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Signer Dragons
Signer Dragons (Signer Dragon シグナーの龍 Shigunā no Ryū)
The original five with the Crimson Dragon
The six Signer Dragons
are the signature Synchro Monsters of the six Signers from 5D's. These legendary dragons play a part in the legend of the Crimson Dragon, as well as being connected to the Signers themselves. That connection being that these legendary beasts, who actually joined forces with the Crimson Dragon, were the ones who sealed the Earthbound Immortals within the Nazca Lines. The six dragons are Stardust Dragon (Yusei Fudo), Red Dragon Archfiend (Jack Atlas), Black Rose Dragon (Aki Izayoi/Akiza Izinski), Ancient Fairy Dragon (Luca/Luna), Black-Winged Dragon (Crow Hogan), and Life Stream Dragon (Lua/Leo).
Reflecting the rivalry between the two main characters Yusei Fudo and Jack Atlas, Stardust Dragon and Red Dragon Archfiend are the only Signer Dragons to have different upgraded versions. It is worth noting, however, that Life Stream Dragon has its downgraded, armored version, Power Tool Dragon, which is a required Synchro Material Monster for its Summon.
The manga counterparts to the Signer Dragons are the Duel Dragons and they shouldn't be confused with each other.
- Ambiguous Gender: Ancient Fairy Dragon is confirmed to be female, but the rest are unknown. Stardust Dragon and Black Rose Dragon for example are often thought by fans to be male and female, respectively, because Yusei and Akiza use them. Beyond that, there's no actual proof for their gender beyond just assumptions or judging by appearances. Red Dragon Archfiend appears to be the most masculine among them, though.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!:
- Red Dragon Archfiend's effect destroys all of your other monsters that haven't attacked in your turn, so you are forced to attack with them.
- Shooting Star Dragon and Shooting Quasar Dragon are able to attack multiple times.
- Awesome, but Impractical:
- The Majestic forms are very strong, but they need their original forms as Synchro materials and only last for a single turn.
- Life Stream Dragon requires Power Tool Dragon and, at minimum, 1 Level 1 Tuner Monster as its Synchro materials, making it quite difficult to Synchro Summon.
- Big Good: In the anime, it's the Crimson Dragon, which has been released as a card in real life since 2023. Shooting Quasar Dragon, the ultimate "form" of Stardust Dragon, can be counted.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: Life Stream Dragon has a blade on its left arm.
- Bowdlerise: "Red Daemon's Dragon" is changed to Red Dragon Archfiend. Likewise, the Saviour forms are changed to Majestic forms, notably Saviour Demon Dragon (Majestic Red Dragon).
- Brainwashed and Crazy: In the 10th Anniversary movie, Stardust Dragon is stolen by Paradox, who corrupts it and summons Malefic Stardust Dragon.
- Breath Weapon: Each of them has one in the anime.
- Stardust Dragon's Shooting Sonic (Cosmic Flare in the dub).
- Red Dragon Archfiend's Blazing Crimson Hell Flare (Scorching Crimson Flare in the dub). It's also its secondary attack.
- Black-Winged Dragon's Noble Stream (Shadow Squall Blast in the dub).
- Black Rose Dragon's Black Rose Flare.
- Life Stream Dragon's "Life Is Beauty Howl".
- CCG Importance Dissonance: While in the anime, their owners put a lot of effort to summon them and the dragons are regarded as their ace monsters, in real life they are not that powerful:
- The only dragons that were common in most real life Extra Decks when they first came out were Black Rose Dragon and Stardust Dragon, who were very universally useful in many aspects. However, as the game evolved over time, they became less relevant to the meta. Black Rose Dragon's ability to destroy the entire field has become less relevant as cards with immunity to destruction effects became more common. Stardust Dragon also became less relevant for a related reason. People don't play destruction cards as much as they used to because of cards with destruction immunity. This made Stardust's ability to negate destruction effects less useful.
