History Fridge / YuGiOhGX

* During Jaden's Duel against Dimitri, Bastion notes that, unlike someone like Dr. Crowler, Yugi and his Deck have no known weaknesses for an opponent facing him to exploit--and with the information the characters have available to them, he's right. However, those who have watched the original series may note that the one instance in which Yugi's Deck did outright lose with no reservations--the first Duel against Rafael during the Orichalcos arc--it was a result of Yami Yugi betraying the Heart of the Cards by selling out his Monsters in the pursuit of a quick victory. The weakness of Yugi's Deck isn't a mere matter of tactics or card choices, but a ''spiritual failing''. So by recognizing that the Heart of the Cards was actually on ''his'' side during his Duel against Dimitri, Jaden is actually unknowingly exploiting the weakness of Yugi's Deck, and that's how he was able to beat it.

* Banner may be foreshadowing/making references to the Society of Light arc (somewhat) and especially the Darkness arc. His line, "Everything in this world is born through one substance, which changes variably, creating the sky and earth." This is also what Darkness' "The world was born from a single card..." speech is based on. Banner's card, ''The Philosopher's Stone - [[InconsistentSpelling Sabathiel]]'' foreshadows the final opponent of the last arc, Darkness, who is the representation of humanity's despair. The hermetic angel Sabathiel is the Angel of Saturn, a planet which symbolizes Nigredo. The Nigredo phase has been interpreted by Carl Gustav Jung as the period of despair.

* Banner may be foreshadowing/making references to the Society of Light arc (somewhat) and especially the Darkness arc. His line, "Everything in this world is born through one substance, which changes variably, creating the sky and earth." This is also what Darkness' "The world was born from a single card..." speech is based on. Banner's card, ''The Philosopher's Stone - [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Sabathiel]]'' foreshadows the final opponent of the last arc, Darkness, who is the representation of humanity's despair. The hermetic angel Sabathiel is the Angel of Saturn, a planet which symbolizes Nigredo. The Nigredo phase has been interpreted by Carl Gustav Jung as the period of despair.

* It's duel with Professor Stein that is the beginning of Jaden's doubts and deconstruction of his IdiotHero character. Stein repeatedly picks apart Jaden's tendency to coast through life with little care for the consequences. Now take a look at Steins ace monster Scab Scar Knight. Look familiar? It's an obvious Eva 01 reference. So the ep where Jaden is deconstructed just happens to be the one with a card with the most famous deconstructive series in anime. To make the irony more apparent, GX also has an Asuka and Rei in the Japanese version.

* In "Nature of the Draw", Damon's Nature training ''actually works''. ''Both Damon and Jaden are right, in the context of their own universe''. Damon's technique lets him down ''because he stops applying it correctly''.
** In every other turn of the duel, Damon ''neutrally'' predicts which card will be drawn. He knows what card will be drawn ''when he can predict it with a clear mind, and is not trying to control it''. Just like Winter ''will'' happen, the next card ''will'' come. But when it lets him down? He's ''already decided'' which card he "needs" and ''wants'' to draw, and ''predicts that card, rather than the card his Nature training would have told him to guess.''
** This is shown in the episode through a different animation in Damon's mindspace. Just like every other time, the cards flow past in the waterfall, but - unlike every other time - ''Damon does not wait for one to reveal itself before he makes his guess.'' His speech is also subtly different - every other time he guesses a card, he ''pauses'' to use his technique, while when he incorrectly guesses Shield Crush, he says it ''in one breath, commandingly, with no pause.''
** He's also not only ''wrong'', he's ''tunnel visioning'' and ''losing his faith in his deck''. As Chumley points out, all Damon needs to do at that point is guess ''any'' card draw correctly, and Jaden will take 1000 points of damage and lose ''immediately''. Damon's deck and cards ''would have already given him the win, if he'd taken it.'' Instead, Damon hyperfixates on destroying Jaden's Wroughtweiler with Shield Crush, ''then'' defeating him ''in combat'' - and throws away the won game.
** Additionally, the ''reason'' the nature training works for Damon (until he unknowingly stops using it correctly and turns his back on it), and yet ''Jaden'' doesn't need similar training to achieve ''very similar'' results, is that ''that's the form of training and faith in himself that works for Damon's mindset and personality''. As explained in other episodes (like "King of Copycats"), "The Heart of the Cards" comes from "believing in yourself, and your own deck". But ''Damon doesn't.'' When he says he "tried everything ''[he] could think of''" to become better at drawing, what does he do? He ''doesn't'' train and practice by himself. He doesn't build better-balanced or more versatile decks to brick less. He doesn't even ask ''his friends'' what works for ''them''. He ''shouts out to the waves'' for "somebody, anybody to make [him] a better card-drawer". In other words, he ''relies on outside influences''. He has an ''external locus of control.'' And ''that's what Nature is. What his Nature training does, and why it works for him,'' is that ''it taught him to effectively read outside patterns, letting him use that faith in external forces to (re)gain faith in himself and his deck - and enhance his card draws.''
** And the reason he can draw Golden Eggwiches? When selecting a sandwich from a ''pile, you choose your sandwich - so Damon can choose the sandwich he predicts will be the Eggwich.'' When drawing a card from a deck normally, ''you must take the top card.'' Once again, Damon's ability is ''prediction'', not ''control''.

