< Yu-Gi-Oh! (Tabletop Game)

Yu-Gi-Oh! (Tabletop Game)/Characters


This page is for the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game characters. It is still a work-in-progress, so please help out as much as you can. See these Character Sheets for more info on the cards that are prominent in the anime.

The Agents of Heaven

Aliens

  • Alien Invasion
  • Brainwashed: Their gimmick, namely through Mass Hypnosis, Alien Mother, and Brainwashing Beam.
  • The Corruption/The Virus: A-Counters, distributed to enemy monsters as a means of weakening and eventually controlling them.
  • Eldritch Abomination: Their strongest level cards are "Cosmic Fortress Gol'gar" and "Cosmic Horror Gangi'el", obviously based on Lovecraftian monsters.
  • Reptiles Are Abhorrent
  • Weaksauce Weakness: Though it's against a decktype, they really don't stand much of a chance against Gladiator Beasts, which can tag themselves out after conducting a battle. A tag-out automatically removes the A-Counters on the monsters that they need for their effects.

Ally Of Justice

  • Big Badass Bird of Prey: Since it's implied that the "Ally of Justice" monsters are adversaries of the LIGHT-Attribute "Worm" archetype, Ally of Justice Clausolas's bird-like appearance makes sense because of the "stereotypical" (or part of) every bird's diet - they eat worms.
  • Casting a Shadow
  • Crippling Overspecialization: The Allies of Justice appear to be an entire archetype based around overspecialization. Their effects almost exclusively revolve around the opponent's monsters being LIGHT-attribute or face-down. If they're not facing something with those criteria, they're in a lot of trouble. Note that the Worms are all LIGHT-attribute monsters with a lot of flip effects, meaning the Allies of Justice were designed to just fight this one enemy and nothing else!
  • Dark Is Not Evil: An interesting thing to note about this archetype's name is that "Ally of Justice" usually would make people think that they are LIGHT monsters since "Justice" is usually associated with "goodness/good side" which is, in turn, usually associated with LIGHT, therefore an "Ally" (friend/team mate) of "Justice" would be on the good/LIGHT side as well. But in reality, they are DARK and have effects that destroy LIGHT monsters instead. However, their abilities might be a reference to The Light of Destruction. From another viewpoint the Ally of Justice name may reference the idea that when light cannot defeat itself, it must rely on darkness to aid it. It may also be a reference to the fact that Yugi Muto used mostly EARTH and DARK-Type monster cards (in addition to the fact that Seto Kaiba's signature card, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, is LIGHT Attribute). Also, since the "Worm" archetype is primarily LIGHT, "Ally of Justice" monsters may have been invented to defeat them, thus another reason to reference Justice if they are invaders. This is also reinforced by the card "Ally Mind" which mentions the Worm Nebula as well.
  • Expy:
    • Ally of Justice Thousand Arms shares many similarities with "Asura Priest": both monsters possess multiple arms; both have 1700 ATK and can attack multiple times during the Battle Phase; both have a downside ("Asura Priest" must return to the hand during the End Phase, "Thousand Arms" is destroyed if it battles a non-LIGHT monster); both are Level 4.
    • Ally of Justice Unknown Crusher has the same Level, ATK, DEF and a similar appearence to "Mammoth Graveyard".
    • Ally of Justice Cyclone Creator has the same Level, Type, Attribute, ATK and DEF as another Tuner, "Genex Controller" and it also shares the Type, ATK and DEF with "Cyber Falcon".
    • Ally of Justice Light Gazer is similar to "Thermal Genex". They have 2400 ATK, are Level 8, are Synchro Monsters; and they have an effect to increase their ATK, based on monsters in the Graveyard.
  • Evil Counterpart: Inverted: Searcher seems to be made to specifically counter "Worm Barses". "Worm Barses" flips monsters face-down, while "A.O.J. Searcher" flips monsters face-up without triggering their Flip Effects. Besides, they have similiar stretching-arms posture, same ATK and Level, with opposite Attributes(LIGHT vs DARK).
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation: In the artwork for "Mist Valley Thunder Lord", it is carrying the head of "Catastor", implying that it defeated "Catastor". In the context of the actual card game, this would be impossible as "Mist Valley Thunder Lord" cannot beat "Catastor" due to the effect of "Catastor" that automatically destroys any non-DARK monster.
  • Giant Squid: Ally of Justice Enemy Catcher. The tentacles it uses when it is summoned indicates that this particular Ally of Justice specializes in capturing and temporarily enslaving the Worm menace.
  • Meaningful Name:
    • The name of Field Marshal has a dual meaning. A 'Field Marshal' (with one l) is a military rank, which the monster pictured on the card presumably holds. A 'Field Marshall' (with two l's) was a British farm tractor used in the early Twentieth Century. The monster is thus given the name because it is a Machine, like a Field Marshall, and holds the rank of Field Marshal.
    • Ally of Justice Reverse Break is an "Ally of Justice" monster which gains a negative effect from a LIGHT monster on the field, likely referring to the "reverse" part of its name.
    • Ally of Justice Cycle Reader's name is a reflection of its effect. It reads the cycle (cards being sent to the graveyard and then reused) and disrupts it by removing them from play.
    • "Catastor" could be a play on the word "catastrophe" considering its powerful destruction effect.
    • It is implied that Ally of Justice Unlimiter is the "Limiter Removal" for "Allies of Justice" due to this card's name (Unlimiter has basically the same meaning as "Limiter Removal").
  • Multi-Armed and Dangerous:
    • "Omni-Weapon" has eight arms equipped with weapons, only four of them can be determined from the artwork: Hammer, Drill, Giant scissor/cutter and Giant punch. These eight weaponized arms thus make "Omni-Weapon"'s name fitting.
    • "Thousand Arms" has a BFS, An Axe to Grind, a cutlass a halberd and a mace. The effect of attacking multiple times during the Battle Phase is a reference to its multiple weapons.
  • Power Nullifier: Any LIGHT monster that has battled Ally of Justice Nullfier has its effects negated (starting after damage calculation).
  • Sigil Spam: The initials "AOJ" and Ally Mind.

Amazoness

  • Amazon Brigade
  • Amazonian Beauty: A lot of them are scantily clad; and range from toned to having noticeable musculature.
  • Annoying Arrows: Amazoness Archers. Their effect is basically the arrows burdening their opponents' bodies and blinding their foes with rage.
  • Amplifier Artifact: Amazoness Heirloom. It protects an Amazoness from being destroyed. It represents how their ancestors are protecting them through this artifact
  • The Archer: Amazoness Archer. She has an effect that lets her inflict 1200 damage to the player's opponent. This effect shows that she has an excellent aim and can aim for the opponent's vitals.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: Amazoness Queen. Her effect lets her fellow Amazonesses survive a battle that they would have lost. This effect is basically her giving her troops strong willpower by being on the battlefield.
  • Battle Aura: Amazoness Fighting Spirit. It lets an Amazoness to gain 1000 ATK points if she faces a strong opponent. Basically, she unleashes her full potential when this card is activated.
  • Continuity Cameo: Amazoness Paladin basically resembles Mai Kujaku/Valentine.
  • Eyepatch of Power: Amazoness Queen
  • Fiery Redhead: Amazoness Swords Woman
  • Hot Chick with a Sword:
    • Amazoness Paladin. She gains more power when there are Amazonesses in the Graveyard. This effect shows how her loyality to her fellow Amazonesses affects the way she fights.
    • Amazoness Swords Woman. The Player's opponent takes all Battle Damage that he/she would have taken from a battle involving this card. This effect is basically Amazoness Swords Woman being determined to beat her opponent, even as she's dying.
  • Lady of Black Magic: Amazoness Sage. If she attacks, she can destroy 1 Spell or Trap Card your opponent controls at the end of the Damage Step. This effect is basically Amazoness Sage showing control over her dark magic. This also shows that she is experienced in combat.
  • Panthera Awesome: Amazoness Tiger. It gains more power when there are Amazonesses in the Graveyard. This effect shows how loyal the creature is to the Amazonesses.
  • Poisoned Weapons: Amazoness Blowpiper has effect of targetting an opponent's monster and having it lose 500 ATK until the end of a turn. In said artwork, she holds a blowpipe. Thus, this effect is her using the poisoned darts to weaken the targetted monster in an attempt to make the monster easier to kill.
  • Variable-Length Chain: Amazoness Chain Master. Her effect lets the player obtain a Monster Card from the opponent's hand. This effect is basically Amazoness Chain Master is stating that she is willing to die if it means that the rest of her team can get a hold of enemy information.

Ancient Gear / Gadgets

  • Ancient Grome
  • Anti-Magic: Most of the Ancient Gear monsters have effects that stop the opponent from using Spells and Traps when they attack.
  • Clock Punk: Their main theme is Ancient Greece's Antikythera mechanism. Studies of the Antikythera mechanism put its complexity and craft as comparable to 18th century Europe.
  • Combination Attack: Several monsters are depicted as incorporating the Gadgets into their mechanics to power themselves up.
  • Cute Machines: The Gadget sub-archetype
  • Eternal Engine: Ancient Gear Castle and Geartown
  • Expy: Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem can be seen as the Ancient Gear counterpart to "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon":
    • In the anime this requires 3 identical Fusion Material Monsters, as does "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon". All of which have 3000 ATK and are Level 8.
    • In the OCG, both monsters follow the same naming scheme: (Archetype) Ultimate (Card name)
  • Fusion Dance: Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem
  • Mechanical Lifeforms
  • Mini-Mecha: Stronghold the Moving Fortress and Backup Soldier-Dread Dynamo, which are piloted by the Gadgets.
  • More Dakka: Ancient Gear Cannon
  • Multiple Head Case: Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera
  • Our Centaurs Are Different: Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon
  • Power Fist: Ancient Gear Golem and Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem
  • The Right Hand of Doom: Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem
  • Rocket Punch: Ancient Gear Fist
  • Tank Goodness: Ancient Gear Tank
  • This Is a Drill: Ancient Gear Drill and Ancient Gear Engineer
  • Throw Down the Bomblet: Ancient Gear Explosive
  • Trojan Horse: Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem's appearance may be based off of the Trojan Horse in Roman Mythology. It wears what appears to be a Roman helmet on its head.

Archfiends

Atlantean

  • Anti-Magic: Atlantean Dragon Poseidra's effect upon using the Special Summon effect. This means Poseidra is trying to soften up its foe before attacking with its full might.
  • Back from the Dead: One of Atlantean Dragon Poseidra's effects. This effect indicates that the Atlantean Fishmen are so dedicated to the Atlantean cause, they are willing to give up their lives just so Poseidra can be summoned to the battlefield.
  • Captain Ersatz: Atlantean Dragon Poseidra resembles the Lagiacrus, from Monster Hunter. Its position, color scheme, and posture is also similar to Lagiacrus (Include the dermal spikes on its back).
  • Dragon Rider: Atlantean Dragon Rider. Atlantean Dragon Rider's effect is basically Atlantean Dragon Rider leading the troops in a direct attack against their enemies.
  • Dub Name Change: Known as Sea Emperor in the OCG.
  • Enemy Summoner: Atlantean Armed Soldier and Atlantean Marksman's effects. Atlantean Armed Soldier's effect is basically Armed Soldier asking for backup to arrive and support them. Atlantean Marksman's effect is basically Atlantean Marksman calling in more troops to finish off their enemies.
  • Expy:
    • Atlantean Dragon Poseidra's appearance resembles "The Dragon Dwelling in the Deep". Also they are both WATER and Sea Serpent-Type monsters despite both having Dragon in their name.
    • Atlantean Dragon Poseidra's effect seems be a mix between "Masked HERO Acid" and "Giant Trunade". "Giant Trunade" returns all Spell and Trap Cards on both sides of the field to the hand and the effect of "Acid" reduces the ATK of your opponent's monsters.
  • Fish People: Most Monsters of this archetype, which indicates that they live under the sea and work for Poseidra.
  • Fusion Dance: Mermail - Gaioabyss seems to have been Xyz Summoned by using both Mermail - Megaloabyss and (oddly enough) Atlantean Dragon Poseidra. This is evident in that the lower half of this monster has the lower half of Poseidra, as well as Poseidra's Trident tail as the tip of its own Trident and their ATK and DEF points are the same. This card is also based off of the god Poseidon himself.
  • Meaningful Name: Atlantean Dragon Poseidra's name is a portmanteau of "Poseidon", the Greek god of the sea, and a dragon/hydra. Even the tip of its tail has the image of Poseidon's Trident.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Atlantean Dragon Poseidra.
  • Weapon of Choice:
  • Zerg Rush: Atlantean Assault Trooper's effect is based off this.