- Ancient Fairy Dragon is a unique case of this. When it first came out, it was considered a mediocre card, but got better over time because of the changes to the rules and meta, and is the only Signer Dragon that was banned from competitive play in both the OCG and TCG. It only got released from the banlist after receiving an errata. See its entry in banned and nerfed cards for more details. In terms of the anime, it was the least featured of the five original Signer Dragons, as Ruka had the fewest duels out of all the Signers throughout the series, including her brother who didn't become a Signer until near the end of the series.
- Color-Coded Characters: On Shooting Quasar Dragon's artwork, there are six Synchro rings behind it all colored differently to represent the bonds used to create the dragon.
- Stardust Dragon has white.
- Red Dragon Archfiend has red.
- Black-Winged Dragon has black.
- Black Rose Dragon has maroon.
- Ancient Fairy Dragon has green.
- Life Stream Dragon has yellow.
- Crippling Overspecialization: Majestic Dragon, a support card for the Signer Dragons. It is a Tuner Monster that can only be used for the Synchro Summoning of a Majestic monster, and there are only two of them, and they each require a specific dragon and another non-Tuner Monster. Majestic Dragon itself has only 0 ATK and DEF, and negating its effect doesn't work because it's a Summoning Condition.
- Crystal Dragon Jesus: Downplayed, but the Crimson Dragon has shades of this in the anime. Majestic Star Dragon gets points for being about as literal an example as you can get, especially since it was named Savior Star Dragon in the OCG (the Majestic monsters are described as incarnations of the Crimson Dragon).
- Dark Is Not Evil: Red Dragon Archfiend, Black-Winged Dragon and Black Rose Dragon are not evil monsters.
- Difficult, but Awesome: Summoning the Cosmic Synchro Monsters is not easy, but also not that difficult. And if you succeed, you have the advantage, since these monsters are difficult to destroy. Skilled players can summon Shooting Quasar Dragon even in their first turn!
- Dub Name Change: See Bowdlerise above. Also, "Black Feather Dragon" is changed to "Black-Winged Dragon", the "/Buster" is changed to "/Assault Mode", and "Scar-Red Nova Dragon" is changed to "Red Nova Dragon".
- Dying Moment of Awesome/Taking You with Me: Similarly to Chaos Emperor Dragon, Black Rose Dragon can destroy all cards on the field when Synchro Summoned. This effect is very useful and can turn a bad situation in your favor.
- Elemental Punch: Not always; Red Dragon Archfiend's Absolute Powerforce is a blazing claw attack, but sometimes, it's a punch, too.
- Glass Cannon:
- Red Dragon Archfiend is very powerful, but its effect can destroy your other monsters, which can put you at a disadvantage.
- Also, Black Rose Dragon's effect is so powerful that it destroys even itself.
- Heroic Sacrifice/Disney Death/Negate Your Own Sacrifice: Stardust Dragon can sacrifice itself to negate and destroy a card with a destruction effect, but Stardust returns to the field in the End Phase.
- Hour of Power: The Majestic forms only last for a single turn and their original forms come back from the graveyard.
- Kid-Appeal Character: Life Stream Dragon's weaker version, Power Tool Dragon, looks more like a toy.
- The Lancer: Red Dragon Archfiend is the foil to Stardust Dragon.
- The Leader: Stardust Dragon can be seen as this.
- Leitmotif: In the anime, the main themes of their owners are basically the dragons' themes, too, since the themes are usually played when the duelists summon them.
- Light Is Good: Ancient Fairy Dragon, also Shooting Quasar Dragon (the only upgraded version of Stardust Dragon with LIGHT attribute).
- The Medic/Combat Medic:
- Ancient Fairy Dragon can give the player 1000 Life Points by destroying a Field Spell Card with her effect.
- Summoning Life Stream Dragon can change the player's Life Points to 2000 (as the anime started with 4000) for any player that has lower than 2000 at its summon.
