Yu Gi Oh Card Game J To L / Characters

Characters from the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game, sorted alphabetically from J to L.

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Jar

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jar.png

Morphing Jar, one of the signature (and limited) jars.

The Jars are a series of weak, low-Level monsters, usually Rock-Type. They are to be feared though, because when they're flipped up, they activate powerful effects that can clear the field, hand or Graveyard, potentially shifting the course of the duel with one move. As of April 1st, 2014, the four that see any kind of play at all (Morphing Jars #1 and #2, Cyber Jar and Fiber Jar) are now all Forbidden, which gives an idea of how powerful they can be.

Cyclops: All of them have only a single large eye.
Homage:
- Fiber Jar bears an uncanny resemblance to the heavily vegetated ancient ruins of 'Laputa' from the Studio Ghibli movie 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.
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 banished. 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: 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.
Weak, but Skilled: Stat-wise, they're universally terrible. Effect-wise... let's just say there's a reason three of them are doing time on the banlist.
When Trees Attack: Fiber Jar looks like a tree.

Jinzo

The original anti-trap card.

Jinzo, also known as Jinzoningen ("Cyborg") in the OCG, is a powerful series of DARK Machine-Type monsters. Half of them have high power, and are very dangerous when their effects are added in — Jinzo cards are the bane of Trap Cards, preventing them from being used. Jinzo is used in the anime by Esper/Espa Roba, Katsuya Jonouchi/Joey Wheeler, Kogoro Daimon/Leichter of the Big Five, and later less notably by Jinzo himself and Makoto Inotsume in GX.

Anti-Magic: Trap Cards cannot be activated when Jinzo is on the field and the effects of face-up Trap Cards are also negated.
Attack Reflector: Just like its original counterpart, Psycho Bounder's effect is meant to evoke this by destroying an opposing monster that is attacking another monster on the player's field.
Back from the Dead: When Jinzo - Returner is send to the graveyard, the player can Special Summon a Jinzo from the graveyard, but then it is destroyed in the End Phase. Also, Jinzo - Jector can be revived by this effects, since he counts as "Jinzo" in the graveyard.
Badass Armfold:
- Assumes one as Jinzo - Lord and as Jinzo - Layered.
- Jinzo himself in many anime series and artworks.
Bald of Evil: All Jinzo monsters don't have hair on their heads. Averted with Jinzo - Jector, who has cables on his head that give him a dreadlock look.
Cyborg: Unlike most other Machine-monsters, Jinzo seems to be part machine and part biological.
Dark Is Evil: Any Jinzo that is not used by Jonouchi. Including the Duel Spirit.
Dark Is Not Evil: A hideous cyborg abomination... that also happens to be one of Jonouchi's most powerful and useful cards.
The Dreaded: In the anime, Jinzo's high ATK is very intimidating, and its effect destroys Trap Cards, including face-down ones. The universal response to a Jinzo hitting the field in the anime is for the opponent to go Oh, Crap!.
Dub Name Change: From Cyborg - Psycho Shocker. (To be more precise, it's a shortening of 'Jinzōningen - Saiko Shokkā''.)