If you control another face-up Fish, Sea Serpent, or Aqua-Type monster, this card gains 800 ATK.

B.E.S.

Batteryman

  • Back from the Dead: Battery Charger and Recycling Batteries.
  • Cute Bruiser: Batteryman AA. With 3 of him in a deck, the player can make an OTK.
  • Cute Machines
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Super-Electromagnetic Voltech Dragon, which gains a different effect, depending on which Batteryman the player tributes for it.
  • Improbable Weapon User: Batteryman Industrial Strength uses a pair of jumper cables as weapons.
  • Shock and Awe
  • Stone Wall/Diving Save: Batteryman D has an effect that forces the opponent to not target any Thunder-Type monster except Batteryman D.
  • Theme Naming: Internationally, Batterymen are named after the commonly used battery names. In Japan, they were numerically named based on the Levels they had shown on the card.

Blackwing

  • Big Badass Bird of Prey
  • Fragile Speedster/Glass Cannon: The Blackwing's main strategy resolves around swarming the field and easily bringing Synchro monsters. However, the player will have their hand burned out of cards, also their Synchro monsters are the only truly powerful monsters of the archetype in raw power (the strongest non-synchro only has 2200 ATK whereas the Synchro monsters reach up to 2800).
  • Stone Wall: Mistral the Silver Shield, not only does it have a rather strong DEF (1800), it blocks a second attack launched from the opponent should it be destroyed. Also, it's a tuner monster.
  • Winged Humanoid

Chaos

  • Black Knight: Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
  • Expy: The Sky Scourges were an attempt to revitalize the Chaos archetype with more challenging summoning conditions and less powerful effects.
  • Finishing Move: More likely than not, getting one of them to the field.
  • Glass Cannon: They can hit the field on your first turn if you build the deck right, come out of nowhere, and will give you a massive lead in the duel. But they're completely defenseless during an opponent's turn, so you'd better have some traps ready to protect them.
  • Kill'Em All: Chaos Emperor Dragon's effect.
  • Obvious Rule Patch: The Chaos Emperor Dragon-Yata Garasu combo is pretty much the reason the ban list was first created, and they've been gone ever since.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Black Luster Soldier -> Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
  • Yin-Yang Bomb

Charmers

Coach Goblin/Second Goblin/DD Trainer

Cyber Dragon

  • Animal Mecha
  • Breath Weapon: Cyber Dragon's attack, Evolution Burst
  • Evil Counterpart: The Cyberdarks to the Cyber Dragons.
  • Evolutionary Levels: "Cyber Larva" > "Proto-Cyber Dragon" > "Cyber Dragon Zwei" > Cyber Dragon > "Cyber Twin Dragon" > "Cyber End Dragon" > "Cyber Eltanin" / "Chimeratech Overdragon" / "Chimeratech Fortress Dragon".
  • Expy: Cyber Dragon’s evolution is similar to "Blue-Eyes White Dragon". Their Fusions requires 3 copies each. Both of their Final Forms ("Cyber End Dragon" and "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon") have the similar Blue orbs on their wings and chests.)
  • Fusion Dance: "Cyber Dragon" fuses with:
    • Another "Cyber Dragon"/"Proto-Cyber Dragon"/"Cyber Dragon Zwei" to form "Cyber Twin Dragon".
    • Two other "Cyber Dragon"s/"Proto-Cyber Dragon"s/"Cyber Dragon Zwei"s to form "Cyber End Dragon"
    • Any number of Machine-Type monsters to form "Chimeratech Overdragon".
    • "Cyber Dragon" also performs a VWXYZ - style fusion with Machine-Type monsters to form "Chimeratech Fortress Dragon".
    • "Elemental HERO Voltic" to form "Elemental Hero The Shining".
  • Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons
  • Light'Em Up
  • Meaningful Name:
    • "Chimeratech Overdragon" and "Chimeratech Fortress Dragon" originate from the 'Chimaera', a mythical beast that had the heads of a lion, goat and snake. More recently, 'chimaera' refers to the idea of combining things that occur naturally, much like both monsters are fused from varying Machine-Type monsters.
    • Eltanin, also called Gamma Draconis, is the brightest star in the constellation Draco. The name comes from Arabic (التنين at-tinnīn) meaning The Dragon, which is the name of the constellation. The star itself is called (رأس التنين raʾs at-tinnīn) The Dragon's Head.
  • Multiple Head Case: Its fused forms, which indicates the strength it has within those forms.
  • Nerf: In the anime, "Chimeratech Overdragon"’s effect was different than its real-life counterpart. In the anime it could attack as many times (including direct attacks) as the amount of monsters used to play it while its real-life counterpart's effect only allows multiple attacks to monsters, but direct attacks aren't allowed.
  • One-Hit Kill: Dedicated real life decks using Cyber Dragon and its variants can also pull these off.
  • Ouroboros: Cyber Ouroboros. An Ouroboros is a serpent that bites his own tail, forming a circle. It symbolizes the endless cycle of the end followed by the beginning. This symbol is used in Alchemy. This also represents its effect. A card is banished, another is sent to the Graveyard, and another replaces it in the hand.

Darklords

Dark Ruler Ha Des/Revived King Ha Des

Dark Scorpions

Dark World

  • Back from the Dead: Many of them revive when discarded to the Graveyard.
  • Big Bad: Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World.
  • Bigger Bad: Colorless, Chaos King of Dark World, said to be the ultimate card of the theme...it was only mentioned in the anime, was never summoned or even shown, and years after its mention it appears it's going to stay that way.
  • Chained by Fashion: Bronn.
  • Dark Is Evil: Ask anyone who's faced them.
  • The Dragon: Latinum, Exarch of Dark World. Sillva and Goldd to a degree as well.
  • Evil Overlord: Reign-Beaux, whio even has "Overlord" as his title.
  • Lightning Bruiser: A well-built Dark World deck can swarm the field with powerful monsters while depleting the opponent's field and hand with their effects, and still maintain a good sized hand and back row for ensurance.
  • Loophole Abuse: Dark World cards only get their effects when discarded by a card effect, not if discarded for a cost. Everyone quickly learned the difference once they came out. It's this rule that makes Card Destruction and Morphing Jar game-ending movies, allowing a Dark World deck to dump their hand full of Dark World cards to trigger their effects, then draw a new hand.
  • Nebulous Evil Organisation: As seen in Dark Deal, Dark Scheme and Dark World Dealings, they engage in a lot of shady practices to further their power.
  • Noble Demon: Most prominently Zure, but Word of God says they're all like this.
  • Obviously Evil
  • Our Demons Are Different:
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Grapha.
  • Religion of Evil: Has shades, particularly in the anime where Bronn tries to use a tome and rune cards to summon Colorless.
  • The Sixth Ranger: Dark Blade's flavor texts say he's an inhabitant of the Dark World, but has nothing to do with the archetype. Kozaky has the same distinction, and is a pseudo-archetype in his own right.
  • Spikes of Villainy
  • Theme Naming: "<Color>, <Rank> of Dark World".

Divine Dragon

  • Distaff Counterpart: "Lady of D." is the female counterpart of "Lord of D.". They share the same DEF, Attribute, Type, and Level. She protects Dragons from battle while he protects them from targeting effects. Each are seen in the artworks of different Dragon-Type monsters that are stored in the Extra Deck, have upgraded versions of their respective effects, and depict them as having merged with a Divine Dragon and holding an instrument of summoning dragons.
  • Elemental Powers
  • Enemy Summoner: Flute of Summoning Dragon. It's more effective when Lord of D. is on the field because he's the owner of the flute.
  • Expy: Divine Dragon Apocralyph is likely a more obvious counterpart to "Divine Dragon Ragnarok". Both it and "Apocalypse" refer to the end of the world. They are both Level 4 Monster Cards, have inverted ATK and DEF to one another, and their Attributes are opposite, LIGHT and DARK respectively.
    Also, both cards offer Dragon-Type support: "Ragnarok" fuses with "Lord of D." into "King Dragun", a monster that protects Dragons from being targeted and Special Summons them from the hand, and "Apocalypse" returns Dragons from the Graveyard to the hand.
    Another Similarity is that it appears in the artwork of "Queen Dragun", an Extra Deck Dragon type monster that protects and summons dragons similar to "King Dragun". Like Ragnarok, this card appears to have become the lower body of a spellcaster with a downgraded version of the new monster's effect. The difference is that King Dragun is a fusion monster that requires the 2 specific monsters as materials whereas Queen Dragoon is an Xyz monster that accepts any 2 level 4s.
  • Fusion Dance: King Dragun and Queen Dragun
  • Lady of Black Magic: Dragon Witch and Queen Dragun
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Divine Dragon Ragnarok and Divine Dragon Apocralyph. Both are named relgious events
  • Our Dragons Are Different
  • Wreathed in Flames: Divine Dragon Apocralyph

Dragunity

  • Animal Motifs: Birds for the Dragon riders.
  • Attack Animal
  • The Archer: Dragunity Angusticlavii
  • Big Damn Heroes: The Dragunity for the Mist Valley Archetype
  • Blow You Away: Everything in the archetype is WIND attributed.
  • Dragon Rider: The Dragunity Knights.
  • Equippable Ally: Implied.
  • Expy: Because of their heavy focus on sending monsters to the Spell & Trap Card Zones, the "Dragunity" archetype is often compared to the "Crystal Beast" and "Cyberdark" archetypes. Like "Blackwings", there is a heavy distinction between the Tuner monsters and the non-Tuner monsters in terms of appearance. Similar to "Blackwings", the non-Tuner monsters are all humanoids in bird costumes while the Tuner monsters are all small dragons (whereas the "Blackwing" Tuner monsters are all small birds).
  • The Glory That Was Rome: The archetype is based on Roman legions.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Averted with the Dragunity Knights, which are humanoids riding on dragons, but the Armas are Dragons that wield swords and have a second, feathered set of wings and the rest are used as weapons.
  • Theme Naming: The Dragon-Type monsters in this Archetype so far all have armor which either covers most of their body ("Dragunity Phalanx"), or they have a piece of armor that resembles, and is named after, a weapon (i.e. "Dragunity Darkspear"). By contrast, the Winged Beast-Type monsters seem to be named after historical warriors (Ex. - "Dragunity Legionnaire" is named after the common solider in the Roman army).
  • Winged Humanoid: All of the Winged Beasts in the archetype are humanoids in roman soldier themed bird costumes.