- Nerf:
- Life Stream Dragon has an effect in the anime which can change the Levels of other Synchro Monsters from 1 to 12. Yusei uses this effect on Ancient Fairy Dragon, Black Rose Dragon, Black-Winged Dragon, and Red Dragon Archfiend to Synchro Summon Shooting Quasar Dragon that has maximum number of attacks (per materials used for Synchro Summon which'd be 5). Since this effect would be too powerful in the official card game, it was removed.
- The Majestic forms have more powerful effects in the anime.
- Ancient Fairy Dragon used to be on the banlist until it got an errata. Now its effects are both hard once-per-turns instead of soft once-per-turns like they used to be. Also, its ability to destroy a field spell and search another field spell was changed. Now, you can only search a field spell with a different name from whatever you destroyed, preventing you from abusing any soft once-per-turn effects on field spells.
- No-Sell:
- Black-Winged Dragon and Life Stream Dragon negate damage from card effects.
- Stardust Dragon, the Majestic forms, the Cosmic Synchro Monsters and Shooting Quasar Dragon can either negate card effects or attacks.
- Power Tool Dragon can escape destruction by sending an attached Equip Spell Card to the graveyard.
- Next Tier Power-Up: Stardust Dragon and Red Dragon Archfiend have multiple stronger forms.
- With the Trap Card "Assault Mode Activate", Stardust Dragon and Red Dragon Archfiend get their /Assault Modes: Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode and Red Dragon Archfiend/Assault Mode. The /Assault Modes have 500 more ATK and DEF, two more levels and the original effects get upgraded.
- With the Tuner Monster Majestic Dragon and another non-tuner monster, you can Synchro Summon their Majestic forms: Majestic Star Dragon and Majestic Red Dragon. They have much more ATK and DEF and have very powerful effects, but they suffer from Hour of Power.
- The two dragons have also Cosmic Synchro forms. If you tune Stardust Dragon with a Synchro Tuner Monster, you can Accel Synchro Summon Shooting Star Dragon. And if you use the Double Tuning on Red Dragon Archfiend, you can Synchro Summon Red Nova Dragon. Those two dragons do not have the high ATK of the Majestic forms, but their effects are still powerful and they do not suffer from Hour of Power. Both Cosmic Synchro Monsters are also difficult to kill.
- There is another Accel Synchro version of Stardust Dragon: Stardust Warrior.
- Shooting Quasar Dragon is the ultimate form and Limit Over Accel Synchro version of Stardust Dragon, but unlike the other forms, Stardust Dragon is not required to summon it. It has with 4000 ATK the highest base ATK among all Signer Dragons, tied with Majestic Red Dragon. It's difficult to destroy Shooting Quasar Dragon, but even if the opponent manages to destroy it, the anime effect allows it to destroy all the monsters on the field and Synchro Summon Shooting Star Dragon.
- In an alternate future, Yusei summoned the Delta Accel Synchro version of Stardust Dragon, Cosmic Blazar Dragon, but with Z-One's appearance in Yusei's present timeline, this was changed and Yusei is able to summon the superior Shooting Quasar Dragon. While the card doesn't appear in the anime for this reason, it was still printed in real life, with the ability to negate a card effect, attack, or monster summon by banishing itself for one turn, making it extremely difficult to remove.
- Our Dragons Are Different: The six dragons are very different to each other. Stardust Dragon, Red Dragon Archfiend and Life Stream Dragon have more humanoid bodies, though Stardust is skinnier and has a longer head, Red has horns, and Life Stream has a blade on the left arm, not to mention that they have different colors. Ancient Fairy Dragon is a blue snake-like dragon with skinny arms, light green hair and fairy wings. Black Rose Dragon is a dragon without arms and has red roses all over its body; the wings are even made of these roses and it's the only one of the six that has irises. And the armless Black-Winged Dragon has a bird-like face, white and black feathered wings that can glow red, black hair and many metallic-looking thin legs. Furthermore, Power Tool Dragon is a Machine-type monster.
- Personality Powers:
- Yusei is a selfless Determinator who is utterly devoted to his friends. His Stardust Dragon is likewise a monster that can sacrifice itself to protect your other cards from destruction and always returns after doing so.