** Additionally, the ''reason'' the nature training works for Damon (until he unknowingly stops using it correctly and turns his back on it), and yet ''Jaden'' doesn't need similar training to achieve ''very similar'' results, is that ''that's the form of training and faith in himself that works for Damon's mindset and personality''. As explained in other episodes (like "King of Copycats"), "The Heart of the Cards" comes from "believing in yourself, and your own deck". But ''Damon doesn't.'' When he says he "tried everything ''[he] could think of''" to become better at drawing, what does he do? He ''doesn't'' train and practice by himself. He doesn't even ask ''his friends'' what works for ''them''. He ''shouts out to the waves'' for "somebody, anybody to make [him] a better card-drawer". In other words, he ''relies on outside influences''. He has an ''external locus of control.'' And ''that's what Nature is. What his Nature training does, and why it works for him,'' is that ''it taught him to effectively read outside patterns, letting him use that faith in external forces to (re)gain faith in himself and his deck - and enhance his card draws.''

** Additionally, the ''reason'' the nature training works for Damon (until he unknowingly stops using it correctly and turns his back on it), and yet ''Jaden'' doesn't need similar training to achieve ''very similar'' results, is that ''that's the form of training and faith in himself that works for Damon's mindset and personality''. As explained in other episodes (like "King of Copycats"), "The Heart of the Cards" comes from "believing in yourself, and your own deck". But ''Damon doesn't.'' When he says he "tried everything ''[he] could think of''" to become better at drawing, what does he do? He ''doesn't'' train and practice by himself. He doesn't even ask ''his friends'' what works for ''them''. He ''shouts out to the waves'' for "somebody, anybody to make [him] a better card-drawer". In other words, he ''relies on outside influences''. He has an ''external locus of control.'' And ''that's what Nature is. What his Nature training does, and why it works for him,'' it that ''it taught him to effectively read outside patterns, letting him use that faith in external forces to (re)gain faith in himself and his deck, and enhance his card draws.''

** He's also not only ''wrong'', he's ''tunnel visioning'' and ''losing his faith in his deck''. As Chumley points out, all Damon needs to do at that point is guess ''any'' card draw correctly, and Jaden will take 1000 points of damage and lose ''immediately''. Damon's deck and cards ''would have already given him the win, if he'd taken it.'' Instead, Damon tunnel visions on destroying Jaden's Wroughtweiler with Shield Crush, ''then'' defeating him ''in combat'' - and throws away the won game.

* It's duel with Professor Stein that is the beginning of Jaden's doubts and deconstruction of his IdiotHero character. Stein repeatedly picks apart Jaden's tendency to coast through life with little care for the consequence. Now take a look at Steins ace monster Scab Scar Knight. Look familiar? It's an obvious Eva 01 reference. So the ep weree Judai is deconstructed just happens to be the one with a card with the most famous deconstructive series in anime. To make the irony more apparent, GX also has an Asuka and Rei.

* Syrus's character development sees him growing in confidence throughout his time in Duel Academy to become a strong duelist of his own. When you consider his deck archtype, the Vehicroids which are vehicles with cartoon faces on them, especially Steamroid, a sentient steam train, he could be seen as Literature/TheLittleEngineThatCould.

* Most of Aster/Edo's Destiny Heroes have names that start with D. Most of the cards' names were changed for the dub; Diehard Guy was renamed "[[Music/TenaciousD Captain Tenacious]]".

* Daitokuji/Banner may be foreshadowing/making references to the Society of Light arc (somewhat) and especially the Darkness arc. His line, "Everything in this world is born through one substance, which changes variably, creating the sky and earth." This is also what Darkness' "The world was born from a single card..." speech is based on. Banner's card, ''The Philosopher's Stone - [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Sabathiel]]'' foreshadows the final opponent of the last arc, Darkness, who is the representation of humanity's despair. The hermetic angel Sabathiel is the Angel of Saturn, a planet which symbolizes Nigredo. The Nigredo phase has been interpreted by Carl Gustav Jung as the period of despair.
* When you think about it, a lot of things about ''[[Anime/YuGiOhGX GX]]'' that initially made no sense or just seemed weird suddenly make more sense. For example, the community at tv.com found a lot of the {{Freudian Excuse}}s ridiculous -- Martin making a DealWithTheDevil just because his parents got divorced, Fujiwara being overcome by Darkness and orchestrating the AssimilationPlot just because his parents died... In retrospect, maybe they were ''supposed'' to look ridiculous and show how having some normal sadness or ParentalIssues in your past is a lame excuse for causing TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. Even Edo thinks him risking his life to protect Echo makes no sense -- deliberately showing how absurd TheDulcineaEffect is? Then there's Fujiwara needing to use MindControl to get characters to RememberTheNewGuy and Manjoume's BreakTheHaughty arc going so far that it becomes detrimental to him. Basically, the more audacious and over-the-top this show's use of a trope is, the more likely it is that it's actually a TakeThat at the trope or its genre.
* You may have noticed that whenever people reference Yugi in ''GX'', it's always referring to Yami. At first, it seems shallow, since it references solely his actions in the original series without taking in consideration the time gap between ''DM'' and ''GX''. Later on, you may realize that this ''was'' Yugi--in the time span between the two series, Yugi had changed dramatically from who he was in the start of the entire series. His Yami-like appearance was an artistic representation on how he matured. This to the realization why his face is obscured during the present day--he does look like Yami, but hiding it blocks non-Brilliance'd viewers from thinking Yami might be back.

