoot harmless rubber bullets that don't even...
[Guns spray the area with very real bullets]
Fan Boy: One appears in Episode 31 and runs off with Joey's duel disk, though he gives it back. He did sneak a card into his deck in the end, as well as being revealed to work for Weevil.
Fanfic: LK's actually written some, most recently a slash fic with the abridged versions of Marik and Bakura. I am not making this up. It's actually pretty good.
He created another Thiefshipping fic, this time it's more of a tear jerker.
Fanservice: The boys lose all focus whenever Mai Valentine shows up. Also, episode 16 is actually titled "Fanservice", and interrupts the story with Mai sitting by herself and saying, "Fan-service!" every few minutes (and then we get Bandit Keith's profoundly disturbing "fanservice... in America!").
"I agree with Mai's boobs."
"And now it's time for some Bakura fanservice- oh, bugger. It's the credits. Oh well, maybe next time."
Fission Mailed: Episode 46. It looks like the show has actually been canceled, complete with casting credits, but then you notice that the last 6 roles are all question marks. Cue The Tag, with Noah and the Big Five deciding that now that the show has been canceled, they have to figure out what to do with the characters - which will be seen in Season Three.
Flat What: Rafael's perfectly understandable reaction to Dartz, aka Rainbow Head's newest idea for defeating Yu-gay Mo-toe. They're gonna take his deck.
Flaw Exploitation: Crump knows exactly what to say to goad Téa into dueling him.
Follow the Leader: The far-too-many-to-list Abridged Series that cropped up after this. For a while, only about two of them came anywhere close to quality. That's changed a bit.
Ishizu Ishtar Lampshades this:
Ishizu: "I predict all the jokes you just heard will soon be appearing in somebody else's abridged series. You know the one."
Also, he tributes Episode 35 to all the other abridged creators.
The released Abridged Trailer of the Tenth Anniversary Movie includes this Gem from Paradox:
"So many Abridged Series... the Internet couldn't take them all."
Forced Meme: KROOOOOOZE. Though this is outside of the actual episodes, being in unrelated videos.
Another example, "Brooklyn Rage", is a Double Subversion. In episode 28, Joey introduced the phrase and tried to make it a meme in-universe. Yami shot it down hard, and it was rarely mentioned again afterwards in the main series. Out-of-universe, however, it rapidly attained Memetic Mutation. (It's been suggested that this happened because LittleKuriboh didn't try to force it as a meme; people don't like Forced Memes very much.)
Not to mention that the few times he did mention it, it was always a variation. YMMV, but this makes it even funnier, because it's unexpected.
Joey: "He said fury. As in Brooklyn Fury."
Joey: "You know, it's enough to make a guy angry. So angry that you might call it rage. Rage that is specifically located in the westernmost county of Long Island, New York. Also known as BROOKLYN!"
4Kids Entertainment: Mercilessly mocked at every available opportunity; interestingly, the 4Kids crew are apparently fond of the series and weren't responsible for its removal from YouTube.
Filler Villains the Big Five are in the employ of 4Kids as of Episode 37.
As is Melvin.
Freud Was Right: The duel between Yugi and Weevil is loaded with phallic imagery.invoked
Yami:"Watch as my knight's mighty lance penetrates your moist cocoon!"
Gag Dub: The series itself, but in the teaser for one episode Little Kuriboh dubbed part of Star Trek: The Next Generation, specifically the Previously On for one episode. The funny part, he used his various voices but the dialogue was exactly the same.
Gag Sub: Three times so far: episode 9 has the official Spanish dub for the beginning portion (with completely inaccurate/irreverent subtitles), while in episode 10 it suddenly gains an opening theme (to the NGE opening music, with the subtitles twisted into Yu-Gi-Oh references). Neither of those, however, can match "The Other Abridged Movie" subtitling - both the opening and ending theme songs are a long string of Mondegreens.
Genre Popularizer / From Clones To Genre: There are enough Abridged Series that it's just a genre now. You can tell because people are ripping off jokes from lesser known series, not just the Yu-Gi-Oh and Naruto ones.
Genre Savvy: Virtually every character in this series. Both Yugis and Marik should be noted and Florence has recently been revealed to be Dangerously Genre Savvy.
"Why do we have to challenge him to a children's card game? Why can't we just push him off the boat?"
No! The card game is essential to the plot! The evil plot!
/Why am I speaking French?/Why am I speaking French?/I don't wanna be French
Amusingly enough, it actually sounds like he's saying Je voudrais son pantalon cuillere ("I want his pants spoon" instead of "I want his pants leather").. .
Gratuitous Japanese: Joey apparently has a fanboy, who calls him "Jonouchi-chan", and calls Tristan "Honda-kun".
The dude doesn't like watching the dub. Gomen nasai!