- Jack Atlas is a Hot-Blooded Glory Seeker that's willing to throw his former friends under the bus (at least early on) and has a highly aggressive dueling style, reflected by Red Dragon Archfiend's high ATK, mass destruction effect, and tendency to blow up your own monsters.
- Black Rose Dragon's abilities to wipe the field of all cards and render an opponent's monster helpless nicely encapsulate Akiza's destructive and sadistic Black Rose Witch persona.
- Luna is kind and gentle by nature and can communicate with Duel Monster spirits, and her Ancient Fairy Dragon is a Stone Wall with defensive effects that can call other monsters to her aid.
- Crow carries the sadness and pain of the children that live in Satellite, and Black Winged Dragon absorbs any effect damage meant for the user.
- Person of Mass Destruction:
- Black Rose Dragon destroys every card on the field when Synchro Summoned.
- After the damage calculation against a Defense Position monster, Red Dragon Archfiend destroys all other monsters in Defense Position the opponent controls. Also, any monster of the controller of Red Dragon Archfiend that hasn't attack will be destroyed in the End Phase.
- If Majestic Red Dragon attacks, it destroys all monsters in Defense Position after damage calculation.
- Playing with Fire: Black Rose Dragon is a FIRE monster. In the anime, Red Dragon Archfiend and its upgraded versions are associated with fire as well.
- Powered Armor: The /Assault Modes of Stardust and Red Daemon's are empowered by armors.
- Power Limiter: Life Stream Dragon is covered in a metallic armor for most of the time and is less powerful in this state. This form is known as Power Tool Dragon.
- Punny Name: In the OCG, Red Nova Dragon's name is Scar-Red Nova Dragon. Scar-Red is a pun to "scarlet".
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Red Dragon Archfiend, Black-Winged Dragon and Black Rose Dragon avert this trope.
- Sixth Ranger: In the anime flashbacks, Life Stream Dragon was among the five dragons who sealed the Earthbound Immortals. However, due to the popularity of the Blackwing archetype, Crow gets promoted as the fifth Signer instead of Rua, so an unknown sixth dragon, Black-Winged Dragon, appears out of nowhere. Life Stream Dragon appears as the sixth dragon in the anime when Rua becomes the sixth Signer.
- Majestic Dragon is not a Signer Dragon, but it's a support card that allows the player to summon a Majestic form of either Stardust or Red.
- Something about a Rose: Black Rose Dragon, of course, being visually comprised largely of rose petals and thorns.
- Spell My Name With An S: In the OCG, you can see that Red Daemon's Dragon's katakana have a long E, while Saviour Demon Dragon has a short E. This is the reason, why Majestic Red Dragon is not an Archfiend card.
- Spell My Name with a "The": The "/" ("Slash") in "/Assault Mode" is pronounced as well.
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad:
- In the anime, each of them are stars of their owners deck and steal more spotlight than the other monsters.
- Among the six dragons, Stardust Dragon and Red Dragon Archfiend are this in the anime, especially the former. This is also the reason why so many upgraded versions of them exist.
- Meta-wise, Stardust Dragon, Black Rose Dragon, and Ancient Fairy Dragon are more seen and used in the real life game than the other dragons.
- Stone Wall: Ancient Fairy Dragon has the lowest ATK (2100), but it has the highest DEF (3000) among the six dragons.
- Super Mode: Stardust Dragon and Red Dragon Archfiend are the only who attain stronger forms throughout the yearsnote . The TCG/OCG has given some stronger forms for other Signer Dragons as well such as Ruddy Rose Dragon for Black Rose Dragon.
- Weak, but Skilled: Black Rose Dragon has the lowest combined ATK and DEF out of all Signer Dragon. Ironically, its key effect is one of the most powerful, effective and easy to use - it completely destroys the field. What's more is that the summoning conditions are the least restrictive that a Synchro Monster can have, meaning that any deck that can potentially make level 7 Synchro monsters can make Black Rose Dragon and use its effect.