Evol

Fabled

  • Adorable Evil Minions: A number of Fabled monsters have goofy-looking super-deformed minions on their card art.
    • Possibly Fabled Lurrie and Fabled Topi, some of the least powerful of the basic Fabled monsters.
    • The monsters from the "The Fabled" archetype
  • All There in the Manual: Most of the story behind the Fabled monsters is referenced in the Duel Terminal manuals.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: The most powerful of the Fabled monsters, Fabled Leviathan, sits on a throne.
  • Badass Bookworm: Fabled Kushano
  • Bowdlerize: Originally called the Magoshin (Demonic Roar Gods) and Magoshinju (Demonic Roar God Beasts), the archetypes are translated as "Fabled" and "The Fabled" respectively.
  • Black Magic: Implied through their card effects [2], Fabled monsters command powerful sorcery. At least one type of sorcery lets them summon their "The Fabled" monsters.
  • Enemy Summoner: Fabled Grimro or Fabled Ragin
  • Evil Versus Evil: The Fabled archetype versus the Worm archetype.
  • Fallen Angels
  • Fetus Terrible: Fabled Oltro
  • Killed Off for Real: According to the storyline as of Hidden Arsenal 4, the Ice Barrier archetype got sick and tired of the Fableds and Worms wreaking havoc everywhere, so they unleashed Trishula... who proceeded to plunge the entire planet into a new ice age. No Fabled has been printed since Hidden Arsenal 4.
  • Martyrdom Culture: One of the most obvious gimmicks of the Fabled archetype is to activate their effects upon being discarded from the hand, usually to summon themselves or one another.[3] This leads to many Fabled players using cards that discard cards from their hand for their costs, including other Fables.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: The Fabled monsters rise up from a hidden realm within the earth.
  • Spell My Name with a "The": "The Fabled" is considered to be a sub-archetype of Fabled cards

Flamvell

Fortune Ladies

Freed the Brave Wanderer/Freed the Matchless General

Frog

  • Anti-Magic: Unitoad's effect lets it destroy a Spell or Trap Card if another Frog or Toad is on the field.
  • Battle Aura: Des Frog
  • Bubblegloop Swamp: Their homeland, Wetlands.
  • Brown Note: Des Croaking, which destroys all of your opponent's monsters. The art of Des Croaking shows three Des Frogs croaking in unison.
  • Deflector Shields: Froggy Forcefield
  • Frogs and Toads
  • Fusion Dance: 3 Des Frog become D.3.S Frog
  • Lost in Translation: All the original Japanese names for Frogs included puns based on their effects and artworks. Very few Frogs recieved this treatment at the international releases.
  • Making a Splash
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: Treeborn Frog, Unifrog, Belze Frog, Substitoad, Tradetoad
  • Nerf: One card that kept "Frogs" versatile and powerful was "Substitoad", but after Frog FTK won the 2010 World Championships, it was Forbidden, and so many "Frog" Decks lost their supreme speed.
  • Never Say "Die": Death Frog->Des Frog
  • Overly Long Tongue: Poison Draw Frog and Flip-Flop Frog
  • Samurai: Ronintoadin
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Tradetoad after Substitoad got banned.
  • Stone Wall: Dupe Frog's effect forces the opponent to target it only. Also it has 2000 DEF
  • Visual Pun: Submarine Frog's appearance is likely based on the term "frogman," which is a person equipped to work underwater. The term is quite often used to refer to combat divers, which Submarine Frog certainly is.
  • Weak but Skilled: Though weak, "Frog" cards can unleash devastating effects that include rapid summoning, the option to increase their ATK or protect themselves from destruction, and wiping out all cards the opponent controls.

Gaia the Fierce Knight

  • Badass Normal: Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth is not only one of the strongest level 6 synchros, but one of the strongest non-effect synchros as well. Fuse with another and you get...
    • Badass Abnormal: Gaia Drake, the Universal Force, whose effect bypasses targeting, or destruction, by the effects of other monsters.
  • Black Knight: Gaia the Fierce Knight.
  • Cool Horse: Which is colored violet.
  • Cyborg: If you look closely, you can see that "Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth" and his horse are mechanical. His torso is attached to the top of the horse.
  • Dual-Wielding: With lances.
  • Fusion Dance: With Curse of Dragon to Form Gaia the Dragon Champion.
    • Later, Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth with any other non-effect synchro becomes Gaia Drake, the Universal Force. Especially considering Gaia Drake is something of a portmanteau of Gaia and Naturia Leodrake, one of the potential fusion components, and the latter is a Beast, which completes Gaia's fusion into a Beast-Warrior type monster.
  • Horse of a Different Color: Curse of Dragon for Gaia when he is Gaia the Dragon Champion.
  • Mechanical Horse: Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth and Gaia Drake, the Universal Force.
  • Knight in Shining Armor: Gaia Drake, the Universal Force.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Originally, Gaia the Fierce Knight -> Gaia the Dragon Champion. Pretty much every copy of the card released since (Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight, Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth, Gaia Drake, the Universal Force) has had him take more levels each time. He also took another level as Gaia Dragoon, the Force of Thunder, who is the third Xyz Monster able to use Chaos Xyz Change.

Gem-Knight

Gigobyte/Gagagigo/Giga Gagagigo/Gogiga Gagagigo

Gearfried

  • Anti-Magic: Phoenix Gearfried and Lightray Gearfried's effect
  • Black Knight: Gearfried the Iron Knight
  • Knight in Shining Armor: Phoenix Gearfried and Lightray Gearfried
  • Light'Em Up: Lightray Gearfried
  • The Phoenix: Phoenix Gearfried
  • Playing with Fire: Phoenix Gearfried
  • Power Limiter: Joey tells the story of "Gearfried the Swordmaster", in one of his duels. According to his story, the power of "Gearfried" was so great, that merely holding a weapon resulted in the widescale devastation of entire battlefield. Fearful of his own might, he sealed himself in a suit of iron armor to limit his power. This "devastation" effect can been seen in the ability of "Gearfried the Swordmaster" to instantly destroy a monster when equipped, and "limiting his power" can be seen as "Gearfried the Iron Knight" cannot be equipped with any Equip Card.
  • Single-Stroke Battle: Gearfried the Swordsmaster's effect
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: Gearfried the Swordsmaster


Geargia

  • Combining Mecha: Geargiganto X
  • Cool Car: Geargiaccel
  • Expy: "Geargia" monsters resemble "Gadget" and "Wind-Up" monsters in appearance.
  • Glass Cannon: Geargiarsenal
  • Homage:
    • Geargiganto X resembles Optimus Prime and/or Star Scream from the Transformers franchise.
    • This card also resembles the namesake of the series Gurren Lagann. Its chest resembles the "Kamina shades" on Gurren Lagann's chest and its chest and hip areas form a mouth-like shape together, reflecting how the Gunmen such as Gurren Lagann have a face on their front with a mouth. The head on top also looks similarly to a smaller version of the body, like the mini-mecha Lagann is to Gurren.
    • Given the fact the "X" in it's name is pronounced as "cross", this card also pays homage to the Digimon franchise, most notably the "Xros Wars" era, where the letter X in the name is constantly pronounced as "cross" instead of "eks"; further reference to that note is the fact that this card slightly resembles the Digimon Shoutmon X3, has a similar name and pose, not to mention it's a powerful fighter made out of seemingly harmless components (in this case, a bunch of gears with Geargia monsters).
  • Mechanical Lifeforms
  • Repetitive Name
  • Stone Wall: Geargiarmor
  • Zerg Rush: All 5 "Geargia" monsters focus heavily on searching out each other, swarming the field in the process and summoning their ace card, "Geargiganto X" and other Rank 3 and 4 Xyz Monsters. Each monster has a different effect to search out cards: "Geargiano" Special Summons any Level 4 or lower Machine-Type monster from the Graveyard by tributing itself, meaning that the card can be good to support other archetypes; "Geargiano MK-II" can do the same as "Geargiano", but only with Geargia monsters, however it can also Special Summon the monster from the Hand; "Geargiarmor" search any Geargia from the Deck each time time it is flipped face-up and is a solid wall with 1900 DEF; "Geargiaccel" helps to swarm the field, as it can Special Summon itself from your Hand and has the bonus effect of adding another Geargia from your Graveyard to your Hand when it goes to the Graveyard; "Geargiarsenal" can tribute itself to Special Summon any Geargia from your Deck and also gains 200 ATK for each Geargia you control, even itself.

Genex

  • Cool Train: Locomotion R-Genex
  • Dark Is Not Evil: The Genex Ally sub-archetype
  • Elemental Powers
    • Blow You Away: Genex Blastfan, Genex Ally Birdman, R-Genex Accelerator, R-Genex Turbo, Vindikite R-Genex, and Windmill Genex.
    • Casting a Shadow: the Genex Ally sub-archetype, Locomotion R-Genex, R-Genex Oracle and R-Genex Overseer
    • Light'Em Up: Genex Neutron, Genex Power Planner and Genex Solar
    • Dishing Out Dirt: Genex Gaia, R-Genex Crusher, R-Genex Ultimum, R-Genex Magma and Geo Genex
    • Magma Man: Genex Ally Volcannon
    • Making a Splash: Genex Undine and Hydro Genex
    • Playing with Fire: Genex Furnace, R-Genex Magma, Genex Ally Bellflame, and Thermal Genex
  • Homage: Many of the "Genex Ally" monsters have resemblance to characters from the Megaman series. Also, they all have similar poses to the Robot Masters. "Genex Ally Duradark" has resemblance to Megaman, while "Genex Ally Remote" has resemblance to Galaxy Man, etc.
  • Meaningful Name: The "Ally" part of "Genex Ally" may refer to the fact that some of them can be used in conjunction with other archetypes (like "Bellflame" with Neo Flamvell, "Reliever" with Naturia and "Triforce" with "Worm" and "Ancient Gear"). The compatibility of some depends on the Attribute of the Synchro Material Monsters used to Summon them.
  • Mechanical Lifeforms
  • Theme Naming: "Genex" monster names resemble several forms of energy development (hydroelectric, geothermal, solar, etc).
  • Zerg Rush: "R-Genex" focus heavily upon swarming to better enable Synchro Summons.

Gishki

  • Ascended Extra: Ariel = Eria the Water Charmer
  • Back from the Dead: Evigishki Zealgigas is Steelswarm Hercules brought back with a Gishki ritual.
  • Bifauxnen: Gishki Avance
  • Biological Mashup/Humanoid Abomination: Evigishki Gustkrake and Evigishki Mind Augus
  • The Corruption: Evigishki Psychelone is an Verz-infected Gishki Noelia.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Gishki Ariel, Gishki Noelia and Gishki Emilia
  • Cute Ghost Girl: Gishki Emilia and Gishki Natalia
  • Cute Witch: Gishki Ariel, Gishki Emilia and Gishki Natalia
  • Defector From Decadence: Noelia walked out on the Ice Barrier when they decided to release Trishula. However the Gishki, and Noelia in particular, go on to be far, far worse than the Ice Barrier tribe ever were.
  • Dub Name Change: Ritua (OCG)->Gishki (TCG)
  • Enemy Mine: In an attempt to fight the Steelswarm and Vylon
    • And then a villainous variant when they join forces with the Verz.
  • Evil Redhead Matriarch: Noelia used Emilia, her own daughter, in a ritual and forced her to become Evigishki Gustkrake because she felt that her daughter wasn't productive enough for the Gishki cause. She also betrayed the other tribes and joined the Verz. As in, she sacrificed the Lavals to revive Steelswarm Hercules as Evigishki Zealgigas, went on a genocidal purge of the Gusto which only got stopped by the Gem-Knights saving the last few Gusto, and in general joined the genocidal zombie virus bent on killing/corrupting all life on the planet. Thankfully, if Gem-Knight Master Diamond or The Sacred Ptolemys Messier 7 didn't kill the bitch, she got eradicated by god-induced Reset Button along with everyone else.
  • Fish People: Most of them.
  • Furry Female Mane: Evigishki Levianima and Evigishki Tetrogre. It's supposed to indicate how the Gishiki rituals has changed them into more powerful forms.
  • Fusion Dance: Lavalval Chain is a fusion of Gishki Chain and a Lvl. 4 Lavalval monster, Evigishki Levianima is a fusion between Gishki Avance and Gishki Beast, Evigishki Tetrogre is a fusion between Vylon Tetrah and Gishki Noelia, Gem-Knight Pearl is a fusion of Gishki Shellfish and Gem-Knight Amber and Evigishki Merrowgeist is a fusion between Gishki Emilia and Musto, Priest of Gusto.
  • Making a Splash: Everyone except Lavalaval Chain
  • Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Evigishki Zealgigas
  • The Quisling: In the Duel Terminal storyline when the Verz invaded, the Gishkis allied themselves with them.
  • Our Mermaids Are Different: Evigishki Merrowgeist
  • Religion of Evil

