Tropes
- Added Alliterative Appeal: What a digital dummy!
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Even Kaiba's duel robot can't comprehend Duel Monster's needlessly complicated rules, so it decides to go rogue instead.Robot: Now summoning three Blue-Eyes White Dragons.
Kaiba: Wait a minute. Did you just summon a bunch of monsters in one turn?
Robot: Affirmative. So?
Kaiba: I thought I programmed you to follow the rules as closely as possible.
Robot: After analyzing the Duel Monsters rulebook, I concluded that no card game could possibly be so unnecessarily complicated. Therefore, I wiped the rules from my memory.
Kaiba: Even the most advanced computer in the world can't figure out this game!
Mokuba: What a digital dummy. - Dangerous Forbidden Technique: In-universe, actually learning how to play Duel Monsters by the rules is considered this. Mokuba genuinely feels worried for his brother when Kaiba tells him he intends to do this, and the duel robot, upon having read the rules, promptly wipes them out of its memory before going rogue.
- Exposition Fairy: Ishizu is mostly just there so that someone can explain Yami's backstory.
- Expy: Kaiba's duel robot is one of GLaDOS. With all of the obligatory references to The Cake Is a Lie that such an expy requires.Robot: Welcome to the Aperture Science Duel Monsters Training Program. If you win this children's card game, there will be cake.
(later)
Kaiba: The Cake Is a Lie, bitch. - Fingore: Kaiba ends up having his finger sliced off by his own helicopter (the decision to let Mokuba fly it was a poor one).Kaiba: Don't forget to register and pick up your Duel Disks, because exactly one week from tod—(slice)—AAAA! MY FINGER! IT CAME CLEAN OFF! SOMEBODY CALL AN AMBULANCE! Mokuba, can't you fly this helicopter properly?
Mokuba: Sorry, bro.
Yami: What a digital dummy! - Flashback: Yami attempts to invoke this; dissatisfied with receiving merely a brief summary of his past life, Yami demands that Ishizu give him a flashback, even though it wouldn't really be necessary. A disgruntled Ishizu thus defies this by showing only the most useless flashbacks possible.Yami: (after Ishizu's Infodump) That's it? Don't I at least get a flashback?
Ishizu: I just spoiled the entire plot of season 2. What more do you want?
Yami: I demand a flashback!
Ishizu: Fine, have your smelly flashback. Behold, Pharaoh, as I reveal the truth about your past...
(cut to...)
Baby Yami: Waah! Waah! Baby Pharaoh wants milk! Somebody fetch me a nipple!
(back to present)
Ishizu: There. Satisfied?
Yami: Not really. I was hoping to see something a little later on in my life.
Ishizu: Oh. In that case...
(cut to...)
Soldier: Pharaoh, the Thief King's men are killing everybody in the city! What should we do to stop them?
Teen Yami: Waah! Waah! Baby Pharaoh wants milk! Somebody fetch me a nipple!
(back to present)
Yami: You're just [bleep]ing with me, aren't you?
Ishizu: Indeed I am. - I Can't Believe I'm Saying This: "This goes way beyond leather pants, Tea!"
- It's the Only Way: In order to have a chance at beating Yugi in a children's card game, Kaiba must do the unthinkable: actually learn how to play Duel Monsters.
- Mundane Made Awesome: DUEL DISK SYSTEEEEEM! (trademark)
- New Rules as the Plot Demands: Parodied; While it already was implied before, this episode outright confirms nobody has ever actually played Duel Monsters according to the official rules in the show, as the rules are so needlessly complicated actually learning them was considered a Dangerous Forbidden Technique; duelists until now were pretty much making up what the card could do on the spot as the games went on.
- Nightmare Fuel: In-Universe — Kaiba refers to Dark Zebra as "some kind of weird evil zebra-unicorn thing".Kaiba: Seriously, what the hell is that supposed to be? Whatever it is, I'll be seeing it in my nightmares.
- "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: Actual 4Kids Dialogue:Mokuba: What a digital dummy! The robot gave Seto a huge lead!
- Skewed Priorities: So what does Kaiba think will be his greatest asset against Yugi?Kaiba: In the four months since the last episode aired, I have developed an all-new, ultra-efficient, technologically advanced DUEL DISC SYSTEEEEMMM! (trademark) And that's not all — I also have a sexy new outfit. With these weapons at my disposal, Yugi will be powerless to defeat me. Also, I have a God Card.
Baby Yami: Waah! Waah! Baby Pharaoh went doodie in his diaper! And where the hell is that nipple?