- Wreathed in Flames: Red Dragon Archfiend and its upgraded forms do this often in the anime. Also, Red Dragon Archfiend's primary attack, Absolute Powerforce, covers its claw with glowing flames.
Dark Tuner/Dark Synchro Monsters
Dark Tuner/Dark Synchro Monsters (Dākuchūnā/Dāku Shinkuro Monsutā)
- When shadows are devoured by darker shadows, the curtain pulls back and reveals... A world without light!
Tuner and Synchro Monsters utilized by the Dark Signers and their followers. Unlike their regular counterparts, Dark Tuner and Synchro Monsters have negative levels represented by blue dots with purple stars that allign to the left of the card similar to the Ranks of Xyz Monsters. Dark Synchro monster cards are also coloured a dull grey instead of white.
The known Dark Synchro Monsters are Frozen Fitzgerald, Dark Diviner, Hundred Eyes Dragon, Underground Arachnid, Dark Flattop, Zeman The Ape King, and Moon Dragon Quilla.
The Dark Synchro Monsters were eventually released in the TCG as regular Synchro Monsters with their summoning requirements slightly tweaked, instead just requiring a DARK attribute Tuner Monster.
- Dark Is Evil: The majority of them are DARK attribute with the exception of Frozen Fitzgerald, Underground Arachnid, and Zeman The Ape King and are all evil as hell.
- Evil Counterpart: To Synchro Monsters in general. Regular synchro monsters are described as helping build upon each other to give themselves strength. Dark Synchro Monsters are described as having their components devour each other to attain greater power.
Earthbound Immortals
Earthbound Immortals (Earthbound God 地縛神 Jibakushin)
Embodiments of evil sealed within the Nazca Lines by the Crimson Dragon and its servants. They were unleashed from the Underworld 17 years ago, after the Zero Reverse incident blew a hole between this world and theirs. They are the driving force behind the Dark Signers, and are as follows; Uru (Spider), Cusillu (Monkey), Ccapac Apu (Giant), Aslla Piscu (Hummingbird), Ccarayhua (Lizard), Chacu Challua (Killer Whale) and lastly Wiraqocha Rasca (Condor). Much like the 5 Dragons serve the Crimson Dragon, they serve the King of the Underworld (Meikai No Oh).
There is another 'lost' Earthbound God, Scar-Red Nova, which was personally sealed by the Crimson Dragon 5000 years before the others, and was too violent for the Dark Signers to use. Its power was sealed by Jack to create Scar-Red Nova Dragon.
- Achilles' Heel: They're completely powerless without a Field Spell in play. Of course, when summoned in a Turbo Duel (as four of them were), this isn't an issue.
- Animal Motifs: All of them are based on animals.
- Uru is based on a spider.
- Aslla piscu vaguely resembles a hummingbird.
- Cusillu possesses the appearance of a monkey.
- Ccarayhua moderately resembles a reptile.
- Ccapac Apu barely resembles a giant.
- Chacu Challhua looks like an orca.
- Wiraqocha Rasca is modeled after a condor.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: They are absurdly large. Ccarayhua is about three-quarters to two-thirds the height of the Arcadia building.
- Awesome, but Impractical:
- Cusillu's unique effect is hard to use as well since it requires it to be destroyed by battle and for you to have another monster on the field. And since the Immortals cannot be targeted for an attack, you would have to let Cusillu attack a stronger monster on purpose just to use its effect when you could keep Cusillu on the field and keep attacking directly. Another way for it to happen would be for your opponent to negate Cusillu's effect and then attack it but that would require them letting you keep a monster on the field or using effects to make sure you still have a monster by the time Cusillu is destroyed.
- Beat Still, My Heart: When Earthbound Gods are summoned, a disembodied heart appears and starts beating as it absorbs people's souls.
- Breath Weapon: Wiraqocha Rasca, and the King of the Underworld.
- Cherry Tapping: Wiraqocha Rasca's 1 ATK, meant to compliment its key anime effect.
- Demonic Possession: They will do this if they are not happy with their Dark Signer.