Early-Installment Weirdness: Jinzo's general appearance, abilities, and introduction under Espa Roba make Jinzo more fitting for the Psychic-Type rather than Machine-Type. However, as the Psychic-Type hadn't been invented at that point, Jinzo's cyborg components had it classified as Machine-Type, which then carried over to the other archetype members.
Evil Sounds Deep: In both dubs of the GX anime as a Duel Spirit, he was given a menacing, reverberating voice.
Eye Beam: In the anime, Jinzo destroys Trap Cards with eye beams.
Goggles Do Nothing: Wears a fashionable gas mask that does nothing.
Ki Manipulation: In the anime, Jinzo's Cyper Energy Shock is a black energy ball.
Long Neck: Jinzo and Jinzo - Lord have long necks.
Mythology Gag: The cards introduced in the Duelist of Gloom pack contain a number of references to the manga and the anime.
- Jinzo the Machine Menace is a Level 7 monster which was Jinzo's level in the manga. Similarly, its effect of summoning Jinzo and then destroying all Trap Cards the opponent controls, even face-down ones, is based on Jinzo being able to destroy Trap Cards in the anime and manga.
- Psychic Bounder and Psychic Megacyber are retrained counterparts of Reflect Bounder and The Fiend Megacyber respectively, two monsters that were used by Esper Roba alongside Jinzo. The "Psychic" part of their name reference Jinzo's original name in the OCG of "Android - Psycho Shocker".
- Cyber Energy Shock is named after Jinzo's attack in the anime and manga.
- The first effect of Cosmos Channeling lets the player send a monster they control that's is owned by the opponent to the Graveyard to summon a Machine in its stead. This may seem odd as the Jinzo archetype is not known for effects that steal cards but it references Esper Roba's use of cards like Brain Control and Mind Control which let the player gain control of opposing monsters. Meanwhile, the second effect is based on Esper Roba's alleged Psychic powers, which is just him having his brothers spy on his opponents from afar, that would let him know the cards in his opponent's hand.
No Item Use for You: The archetype focuses on crippling the use of Trap Cards.
Non-Indicative Name: Downplayed. Jinzouningen are literally "man-made persons"—that is, androids—but the Jinzo monsters all have very fleshy heads, suggesting that they are, in fact, cyborgs (which would be kaizouningen, "modified persons").
Our Demons Are Different: When it appeared as a Duel Spirit in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX it more suggested an occult-like demonic entity than a Machine.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: The glasses are red.
Shoulders of Doom: As Jinzo - Lord.
Stone Wall: Jinzo - Jector has only 800 ATK, but 2000 DEF.
Tainted Veins: The heads of the Jinzos have veins all over.
Theme Naming: In the OCG, the theme is "Jinzoningen - Psycho [X]". "Jinzoningen" is Japanese for Cyborg and the hyphen and the [X] retains in the TCG, with the only exception of Psycho Shocker the original Jinzo.
Too Many Belts: Jinzo has a normal and a spiked-steel belt on his body and two belts for each arm. Jinzo - Lord has even more belts, having six ridiculously long belts no reason.
The Worf Effect: In the anime, this card practically exists for this Trope. Despite its notoriety, duelists using it tend to be beaten rather often (as was Jinzo himself, when he appeared as a Duel Spirit), the only one having any real success with it on-screen being Jonouchi, but anytime he uses it, it ends up in the graveyard anyway (though it managed to turn the tide whenever it hit the field).