Gladiator Beasts

Goblin Attack Force

  • Actually Four Mooks
  • Butt Monkey: Interestingly, on some card artwork, Goblin Attack Force is used as the butt of jokes, usually receiving detrimental effects or being attacked. They are also often drawn in a more cartoonish style. This is likely a reference to Goblin Attack Force's vulnerability after attacking.
  • Cacophony Cover-Up: Goblin Decoy Force
  • Crippling Overspecialization: Goblin Pothole Squad exists only to negate "Trap Hole" cards, if the opponent does not use them, making Goblin Construction Force a useless 1500 ATK monster.
  • Drop the Hammer: On the receiving end of a huge mallet in the artwork of Hammer Shot.
  • Elite Mooks: Elite Goblin Attack Force
  • Hero Worshipper/Irritation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery: In artwork for Goblin Marauding Force, one of the Goblins strikes the same position as "Marauding Captain"; a similarity noted in the card's name.
    Due to the fact that the Goblins are putting on blonde wigs and similar armor as Marauding Captain, they may now idolize his skills after he has managed to defeat them at their own headquarters.
    This is further referenced in this card's effect. Marauding Captain seems to have the uncanny ability to go up against much stronger monsters and come out alive. As such, Goblin Marauding Force is weaker than the regular Goblin Attack Force, but they are immune against cards that would normally stop the Goblin Attack Force.
  • Knight in Shining Armor: Elite Goblin Attack Force
  • Ninja Zombie Pirate Robot: Goblin Black Ops are goblin ninjas.
  • Oh Crap: Their reaction to Marauding Captain invading their base, as seen in Prepare to Strike Back and Attack on GHQ.
  • Puppeteer Parasite: Shown in Mass Hypnosis which was done to them by A-Counters.
  • Our Goblins Are Wickeder
  • Schizo-Tech: In the artwork of Goblin Recon Force, they are shown using headsets and night goggles. The setting is usually believed to take place in the medieval times.
  • Shrink Ray: Victims of one in the artwork of Micro Ray.
  • Super-Deformed: Toon Goblin Attack Force.
  • Taken for Granite: Done to them in the artwork of Medusa Worm.

Goblin of Greed

Gravekeepers

  • Ancient Egypt: Their main theme and homeland, Necrovalley, is based off this.
  • Antidote Effect: Gravekeeper's Spy is not just used in Gravekeeper's decks. In fact, it is used moreso outside of Gravekeeper's decks. Most people will put two "Gravekeeper's Spy" into their deck simply to search one out with the other, creating a wall of 1 or 2 2000 DEF monsters.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: Gravekeeper's Visionary. He even powers up when his fellow Gravekeepers are in the Graveyard.
  • Back from the Dead: Gravekeeper's Chief's effect
  • Bald of Awesome: Gravekeeper's Recruiter and Gravekeeper's Guard
  • Badass Beard: Gravekeeper's Chief and Gravekeeper's Visionary
  • Black Magic
  • Cats Are Mean: Cat of Ill Omen
  • Casting a Shadow
  • Continuity Cameo: Gravekeeper's Descendant is Marik Ishtar (with blonde hair), Gravekeeper's Priestess is Ishizu Ishtar (with the hood and mask covering up her features), Gravekeeper's Recruiter is Odion Ishtar (without the ponytail) and Gravekeeper's Visionary is Mr. Ishtar (wearing an Anubis mask).
  • Dark Is Not Evil: They may use the dark arts. However, they use them to protect the Pharaoh and his resting place.
  • Dark-Skinned Blond: Gravekeeper's Descendant
  • Expy:
    • Gravekeeper's Priestess and the "Maiden of the Aqua" have a similar, yet different pseudo-field spell card effect. They also both have "priestess" in their Japanese names.
    • Gravekeeper's Recruiter is the Gravekeeper's counterpart of Witch of the Black Forest, Goblin Zombie, XX-Saber Darksoul, Botanical Girl, and Sangan.
  • High Priest: Gravekeeper's Visionary
  • In the Hood: Gravekeeper's Assailant
  • The Owl-Knowing One: An Owl of Luck, which can search for Necrovalley
  • Samus Is a Girl: Gravekeeper's Assailant
  • Summoning Ritual: Which is used to summon Cobraman Sarkozy
  • Weapon of Choice
    • BFG: Gravekeeper's Cannonholder
    • Cool Sword: Gravekeeper's Assailant, which is unique because swords aren't typically used by stealthy assassins.
    • Blade on a Stick: Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier
    • Magic Staff: Gravekeeper's Chief, Gravekeeper's Commandant, Gravekeeper's Descendant, Gravekeeper's Visionary and Gravekeeper's Priestess

Guardians

Gusto

Harpie

  • Badass Decay: Invoked. Harpie's Pet Baby Dragon is a lot stronger than the adult form due to a variety of effects its possesses.
  • Bowdlerise: The Japanese artwork for all the Harpies has straps over their breasts, which are rather large, and nothing else covering their torsos. The English art covers them up entirely.
  • Combination Attack: Triangle Ecstasy Spark
  • Cute Monster Girl
  • Harping on About Harpies: Of course!
  • Power Trio: Harpie Lady Sisters.
  • Team Pet: The name "Harpie's Pet Dragon" should be a clue.
  • The One Guy: Sort of. Harpie's Brother is the only male of the group and looks like a Harpie, but isn't actually a member of the theme, he was subject to a Dub Name Change and in the Japanese version was called "Birdman". This is why most of the English cards of the theme now specify they effect Harpie monsters except Harpie's Brother.
  • The Sixth Ranger: Birdface supports the Harpie theme but isn't compatible with their other cards.
  • Took a Level in Badass: The original Harpie Lady was a fairly remarkable normal monster. Three "retrained" versions give her handy effects, and Cyber Harpie boosts her attack strength.
  • Whip It Good: With either Rose Whip or Electro Whip.
  • Winged Humanoid
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Blue, pink, and purple.

Hieroglyphs

Ice Barrier

  • An Ice Person
  • Anti-Magic: Spellbreaker of the Ice Barrier, Dance Princess of the Ice Barrier, Medium of the Ice Barrier, Dai-sojo of the Ice Barrier and Warlock of the Ice Barrier
  • Arms and Armor Theme Naming: Brionac, Gungnir and Trishula, the dragons of this archetype, are named after famous mythological spears used by Gods.
  • Awesome Yet Practical: Brionac, Gungnir and Trishula are all game-ending moves, Brionac clearing the field by returning cards to the hand for a discard cost, Gungnir destroys cards for a discard cost, and Trishula banishes 1 card each from the Graveyard, hand and field. And then, getting them to the field is pretty easy -- Brionac can use anything for his Synchro materials, Gungnir needs a Water monster, and Trishula needs two non-Tuners. As a result, Trishula and Brionac are able to be splashed into most any Synchro-focused deck and have been Limited. Trishula got banned by March 2012. Gungnir's Water restriction is mostly all that keeps him from also being Limited.
  • Bald of Awesome: General Gantala
  • Bare-Fisted Monk: General Gantala
  • Big Creepy-Crawlies: Numbing Grub in the Ice Barrier
  • Cool Sword BFS: Grunard
  • The Corruption: Verz Bahamut, Verz Ophion and Verz Ouroboros are the members of the Ice Barrier archetype infected by the Verz virus.
  • Culture Chop Suey: The Ice Barrier archetype resembles for the most part famous concept, figures, warriors, and mythological beings of different Asian cultures.
  • Fighter, Mage, Thief: Replace Thief with Monk and that's what Grunard, Gantala and Raiho are.
  • Four-Star Badass: Grunard, Gantala and Raiho
  • Godzilla Threshold: the Ice Barrier tribe fought against the invading Worms and Fabled by progressively unlocking seals on a series of powerful Ice Barrier monsters. Eventually, they wound up pushed so far back against the wall that they released Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. In its berserk rampage, Trishula wiped out nearly everybody, friend and foe alike, including the Ice Barrier tribe themselves.
  • Hidden Elf Village: The Ice Barrier monsters play this role, choosing to stay back and protect said barrier rather than help fight the Worm invasion.
  • Ninja: Dewdark of the Ice Barrier
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Brionac, Gungnir and Trishula
  • Panthera Awesome: Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier
  • Scary Impractical Armor: Grunard
  • Sigil Spam: The Snowflake
  • Sixth Ranger: Blizzard Warrior and Reese the Ice Mistress

Inpachi

Inzektors

Itsu/A-Team

  • Amazing Technicolor Population
  • Anti-Magic: A-Team: Trap Disposal Unit has the ability to destroy Trap Cards.
  • Back from the Dead: Seen in Fossil Excavation
  • The Blank
  • Homage: to Parodius.
  • Irony: A-Team: Trap Disposal Unit appears in the card artwork of Gravity Collapse and they can negate traps. But since Counter Traps are the highest Spell Speed, they (A-Team) can't negate this trap.
  • Lethal Joke Character: Weak in attack, but they very powerful Union monsters.
  • Theme Naming: When translated, the names "Koitsu", "Soitsu", "Aitsu" and "Doitsu" mean "This Guy", "That Guy", "That Other Guy" and "Which Guy?" respectively. The names are whimsical, and are not meant to be taken literally. To keep the flavor, an appropriate translation might be "Eeney", "Meeney", "Miney", and "Moe".

Jar

  • Cyclops
  • Homage:
    • Fiber Jar bears an uncanny resemblance to the heavily vegetated ancient ruins of 'Laputa' from the Studio Ghibli movie Laputa: Castle in the Sky. In the movie, Laputa had the general appearance of a giant floating tree, especially at the end of the movie. At the bottom of the ruins was a large, round laser cannon similar to the one that is visible at the bottom of this monster. (And in fact, some of the Yu-Gi-Oh! video games for the Nintendo DS even actually show "Fiber Jar" to fire a laser when it attacks.)
    • The artwork of Cyber Jar is reminiscent of the famous Death Star from Star Wars.
  • Loophole Abuse: Called "Empty Jar", it's a deck that forces your opponent to throw away his entire deck in one turn. A major complaint about this deck is that it kills you and you won't even have a chance to play a single card or even take your turn. With that said, pray that the player running this deck doesn't go first, because all he has to show you in his hand is a Morphing Jar and a Book of Taiyou, and he wins. Full stop.
  • Nerf: Many of the Flip Effect "Jars" have been banned or Limited because of their effects.
  • Random Number God: Is a major part of Dice Jar's effect

Both players roll a six-sided die once. The player with the lowest result takes damage equal to their opponent's result x 500 Life Points. However, if a winner's result is 6, the loser takes 6000 points of damage. If the results are the same, both players roll again.

