History YMMV / YuGiOhVRAINS

** Revolver's character design in Season 1 gives him ''yellow'' eyes that lack pupils, landing him right into this trope. Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, however, as it allows him to be more unsettling.

** While Takeru gets a MaybeEverAfter with his ChildhoodFriend Kiku, especially in the last episode, his most popular pairing is with [[TheHero Yusaku]], likely because he has quite a bit of HoYay with him while Kiku only appears in a couple of episodes.

** While Takeru gets teased with his ChildhoodFriend Kiku, especially in the last episode, his most popular pairing is with [[TheHero Yusaku]], likely because he has quite a bit of HoYay with him while Kiku only appears in a couple of episodes.
** While Yusaku gets a few ShipTease moments with Aoi, his most popular pairing is with Ryoken, with it taking off after the reveal that [[spoiler: Ryoken was the one who gave Yusaku hope during the Lost Incident,]] and Yusaku reaching out to him at the end of the first season. In comparison, Yusaku and Aoi do not have very many interactions throughout the show.

** The result of [[spoiler:Revolver vs. Lightning. Lightning opted to go for a DRAW result, but as Revolver gets turned into data, Lightning manages to survive with 1 LP remaining by holding onto one piece of Jin's consciousness data. The worst part is that it accomplished little, as Lightning was still too weak and gave himself to Bohman anyway.]]

* NeverLiveItDown:
** The recap episodes have become this to the point where they have become a meme and a drinking game. It doesn't help that there are so many in just the first season. The second season toned them down, but stalled for a bit until the main plot properly started.
** Even though she was able to [[TakeALevelInBadass take many levels of badassery]] in the show and able to go toe-to-toe with the BigBad, Spectre defeating Aoi in such a way that has she literally [[FacePlant lands on her face]] is the moment that fans will often bring up when talking about her.

** Season 3 has Ai duel GO in retaliation for what GO did to Earth...ignoring the fact that ''Specter'' is Earth's origin and should've been the one facing off the latter or Ai should've acknowledged Specter in someway. (Then again, Specter's Seiyuu was unavailable at the time).
** The concept of Charisma Duelists. It's similar to ''[[Anime/YuGiOhArcV ARC-V's]]'' entertainment duelists only it happens on hoverboards and without action cards. Only two charisma duelists are introduced (Go Onizuka and Blue Angel) and while they did have some good entertainment duels in the first season, it was quickly forgotten as the story got DarkerAndEdgier and the two moved away from their entertainment personas.

* ViewerGenderConfusion: Roboppi's gender has been up for debate since their debut. Due to their high-pitched voice, their being a robot maid, and a [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything scene]] they shared with Ai, most were under the assumption Roboppi was female. That said, they always used the Japanese pronoun "Oira" (オイラ), which is an unambiguously male pronoun. [[spoiler:After they and Ai received human forms however, and Roboppi's was shown to be an androgynous child, the debate arose again.]] After the official translation suggested they were referring to themselves as male, many began assuming Roboppi was always male. The actual line used the gender neutral term "ii ko", which can refer to both "good boy" and "good girl", but it was adapted as male to match Roboppi's use of "oira". Roboppi's gender is still unofficial. However, the confusion only happened in the West, as Roboppi referring to themselves using "oira" meant no one in Japan assumed them female.

* CrossoverShip: Thanks to their connection to "Stardust", many fanart of Ryoken being shipped with Yusei popped up.

** Windy's origin is also a popular topic for fanfic writers to write.
** After [[spoiler: Ai and Roboppi]] gained human forms, fanart, and fanfics of all the Ignis having human forms popped up.

** In fanfictions, Windy's unnamed origin is usually named Zephyr as a nod to his Ignis' attribute[[note]]Zephyr means West Wind in Greek[[/note]]. He's usually depicted with a brash or mischievous attitude like Windy itself.
** Since nothing was ever revealed about his parents, it's popular for Yusaku to be depicted as an orphan in fanfictions.

** Back in season 1 Akira offered to take Ai from Playmaker/Yusaku so that he could live a normal life and that he would shoulder the burden of discovering the truth himself. This was a selfless kind offer Akira made to a person he barely knows, but [[spoiler:after SOL Technologies killed Earth, it's heavily implied the same would have happened to Ai if Yusaku were to accept his offer or if Akira won the duel.]]
*** [[spoiler:Termination could also have been Flame's fate had Soulburner lost to Blue Girl.]]