- Early-Bird Cameo: They are first seen in episode 30 covered by a dark fog. Despite this you can make out which is which by their colored highlights. Also the condor geoglyph can be seen as well.
- Eldritch Abomination: They're ginormous embodiments of evil that eat souls en masse just by being summoned. They also have effects that bend numerous rules of the game to make themselves nearly unassailable.
- Evil Is Bigger: These things are Kaiju-sized in the anime and dwarf all of the Signer Dragons.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: The Dark Signers cut a deal with their respective Earthbound Immortal to come back to life. If the Dark Signers get any moral qualms about their actions, their Earthbound Immortal will pull a Villain Override. You don't get to make a pact with a God of Evil without some consequences.
- Giant Eye of Doom: Ccarayhua is introduced to Akiza this way, with its eyelid taking up an entire window and then opening.
- Giant Spider: Uru, though it's actually one of the shorter Immortals.
- God of Evil: They are called Earthbound Gods in the Japanese variation.
- Greater-Scope Villain: The King of the Underworld is built up to be this until it is revealed that Rex Godwin was using it the whole time.
- HP to One: Wiraqocha Rasca's unique effect in the anime was to change the opponent's LP to 1 if the controller skipped their Battle Phase for the turn.
- Ironic Name: Aslla piscu's name means "little bird" in Quechuan. As the rest of these tropes should tell you, it's anything but.
- Kaiju: They're an interesting variation - they cause plenty of destruction, but it's their geoglyphs rather than the monsters themselves most of the time.
- Made of Evil: According to Bruno, they were manifested from the evil in people's hearts.
- Mayincatec: They are all based on Nazca Lines.
- A Million Is a Statistic: Earthbound Gods' sacrifices.
- Noble Bird of Prey: Wiraqocha Rasca, particularly as it's the most powerful of the seven.
- Our Dragons Are Different: The King of the Underworld, which appears as an Evil Counterpart to Life Stream Dragon. It represents Death, while Life Stream represents Life.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Old Momentum being the can-opener and the Nazca Lines, of all things, being the can.
- Spell My Name With An S: No, that's not a typo, Aslla piscu really is spelt with a lowercase "p".
- Taking You with Me: In a flashback which Luca experiences as a dream, when the Earthbound Gods are destroyed by the Signer Dragons, the disembodied head of Uru uses its web strands to drag Ancient Fairy Dragon into the Nazca Lines causing her to be sealed alongside the Earthbound Gods.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Jesus. Spell/Trap immunity (in the anime), attack immunity, direct attacks, brutal effects, and being so freaking enormous despite their geoglyphs already tearing up the surroundings...
Synchrons/Warriors
Synchron (Synchron シンクロン Shinkuron)
Warrior (Warrior ウォリアー Woriā)
- Butt-Monkey: Speed Warrior has a paltry 900 ATK, and his ATK-boosting effect only applies for the turn he is Normal Summoned. As a result, he will be curb-stomped by the next turn. His true usefulness is to be revived by Junk Synchron to summon Junk Warrior.
- Dub-Induced Plot Hole: Downplayed. The Japanese cards had "Warrior" spelled differently to show they were different from previous monsters with "Warrior" in their name. The English translations didn't approximate this, but it's a non-issue since their archetype-support specifies Synchro Monsters.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Shield Warrior wields a massive shield. To show its defensive prowess, it can banish itself from the Graveyard to protect your monsters from being destroyed in battle.
- Mechanical Life Forms: They all look mechanical in appearance.
- This Is a Drill: Drill Synchron has twin drills for arms, while Drill Warrior has a single arm-drill.
- Zerg Rush: Very few of the non-Synchros have anything resembling impressive stats, but their effects lets Yusei summon several of them and manipulate their levels to quickly get those Synchro Warriors into play.