It actually means "partner", but not necessarily in a sexual way, so he wasn't far off the mark. The real humor is in the fact Yami (in the original Japanese and far too many fanfics) refers to Yugi as this.
Marik: Now I will force Yugi to duel the one he loves most. And according to all the fan fiction I've read, that would be Joey.
Odion: But Master Marik, it is obvious that Yugi is in love with Téa.
Marik: WHAT?! No way, that's insane! What kind of messed-up fanfics have you been reading?!
Then again, this is Marik we're talking about who hasn't really had any exposure to heterosexual relationships and a lot of exposure to yaoi, so it sort of makes sense.
Jaden in Bonds Beyond Time was voiced by ShadyVox, who was Jaden from Yu Gi Oh GX The Abridged Series. He also voiced him during two bonus episodes: his rap and his battle with Yugi.
Seto Kaiba: Let's duel on the roof as an homage to Clerks.
"By the way, this is a 2001 parody."
Subverted lampshading in episode 15, which featured, among other things, Pegasus' castle as a wretched hive of scum and villainy, Kemo not needing to see the characters' identification, and Kaiba once being the learner, but now the master...
"Because, in case you hadn't noticed, this episode is a parody of the Saw franchise!"
He featured footage taken from the famous Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Best of Both Worlds." When the Enterprise fired at the Borg ship, it featured the subtitle "Ancient Egyptian Phaser Beams."
Marik is slowly sounding more and more like the Monarch of The Venture Bros. and two of his henchmen sound suspiciously similar to Henchmen 21 and 24. Given the other Adult Swim references it's likely this is intentional.
Joey's mother has the voice of Doctor Girlfriend.
In one episode, Marik shouts "Ignore me!" several times, the Catch Phrase of the Galactic Inquisitor from "Twenty Years To Midnight"
Seto Kaiba: Let me guess, you're one of Noah's 7 Evil Ex Boyfriends?
Hoist by His Own Petard: The Kaiba Corp executive Lector - the head of localization at 4Kids - uses Jinzo as his Deck Master. In the Abridged Universe, Jinzo has the power of destroying internet meme-related cards, which puts Kaiba at a disadvantage. So how does Kaiba beat him? He distracts Lector long enough to create an internet meme based on localizing Japanese cartoons. This causes Lector to become a meme, thus causing his own Deck Master power to affect and destroy him.
Horrible Judge of Character: Everyone involving Malik. Yugi, upon meeting him and noting that his story seems a little off, still accepts him and calls himself a "gullible idiot-in-training".
Joey, thinking: "I still think there's something fishy about that guy..."
Hypocritical Humor: Makes fun of the Jim Jarmusch movie Broken Flowers saying that their parodic search "will have an actual conclusion." Then it ends on a cliffhanger. Blatant enough to probably be purposeful. Later, however, it did get a conclusion.
Also when Mokuba tells Grandpa to shut up, the old man blurts out, "Where the hell are your manners!?" Made even funnier by the fact that everyone had been telling Mokuba to shut up until that point (including Grandpa just a few seconds ago).
Tea also berates Mokuba for telling an old man to shut up. Then tells Grandpa to shut up in the very next episode.
Joey asks about Bakura's "inappropriate accent" (Joey himself has an inappropriate accent).
"Bullying is just wrong! Destroying people's brains with magical powers is A-OK!"
Seto Kaiba to Mokuba, while they're both flying on Seto's two-passenger jet plane: "Mokuba, you're making us look ridiculous. Now please! Let me concentrate on flying my giant dragon-shaped jet plane."
Joey when he kicks Tristan through a wall: "I warned him, using a stick is just asking for trouble." "Joey, you just shoved him through a building." "So?"
Idiot Ball: Depending on the scene, it can range from one character doing something stupid, like not noticing Bakura's turned into a bestial psychopath, to the entire cast accepting that Bakura's managed to recover from illness, win six duels in a tournament, and walk to the location of the finals in a single episode. Special mention goes to Tristan, whose Idiot Ball is permanently lodged between his brain's frontal lobes.
Téa: I can't believe we're expected to believe all this.
Yugi: And yet, apparently we do. God, we're stupid. This must be what it feels like to be Tristan.
If I Can't Have You: "I'm going to kidnap you! It seems to be the default response to anything in this show!"
Mai: Marik! When I defeat him it'll prove that I don't need friends to be a strong person. That'll show Joey for not including me in his brain-damage-induced hallucinations!
Marik: Hey shut up; you don't know anything about me.
Florence: Marik, he IS you; he knows EVERYTHING about you.
Marik: HE is the gay one!
Florence: Marik, he's YOU!
Marik: ...He is the gay one!