* JerkassWoobie: Yusaku comes off as an antisocial jerk willing to do anything to get the information he needs, and will eliminate anyone who gets in his way. All of this though stems from the incident 10 years ago [[spoiler:where he was kidnapped and held hostage for an unknown period time and forced to duel AI duelists if he wanted to eat. Every time he lost, [[ElectricTorture he was electrocuted severely]] and denied food until he won again. Several times he nearly gave up only for a mysterious voice—confirmed to be an eight-year-old Revolver in episode 43—to teach him his "three things" habit as a method of survival. By the time he was rescued, the kidnappers had already lost their use for him and left him with a severe case of PTSD that exists to this day. [[BrokenBird No matter how much he wanted to interact with others, no matter how much therapy he received, Yusaku was plagued with nightmares and mental illnesses-induced stress attacks]]. Now he vows to get {{Revenge}} on those who ruined his life, and knows the path he walks is one of darkness, one he doesn't want to drag others on.]] And this is only at the ''start'' of the series.

** Every old school Trap Card Revolver uses is rather unexpected and funny, because of how much hype there is for their usage despite being well old cards everyone knows, but at the same time they completely fit with Revolver's personality and they just work!

* NeverLiveItDown: The recap episodes have become this to the point where they have become a meme and a drinking game. It doesn't help that there are so many in just the first season. The second season toned them down, but stalled for a bit until the main plot properly started.

*** The structure of SOL Technologies being based on chess pieces also hinted at an individual even higher ranked than Queen; a presumed King. They did eventually appear in Season 3, confirmed to be the three major stockholders of the company, but showed up for two minutes to tell Zaizen to capture Ai and were never heard from again.

** Cyberse Clock Dragon being used to close out three of Playmaker's duels led to many declaring it Playmaker's new ace monster, despite never being called as such in the series itself.

** Link summoning, and the duels in general, are a rather contentious part of the show. On one hand, there are fans who think that the duels involve far too much of the characters just spamming link summoning over and over again and feel that the method isn’t very interesting to watch. On the other hand, there are others who like it, arguing that the duels are much more accurate to the actual card game compared to any of the other shows in the series.
** From episode 57, the fake out plot about Bohman actually being the real Yusaku. Some fans felt that it was a complete waste of time and that it was extremely obvious it wasn’t going to turn out to be true. Others, however, thought it could’ve been interesting to explore and were disappointed the show ditched it almost immediately.

** Before the series began, some fans had doubts about ''VRAINS'' based on its use and introduction of the controversial New Master Rules brought on by Link Summoning, while others were excited for the series due to its VR theme and interesting character and story potential.
** [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Masahiro_Hikokubo Masahiro Hikokubo]] once again, returning as the duel layout director has caused a stir after his last few showings in both ''ZEXAL'' and ''ARC-V''. Having written ''every duel'' in all the series up to this point, many feel like he is far too burnt out to write any entertaining duels anymore, often pointing to Yuma's "prep for, then sit on, Utopia for the rest of the duel" strategy in ''ZEXAL'' and how wooden some of the duels in ''ARC-V'' became as the series went on, with the overuse of [[ScrappyMechanic Action Cards]] and the infamous "[[MemeticMutation You still take the damage!]]" line being uttered every other duel. His defenders, however, point out how Yuma's strategy was in character for him and how ''ARC-V'' was a case of trying to focus on all the summoning mechanics made it hard for certain duels to maintain that focus, and are confident with the series focusing on Link summoning, the duels will become a lot more entertaining and natural again now that Hikokubo doesn't have to stress balancing all the summoning mechanics each duel.
** The recap episodes. Are they justified due to [[TroubledProduction production issues]], or does the excess number of them between every few episodes tarnish the reputation of the show?
** Contributing to Takeru's status as a BaseBreakingCharacter is his victory over the two major characters of Season 1, Go and Aoi. Some feel that they both deserved their losses for holding the JerkassBall and showing needless aggression toward the protagonists in their attempts to obtain the Ignis. Others felt that the losses just hammer in how unimportant everyone other than him and Playmaker is in the big scheme of things.

* LauncherOfAThousandShips: Yusaku continues the trend of the main protagonists being this. He has already been shipped with [[RescueRomance Aoi]], [[MissFanservice Emma]], [[RudeHeroNiceSidekick Shoichi]], [[BirdsOfAFeather Jin]] and [[ScrewYourself his Playmaker persona]], but '''especially''' [[RedOniBlueOni A]][[LoveConfession i]] and [[IWillFindYou Ryo]][[FoeYayShipping ken]]. Just minutes after he was revealed, [[{{Megane}} Takeru]] [[{{Foil}} Homura]] [[OnlineAlias a.k.a.]] [[PlayingWithFire Soulburner]] was added to the list and when he isn't shipped with Yusaku in a more traditional manner, FanArt either portrays him as a ThirdWheel or uses him to form an {{OT3}} by adding him to almost any of the previously listed pairings, most often ones being Yusaku x Ryoken x Takeru and even Yusaku x Jin x Takeru.