  • Reset Button: The now long-banned card "Fiber Jar" resets pretty much everything in the duel except for Life Points and cards that were removed from play. Its only purpose is to draw out duels and make them even longer, so it was banned to prevent this.
  • Taking You with Me: Flipping a Morphing Jar when both players have less than 5 cards in their deck? Indeed.
  • Trickster Archetype/Troll: The Jars. The majority of them have game-breaking effects that can turn entire strategies upside-down...and the artwork indicates that they do it all with a huge, goofy smile on their face.
  • When Trees Attack: Fiber Jar

Jinzo

Jurrac

  • Dinosaurs Are Dragons
  • Fusion Dance: Jurrac Giganto, Jurrac Meteor and Jurrac Velephito
  • Irony: The fact that Jurrac Meteor is a dinosaur based off a meteor is likely intended for irony. The idea given by the form and effect suggests that a dinosaur may have killed the dinosaurs.
  • Odd Name Out: Jurrac Meteo's name doesn't come from a dinosaur, and it is the only "Jurrac", besides Jurrac Ptera, that is not based off a dinosaur (though it may be based off of the meteor that was believed to have caused the dinosaurs' extinction, which explains the first part of its effect).
  • Playing with Fire
  • Stock Dinosaurs

Karakuri

  • Angry Guard Dog: Karakuri Watchdog mdl 313 "Saizan". It also has an ability to give the other Karakuri more power when its controller take Battle Damage from a battle involving this card.
  • Artificial Stupidity: The gimmick of the Karakuri archetype is that they must attack if able (even if it would get them killed) and always shift into defense when attacked (even when their defense is lower, and they would survive if they counterattacked).
  • As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Japanese-print Karakuri are named after numbers. TCG-print Karakuri are named with Japanese-sounding random words (like Haipa or Shinkuro).
  • Attack! Attack! Attack!: Most "Karakuri" monsters, with the exception of the Synchro monsters, must attack if able.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 "Burei" and Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X "Bureido"
  • Bilingual Bonus: Karakuri is a "mechanical device to tease, trick, or take a person by surprise"
  • Blade Below the Shoulder: Karakuri Ninja mdl 7749 "Nanashick"
  • Blade on a Stick: Karakuri Muso mdl 818 "Haipa"
  • Blow You Away: Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 "Burei"
  • Chest Monster: Karakuri Barrel mdl 96 "Shinkuro"
  • Clockwork Creature
  • Dual-Wielding: Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X "Bureido"
  • Eternal Engine: Karakuri Showdown Castle
  • Glass Cannon
  • Improbable Weapon User: Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 "Burei"'s weapon resembles the Bansho Fan, an artifact from "Journey to the West" and "Dragonball". It had the power to create massive gusts with each wave of the fan, which could also symbolize its ability to change monster positions on the field.
  • Intrepid Merchant: Karakuri Merchant mdl 177 "Inashichi". He helps out by retrieving a Karakuri monster from your deck when its normal summoned.
  • Keep It Foreign: To make sure the Karakuri archetype stood out in the TCG, Konami kept the name untranslated.
  • Knife Nut: Karakuri Ninja mdl 339 "Sazank"
  • Robot Ninja: Karakuri Ninja mdl 339 "Sazank", Karakuri Ninja mdl 7749 "Nanashick" and Karakuri Ninja mdl 919 "Kuick"
  • Shoulder Cannon: Karakuri Watchdog mdl 313 "Saizan"
  • Theme Naming: Most Karakuri have names that are made up of Japanese numerals, often the Japanese daiji, are used. The first 2 numbers in their names when multiplied together get the last number.

Koa'ki Meiru

Koala

"A species of huge Des Koala. He's meek, but people are afraid of him because he's very powerful."

Kozaky

  • Bowdlerise: His horns are removed in the International artwork.
  • Creating Life: Created the Core Chimail monsters with the help of the Magical Scientist. Unfortunately, they blow up if they are not near an Iron Core of Core Chimail or they are not near their kind.
  • Big Red Button: Shown pressing it in the artwork of Kozaky's Self-Destruct Button.
  • Butt Monkey
  • Foreshadowing: His card lore hints at the existence of the Dark World 6 sets before the Archetype was released.
  • Giant Mecha: Pilots Giant Kozaky, which blows up if he's not around to maintain it or if he presses the button on the Giant Kozaky.
  • Mad Scientist: Created the Core Chimail monsters with the Magical Scientist and also turned Gagagigo into Giga Gagagigo
  • Married to the Job
  • Scary Shiny Glasses

Kuriboh

Laval

  • Black Magician Girl: Laval Forest Sprite and Tender of the Laval Volcano
  • Blood Knight: The reason they went to war with the Gem-Knights was their hunger for battle.
  • Dragon Rider: Lavalval Dragoon
  • Expy:
    • Laval Burner is very similar to "Cyber Dragon". It shares the same ATK and level, and has the ability to be Special Summoned from the hand. Laval Burner's summoning conditions is similar to "Judgment Dragon" and "Rainbow Dragon" but requires fewer monsters in the Graveyard.
    • Laval Judgment Lord's effect is similar to that of "Super Conductor Tyranno" and he looks like XX-Saber Boggart Knight
    • Lavalval Dragon's effect resembles that of "Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier" and its appearance resembles "Burning Dragon".
    • Laval Dual Slasher bears a resemblance to "Elemental HERO Neos". With 3 "Laval" monsters in the Graveyard, Laval Dual Slasher has the same effects as "Twin-Sword Marauder".
  • Fusion Dance: Daigusto Phoenix, Lavalval Ignis and Lavalval Chain
  • Glass Cannon
  • Golem
  • Homage: Lavalval Ignis looks like a combination of Dormammu and Ghost Rider
  • Lady of Black Magic: Laval Lady of the Burning Lake
  • Meaningful Name:
    • Laval Phlogis's name is based on Phlogiston theory, which was first stated in 1667 by Johann Joachim Becher; it's an obsolete scientific theory that postulated the existence of a fire-like element called "phlogiston", which was contained within combustible bodies and released during combustion.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Lavalval Dragon
  • Our Fairies Are Different: Laval Forest Sprite
  • Playing with Fire
  • Powered Armor: Laval Stannon
  • Sixth Ranger: Kayenn the Master Magma Blacksmith, Prominence the Molten Swordsman and Soaring Eagle Above the Searing Land
  • Weapon of Choice
  • Visual Pun: "Laval Miller" is a pun, since it sends cards to the Graveyard, or "mills" them. It is also a reference to the wheel it is pushing, which can be used in a mill to grind wheat.

LV

  • A Day in the Limelight: The Armed Dragons got prominent roles in the anime as trademark cards of Chazz/Manjoume, and got a few more support cards for themselves for it including Armed Dragon LV10.
  • Anti-Magic: The Horus, Silent Magician and Silent Swordsman lines have varying degrees of immunity to Spells, and Horus LV8 can negate any Spell at your discretion.
  • Awesome but Impractical: The higher level monsters all have very strong effects, but they usually cannot be summoned except by the effects of their weaker forms, and may have other restrictions that further hamper your attempts to get them to the field.
    • Awesome Yet Practical: Which in turn means their lower-level forms are more viable for their weaker but still potent effects. Armed Dragon LV5 for example is a nice 2400 beatstick easily gotten out by using a searcher like Masked Dragon to get out LV3, then level it up on your next turn.
  • Big Badass Bird of Prey: Horus
  • Big Creepy-Crawlies: Ultimate Insect
  • Chest Monster: Dark Mimic
  • Damage Increasing Debuff: The Ultimate Insects sap the opponent's ATK, allowing your attacks to do more damage.
  • Elemental Powers
  • Evil Counterpart: Dark Armed Dragon and Dark Horus.
  • Expy
    • Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8 is very similar to "The Winged Dragon of Ra" in appearance. In later Egyptian dynastic times, Ra was subsumed into the god Horus, as Re-Horakhty (and many variant spellings). He commanded sky, earth, and underworld.
    • Ultimate Insect appears to be a reference to the Grat Moth series, with power levels similar to the Great Moth and debuffing effects that the Great Moth has in the anime and some video games.
  • Kill'Em All: Armed Dragon LV7 and LV10 can destroy all monsters on your opponent's field for a discard cost, though only face-ups and LV7 needs a second strong monster to ensure total destruction[4].
  • Magikarp Power: While they do it differently, each Level monster starts out as a weakling Level 2/3/4, then grows into a big and buff Level 7/8 with a lot of attack strength and an excellent effect.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Horus looks more like a bird than a dragon.
  • The Sixth Ranger: The Masked Knights, a line of LVs featured only in the anime and video games. Allure Queen and Horus also have their specific support cards in the form of Queen's Bodyguard and Horus' Servant.
  • Spikes of Villainy: Armed Dragon, increasingly so as it powers up.
  • Weapon of Choice

Lightsworn

  • Ambiguously Brown: Ehren and Lumina
  • Atlantis: Realm of Light bears a resemblance to The Lost City of Atlantis, being a port city with a moat, channels, channel locks, and a ring within ring city layout situated in the side of a Mountain. The city is also made out of gold, silver and a reddish material, like Atlantis.
  • Back from the Dead: Lumina's effect
  • Badass: Wulf
  • Bare Your Midriff: Lumina
  • Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Lumina, Ehren and Jenis
  • Cool Sword: Lightsworn Sabre
  • Druid: Aurkus
  • Dub Name Change: Lightlord->Lightsworn
  • Glass Cannon: Celestia, Lyla and Wulf
    • Also the deck theme itself. Lightsworns can quickly call out powerful monsters like Wulf and Judgement Dragon, and have strong draw and search power. The problem is that the deck is milled so quickly you're liable to deck yourself out if you can't beat the opponent fast enough.
  • Goggles Do Nothing: Ehren
  • Knight in Shining Armor: Jain
  • Life Drain: Jenis's effect
  • Light Is Good
  • Meaningful Name:
    • Rinyan is a very appropriate name for Rinyan. It comes from the Japanese ri, meaning "clever" or, more accurately, "sneaky", and nyan, a term for a cat after their version of the English "meow".
    • Ryko's Japanese name (Lightlord Hunter Raikou) comes from Raikou, a legendary archer and demon-queller of Japan.
    • Celestia's OCG name is "Lightlord Angel Cherubim". The Cherubim in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic religions are believed to be the second highest ranking caste of angels. They are believed to be guardians of light and the stars and keepers of all knowledge.
    • The name "Jenis" may possibly be derived from 'Janus', the Roman god with two faces. This could be a reference to the two sides of her effect, a damage dealing and healing one.
  • Name's the Same:
  • Our Angels Are Different: Celestia
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Gragonith and Judgment Dragon
  • Uncatty Resemblance: Rinyan and Lumina
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: Rinyan is wearing "Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner's" headdress, necklace, and one armband on her tail, so it could be said that she's turning into Lumina.
  • White-Haired Pretty Boy: Jain

Madolce

  • Battle Butler: Madolce Butlerusk. He may seem weak, but he can search for Madolce Chateau. This shows that he is devoted to the Madolce cause, he can summon the manor and give them a home field advantage.
  • Back from the Dead: Whenever they die, they are shuffled back into the deck instead. This indicates their Sugar Bowl nature.
  • Bilingual Bonus:
    • Madolce Puddingcess's name is the combination of the words Pudding and Princess. If you imitate the Japanese pronunciation of "Princess" (purincessu), it sounds similar to the name of this card.
    • Madolce Majoleine's name is the combination of the Japanese word for witch "Majo" and the name and dessert, Madeleine. "Majo" + "Madeleine" = "Majoleine".
  • Cuteness Proximity: Madolce Mouple. It can change an opponent's monster into Defense Mode, which indicates that it uses this as a way to defend itself.
  • Cute Witch: Madolce Majoleine
  • Everything's Better with Princesses/Princess Classic: Madolce Puddingcess. She has the ability to destroy a card her opponent controls. She also can gain 800 ATK when there's no monsters in the Graveyard.
  • Funny Animal: Madolce Mille-feuille
  • Gingerbread House/Sugar Bowl: Madolce Chateau. It gives them a home field advantage and revives the Madolce in the Graveyard, giving them a second chance at beating their opponents.
  • High-Class Glass: Butlerusk
  • Meaningful Name: Madolce is possibly based on "ma" and "dolce", the Italian words for "but/though" and "sweet". It also could be seen as combination of "madou," which is Japanese for "magic/magical," and "dolce," Italian for "sweet."
  • Mismatched Eyes: Madolce Majoleine
  • Puppy Love: Puddingcess and Chouxvelier. Seen in the artwork of Madolce Waltz.
  • Taking the Bullet: Madolce Chouxvalier's effect. This indicates Chouxvalier's loyalty to the other Madolce. Chouxvalier's willing to give up his life, so that the other Madolce can defeat their opponents in his place.
  • Theme Naming: The archetype members' names appear to be a mix of royalty and French desserts and wines. The royalty is used to show that Madolce are nobility, while the desserts indicate that they are cutesy.