In the rap battle between Yugi and Jaden, Yugi suggests Jaden should just practice ballet instead of playing children's card games. In his next spit, Jaden fires back that he's been taking ballet for six years regardless of Yugi's taunting.
Shouldn't that have been "Screw the Rules, I'm voiced by Dan Green!"? Just sayin'.
Also Marik seems to get quite into it during Leather Pants.
Not that he hasn't hammed up the scenery in-series as well.
Larynx Dissonance: There's only six women in the series and the four that qualify as main characters sound like varying degrees of guy: From Miss Piggy style (Téa), to slightly husky (Ishizu), to not even trying (Mai and Serenity). The other two, Rebecca Hawkins and Veronica Ishtar, had genuine female actors but only ever appeared in one episode a piece.
Subverted in the Season Zero pilot, when it looks like Yugi's going to think of a different way to finish the sentence, and finally just gives up and starts over.
Late to the Punchline: Marik pulls this off when he realises what Melvin meant by 'I always knew you wanted me inside of you Bakura' and explains the joke a whole episode later.
Laugh Track: Zorc has sitcom-style canned laughter play every time he mentions destroying the world, occasionally also other audience reactions.
Life Imitates Art: The series is cancelled by 4Kids in continuity and then it's taken off of YouTube in real life. This was right after the most recent episode featured Johnson/JudgeMan losing a trial against Joey, and then it goes back on YouTube just after the last episode defended it. Try not to think about that too hard.
Lolicon: Pegasus due to the Toon Dark Magician Girl card, according to Kaiba:
Kaiba: You took the hottest thing in all of Duel Monsters and turned it into a FIVE YEAR OLD. You have issues, man.
Logic Bomb: Duke defeats Nesbitt this way by showing him a picture of the Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal protagonist.
Lost Episode: For lack of a better trope to describe it. For April Fools' Day 2011, a new version of Episode 6 was released, covering the same episode as the original, but using completely different scenes and jokes.
Lucky Translation: The fearless Japanese fan that took on the daunting task of translating the abridged series on nicovideo got lucky with "You don't stand a ghost of a chance!". 'Ghost' and 'zero' are pronounced exactly the same in Japanese.
Major Injury Underreaction: After getting his eye gouged out, Pegasus, instead of screaming in pain, informs Florence that he took the wrong one.
Florence: My mistake.
* Pop*
Pegasus: That's much better.
We also have Hank Ishtar singing a parody version of "Cat's in the Cradle" while being hugged
stabbed to death
by Melvin.
Manipulative Bastard: Of all people, Mokuba in episode 52. He manipulates Noah into giving him free food and letting him watch his favourite TV shows by going on about how his previous kidnappers were so much better than Noah.
Man of a Thousand Voices: LittleKuriboh does nearly all the voices on the show with impressive range of pitch and accent. The voices not done by him are generally guest voices he could likely have done by himself.
Memetic Badass: Seto Kaiba, brought up in-universe in Episode 44.
Kaiba: "Now do you understand why so many people love me even though I'm the biggest dick in this entire show? It's because I'm Seto freaking Kaiba. Accept no substitutes!"
Memetic Mutation: An in-universe example; in episode 52 Kaiba creates an internet meme called 'lolcalization', which takes Japanese cartoons and 'localises' them into American versions. This causes 4Kids Executive Lector - the head of localization - to destroy himself, since his Deck Master's special power is to destroy internet memes.
Grandpa: (in a flashback) "Playing card games is just like making love. You usually do it on a table, and always feel deep shame afterwards. Also, the older you get, the less fun it is. So, in conclusion, remember to always wear a condom while playing card games!"
Yugi: "Huh...maybe I should wash my hands before shuffling these."
Joey has one, too.
Joey: Remember, you treat a duel disk just like you treat a woman. You strap it to your arm and put trading cards into it at regular intervals.
The 3rd anniversary one went comparatively better. There was just an explosion instead.
Moment Killer: Malik gets one during the Joey/Odion duel; when Odion realizes he's about to lose due to the fake Egyptian God Card inciting the wrath of the real Mega Ultra Chicken, Odion muses how he finally became a Tombkeeper. "Malik", on the other hand, isn't impressed.
Odion: I can only hope you're proud of me. "Malik": She's not even your real mom, douche bag!
Mr. Exposition. Lampshaded in the Kaiba's Father special: "Are you kidding me? Every time something fucked up happens in this series, you show up and start explaining things!"
Ms. Fanservice: When Dark Magician Girl makes her first appearance, a subtitle appears:
"Somewhere a Yugioh fan is touching himself inappropriately."
My Friends... and Zoidberg: Usually Bakura, considering that few characters consider him part of the group of friends.
My God, What Have I Done?: Joey says as much upon his reaction in episode 36 when he breaks Marik's mind control over him to find that he's been dueling in a death match with Yugi.