Joan

St. Joan

The Joan series, known as Jeanne in the OCG, is a small series of female monsters that reference Joan of Arc. There are several versions of her and each of them has appeared in an anime series. St. Joan was used by Shizuka Kawai/Serenity Wheeler in Duel Monsters, Guardian Angel Joan by Rebecca Hopkins/Hawkins in Duel Monsters, and Noble Knight Joan by Sherry LeBlanc in 5D's.

A demonic version of Joan, D/D/D Oracle King d'Arc, is used by Reiji/Declan Akaba in ARC-V.

Action Girl: All Joan cards have high ATK for their Levels. St. Joan and Guardian Angel Joan have both 2800 ATK, while Noble Knight Joan has 1900 ATK.
Amazing Technicolor Population: D/D/D Oracle King d'Arc has literally black skin, showcasing how demonic she is.
Bowdlerise: Guardian Angel Joan's halo is removed on the international artwork.
Boyish Short Hair: All four of them have a short haircut.
Combat Medic:
- When Guardian Angel Joan destroys a monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard, you gain Life Points equal of the destroyed monster's original ATK.
- With D/D/D Oracle King d'Arc's Continuous Effect, you gain Life Points instead of taking effect damage.
Cool Mask: D/D/D Oracle King d'Arc wears a half mask that covers the upper half of her face.
Cool Sword: St. Joan and D/D/D Oracle King d'Arc have swords.
Dark Action Girl: D/D/D Oracle King d'Arc is a DARK Fiend-Type version of Joan.
Dark Is Not Evil: D/D/D Oracle King d'Arc is Ambiguously Evil at worst and she is used by the Tritagonist Reiji from ARC-V.
Dub Name Change: Jeanne d'Arc has different names in different countries. As such, "Jeanne" was changed into "Joan" in the English speaking world, while she is called "Johanna" in the German speaking world.
Ethereal White Dress: Guardian Angel Joan wears a white dress, symbolizing her ascent to heaven.
Fusion Dance: The Forgiving Maiden + Darklord Marie = St. Joan.
Good Wings, Evil Wings: Guardian Angel Joan has angel wings, while D/D/D Oracle King d'Arc has devil wings. In the anime, St. Joan gains angel wings when she attacks.
Innocent Blue Eyes: Joan has blue eyes and she is a saint/angel.
Jeanne d'Archétype: The series is based on Joan of Arc.
- Darklord Marie is the fallen version of St. Joan. Her fusion with The Forgiving Maiden is symbolic; her sins are forgiven and she becomes a saint. Later, she becomes Guardian Angel Joan. Reflecting that she was accused of witchcraft and when she was proven right, she became a saint.
- Knight Noble Joan's 1900 ATK is a reference that she died at the age of 19.
- D/D/D Oracle King d'Arc references Joan's accusation of being a witch and a satanist.
Knight in Shining Armor: St. Joan, D/D/D Oracle King d'Arc and Noble Knight Joan are covered in knight armor.
Light Is Good: The three Joan cards are LIGHT monsters, angelic and are heroic.
Power Gives You Wings: In the anime, St. Joan gains angel wings when she attacks.
Punny Name: D/D/D Oracle King d'Arc using the original translation of Joan's epithet is quite clearly done to play off this version of her being a DARK-type monster.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: D/D/D Oracle King d'Arc has red eyes and is demonic.
Shadow Archetype: D/D/D Oracle King d'Arc is a demonic version of Joan, probably referencing Jeanne's accusation of being a witch. Her appearance is very similar to St. Joan and she has a similar effect like Guardian Angel Joan. All three of them have 2800 ATK and 2000 DEF. In the OCG, she is a Devil-Type monster in contrast to St. Joan and Guardian Angel Joan's Angel-Type.
She Is the King: Following the Theme Naming of the D/D/D monsters, d'Arc has "King" in her title, despite being female.
Status Effects: If Noble Knight Joan attacks, she loses 300 ATK during the Damage Step only.
Winged Humanoid: Guardian Angel Joan and D/D/D Oracle King d'Arc have wings by default.

Junk

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/synchrochase_madu_en_vg_artwork.png

Let's rev it up!

Junk is an archetype of Warrior-Types that are primarily used by Yusei Fudo and Tetsuzo Kuzuyama/Bashford in 5D's. It is also connected to the Synchron archetype. The strategy is to swarm the field with low-Level Monsters with their effects and then going for a Synchro Summon. The Junk Synchro Monsters require a Junk Synchron as a Tuner for their Synchro Summon, and they are also of ascending Level: with Junk Warrior and Junk Speeder being 5, Junk Gardna 6, Junk Archer and Junk Berserker 7, and Junk Destroyer 8, showcasing this archetype's adaptability in that it can use either a Level 2, 3, 4, or 5 monster along with Junk Synchron as its Synchro Materials. The archetype is closely related to the Synchron archetype.

As in case of irony, most of the non-Synchro Junk monsters appear only in the manga, but manga!Yusei doesn't have any Junk Synchro Monsters in his Extra Deck, only Warriors, Stardust Spark Dragon and its evolutions. The Junk Synchro Monsters appear only in the anime, where Yusei uses a Synchron deck.