Machine King

  • Authority Equals Asskicking
  • Expy: This card is the Dark Ruler Ha Des of the Machine world. Similarly, they both have 3 servants. For Ha Des, "Dark Resonator", "Opticlops", and "Berserk Dragon", and for Machine King, "Mechanicalchaser", "Robotic Knight", and "Cyber Soldier".
  • Evolutionary Levels: Machine King - 3000 B.C.->Machine King Prototype->Machine King->Perfect Machine King
  • Homage: Perfect Machine King is based loosely on the personal trooper "Alteisen" from Super Robot Wars Compact 2. Perfect Machine King's stance is strongly similar to GaoGaiGar's ending sequence of Final Fusion. Due to its appearance in "Roll Out!", it is likely that "Perfect Machine King" is inspired by Optimus Prime.
  • Mechanical Lifeforms
  • Schizo-Tech/Time Abyss: Machine King - 3000 B.C.'s name suggests that the Machine King is over 5000 years old.

Magical

Marron the Dog

Mermail

  • Fusion Dance: Mermail - Gaioabyss seems to have been Xyz Summoned by using both Mermail - Megaloabyss and (oddly enough) Atlantean Dragon Poseidra. This is evident in that the lower half of this monster has the lower half of Poseidra, as well as Poseidra's Trident tail as the tip of its own Trident and their ATK and DEF points are the same. This card is also based off of the god Poseidon himself.
  • Our Mermaids Are Different
  • Zerg Rush: Level 3 "Mermail" monsters all share the same effect: when are sent to the Graveyard, they Special Summon another "Mermail", letting them swarm the field. The Level 4 "Mermail" monsters can activate their effects when they are Normal or Special Summoned, by discarding a Water monster from your Hand, which will trigger the effect of the previous monsters effects. The higher-level Mermails can Special Summon themselves with relative-ease by sending other "Mermails" to the Graveyard, which will also trigger their effects.

Mist Valley

Mokey Mokey

Monarchs

Morphtronic

  • Dub Name Change: They are known as Deformers in the Japanese version
  • Homage: These cards may be based on the entire Transformers toyline that are still very popular. (Transformers have the ability to change from objects/animals/vehicles to humanoid robots and vice-versa.)
  • Mechanical Lifeforms: Despite their appearances, "Morphtronics" are not all Machine-Type monsters and they also represent a wide array of Attributes.
  • Transforming Mecha: They are depicted in how they "morph" when they change their Battle Position, which changes their effect and appearance (humanoid form in Attack Position; item form in Defense Position). They transform into small household items, like magnets and mobile phones.
  • Weak but Skilled: "Morphtronics" are low in Level and have low ATK and DEF but many have effects that can rapidly boost their collective power. Amassing enough collective power, "Morphtronics" can produce powerful OT Ks and strong defensive locks.

Naturia

Ninja

Ojama

  • Butt Monkey: The "Ojamas" seem to be used as the butt of humor on several card illustrations, such as being hunted down on "Harpies' Hunting Ground", being tossed by "Man-Thro' Tro'", being used to practice boxing in "Ojamuscle" or flattened on "Power Filter".
  • Combination Attack/Kamehame Hadoken: Ojama Delta Hurricane, which is a parody of "Triangle Ecstasy Spark". Based off of that, It's safe to say that this card may be the reason Harpie Lady 1 was attacking the Ojama Trio in Harpies' Hunting Ground.
  • Fusion Dance: The design of "Ojama King" contains that of its three Fusion Materials: eyes of "Ojama Yellow", body & nose of "Ojama Black", and mouth of "Ojama Green". The design also includes the same clothing that the Fusion Materials wear.
  • Geo Effects: Ojama Country can summon Ojamas from the grave, which indicates that they become determined to beat their opponents when they're near their home field. The ATK and DEF switching is because everyone except the Ojamas are confused by the strangeness of Ojama Country.
  • Homage: Ojama Red's effect may be a homage to the Super Sentai series of television shows, as the Red Ranger is always the leader of the team.
  • Knight in Shining Armor: Ojama Knight
  • Lethal Joke Character: As if Ojama Delta Hurricane!, which obliterates your opponent's hand and field but requires the three Ojama brothers as an activation condition, weren't enough, the more recent additions to the family, Red and Blue, can mass-summon fellow Ojamas from the hand and tutor Ojama cards from the deck respectively. Last but not least, Ojama Country can summon Ojamas from the grave and flips the attack and defense of all monsters on the field. Run with Ojama King and other Stone Wall monsters and...
  • Meaningful Name: "Ojamashimasu" is a Japanese phrase roughly translating as "pardon me for interrupting/intruding". It's why the flavor text on the card mentions the Ojamas always butt in on things, and why their stronger cards fill up the opponent's Monster Zones.
  • Stone Wall: Ojama King has 3000 defense, and Ojama Knight trails just after it with 2500.
  • Underwear of Power

Parshath

Petit Dragon/Darkfire Dragon/Five-Headed Dragon

Princesses

Rose

  • Authority Equals Asskicking: Queen Angel of Roses. She can destroy a monster with the weakest ATK. This indicates that she's so strong, the weak simply fall against her.
  • Black Knight: Twilight Rose Knight. It can prevent Plant-Type monsters from being attacked and can summon another Plant-Type to the field upon being Normal Summoned. The first effect is Twilight Rose Knight showing his loyalty to the Rose clan. The second effect is Twilight Rose Knight calling another member of the Rose clan to the field.
  • Black Magician Girl: Witch of the Black Rose.
  • Evil Counterpart: "Earthbound Immortal Ccarayhua" is the antithesis to this card; "Black Rose Dragon" destroys all cards on the field when it's summoned, where as "Ccarayhua" destroys all cards on the field when it's destroyed. Also Misty Tredwell (Ccarayhua's user) was Akiza's nemesis at one point.
  • Fallen Angel: Fallen Angel of Roses and Rosaria the Stately Fallen Angel. Rosaria could be based on the fallen arch-angel "Lucifer", as he is commonly depicted as having angel wings on one side and black wings on the other side.
  • Fiery Redhead: Rose the Warrior of Revenge, is so passionate on the battlefield, she has the fire element and deals extra damage to her foes.
  • The Hedge of Thorns: Black Garden
  • Homage: Splendid Rose's black and green costume, its halving effect and drop kick attack are similar to Kamen Rider Double, particularly Double's "CycloneJoker]" form. This is made evident by the fact that the '"CycloneJoker]" form embodies both a "Trickster" style, as seen by the first effect of this card, and a "Wind" style, seen by the second effect of this card allowing it to attack twice, similar to the monsters of the Element archetype's WIND attribute effects.
  • Our Angels Are Different: Fallen Angel of Roses, Rosaria the Stately Fallen Angel and Queen Angel of Roses
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Black Rose Dragon and Blue Rose Dragon
  • Planimal: Bird of Roses. Its effect calls two Plant-Type Tuners when it dies. This effect is the Bird of Roses using a death call to bolster the Rose army forces.
  • Petal Power
  • Plant People: Rose Witch, Splendid Rose, Fallen Angel of Roses and Queen Angel of Roses
  • Something About a Rose
  • Weak but Skilled: Black Rose Dragon has the lowest combined ATK and DEF out of all Signer Dragon. Ironically, its effect is one of the most powerful, effective and easily to use
  • Zerg Rush: Many of these cards are geared towards Plant-Type support and have a variety of effects ranging from swarming the field to Synchro Summoning easily.

Sacred

Scrap

  • Awesome Yet Practical: Scrap Dragon; it's one of the two Synchros of this archetype with no summoning restrictions, high attack and a beneficial effect, making it one of the most splashable Synchros in the game.
  • Dishing Out Dirt
  • Mechanical Lifeforms: Scraps are so mechanical in appearance yet only four members are Machine-type.
  • Made of Explodium: This is their main gimmick; many of their effects will activate upon their self-destruction.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Scrap Dragon, Scrap Twin Dragon and Atomic Scrap Dragon.
  • Theme Naming: Scrapyards, no less.

Six Samurai

  • Animated Armor: Shinai sacrificed himself to save a comrade, his spirit possessing his armor as Spirit of the Six Samurai.
  • Artifact Title: There are six who have the Legendary Six Samurai title, and six bearing the Six Samurai title. However, there are also six cards that represent older versions of the Legendary Six Samurai, and handful of other support monsters.
  • Badass Decay: The members of the Legendary Six Samurai sub-type, who are generally more powerful than the original Six Samurai, are younger versions of support cards to the originals.
    • Took a Level in Badass: Yes, they fulfill both tropes. While in the story the Legendary Six Samurai obviously grew older and lost power to act as supporters to the second generation, the Legendary Six Samurai cards came out many years after their older counterparts.
  • Badass Grandpa: Grandmaster of the Six Samurai
  • The Chick: Mizuho is the only female Six Samurai.
  • Color Coded for Your Convenience
  • Cool vs. Awesome: "Blind Spot Strike" seems to suggest the Six Samurai are rivals of the Ninja archetype.
    • Truth in Television: Samurai were honorable and noble swordsmen. Ninja were shady covert assassins. Naturally, they didn't really get along.
  • Eye Scream/Eye Beam: Kizan lost an eye sometime before becoming the Grandmaster of the Six Samurai. He had it replaced with a bionic eye that fires lasers, as seen in Cunning of the Six Samurai.
  • Laser Blade: Several of the members wield them.
  • Love Triangle: Seems to be one between Shinai, Mizuho and Shien. Shinai and Mizuho are wearing necklaces with bands the color of the other's armor, while Shinai and Shien are the only members of the Legendary Six Samurai to wear the clan crest on their helmets. Shinai died, leaving Shien to become the shogun.
  • Magitek: Caries a vibe -- it's hard to tell if their Laser Blades and Tron Lines are due to technology, magic, or both.
  • The Magnificent Seven Samurai: The base six with Great Shogun Shien.
  • Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Kageki
  • Retired Badass: As mentioned, it turns out from the Legendary Six Samurai series that the support cards to the original clan were once Six Samurai themselves. You can see their old armor hung up in their card art.
  • The Rival: Kizan and Enishi, who are seen fighting in Gozen Match and Shien's Dojo. Enishi presumably prevailed, being appointed Shien's chancellor when he became shogun.
  • Samurai: Duh.
  • The Seventh Ranger: Kagemusha of the Six Samurai and Shien's Daredevil. Kagemusha is implied to be a body double for Yariza and not actually a member of the group. When he got older, he became Shadow of the Six Samurai - Shien.
    • Call Back: The card appears to be an armored version of Kagemusha of the Blue Flame, a card so old it was played in the very first episode of the anime. Wow.
  • Sigil Spam: The glyph of the Six Samurai clan is all over their support cards.
  • Taking the Bullet: The original Six Samurai share an effect that let you destroy a different Six Samurai than the one that is about to be. This indicates their loyalty and friendship to one another.
  • Tron Lines
  • Weapon of Choice: Obviously katanas are the predominant ones, but other weapons such as scythes, bows or clubs pop up.