After Shadi shows Pegasus a vision of the havoc the God Cards will unleash:
Hank Ishtar almost always refers to Marik as Billy. In this video, he tries to call him Sally.
Negative Continuity: Kaiba's finger came clean off while sticking it near a helicopter's blades. Played straight when it wasn't mentioned in the next episode, then subverted in the episode after that when its Hand Waved by a doctor who surgically reattaches his finger, a la The Empire Strikes Back (Which Kaiba has never seen because he doesn't "watch crap").
Episode 18: "No! Yugi! You can't be dead. If you were dead, 4Kids would have censored it!"
Episode 28: "Yes, I - wait, no, I don't want to kill you, I just want to destroy you a little! Jeez, talk about overreacting!"
Episode 30: "Help! Somebody save me from the harmless dark energy disks that won't kill me!"
Subverted in episode 36 where Yugi expects that losing the card game against Joey on purpose will send him to the Shadow Realm and is willing to do it because of their friendship. Until Joey tell him that, for once, the consequences will ACTUALLY be fatal.
In episode 37, Bakura points this out: "Honestly, why do we even have a graveyard in this show if nobody ever dies?"
Averted, as Zombie Boy apparently did die later that episode. But then, he is a zombie.
Episode 40: "Marik, if I survive this, I'm going to kill you."
Episode 41: "Oh my God, we're gonna die! ... I can't believe I'm gonna die in a show about * beep* ing CARD GAMES!"
Spoofed in Yugi's duel with Panik in which Yugi gives a convoluted explanation for how he won (that does in fact perfectly describe the way he won in the original series)
Another episode seems to use this as its main gag, where even the "world's most advanced computer" can't understand the game, that no one has tried to learn how to actually play the game and lived and that having to play by the rules is considered a plot twist.
Joey: Shut up, Tristan! You just want to get into Serenity's pants!
Tristan: No, I don't. I want to have sex with her! * beat* Ohhhhhh!.
No Fourth Wall: At various times ("This will allow the writers to fill in a bunch of plot holes!") and one of Ishizu's powers from her Millennium Necklace is the ability to do this.
Little Kuriboh lets you know what sort of series this is going to be from the third line in the first episode: "Sorry, Yug, doin' this Brooklyn accent makes it difficult to concentrate on card games!"
The abridged series itself no longer has a fourth wall either
Espa: (Shouts) "What? This is my normal speaking voice!"
Also:
Ishizu: (whispering) Marik, we must be very quiet so that-
Marik: HEY ISHIZU LOOK AT THAT THING I WONDER WHAT IT IS! LOUDLY DO I WONDER ABOUT IT!
Jack Atlas.
Jack: I MOSTLY JUST LIKE TO YELL!
"Not Making This Up" Disclaimer - When the "Ancient Egyptian Laser Beams" Shadow Game between Bakura and Pegasus appears, "This isn't a joke. It really happens" appears on screen.
And again when the poster for Yugioh 5D appears for the first time. It reads "You have got to be ***ing me."
And the running gag of the "Actual 4Kids Dialog" message, including such gems as:
"Check his pulse, Yugi!"
"What a digital dummy!"
"In a few hours, the sun will rise!"
"You don't stand a ghost of a chance!"
"Be very careful, Joey!"
"If only he had been careful!"
Joey, what did I tell you about being careful?
He shows one when pointing out the difference between how the Japanese version of the show did a scene or plotline versus how the American version did the same one. Needless to say, the Japanese one often sounds more appealing the the American dub.
Joey: Hey, Kaiba! If Marik entered the tournament using a fake name, shouldn't he be disqualified?
Kaiba: The only person who should be disqualified around here is whoever made Tristan black in this shot!
Tristan: Don't you be hating on my blackface, playa!
Oh Crap: When "Malik" realizes Odion getting hit by lightning and knocked out means Melvin's Restraining Bolt came off and there's nothing stopping him from taking over.
Then there is episode 44, when Kaiba discovers what Exchange of Spirit does. It is technically the first (and as of now, only) time the word fuck is uncensored (although that is only because it is stretched out):
Brooklyn Rage and the Yugi vs. Jaden rap battle start with one from Kaiba and Yugi respectively.
Kaiba: Please tell me you're not going to sing[...] Look, I'll pay you any amount of money right now if you don't sing!
Yugi: Oh you've got to be f*cking kidding me...
Once Acceptable Targets: In-Universe. Upon returning to the center of his mind, this time without the "help" of Shadi, Yugi comments that he "vaguely remembers meeting an extremely racist caricature".
One Steve Limit: Thoroughly and literally averted, in that all Ghouls/Rare Hunters are named "Steve". Steve (The guy who took Joey's Red Eyes), Steve Arcana, Steve the Mime, Keith Steve Howard, The Army of Celebrity Steves, etc. It might help if Marik's mind control powers worked on people who weren't named Steve.