All Your Powers Combined: When Synchro Summoned, Junk Warrior gains the same amount of ATK of all Level 2 or lower monsters the player controls.
Armor-Piercing Attack:
- When Junk Berserker attacks a monster in Defense Position, he destroys it at the beginning of the Damage Step.
- Junk Warrior's Scrap Fist not only inflicts Piercing Damage, it also doubles Battle Damage.
The Berserker: Junk Berserker has it in his name. No defending monster is safe from him and he weakens an opponent's monster by banishing Junk monsters from the graveyard. He is also the strongest Junk monster, despite having a lower level than Junk Destroyer.
BFS: Junk Blader has a red one. Junk Berserker's axe counts, too.
Big Creepy-Crawlies: Junk Destroyer is a Warrior-Type, but his appearance strongly resembles an insect.
Cyclops: Subverted; it looks like Junk Archer has only one eye, but the third opening reveals that he has indeed two eyes. The left one is just covered to increase his accuracy.
Dark Is Not Evil: Junk Synchron and Junk Warrior are two of Yusei's most prominent monsters after Stardust Dragon. And the black-colored Junk Destroyer counts, too.
Irony: Despite the manga version of Yusei uses a Junk deck, he doesn't have Junk Synchron and the Junk Synchro Monsters in his Main Deck and Extra Deck, which are the key cards of the archetype — the anime version of Yusei uses a Synchron deck, which is not explicitely specialized in summoning only Junk Synchro Monsters, but Yusei uses all of them in the anime.
Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Junk Gardna has two large shields on his arms.
Making a Splash: Despite being an EARTH monster, Junk Destroyer's effect appears to be a flood of shining water in the anime.
Mechanical Lifeform: They all look like machines, though, they are Warrior-Type Monsters, except for Junkuriboh.
Megaton Punch: Junk Warrior's Scrap Fist. The opponent cannot chain cards or effects when this card is activated. Junk Warrior inflicts Piercing Damage, Battle Damage involving this card is doubled, he cannot be destroyed by battle and the opponent's monster will be destroyed after the Damage Step.
Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Junk Destroyer has four arms, which represents the maximum number of cards he can destroy.
Mythology Gag: Junk Speeder's attack-boosting effect is based on Speed Warrior's effect, who is often used by Yusei alongside Junk Synchron to Synchro Summon Junk Warrior. You can certainly use Junk Synchron and Speed Warrior to Synchro Summon Junk Speeder. If Speed Warrior activates his effect, he will reach Junk Speeder's original Attack.
Nerf: In the early part of the anime, Junk Warrior's effect was a bit different. He got the ATK of all Level 2 or lower monsters the players controls, but it was a Continuous Effect. In the real life game, Junk Warrior gets only the ATK when he is Synchro Summoned. The anime change it later to its real life counterpart.
Opaque Lenses: Junk Warrior's red lenses never reveal his eyes.
Power Fist: On Junk Warrior's right fist. Also, on Junk Destroyer's first two hands.
Purple Is Powerful:
- Junk Warrior's armor is colored in purple. It first looks like a subversion, since he's the second weakest of the Junk Synchro Monsters, but with his effect, he can surpass any of them in terms of ATK.
- Junk Blader is the strongest non-Synchro Junk monster and he gains 400 ATK by banishing a Junk monster from the graveyard until the End Phase.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: Inverted with Junk Berserker who is primarily red and secondarily black, and Junk Destroyer who is primarily black and secondarily red.
Scarf of Asskicking: Junk Warrior has a long, white scarf. Subverted with Junk Synchron, who lacks the asskicking part.
Status Effects: Junk Berserker can decrease the ATK of an opponent's monster by banishing a Junk monster from the graveyard.
Stone Wall:
- Junk Gardna is a Level 6 Synchro Monster with 1400 ATK and 2600 DEF. Once per turn and in either player's turn, Junk Gardna can switch the position of an opponent's monster. Also, when Junk Gardna is destroyed, it can switch the position of any monster on the field.
- Junk Defender is a Level 3 Monster with 500 ATK and 1800 DEF. It can be Special Summoned from the hand when the opponent declares a direct attack. Also, once per turn and in either player's turn, it can gain 300 DEF.
Weak, but Skilled:
- The non-Synchro Monsters are rather weak, but they can swarm the field quickly, which makes it easy to Synchro Summon.
- The Junk Synchro Monster also count more or less, since the strongest of them has only 2700 ATK. They have to rely on their effects to get rid of stronger monsters.
  - Junk Warrior is initially weaker than Junk Destroyer and Junk Berserker, but with his effect, he can surpass them.
  - Junk Archer can banish an opponent's monster until the end of the turn, and he still can attack.
  - Junk Destroyer can destroy cards when Synchro Summoned.
  - Despite Junk Berserker being the strongest of them, his first effect allows him to weaken any enemy monster that is stronger than him. And since he can destroy any monster in Defense Position, combining him with Junk Gardna is quite effective.
  - Junk Speeder is very weak compared to other Level 5 Synchro Monsters, but he can temporarily boost himself to 3600 ATK. More importantly, he allows you to swarm the field with Synchrons. Combining Junk Speeder's effect with Doppelwarrior's allows you to pull off insane combos to bring out extremely powerful monsters such as Shooting Quasar Dragon or Tyrant Red Dragon Archfiend.
What a Piece of Junk: The archetype is literally named "Junk." Most of the Main Deck monsters are individually weak and resemble discarded pieces of machinery, and anime characters often dismiss them as garbage scooped up by Yusei. When they tune together, however, they become powerful mechanical warriors. They represent Yusei's upbringings in Satellite.
Zerg Rush: The Junk monsters can swarm the field quickly for Synchro Summonings. With support cards like Doppelwarrior or Quillbolt Hedgehog, it's even easier.