* After Zexal's reveal of the Numeron Code, Darkness/Nightshroud's speech about the origins of the universe as represented by a single card becomes much less metaphorical in retrospect.

* Judai not knowing what a "fiance" is makes a lot more sense (and shades into FridgeHorror) once you know that a significant portion of his childhood memories were erased.
* At first one may find it odd that Judai's designs for Kaiba Corp's contest were the ones sent to space; after all his drawings weren't precisely the best. Until you remember that Seto Kaiba said that he would handpick the winners. Why? Because Seto's little brother Mokuba once did a similar quality drawing of a Blue-Eyes White Dragon for him during their childhood so he picked those designs because of nostalgic reasons. May also count as Heartwarming.

*** Obelisk: In terms of raw power, the strongest of the three with base ATK and DEF of 4000, the same way that in terms of raw power Obelisk Blues have the best decks and the best cards at their disposal. Furthermore, Obelisk can sacrifice two monsters to destroy all monsters the opponent controls, which mirrors the way that Obelisk Blues are willing to pay any cost if it means assured victory, like Season 1 Manjoume willing to throw as much money as he could into his deck. Obelisk Blues crush anything in their way, but lacking finesse can be outplayed by other, more thoughtful combinations assembled of weaker cards beneath their consideration.

*** Silfer: Slifer represents the most raw inherent potential of the Egyptian Gods, multiplying its strength by 1000 with each draw. While many Slifers are slackers who don't try, there are also those like Sho who work hard to improve themselves and grow more powerful over time. Having the weakest decks, Slifers will rely on one of two things: lots of weaker creatures working together like in Sho or Judai's decks, or very basic decks that summon big creatures and attack head on, with less strategy of the higher dorms, like Hayato. Slifer's attack reduction ability reflects both of these paths, either by using combos to reduce monsters with over 2000 power down to something manageable or steamrolling over anything with less than 2000 power. Slifer has infinite potential and when it becomes strong enough is nearly impossible to stop, or even oppose, but must be built up from scratch, just as the Slifer Reds start from the bottom and must improve themselves.
* Some have complained that Judai’s FreakOut and its aftermath in Season 3 comes out of nowhere and is at odds with the fact that he had already had to play Duel Monsters to decide the fate of the world in the first two seasons... except that, before Brron sacrificed his friends, Judai had ''never'' gotten genuinely angry or upset.

* There's a noticeable difference between how Zane/Ryo and Syrus/Sho use the card Power Wall, namely in regards to how they treat the cards they mill using its effect. Zane disrespectfully throws the cards to the ground, while Syrus just sends them to the graveyard normally. No wonder the deck was causing Zane's heart problems, seeing as he was constantly disrespecting them by treating the cards like trash. Noticeably, after Syrus starts showing the deck itself more respect, it stops inflicting similar problems to him.

* Syrus's character development sees him growing in confidence throughout his time in Duel Academy to become a strong duelist of his own. When you consider his deck archtype, the Vehicleroids which are vehicles with cartoon faces on them, especially Steamroid, a sentient steam train, he could be seen as Literature/TheLittleEngineThatCould.

** Becomes worse after watching Arc-V and Academia. It's not hard to imagine that the Government was in on or endorsed the attack on Heartland.

*** Given Majoume had them in his nightmare in Season 4, they probably aren't just still around, but infamous and major boogeymen.

* It was a ''really'' good thing Axel laid his life to activate the Eye of Orichaclum to free Judai from the Supreme King's influence, because if Supreme King was never freed from Judai, he would've killed Ryo, Sho, Misawa, Axel and Jim, leaving him all alone to face Yubel. And in the event he does, Yubel would still steal the Super Polymerization card from Supreme King, leading to a Duel, and [[ForegoneConclusion no matter the outcome]], [[MortonsFork neither Duelist will]] [[DownerEnding have a happy ending]]:
* Take a look at the future Darkness/Nightshroud shows Judai in their final duel after watching 5Ds. Seem familiar?
* In season 4, Ryo is twenty years old and has a severe heart condition. His eighteen-year-old brother (who has ''no medical knowledge'') appears to be his only advocate. ''Where are their parents'', and what kind of life can they possibly have going forward? Ryo might ''say'' he wants to start over and duel again, but his health is obviously still a major concern.

* Manga: In the final chapter, Ryo is shown in his "Hell Kaiser" outfit from the anime. ''What happened?''