Florence actually calls him on this Weaksauce Weakness in one of the "Evil Council" episodes. Marik admits it is a rather "annoying limitation".
His control over Joey (Since the "middle name is Steve" joke was already used with Bandit Keith) is explained in Episode 34: He unknowingly signed a contract saying that he agreed to legally change his name to Steve. It's implied in Episode 36 that Téa was affected the same way (though for a drastically shorter time).
Apparently in Episode 39, Marik still calls Joey "Steve".
Also brought up here:
Yami: Look, why don't you just cut the crap and tell us who you really are Bakura? Or should I call you the spirit of the Millennium Ring, who has no official name as of yet?
Florence: Actually, we're both called Bakura!
Yami: What? But that's just confusing. Not to mention highly unlikely.
Florence: Oh, just wait until season 5 when there's three of me running around. Even the fans have trouble keeping up with that one.
Technically there's four Bakuras in season 5—Normal Bakura, Florence, Thief King Bakura, and the piece of Bakura's soul in the Millennium Puzzle.
Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Happened in Episode 6, and also seems to be a problem with Marik (and, by extension, Melvin), as he can't seem to decide whether he has a British accent or an American one. The former incident is referenced in Episode 48, where Yugi remembers it as a full-on Cockney rant.
In The Abridged Movie, at one point Yugi pronounces idea as the British "eye-DEE-er", rather than the American "eye-DEE-uh". With an American accent.
Out-of-Character Moment: Mokuba lampshades this when Kaiba falls for the executives' obvious trap, asking why he's acting "so gullible and out-of-character."
Kaiba: Time for a trip to the recycle bin, Phantom. And then once you're in the recycle bin, I'm going to right-click on it and select "Empty Recycle Bin", because otherwise you would just be taking up unnecessary space. In other words, I'm going to kill you.
Also a Pre Asskicking Conversation in Episode 45:
Melvin: Very well. If it's a duel you want, it's a duel you'll get.
Florence: Right you are. And the winner decides if the show gets cancelled or not.
Yu-Gi-Oh: Zexal will do this for the entire series much to the amusement of Yusei and Jack from 5D's who finally have something more crazy than "Card Games on Motorcycles" they can laugh at.
"I summon the extremely phallic spaceship, but since it belongs to me, it grows to twice its usual size!"
"Joey Wheeler lost the best! Duke Devlin makes our panties wet!"
Remember the New Guy: In chapter 49, during a flashback Yugi tells Tea how much she loves the Dark Magician Girl. Tea states she doesn't even remember hearing of that monster card before.
Relationship Voice Actor: Prior to the cast expansion for season three, LittleKuriboh's (ex-)wife was one of only three other people besides LK himself to voice a character in the series. She played Rebecca Hawkins and The Other Abridged Movie's Gary Stu.
Reset Button: After Crump takes over Tea's body , in contradiction to the canon plot, everyone was left wondering where this was going. Four episodes (and ten months) later, Marik unceremoniously evicts him.
Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: In-Universe. Téa for Yami after giving "the biggest friendship speech of her life" to Johnny Steps.
Téa: Brainwashing people is fun!
Yami Yugi: Yes it is. I guess we have more in common than I thought!
Mokuba. In the last few episodes he's started to show some of that patented Kaiba family dickishness and has become infinitely more funny and maybe even a little Bad Ass to boot. He's still completely useless, though.
Restraining Bolt: Odion is a living one of these for Marik's evil side, Melvin.
Ridiculously Cute Critter: Kuriboh is annoyingly cute and, according to Yami, useful for nothing else. Also he doesn't love him.
Robot Girls: Kaiba has a massive harem of identical pretty robot girls. He created them specifically so that he could shun them with his cold indifference.
Mokuba: Big bro, you're kind of like the anime version of Scrooge McDuck...only much less fluffy.
Running Gag: Enough to fill another page. To cover some of the most frequent ones:
"Duel" and "Duel Monsters" are almost universally replaced with "children's card game." The cast is perfectly aware of how absurd it is that almost every conflict they face is solved with a duel when in real life a simple call to the police would suffice.
References to Bakura being a minor character, with characters frequently forgetting who he even is.
Joey's "nyeh" Verbal Tic, which he can't even hear.
The Season 3 teaser promised new episodes in May... We've gotten just one between May and June because LK has been busy with cons.
Announced at the Youmacon 2010 panel that LK plans on releasing 3 more episodes within the next 6 months. Only time will tell if he stays true to this.
Nope.
The Scottish Trope: In Episode 40, Bakura says the forbidden word (so evil they had to censor it twice)! Disney. Cue Imperial March.