** Keeping in [[FranchiseOriginalSin tradition with the previous entries]] the "Storm Access", "Neo Storm Access" and "Master Storm Access" skills used by several characters, most notably Playmaker. They allow the user to access a random card (specifically Extra deck monsters consistent with their deck's theme) from the Data Storm when he has 1000 LP or less. In theory, he should occasionally gain monsters that are not useful for his predicament. In practice, "random" translates to "whatever the writers need to allow Playmaker to stage a comeback". Later episodes have tried to make it a JustifiedTrope, and it is also implied Ai can see the card before it is picked, and actually decides for Playmaker when to grab the card, allowing Playmaker to always get the right card. Which still makes it an asspull, but at least has a justification.

*** Mentally torturing Jin as a child, leaving him as the EmptyShell he is today.

*** Enslaving the consciousness data of [[spoiler:Jin, his Origin]]. Even he admits that he went too far with that one.

*** Enslaving the consciousness data of [[spoiler:Jin, his Origin]].

** Cyberse Quantum Dragon is often mocked for its terrible track record in the series. Of all extra deck monsters in Yusaku's deck, it was the only one who never won a duel, failing to win the duel of its debut, as it ends on a draw. A fact made more jarring by the fact that [[spoiler:Yusaku went undefeated for the entire series and said draw being the only two times, and the last time Yusaku DOES NOT win]] making its inability to secure a win even more jarring. Cyberse Quantum Dragon would later get summoned in both season 2 and season 3 finale, got its effect nullified, and does nothing of note.

** Cyberse Quantum Dragon is often mocked for its terrible track record in the series. Of all extra deck monster in Yusaku's deck, it was the only one who never won a duel, failing to win the duel of its debut, as it ends on a draw. A fact made more jarring by the fact that [[spoiler:Yusaku went undefeated for the entire series and said draw being the only two times, and the last time Yusaku DOES NOT win]] making its inability to secure a win even more jarring. Cyberse Quantum Dragon would later get summoned in both season 2 and season 3 finale, got its effect nullified, and does nothing of note.

* DracoInLeatherPants: Revolver is meant to be a complex, morally grey character, like most of the characters in the show. While he is ultimately supposed to [[VillainHasAPoint have a point]] on the dangers of the Ignis, he still commits many awful terrorist acts in order to achieve his goals, especially with the Tower of Hanoi, and openly admits to regretting having saved the Lost Incident kids as a child because of how it led to his father being put in a coma. However, because of his pretty looks, sympathetic backstory and general coolness, many fans like to ignore or downplay his crimes, often excusing it by saying that he was only doing it for his father’s attention.

** Miyu Sugisaki became well-liked due to being Aoi's ChildhoodFriend and only female victim of the Lost Incident with a surprisingly fleshed-out backstory. Similar to the other victims her fans were eager to see her in action, potentially taking up Marincess or Trickstar after Season 2, but like Jin she only existed as motivational fuel for someone else's character development, which in her case is Aoi's.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Takeru Homura, aka Soulburner, the {{Deuteragonist}} starting in Season 2. Some like him for being a fun, interesting addition to the cast and another Lost Incident victim for the show to explore, being another person for Yusaku to talk to after criticisms of the first season’s lack of character interactions, and for his arc surrounding his guilt over his parent’s dying while looking for him when he was kidnapped. Others dislike his introduction involving him beating Aoi and Go, who [[TheScrappy (at least at the time for Go)]] were popular characters, find him faking his fear of ghosts in his duel against Blood Shepherd because he had already gotten over it after a quick pep talk months ago to be cheap and a major AssPull, and accuse him of being a SpotlightStealingSquad because of his [[Creator/YukiKaji popular voice actor]] and cards. While his duel against Revolver near the end of the series and the conclusion to his arc is generally well-liked, debates are still heated over whether it was enough to save his character or if it was much too late for him. He's often compared to Crow Hogan from ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'', another BaseBreakingCharacter, due both using Decks that were powerful in the real game, but were introduced late into their respective series.