Meklord Emperor
Meklord Emperor (Machine Imperial 機皇 Kikō)
From left to right: Skiel, Granel and Wisel
A series of monsters used by the Three Emperors of Yliaster. They are: Meklord Emperor Wisel, owned by Placido; Meklord Emperor Skiel, owned by Lucciano; and Meklord Emperor Granel, owned by Jose. Arriving on Earth one at a time via stone tablets, they have the ability to absorb Synchro monsters - and since most people in the series use them, this is a bit of a problem for anyone facing them. There is a fourth Meklord Emperor, Aporia's, called Meklord Astro Mekanikle.During the WRGP final, it is shown that in the distant future an army of Meklord Emperors attacked humanity at the height of its development, before Momentum went out of control and destroyed the world.
- The Assimilator: All of them can absorb Synchro monsters.
- Combining Mecha: Each one is made up of 5 separate components with effects that support one another, and can be replaced or upgraded to make the Kikoutei more powerful. The Emperor itself also gains ATK from each part in play. While there's no limitation on mixing and matching parts from different Emperors, only Placido actually used parts from different Emperors on his own.
- Decapitated Army: None of the individual Meklord parts can exist on the field without the actual Meklord Emperor card serving as the central core. If that gets taken out, all the other parts go with it.
- The Dreaded: Before Yusei got Shooting Star Dragon, he was terrified of them for their ability.
- E = MC Hammer: The fourth Emperor is called Infinity Cubic. How one cubes infinity is anyone's guess.
- Everything's Better with Sparkles: Wisel has a pair of boosters on its upper legs that emit a trail of sparkles.
- Gaia's Vengeance: They were created by Momentum to eliminate the cause of the system's instability, which was due to the human race becoming greedy, apathetic, and conceited with progress.
- Humongous Mecha:
- While Meklord Emperors Wisel and Skiel aren't that humongous, Jose's Emperor, Granel, certainly is.
- And then there's the gigantic monstrosity that is Meklord Astro Mekanikle. Look at its size compared to Meklord Imperial Soldier Skiel Ein◊.
- Killer Robot: They effectively wiped out humanity in the Bad Future.
- Land, Sea, Sky: Wisel's parts are based on land animals, Granel's parts all resemble fish (despite Granel being EARTH attribute), and Skiel's parts resemble flying creatures.
- Mage Killer/Anti-Magic: Their deck style is against the use of Synchro monsters, culminating in their signature emperors. Although it's less "killer" and more like "absorb them into their monsters". The first time Yusei encounters them, he has nightmares about Wisel until gaining Accel Synchro, which basically teleports them before they can be snagged. Of course, Granel and Mekanikle can counteract that too.
- Man of Kryptonite: Designed to kill Synchro Monsters.
- Numerological Motif: They all have an infinity sign on their chest.
- Odd Name Out: Astro (Dragon) for the two strongest Mekanikle and Asterisk.
- Plot-Based Photograph Obfuscation: All of them appear in the opening credits, but until they have actually appeared in the show, they are mostly hidden by shadow.
- Shout-Out: The tablets that they arrive in are similar to the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Not to mention the Ka Tablets from the original show.
- You Will Not Evade Me: Unlike Wisel and Skiel, Jose's Granel has the ability to prevent Synchros that it attacks from removing themselves from the field, as Jack found out rather painfully. Adding more is that it can drag out the Synchro from the Graveyard into its body.
Duel Dragons
Duel Dragons (Duel Dragon 決闘竜 Dyueru Doragon)
- Adaptational Villainy: In the anime, the Signer Dragons and the Crimson Dragon are benevolent. In the manga, the Duel Dragons are tools of evil and the Crimson Dragon is re-imagined as Ultimaya Tzolkin, the Greater-Scope Villain of the manga. Though they dial back on this once they get purified by good duelists. This is eventually subverted with the reveal they were brainwashed by the Ultimate God.
- Anachronism Stew: Power Tool Mecha Dragon is the only non-Dragon type Duel Dragon, befitting it being a counterpart to the mechanical Power Tool Dragon. However, whereas Power Tool Dragon was eventually revealed to be Life Stream Dragon encased in armor, Power Tool Mecha Dragon is shown to have always been mechanical, even in the distant past when the Duel Priests first sealed away the Ultimate God when such machinery wouldn't exist yet.