And they mentioned it several times two episodes later
Schmuck Bait: "Can I get a hug?" Notably, Florence doesn't fall for it. Marik wants him to, out of what appears to be obliviousness, not malice.
He's Not My Girlfriend: Florence says this to Melvin, concerning Marik. To which Marik replies "You tell him, honey!"
Shipper on Deck: Téa. When Joey refuses to tell Mai that she appeared in his dream, she yells at him, saying that as a fanfic writer, she's offended by his not jumping at the first woman to show attraction to him.
Also, Crump wins his duel with Tea, and is now possessing her body and impersonating her. Badly.
Duke: I summon the extremely phallic space ship. But since it belongs to me it grows to twice its usual size. Duke Devlin always rises to the occasion, baby!
The Jiggle-o-meter in episode 49 gets 'excited' every time a breast appears onscreen.
Sound Effect Bleep: Used a lot, but the most infamous being Marik's Cluster F-Bomb bleep, taken from Perfect Hair Forever. The sound effect can best be described as an angry man yelling "Eff!"
Dartz also uses aforementioned Sound Effect Bleep starting in Marik's Evil Council 3.
Yugi, you little (BLEEP)! You son of a (BLEEP)(BLEEP)(BLEEP)(BLEEP)! I'm going to tear off your (BLEEP) and shove them right up your (BLEEP)(BLEEP)(BLEEP)(BLEEP) and then (BLEEP)(BLEEP)(BLEEP)(BLEEP)(BLEEP) on your (BLEEP)(BLEEP)(BLEEP)(BLEEP) with (BLEEP)(BLEEP)(BLEEP) in the (BLEEP)(BLEEP) and (BLEEP)(BLEEP)(BLEEP)(BLEEP)(BLEEP) your (BLEEP)(BLEEP)(BLEEP), so then you'll have to (BLEEP) sideways! (BLEEP)!
..."Hi there."
Soundtrack Dissonance: In Episode 45, we have Melvin, Marik's evil alter ego, stabbing his father Hank to death with the Millennium Rod—with Hank singing a parodying variant of Harry Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle," describing what's happening in rather-disturbing detail.
Yugi: "We've learned that card games are the answer to all life's problems. And if there's one thing I've learned, it's that there's a strange man who lives in my head and sometimes tells me to do things!"
Yami: "That's right, Yugi! Now burn everything! Burn it to the ground!"
Stating the Simple Solution: During the first Evil Council of Doom, Bakura suggests just stabbing Yugi with a knife, without playing a children's card game. Marik doesn't listen. Besides, 4Kids would just censor it if they did.
After Joey is kidnapped by Bandit Keith and challenged for his star chips, he asks Keith why he didn't just take his star chips and vamoose while Joey was unconscious. Keith tells him to shut up*
... in America
.
In episode 33, when Bakura and Malik are teaming up, Malik brings up his tactic of using mind control, Bakura responds by saying: "Or we could just slice Yugi open with a machete, see if that works." Of course, Malik says he has a better idea involving more children's card games...
Stock British Phrases: Used often by Bakura. "Lashings of ginger beer for everyone! ... I'm British, you know."
Stockholm Syndrome: Parodied in episode 52. Mokuba gets kidnapped by Noah, but takes it in stride because he's so used to it by now. He even uses the opportunity to get free food and watch cartoons.
Stock Scream: The Wilhelm Scream makes an appearance in Episode 34.
"Why is everybody in this show a * bleep* ing ninja/duelist?!"
Both Kaiba and Joey make up the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song on the spot and wind up singing the exact same lyrics.
Stylistic Suck: In the video that gave birth to the phrase "Card Games On Motorcycles", we get to see Iruka's "One Piece: The Abridged Series." It's...interesting...
And one year later, "Everybody Loves Mako" - an alternative version of Episode 6 made in style of early episodes, where, for example, the characters talk even slower than they used to.
Suckiness Is Painful: Marik getting something carved on his back was bad enough, but being forced to watch Beverly Hills Chihuahua drove him to the dark side.
Suicide By Cop: Kaiba sets this up via a Thanatos Gambit in the Duelist Kingdom semi-final, leaving Yugi with a Sadistic Choice: throw the match and spare Kaiba's life, or go all-in and kill him. Of course, his friends try to talk him into killing Kaiba.
Bandit Keith: These sunglasses sure make it hard to see in the dark, but I refuse to take them off because I'm an American and Americans always wear sunglasses!
Suspiciously Specific Denial: "Let me assure you that this tournament is 100% genuine, and is not in any way an elaborate ruse thrown together at the last minute so that I can get my hands on an Ancient Egyptian artifact."
Again in "The Other Abridged Movie."
Kaiba: "When I'm through with you, you'll have to take a shower to wash away the smell of defeat. And I won't be watching you do it."