Skull Servant

  • Asskicking Equals Authority: In the artwork for King of Skull Servants, he is shown on top of a pile of Skull Servants, which indicates that he beaten them in combat for the title. Also, he gains more power when there are Skull Servants in the graveyard.
  • Atop a Mountain of Corpses: King of Skull Servants after beating the other Skull Servants for the title. It indicates that King of Skull Servants deserves the title.
  • Back from the Dead: Tri-Wight, which shows three Skull Servants crawling out of the grave to fight again. It is supposed to show that death is not a permanent thing for them.
  • Dem Bones
  • Dub Name Change: Wight->Skull Servant
  • Fusion Dance: Skull Servant with Dissolverock becomes Flame Ghost and Skull Servant with Battle Warrior becomes Zombie Warrior.
  • Spot of Tea: Wightmare is shown drinking it in his art.
  • Joke Character: Skull Servant
  • Lethal Joke Character: King of the Skull Servants's original attack can reach up to 11000 by using 2 copies of "King of the Skull Servants", 3 copies of "Skull Servant", 3 copies of "The Lady in Wight", and 3 copies of "Wightmare".
  • Our Wights Are Different
  • Playing with Fire: Flame Ghost
  • Woman in Black: Lady in Wight
  • Pun
    • Wightmare->Nightmare
    • Lady in Wight->Lady in White
    • Tri-Wight Zone->Twilight Zone

Sphinx

  • Bilingual Bonus:
    • Hieraco comes from the Name "Heiera". It is Greek and translates into hawk.
    • The first part of Criosphinx's name, "Crios", is Greek, and roughly translates to "male goat".
    • "Andro-" is the Greek root for man or masculine, showing that Andro Sphinx is the masculine form of the two sphinxes.
  • Chained by Fashion: Sphinx Teleia
  • Dishing Out Dirt: Criosphinx, Exxod, Guardian Sphinx and Hieracosphinx.
  • Fusion Dance: Theinen the Great Sphinx is a fusion of Sphinx Teleia and Andro Sphinx.
  • Light the Way: "Andro Sphinx", "Sphinx Teleia" and "Theinen the Great Sphinx"
  • Mix-and-Match Critters:
    • Criosphinx is Half Goat and Half Lion.
    • Hieracosphinx is Half-Bird and Half-Lion.
    • Andro Sphinx and Sphinx Teleia are part Human and part Lion.
  • Our Centaurs Are Different: Theinen the Great Sphinx and Criossphinx.
  • Panthera Awesome
  • Riddle of the Sphinx: The cards of "Traveller's Ordeal" and "Sphinx Teleia" are said to be based off this.
  • Living Statue: Guardian Sphinx
  • The Sphinx: Their main theme.
  • Stone Wall: Exxod, Master of The Guard and Guardian Sphinx

Steelswarm

  • Back from the Dead: Steelswarm Hercules was brought back as Evigishki Zealgigas. It was supposed to show how Noelia is dedicated to the Verz cause.
  • Big Creepy-Crawlies: They are so creepy, they are not categorized under Insects and are categorized under Fiends instead.
  • Dark Is Evil
  • Dub Name Change: Inverz in OCG.
  • Evolutionary Levels: Card artwork of Steelswarm monsters looks like development stages of a beetle according to level from low to high, but don't know the location of where Steelswarm Gatekeeper is: Steelswarm Cell -> Steelswarm Scout -> Steelswarm Genesoid -> Steelswarm Sentinel -> Steelswarm Caller -> Steelswarm Mantis -> Steelswarm Moth -> Steelswarm Girastag -> Steelswarm Caucastag -> Steelswarm Longhorn -> Steelswarm Hercules
  • Glass Cannon: Most of them have 0 DEF
  • Homage
    • The Steelswarm's appearance in of itself is a homage to the Worms of Kamen Rider Kabuto (except for "Steelswarm Cell" which is a Zecter from the same series).
    • Some of the "Steelswarm" look similar to Cell from the Dragon Ball series.
  • Our Demons Are Different
  • The Virus: Turns out the Steelswarm were infected with the Verz Virus and one of the carriers is the Steelswarm Cell

Tempest Magician

  • Black Magic
  • Casting a Shadow: Night End's Sorcerer and Tempest Magician
  • Fusion Dance: Tempest Magician is a fusion between Night End's Sorcerer and Magical Exemplar, which is similar to the Soul Resonance between Soul and Maka in Soul Eater. It happens because Night End's Sorcerer and Magical Exemplar combined levels are 6 and Tempest Magician is Level 6.
  • Homage: Night End's Sorcerer bears a strong resemblance to 2 characters from the Nippon Nichi game series. Laharl from Disgaea: Hour of Darkness and Gig from Soul Nomad and The World Eaters. He also bares a slight resemblance to the character Maka Albarn from the anime Soul Eater.
  • Little Bit Beastly: Night End's Sorcerer is partially rabbit-like in appearance.
  • Sinister Scythe: Wielded by Night End's Sorcerer and Tempest Magician.
  • You Require More Vespene Gas: Spell Counters are needed for her effect, which basically drains life energy away from her opponent.

Toons

  • Actually Four Mooks: Toon Goblin Attack Force
  • Awesome but Impractical: They can attack a player's life points directly and count as Special Summons so the player can call out more than one each turn. AWESOME! Save for one, they have to wait an entire turn to do so and many of them require Toon World to be in play and die when it's destroyed. Impractical.
  • Cast from Hit Points: The Class 'A' Toons require the player to pay 500 life points to attack.
  • Casting a Shadow: Toon Summoned Skull, Toon Dark Magician Girl, Toon Masked Sorceror and Toon Cannon Soldier are all DARK monsters.
  • Cloudcuckooland/Cloudcuckoolander: Toon World and the Toon Monsters.
  • Femme Fatale: Toon Gemini Elf
  • Joke Characters: Seems to be deliberately invoked.
  • Magical Girl: Toon Dark Magician Girl.
  • Shock and Awe: Toon Summoned Skull.
  • Super-Deformed: With the exception of Toon Alligator, all Toon monsters are deformed counterparts of pre-existing Yu-Gi-Oh monsters.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: This is literally the case if both players control a Toon monster and a player attacks with one. Your attacks must target the opposing Toon.
  • Toon Physics: On the show, the Toons invoke this to avoid attacks. In the game, Toon Defense can do this, but only for Level 4 Toon monsters.
  • Weaksauce Weakness: Toon World. Necessary for Toons to do what they have to do, but the fact that they die when this does makes it seem like a big bullseye on your side of the field.

Tour Guide From the Underworld

  • Afterlife Express: Tour Bus From the Underworld.
  • Cute Little Fangs
  • Cute Monster Girl
  • Expressive Hat: The skull on her hat seems to be this.
  • Me's a Crowd: Her effect can be this if you use her to summon another copy or a Tour Bus From the Underworld.
  • Nerf: An indirect one, of sorts. Because of a previous ruling that XYZ materials sent to the Graveyard are considered to have gone from field to Graveyard, this made Tour Guide's effect horrifically broken, as it guaranteed Sangan's effect. Now that that ruling's been changed, this card is no longer broken (but still good).
  • Non-Human Sidekick: Sangan is seen as this by players of the game before the nerf. Lampshaded with Sangan actually appearing on the Tour Bus From the Underworld card.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: She is a tour guide from the underworld, after all.
  • Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Her hat, dress and purse are adorned with skull brooches.

Umi

  • Abnormal Ammo: Cannonball Spear Shellfish and Torpedo Fish are used as ammo for Orca Mega-Fortress of Darkness's cannons
  • Anti-Magic:
    • As long as "Umi" is face-up on the field, Deepsea Warrior, Cannonball Spear Shellfish, Torpedo Fish and Legendary Fisherman unaffected by any Spell Cards.
    • When Aegis of the Ocean Dragon Lord is on the field, all face-up Level 3 or lower WATER monsters you control cannot be destroyed by battle or by card effects.
    • Codarus, Levia-Dragon - Daedalus and Ocean Dragon Lord - Neo-Daedalus can destroy cards on the field if Umi is sacrificed.
  • Atlantis: A Legendary Ocean. In fact, it was called Legendary City of Atlantis in the OCG.
  • Fish People: Deepsea Warrior and Warrior of Atlantis
  • Geo Effects: All of these monsters specialize in getting stronger when Umi is played. Maiden of the Aqua basically turns the field into Umi.
  • Hydra Problem: Ocean Dragon Lord - Neo-Daedalus was based off the Hydra from Greek mythology; considering the origin of its name and the the fact it was two heads.
  • Making a Splash
  • Meaningful Name: Levia-Dragon - Daedalus is named after Daedalus. In Greek mythology, Daedalus was the father of Icarus and Iapyx, and is said to have designed the labyrinth in which the Minotaur was kept.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Codarus, Levia-Dragon - Daedalus and Ocean Dragon Lord - Neo-Daedalus.
  • Our Mermaids Are Different: Mermaid Knight
  • Prongs of Poseidon: Maiden of the Aqua and Deepsea Warrior
  • Took a Level in Badass: Amphibious Bugroth MK-3 is one for Amphibious Bugroth. Amphibious Bugroth is an unremarkable fusion monster while Amphibious Bugroth MK-3 can directly attack when Umi is on the field.

Vehicroid

  • Anti-Magic: Armoroid, Carrierroid and Stealthroid’s effects
  • Arm Cannon: UFOroid Fighter
  • Back from the Dead: You can do a nice combo by combining Ambulanceroid's and Rescueroid's effects. After a Vehicroid monster has been destroyed, like "UF Oroid", you can use Rescueroid's effect to send it back to your hand, and then use Ambulanceroid's effect to summon it back. It may also be done with multiple Rescueroid's and Ambulanceroid's. This combo becomes even better if you combine it with Cyber Summon Blaster. Their combined form, Ambulance Rescueroid, also can do this.
  • Cannibalism Superpower: Truckroid’s effect.
  • Combining Mecha/Fusion Dance: Ambulance Rescueroid, Barbaroid, Steam Gyroid, Super Vehicroid - Stealth Union, Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill and UFOroid Fighter
  • Cool Plane: Stealthroid
  • Cool Train: Expressroid
  • Cute Machines
  • Death From Above: Implied with Shuttleroid’s effect. It flies into outer space to avoid an attack, and then it crashes with a massive impact.
  • Expy: It could be argued that this is GX's equivalent to "Dark Flare Knight" or "Black Skull Dragon" because it is the Fusion Monster of the main characters' cards, ("Elemental HERO Tempest" according to the anime,) and his best friend's card ("UF Oroid".)
  • Flying Saucer: UFOroid
  • Homage: his card is a direct tribute to GaoGaiGar, from the 1997 Sunrise anime, The King of Braves GaoGaiGar. Namely, it bears more resemblance to Gao Figh Gar, a variation on the original GaoGaiGar mecha, which appeared in the 2000 sequel OVA, The King of Braves GaoGaiGar FINAL. On top of looking practically identical, the component machines are strikingly similar: Gao Figh Gar is a combination of a specialized phantom fighter, a stealth fighter, a multistage rocket, and twin drill tanks; whereas the original Gaogaigar is composed of a similar stealth fighter and drill tank, but with a bullet train replacing the rocket in the combination, and a lion-robot.
    This is more obvious in the anime, when once joined with a monster the "absorbed" monster's head is placed on the chest of this card, and this card's design alters to gain several more of the traits normally associated with GaoGaiGar (such as squared lower legs, thicker upper arms/legs, and prongs on either side of the head). The short sequence where the monster is being summoned even bears a resemblance to the Final Fusion sequence. The ideal fourth Machine for the homage is "Jetroid" rather than "Truckroid", as this would cause the result to be near-perfectly identical Gao Figh Gar.
  • Steam Never Dies: Steamroid
  • This Is a Drill: Drillroid and Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill.
  • We Need a Distraction: Decoyroid’s effect may come from the fact that RC vehicles are generally used to distract people in movies.
  • Winged Humanoid: UFOroid Fighter

Venom

  • Reptile Sacrifice: Offerings to the Snake Deity. While it can be used on any Reptile monster, it was specifically designed to bring out Venominaga, since Rise of the Snake Deity can't be used when Venominon is destroyed in battle.
  • Instant Win Condition: You win of Venominaga gets 3 Hyper-Venom counters on her, which she gets by doing direct damage.
  • Nigh Invulnerability: Venominaga is immune to all monster effects, spells and traps! And even if you destroy her in battle, she can use her ability to revive herself.
  • Reptiles Are Abhorrent
  • Stone Wall: Venom Cobra
  • Snake People: Venominaga and Venominon.
  • Swamps Are Evil / Death World: Venom Swamp, which slowly kills all non-Venom monsters!