- Black Eyes of Crazy: When a Duelist is completely controlled by them.
- Dark Is Evil: Even the Signer Dragon counterparts look much darker and more ominous compared to the anime, with the exceptions of Stardust, Dragoascension, and Black Rose. They lose this status once they're purified by their duelists.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Blackfeather Darkrage Dragon after Crow obtains it and purifies it of its evil.
- Demonic Possession: They can do this to the Duelists that use them.
- Drunk on the Dark Side: Tends to happen to those possessed by their Duel Dragon.
- Dub Name Change: All of the Duel Dragons names have been changed in the English manga and TCG:
- Machine Dragon - Power Tool > Power Tool Mecha Dragon
- Fairy Dragon - Ancient > Ancient Pixie Dragon
- Burning Demon Dragon - Red Demon > Hot Red Dragon Archfiend
- Flashing Karat Dragon - Stardust > Stardust Spark Dragon
- Demon King Dragon - Beelze > Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons
- Purgatory Dragon - Ogre Dragoon > Void Ogre Dragon
- Mysterious Winged Dragon - Black Feather > Blackfeather Darkrage Dragon
- Underworld Dragon Dragonecro > Dragonecro Nethersoul Dragon
- Dragoascension, the Supreme Dragon of the Heavens > Ascension Sky Dragon
- Moon Flower Dragon - Black Rose > Black Rose Moonlight Dragon
- Underworld Flood Dragon Dragocytos > Dragocytos Corrupted Nethersoul Dragon.
- Demon King Super Dragon - Beelzeus > Beelzeus of the Diabolic Dragons
- Evil Counterpart: Meta-wise, they are this to the Signer Dragons, as plot-important Synchro Dragons. But where the Signer Dragons are good, the Duel Dragons are evil at least until their users are both freed of the evil influence on them and in turn purify the Duel Dragons into beings of good.
- Good All Along: All of the Duel Dragons are initially presented as being willing servants of the Ultimate God that corrupt anyone who tries to wield them. Yusei however learns in the final battle with Rex that the six Duel Dragon counterparts of the Signer Dragons were all initially the partners of the original Duel Priests that sealed away the Ultimate God in the first place, but had been infected with the Ultimate God's miasma in the present by Rex and the Skeleton Knight for the sake of releasing the Ancient God. They would ultimately be freed from it's control once Yusei purified Stardust Spark Dragon and used it to purify the others.
- Inconsistent Dub: Between Volumes 3 and 4, Power Tool has gone from Power Tool Mecha Dragon to Machine Dragon Power Tool, and Red Demon from Enma Dragon Red Demon to Jeweled Red Dragon Archfiend.
- Light Is Good: Stardust Spark and Moonlight Dragon Black Rose.
- Light Is Not Good: Ascension Sky Dragon is the ace card of the manga's main antagonist, Rex Goodwin.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Red Demon can destroy every single other Attack Position Monster in play with just its effect.
- Reincarnation-Identifying Trait: It's heavily implied that Yusei, Jack, Crow, Lua, and Luca are the reincarnations of the Duel Priests that sealed away the Ultimate God in the past, and that Aki, being the reincarnation of the Duel Priestess, fought alongside them. All six of them were shown partnered with the same Duel Dragons, the implication being that their bonds with said Duel Dragons is what reunited them in the present, even if under less than ideal circumstances.
- Shout-Out: Dragoascension has Slifer the Sky Dragon's signature effect.
- Super Mode: Some of the Duel Dragons have evolved forms.
- Demon King Super Dragon - Beelzeus for Beelze.
- Dragococytus the Impure Underworld Dragon for Dragonecro.
- Divine Spark Dragon Stardust Sifr, and Stardust Chronicle Spark Dragon for Stardust.
- Hot Red Dragon Archfiend has three evolved forms: Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Abyss, Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Belial, and Hot Red Dragon Archfiend King Calamity.
- Uniformity Exception: Dragonecro Nethersoul Dragon is a Fusion Monster rather than a Synchro Monster.