Yami: "Why would you be watching me?"
Kaiba: "I don't know. I just wanted to make sure you knew I wouldn't be."
Yami: "But I never thought—"
Kaiba: "Good. Because I won't."
Take That: The series frequently makes fun of general internet fandom ("I'm going to go complain about it on my LiveJournal account!") and the various LittleKuriboh impostors who try to fool people into thinking a new episode is out.
After trolls started flagging the episodes on YouTube (leading to their takedown), Kaiba informs Mokuba that he's "flagging videos on YouTube to compensate for the fact that I have an incredibly small penis."
For probably the same reasons, the first time Mariks Evil Council of Doom gathers, they decide to spam Yugi's youtube account so that he will have no choice but to bow before their might. Marik compliments that it is very evil.
In episode 29, a character mentions Joey is holding the Graceful Charity card in his hand, when the card is actually Graceful Dice. Obviously, people took notice. Flash to episode 30, which opens with a bully and his victim having the following exchange:
When the show gets "canceled" in Episode 47: [at least we lasted longer than Firefly]
It's also been referred to as "about the one thing Nick Simmons didn'tplagiarize."
And there are the internet trolls in episode 48 that do nothing but scream about various internet things. And in the Stinger at the end complain about how the episode was, including the phrase "Worst episode ever" and one saying that "These things were better when they were like five minutes long!"
And Tea's response when she first meets them? "Go back to 4Chan you freaks!"
From Kaiba's Real Father - Conclusion upon learning he doesn't have a father:
Kaiba: What kind of George Lucas bullsh* t is this?! What, was I conceived by midi-chlorians or something?!
Cybernetic Ghost: No, Kaiba. Nothing as lame as that.
Take That, Audience!: "A grown man who watches cartoons. That's almost as insane as a grown man playing a childrens card game." Given the huge number of references to shows and movies from the 80's and 90's, this series is not aimed at kids.
Take That Me: At the end of episode 29, Tristan decides to show Serenity a very special internet video.
Video Tristan: Hello Serenity, you probably can't see me now, but I'm standing in the middle of a field. It is a very romantic image. By the way, will you marry me?
Serenity: Jeez Tristan! What kind of lonely deranged freak proposes to somebody over the internet?
Talking Is a Free Action: On the show, despite the implication that duelists often have mere seconds to come up with a game-saving play, time never actually runs out on someone still trying to figure out what to do. But this was subverted in Téa's duel with Crump, in which Téa lost exactly that way.
Talking to Himself: All characters except two are voiced by the same man, and the other two are voiced by the same woman. The impressions are ridiculously good, though.
Tastes Like Diabetes: In-Universe. Kuriboh's special ability as Yami's deck master.
Yami: Kuriboh! Activate Super Chibi Kawaii Moe Desu Mode!
Tristan: I sure hope we don't encounter any more intrusive subplots.
Magnum: Did somebody say "intrusive subplot"?
Tristan: Oh, son of a bitch!
And then during Joey's duel with Odion:
Joey: (narrowly avoiding getting hit by lightning)Nyeh! Man that was a close one. I sure am glad lightning never strikes twice in the same— (Joey gets hit by lightning) Joey: IRONY! (collapses)
The doctor in Episode 43:
Doctor: I'm glad I have such a long and villain free life ahead of me.
Mokuba in Episode 34:
Mokuba: I can't believe I've almost gone an entire season without being kidnapped. Wait 'til Seto hears about this!
Steves who are about to kidnap him: Surpriiiise!
Mokuba: Oh, me and my big adorable mouth.
Espa Roba in 29
Espa If Jinzo hits my Reflect Bounder it's all over for me!
Espa NO! Jinzo has hit my Reflect Bounder! It's all over for me!
In Marik's Evil Council of Doom 4:
Bakura: (to Steve Umbris) Shut up you fool or he'll kill you where you stand (referring to Melvin)
Steve Umbris: Ha ha, I'd like to see him try.
Steve Luna: Yes, I too would like to see him attempt to murder us.
Thing-O-Meter: The jiggleometer, which rates the level of the breasts on screen in episode 49.
Third-Person Person - Johnny Steps, the egotistical DDR player. He does this to a lesser extent in the original Yu-Gi-Oh!, as well.
"Oh no, Johnny Steps is losing—And that's me!"
Duke Devlin also does this sometimes.
Third Person Flashback: This lampshaded this trope occasionally, even making fun of how Tèa was somehow able to remember something when she was unconscious.
Those Wacky Nazis: Kaiba's bodyguards Hans and Gruber in episode 39. He asks them to tone it down, and they respond with a resounding "Ja, mein Führer!"