* DracoInLeatherPants:
** Revolver. He's the WellIntentionedExtremist and AntiVillain leader of a cyberterrorist group who is willing to sacrifice thousands of people just to kill an entire race of AI, but fans sidelined this thanks to his FountainOfMemes status, [[{{Bishounen}}his ridiculously good looks]], and his intriguing backstory. Later seasons shows he's actually an honorable man, has a good reason for his actions, then became a FriendlyEnemy even if he's still [[TheUnfettered sticking to his beliefs of killing all Ignis]]. He's considered to be one of the best characters in the entire franchise even by critics and has tons of fangirls.
** His right-hand man Specter is another one. Fans love his ridiculous backstory of having a ''tree'' as his mother, his UndyingLoyalty to Revolver, and watching him play mind games to his enemies à la [[Anime/YuGiOhArcV Sora]] and [[Anime/YuGiOhZexal Vector]] that no one was mad with the way he [[BreakThemByTalking humiliated]] and [[FacePlant defeated]] Blue Angel. Many rejoiced when he and Revolver joined Team Playmaker in season 2.

* LauncherOfAThousandShips: Yusaku continues the trend of the main protagonists being this. He has already been shipped with [[RescueRomance Aoi]], [[MissFanservice Emma]], [[RudeHeroNiceSidekick Shoichi]], [[BirdsOfAFeather Jin]] and [[ScrewYourself his Playmaker persona]], but '''especially''' [[RedOniBlueOni A]][[LoveConfession i]] and [[IWillFindYou Ryo]][[FoeRomanceSubtext ken]]. Just minutes after he was revealed, [[{{Megane}} Takeru]] [[{{Foil}} Homura]] [[OnlineAlias a.k.a.]] [[PlayingWithFire Soulburner]] was added to the list and when he isn't shipped with Yusaku in a more traditional manner, FanArt either portrays him as a ThirdWheel or uses him to form an {{OT3}} by adding him to almost any of the previously listed pairings, most often ones being Yusaku x Ryoken x Takeru and even Yusaku x Jin x Takeru.

* {{Fanon}}: In fanfictions, Windy's unnamed origin is usually named Zephyr as a nod to his Ignis' attribute[[note]]Zephyr means West Wind in Greek[[/note]]. He's usually depicted with a brash or mischievous attitude like Windy itself.

* ViewerGenderConfusion: Roboppi's gender has been up for debate since their debut. Due to their high pitched voice, their being a robot maid, and a [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything scene]] they shared with Ai, most were under the assumption Roboppi was female. That said, they always used the Japanese pronoun "Oira" (オイラ), which is an unambiguously male pronoun. [[spoiler:After they and Ai received human forms however, and Roboppi's was shown to be an androgynous child, the debate arose again.]] After the official translation suggested they were referring to themselves as male, many began assuming Roboppi was always male. The actual line used the gender neutral term "ii ko", which can refer to both "good boy" and "good girl", but it was adapted as male to match Roboppi's use of "oira". Roboppi's gender is still unofficial. However, the confusion only happened in the West, as Roboppi referring to themselves using "oira" meant no one in Japan assumed them female.

* TheScrappy:
** Go Onizuka slips into this in second season, thanks to the authors who desperately wanted to make him into a villain. Thankfully, by the third season they more-or-less rerailed him.
** You will be hard-pressed into finding someone who sincerely likes Saito and Yamamoto. Their only role consists of hanging uselessly over the scene, trying to crack a joke and panicking over everything.

* ValuesDissonance: Shima's admiration of Playmaker looks like a gay crush, and it's portrayed as funny and gross.

** Shima Naoki, the fat ugly HeroicWannabe with a creepy crush on Playmaker.

* FanPreferredCouple: While Takeru gets teased with his ChildhoodFriend Kiku, especially in the last episode, his most popular pairing is with [[TheHero Yusaku]], likely because he has quite a bit of HoYay with him while Kiku only appears in a couple of episodes.
* While Yusaku gets a few ShipTease moments with Aoi, his most popular pairing is with Ryoken, with it taking off after the reveal that [[spoiler: Ryoken was the one who gave Yusaku hope during the Lost Incident,]] and Yusaku reaching out to him at the end of the first season. In comparison, Yusaku and Aoi do not have very many interactions throughout the show.

* OneTruePairing: Out of all the pairings in the show, Yusaku/Ryoken is by far the most popular, with it taking off after the reveal that [[spoiler: Ryoken was the one who gave Yusaku hope during the Lost Incident,]] and Yusaku reaching out to him at the end of the first season.