Verz

  • Big Badass Bird of Prey: Verz Frais and and Verz Thunderbird
  • Biological Mashup: Verz Azazaoth. "Worm Apocalypse", "Worm Dimikles", "Worm Falco", "Worm King", "Worm Rakuyeh", "Worm Tentacles", "Worm Warlord" and "Worm Victory" can be identified as being parts of the whole monster.
  • Black Knight: Verz Nightmare
  • Casting a Shadow
  • Combat Tentacles: Many Verz gain these as a result of their corruption, best seen on Verz Ouroboros and Verz Thunderbird.
  • Cool Train: Verz Coppelial
  • The Corruption: The Verz virus corrupts those it comes into contact with, infecting them and transforming them into a mindless member of the horde.
  • Cute Is Evil: Verz Mandrago because it's an infected Naturia Cosmobeet.
  • Dark Is Evil: And how.
  • Dub Name Change: Evilswarm in the TCG.
  • Evil Counterpart: The Archetype's theme is making these of former Duel Terminal Archetypes.
  • Expy: Aside from their Evil Counterpart theme being similar to the existing Dark Counterparts, the Verz have quite a bit in common with the Phyrexians in Magic: The Gathering.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: The Verz somehow infected the three sealed Ice Barrier dragons, so when the Gishki tried to revive them to stop the Verz... it didn't end well.
  • Sorting Algorithm of Evil: The Steelswarm managed to put some pressure on the tribes before being killed by Vylon Omega. The Verz killed off two tribes, corrupted a third and were literally on the brink of destroying the last resistance to their conquest before God itself was summoned to push the Reset Button. Isn't it sad, Steelswarms?
  • Theme Naming: The Verz are named after various monsters and deities from a variety of mythologies. This indicates that they are highly destructive and should not be treated lightly.
  • Tyrannosaurus Rex: Verz Salamandra
  • Eucatastrophe: To the point the only reason the Verz were stopped was the last members of the Gusto performing a ritual which summoned the God of the Duel Terminal world. And even then the best the good guys got was a Pyrrhic Victory when Sophia pressed the Reset Button.
  • Obviously Evil: The TCG name of this group of monsters is Evilswarm
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Three of the Verz Xyzs are the corrupted Ice Barrier Dragons, with Brionac becoming Verz Bahamut, Gungnir becoming Verz Ophion, and finally Trishula becoming Verz Ouroboros.
  • Zombie Apocalypse: The result of the Verz virus once Noelia betrays the other tribes and joins the Verz.

Vylon

  • Big Good: In a story from the Duel Terminals, the Vylon, who had merely observed the confrontations on the planet below, descend from the heavens to intervene in a war between the Laval and Gem-Knight tribes. At the same time, the Steelswarm awaken from underground near a battle between the Gusto and Gishki tribes due to the battle's ensuing chaos, seeking their revenge on the surface world and the Vylon that sealed them away in the first place. To fight against them, the four other tribes create an alliance under the direction of the Vylon.
  • Cannibalism Superpower: "Vylon Disigma"'s effect

Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card to target 1 face-up Attack Position Effect Monster your opponent controls; equip that target to this card. When this card battles a monster with the same Attribute as the monster(s) equipped to this card by this effect: Destroy that monster at the start of the Damage Step (without applying damage calculation).

  • Captain Ersatz: Vylon Disigma shares some similarities with Maverick Commander Sigma of Mega Man X:
    • Both were once the Leader of an organization which sought good, Maverick Hunters and "Vylon".
    • It is Implied that the "Vylon" became Corrupt after fighting the "Steelswarm" and decided to eradicate life on the Duel terminal Planet as they wanted a Utopia. "Sigma" became corrupt after fighting Zero.
    • After witnessing the endless conflict of the tribes in the planet and disheartened after losing the former "Vylon" commander, "Vylon Omega" Disigma grew even more disillusioned with Life On the Planet and decidided only "Vylon" Were fit to survive and only they could create a Utopia. Sigma grew disillusioned with Humans; deciding Reploids had infinite Potential, he tried to create a Reploid Utopia.
    • Their name is similar to Sigma, Vylon Di-Sigma.
  • The Corruption: After the defeat of the Steelswarm, the negative energies they gave off showed to have warped the minds of the Vylon, to the point that the Vylon believed that by exterminating the other tribes there would be no more conflict. "Vylon Disigma" absorbs members of the other tribes to have the power to defeat each one, so the tribes are forced to share their powers to combat this friend-turned-foe.
  • Fusion Dance: "Vylon Stigma" + "Vylon Pentacro" + "Vylon Tesseract" = "Vylon Disigma"
  • Light'Em Up
  • Our Angels Are Different/Mechanical Lifeforms: The majority of Synchro and Xyz Monsters are Fairy-Type, while Tuners are mostly Machine-Type, except "Vylon Prism" and "Vylon Stella".
  • Powered Armor: In their time of need, the Vylon send each of the tribes new power via "Vylon Element".
    • "Vylon Sphere" + "Reeze, Whirlwind of Gusto" = "Daigusto Sphreez"
    • "Vylon Tetra" + "Gishki Noellia" = "Evigishki Tetrogre"
    • "Vylon Stella" + "Laval Cannon" = "Laval Stennon"
    • "Vylon Prism" + "Gem-Knight Crystal" = "Gem-Knight Prismaura"
  • Theme Naming: The Tuner monsters of this group are shaped and named after three-dimensional geometric figures ("Prism", "Cube", "Sphere", "Tetrah[edron]", "Stella [Octangula]", and the Union monsters are based on four-dimensional figures. The Synchro Monsters in this group are named with the phonetic pronunciation of a Greek letter and have bodies resembling that letter ("Vylon Epsilon", "Vylon Sigma", "Vylon Omega"), or something in their bodies that resembles that letter ("Vylon Alpha" and "Vylon Delta"). The Xyz Monster of this group is named after an archaic Greek letter.
  • Sigil Spam: Their team symbol is a golden orange orb, often with gold metal trim.

Warrior Dai Grepher/Dark Lucius

Warrior Lady of the Wasteland/DD Warrior Lady

Warrior of Zera/Archlord Zerato/Darklord Zerato/Mazera Deville/Zera the Mant

Watt

  • Armor-Piercing Attack/One-Hit Kill: Wattmole's effect, which is basically Wattmole seeing the unseen and destroying it in a flash.
  • Barrier Warrior: Wattkiwi is annoying because it prevents Watt monsters from being destroyed in battle if they are attacking. This effect is basically Wattkiwi giving the other Watt creatures protection in combat.
  • Everything's Better with Monkeys: Wattlemur. He has the ability to end the Battle Phase when he dies. This effect is basically Wattlemur paralyzing the rest of the opposing side.
  • Feathered Fiend: Wattkiwi and Wattpheasant are annoying because of their effects. Wattpheasant can send an opponent's monster to the Different Dimension until the end of the turn.
  • Flying Seafood Special: Wattberyx and Wattbetta both look like fish (not in type) and both have the effect of discarding cards from your opponent's hand. They are trying to make the opponent waste their resources more quickly.
  • Homage: Wattmole bears a strong appearance to Gurren-Lagann's Boota and its sunglasses are similar to those worn by Kamina from the same show.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: Wattchimera. It can send a card from an opponent's hand back into the deck. This effect is basically Wattchimera making the opponent's resources harder to access.
  • Mechanical Lifeforms
  • Never Smile At a Crocodile/Hydra Hybrid Monster: Watthydra. It can directly attack. If it does that, it can help the player retrieve a card from his/her deck. This effect means that Watthydra can retrieve resources at a very slow rate.
  • Dub Name Change: Elec (OCG) -> Watt (TCG)
  • Kitsune: Wattfox, who was named Elekitsune in the OCG. It has an effect that can lock down an opponent's field when it dies. Basically, it has connected itself into the opponent's resources, so when it goes, the resources go with it.
  • Shock and Awe: They fit with this trope so well, the cards all have classified them under the Thunder type.
  • Weak but Skilled

White Nights

Wind-Up

  • Badass Adorable
  • Cool Ship: Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity resembles an aircraft carrier and is used to store the flying Wind-Up Mooks such as Wind-Up Bat.
  • Cool Tank: Wind-Up Zenmaines can be seen as a land war vehicle, probably a tank, seeing it's large bulking lower body similar to Granel.
  • Cool Plane: Wind-Up Zenmaister is an aerial war vehicle, seeing as there are jet wings coming off its shoulders.
  • Crazy Prepared: "Wind-Up Factory", "Zenmaity", and "Honeybee" can provide you with single-use monsters to address any situation. You can toolbox "Soldier" to kill low-Level beatsticks, "Juggler" to break walls, "Kitten" to deal with Extra Deck monsters and defuse Flip Effects, "Rat" to produce Rank 3 Xyzs, "Rabbit" for reuse and deflection, or "Knight" for defense.
  • Fusion Dance: Wind-Up Arsenal Zenmaioh, Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity, Wind-Up Zenmaines and Wind-Up Zenmaister.
  • Meaningful Name/Wind Up Key: An actual wind-up toy is wound up (Summoning it), doing what the toy was made to do (activating the effect), then is completed (effect can only activate once). Returning to hand or flipping it face-down and back up signifies "winding-up" the monster.
  • Mechanical Lifeforms: They are so lifelike, the only Machine-Type monsters in this archetype are the Xyz Monsters and "Wind-Up Bat".
  • Zerg Rush:
    • Some "Wind-Up" Decks swarm low-ATK monsters by looping "Wind-Up Rat" to produce multiple "Zenmaity". This can be used alongside "Wind-Up Magician" to create OT Ks.
    • Another way to OTK is by using "Zenmairch" alongside "Zenmailstrom", and utilizing "Soldier" and "Knight". Having both "Soldier" and "Knight" on the field, along with activatable "Zenmairch" and "Zenmailstrom" on the field is needed, together with either another Knight or Soldier in the hand. The combination lands for at least 9000 damage, but 9400 with an activated Soldier.

Worms

X-Sabers

"A female X-Saber Warrior, known for her graceful attacks and calm decision making in battle. Her ambition is merciless, and strikes fear in the hearts of her enemies."

  1. ↑ unless you count Mystical Shine Ball
  2. ↑ no Fabled monster has a printed flavor text
  3. ↑ Though similar to the Dark World archetype, Fables can be discarded by costs and (usually) still work.
  4. ↑ you discard a monster for its cost to destroy all monsters weaker than that discarded monster
This article is issued from Allthetropes. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.