Hans: In ze mean time we invite you to look at the city below which will soon be demolished to make room for Herr Kaiba's glorious utopian society. HEIL KAIBA! LONG LIVE ZE MASTER RACE!"
Trade Snark: "With my all new DUEL DISK SYSTEM!... Trademark."
Bakura: So, you are the source of the gay signal I've been tracking! Though I probably could have deduced that without the use of my Gaydar. It seems we both ha-
Marik: What? Whoa, whoa, hold on now! You think that I'm... Look, I'll have you know that I like women!
Bakura: No doubt. That's probably why you've dressed yourself like one.
Marik actually outs himself (complete with admitting to having a folder dedicated to thiefshipping on his computer) in the 6th Bloodlines video. Of course, when Bakura asks him about this, Marik completely denies it.
Unresolved Sexual Tension: What, after the death of Yugi, does Florence want the most? For Marik/Melvin to ask him out. In Marik's Evil Council 4, Melvin actually does so, declaring that he is now his boyfriend and they will go out "ten times." This, coupled with the death of Yugi and the resurrection of "Zorc and Pals" causes Florence to joyfully declare it to be the happiest day of his life; of course, it was All Just a Dream.
The Un Smile: Episode 19. Out of context, a pleasant natural-looking smile. But given who was wearing it...
Yugi: Whenever Kaiba smiles, a puppy dies.
Values Dissonance - In-Universe example. Yugi is horrified when he learns about Slavemas from Yami.
Joey's "Nyeah." Turns out that he's completely unaware of himself doing it, even after singing the opening theme entirely in Nyeahs. Turns into Fridge Brilliance when you remember the time he tried to make "Brooklyn Rage!" a catch phrase. Yugi told him to just stick saying "Nyeah" and he responds with a "Nyeah" said in a manner that suggests he doesn't know what Yugi is talking about.
A whiff of a Suspiciously Specific Denial in there too. When he said "I still don't hear anything" after the opening theme in question, nobody had said "you're still doing it".
Attention Duelists! Kimo and Bandit Keith each have one... IN AMERICA!
Very Special Episode: In Episode 17, an advertisement is shown for a Very Special Episode of Zorc And Pals.
Yugi: It finally happened, he went up to that great big basement in the sky.
Wham Episode: Season 0's second episode takes a turn for the "WHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?" as not only is Kaiba an actually nice guy but Mokuba is now the closest thing to a villain. Not to mention that the dynamic is reversed and it's Mokuba that's telling Kaiba to shut up. Lampshaded soon after it ends with the song "Everything You Know Is Wrong"
In the original series, Mai gives Joey her card after she surrenders to Yugi.
Akhnadin (or "Bob") vanishes after the first Evil Council meeting. True to form the series lampshades and Hand Waves this with Steve Lunar mentioning sacrificing him in Evil Council 3, and Bakura's Continuity Nod to his off-screen death in Evil Council 4.
Yugi: Marik, you find! Why must you use innocent people in your evil scheme? Marik/Steve the Mime: Innocent?! Are you kidding me?! He's got piercings all over his body. You've got to be pretty {EFF} to agree to something like that! Yugi: He's still a human being! Marik/Steve the Mime: He's also a mime. Yugi: Oh. Well, in that case, yeah, I'll kick his ass.
What The Hell, Sister?: Yugi tells off Ishizu after she explains Marik's backstory, as it's pretty much her and their father's fault for screwing him up.
Dark Magician Girl: Why do we actually get to talk in this movie?
Dark Magician: A wizard did it!
Wooden Katanas Are Even Better: In episode 52, a possessed Tristan wielding a bokken instantly defeats Kaiba wielding a heavy steel pipe, sending the latter weapon flying through the air.
Grandpa (episode 1): That Kaiba kid needs to get laid. Tristan: Big time. Kaiba's computer (episode 7): You really do need to get laid. Bakura (episode 14): That Kaiba bloke needs to get shagged.
Apparently, he has gotten laid. But it was 5000 years ago and wasn't any good.
Note: These tropes apply to what's happened outside the series proper.
Banned In China: A variation; at a convention, a Yu-Gi-Oh The Abridged Series booth billed themselves as "so good, YouTube banned it... twice."
By now, seven times, becoming more of a nuisance than a threat, (12/23/10, 02/26/11, 03/28/11, 05/30th/11, 06/28/11), possibly eight if one counts LittleKuriboh's other account, Ninjabridge (used mostly for his Naruto Abridged parody, but also when the main account is down), which was taken down on May 30th 2011. Seriously, these have got to be the best bots in existence, they just NEVER GIVE UP.
Death Is Cheap: They have been brought back from cancellation seven times. The bots may ban them again, but chances are they'll come back.
Running Gag: The bots at YouTube keep banning them, and the channel keeps coming back. It's a crazy cycle that might never end.
3 reviews