* ArcFatigue: The second season suffers badly from this. The pacing for the season was rather poor for most of it. The first half of the season took way too long to properly introduce the plot and while the second half improved pacing, it felt as some duels were way too long or not as long as they should. Also not helping matters was the entire season using the same opening "Go Forward", but as with the previous season, yet unlike previous series, it didn't even bother to update the visuals despite them being very outdated halfway through the season.[[note]]To name a few examples, Revolver's new Avatar, Blue Maiden, Bohman's second and third outfits, and any of the other Ignis are all absent.[[/note]]

** Bohman and Windy can somehow use their Skills in the middle of a Master Duel, with little explanation as to how. [[spoiler:However Queen's duel against Ai may give this a simple explanation. They cheated.]]

** The result of [[spoiler:Revolver vs. Lightning. Lightning opted to go for a DRAW result, but as Revolver gets turned into data, Lightning manages to survive with 1 LP remaining by holding onto one piece of Jin's consciousness data.]]

** Soulburner's [[spoiler: Burning Draw card (not the skill) only works if he controls no cards and if there is a link monster on his opponent's field, which isn't possible as Zeroboros banished every card on the field. It would have been a dead draw for Soulburner if it weren't for Topologic Zeroboros coming back to the field on his turn, giving him the chance to use the card and [[TheMagicPokerEquation draw 4 cards to win the duel.]]]]

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Takeru Homura, aka Soulburner, the {{Deuteragonist}} starting in Season 2. Some like him for being a fun, interesting addition to the cast and another Lost Incident victim for the show to explore, being another person for Yusaku to talk to after criticisms of the first season’s lack of character interactions, and for his arc surrounding his guilt over his parent’s dying while looking for him when he was kidnapped. However, on the other side, there are those that dislike his introduction involving beating Aoi and Go, who [[TheScrappy (at least at the time for Go)]] were popular characters, find him faking his fear of ghosts in his duel against Blood Shepherd because he had already gotten over it after a quick pep talk months ago to be cheap and a major AssPull, and accuse him of being a SpotlightStealingSquad because of his [[Creator/YukiKaji popular voice actor]] and cards. While his duel against Revolver near the end of the series and the conclusion to his arc is generally well-liked, debates are still heated over whether it was enough to save his character or if it was much too late for him. He's often compared to Crow Hogan from YuGiOh5Ds, another BaseBreakingCharacter, in which the story pushed him into the spotlight due to how popular Crow's Blackwings were, in this case, his Salamangreats were heavily featured during a good chunk of the first half of Season 2.

** Some fans have doubts about ''VRAINS'' based on its use and introduction of the controversial new rules brought on by Link Summoning, while others are excited for the series due to its VR theme and interesting character and story potential.

* GrowingTheBeard: While the second season's first half started with an interesting premise, it suffered from several problems such as several characters being thrown out of focus in favor Soulburner & Playmaker who made a good chunk of the cast seem like fodder as well as slow pacing to the main arc. Come the second half, the focus on Playmaker and Soulburner has been toned down, each of the neglected characters were given their own storylines such as Go [[spoiler:implanting an AI chip in his brain to get stronger]], Aoi [[spoiler:befriending Aqua and getting stronger as Blue Maiden]], Ghost Girl & Blood Shepherd's relationship and Revolver reuniting the Hanoi to destroy the Ignis, in addition to improving the pacing substantially. In addition, the duels were far better received up until the final two.

* ItsShortSoItSucks: The third season and to a greater extent, ''VRAINS'' as a whole, gets this for being the shortest season and series in ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' history. To give a comparison, Duel Monsters lasted 224 episodes, ''GX'' 180, ''5D's'' 154, ''ZEXAL'' 146, & [=ARC=]-V 148. ''VRAINS'' only has 120 episodes, and Season 3 is only 18 episodes. Not only is that strange considering the anime typically takes 3 years to finish, but there were also a lot of plots and characters that still needed development. This caused many to view the series as rushed for the seventh anime to avoid the well-known production issues that plagued it.

* ItWasHisSled: Revolver's use of [[spoiler:Mirror Force]] has become pretty well-known given the nature of the twist.

* LostInMediasRes: Some viewers find the series confusing and difficult to follow. Both because nobody outright explains how speed duels or Link Summoning works, and because it's clear that the audience knows ''far'' less about the plot than the main character does.
* LoveToHate: Lightning. MagnificentBastard, AwesomeEgo, and a ColdHam megalomaniac willing to enslave humanity all rolled to one small Ignis body that it makes him a more compelling antagonist than Bohman. Fans now love to [[MemeticMutation blame Lightning]] for every little thing that happened in the franchise, from plots from the previous shows up to ''[[UpToEleven cards being put in the ban lists.]]''

** Firewall Dragon, due to being rarely used despite being Yusaku's alleged ace monster and [[spoiler:only being used as a Link Material to summon Decode Talker in the finale of the first season]]. Hilariously, Firewall Dragon has been banned in both formats due to its power.

** Due to being an EmptyShell, Jin Kusanagi is seen by many as just about a single step away from JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope.

** Many viewers decry Windy and Bohman for using Storm Access in a master duel. However the skill only just gives them a new Extra Deck monster in the middle of a duel, which is not something new to the franchise with the earliest example being [[Anime/YuGiOhGX Aster being allowed to put Destiny End Dragoon during duel against Chazz]], not to mention an even earlier non-Extra Deck Monster example being [[Anime/YuGiOh Yami adding The Eye of Timaeus to his hand (after drawing a card in his Draw Phase) upon it being given to him in his duel against an Orichalcos Soldier]] and that's before it became a staple to the franchise. However the stark difference is unlike those examples is that Windy and Bohman were actually called out by the characters in-universe for cheating.

* SoOkayItsAverage: Pretty much the general consensus of the fanbase compared to the [[Anime/YuGiOhArcV previous series]]. Fans noticed that the show played their tropes safe and done away with the whole mystic angle of the franchise, lots of wasted character and story potential with only a few high moments in the series.

** SOL Technology, or the higher-ups Bishop, Rook, and Knight specifically, are shown to be an OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness hunting down the Ignis for their own gain and slowly set up to be a CorruptCorporateExecutive with their involvement with the Lost Incident. [[spoiler:Ai closed SOL Technology and opened LINK VRAINS for free and they're implied to be fired.]]

** The concept of Charisma Duelists. It's similar to ''[[Anime/YuGiOhArcV ARC-V's]]'' entertainment duelists only it happens on hoverboards and without action cards. Only 2 charisma duelists are introduced (Go Onizuka and Blue Angel) and while they did have some good entertainment duels in the first season, it was quickly forgotten as the story got DarkerAndEdgier and the two moved away from their entertainment personas.
** There was focus on Blood Shepherd's investigation on why SOL Technology is hunting down the Ignis and his dialogue with Akira suggested they were creating their own Ignis [[note]] It's hinted to be the Divine attribute, the only card attribute that's not an Ignis.[[/note]], which caused Blood Shepherd to quit and go solo. Unfortunately, nothing came out of this subplot as Queen was easily dispatched by Ai and Roboppy who took over SOL Tech.

** Many are disappointed that Aoi wasn't able to duel Spectre again after her humiliating defeat in the first season. It would have been a great way to showcase her strength as it's implied she has surpassed him after transforming to Blue Maiden. Likewise, Playmaker and Revolver didn't have a rematch after their fourth battle when it's teased so many times in the show they will clash again as Revolver battled Soulburner instead.

** Fusion Monsters were expected to appear in the series at one point given the booster name "Soul Fusion" (which comes after Cybernetic Horizon). On the other hand, however, it was Playmaker, and not Soulburner as people anticipated (due to the "Soul" in the booster name), who reintroduces the Extra Deck Summoning method in the second half of his Duel against Blood Shepherd, where he Fusion Summon "Cyberse Clock Dragon". Blue Girl and Soulburner, too, both follow suit in their Duel two episodes later, Fusion Summoning "Trickstar Band Sweet Guitar" and "Salamangreat Violet Chimera", respectively.
** Xyz Monsters were also expected to appear since the summoning methods before it was already used, but no one expected the Xyz Monster, Firewall eXceed Dragon, to be a counterpart and support to Firewall Dragon especially since Firewall Dragon is not only severely OutOfFocus for an ace monster of TheProtagonist, but is also banned in both formats[[note]]"Firewall Dragon" was banned in the TCG on December 2018, and January 2019 in the OCG[[/note]].

** Flame's LargeHam speech about the meaning of his name would've been lost in translation, leading to the English dub turning his name into a representation of a [[FunWithAcronyms acronym.]]

** The high-end Ignis plot point is removed when Blood Shepherd confronts Akira in the dub, instead, it's changed into creating a new batch of more advanced AI. This also ties to season 3 when [[spoiler:SOL Tech introduces the [=SOLtis=] bots.]]