Kaiju

Let them fight.^note

Kaiju, like the Kozmo archetype, are a TCG World Premiere archetype released in Clash of Rebellions. The archetype revolves around a plethora of big boss monsters that can be Special Summoned to either field; to the opponent's field by Tributing a monster they control, or to the player's field if the opponent controls a "Kaiju" monster, with the stipulation that only one "Kaiju" monster can exist on each side of the field at a time. Their support Spell and Trap Cards generate "Kaiju Counters" that they need to use their effects, which cover more strategic options.

Anti-Magic: Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju can negate a card or effect at the cost of 2 Kaiju Counters. Thunder King can prevent the opponent from activating cards or effects for a turn by spending 3 Kaiju Counters.
Attack Reflector: Jizukiru can remove three Kaiju Counters from anywhere in the field to negate any effect that targets ONE card in the field and then destroy another card in its place.
Behemoth Battle: The whole archetype revolves around this (unless you're using Remove Brainwashing or Owner's Seal to immediately take back the Kaiju you summoned to the opponent's field). The Interrupted Kaiju Slumber spell allows the Kaiju player to force this on its opponent.
Big Creepy-Crawlies: Kumongous, the Sticky Thread Kaiju and Gandarla, the Mystery Dust Kaiju, are a giant spider and moth, respectively.
Captain Ersatz: Dogoran is Godzilla, Gadarla is Mothra, Gameciel is Gamera, Jizukiru is Mother Legion, Kumongous is Kumonga, Radian is Dark Lugiel, Thunder King is Ghidorah, Mecha-Dogoran is MechaGodzilla, and Mecha-Thunder-King is Mecha-King Ghidorah.
Dinosaurs Are Dragons: Dogoran, the Mad Flame Kaiju. A Dinosaur-Type monster has never looked so much like a dragon.
Evil Counterpart: It is a matter of perspective as to whether they are actually evil, but Mecha-Dogoran and Mecha-Thunder-King are mechanical versions of Dogoran and Thunder King respectively, and were designed to be used against the flesh-and-blood Kaijus.
Hoist by His Own Petard: As long as there's enough counters, an opponent can easily use a Kaiju Special Summoned to their field against the original owner.
Hunter of His Own Kind: As their names suggest, the Super Anti-Kaiju War Machines are this, by virtue of being designed to counteract Kaiju monsters and being members of the archetype themselves due to their names.
- Mecha-Dogoran can, at the cost of two Kaiju Counters from anywhere on the field, equip a Kaiju monster from the controller's hand or Graveyard to itself to gain ATK equal to the equipped monsters' ATK.
- Mecha-Thunder-King is a more direct example, as it can discard itself from the hand and banish a Kaiju monster on its controller's field that is owned by the opponent, then Special Summon 1 monster from the controller's Graveyard. It appears to have been created in response to Kaiju monsters being used by players as nothing more than spot removal, as it doesn't even have an effect concerning Kaiju Counters, unlike the other monsters in the archetype. Its other effects simply focus on No Selling the main strategy of the archetype.
Kaiju: It's a bit of a stretch but one can see resemblances between this archetype and the Kaiju genre if they push themselves.
Monumental Damage: The Field Spell known as Kyoutou Waterfront is, if nothing else, an Expy of the Tokyo Tower so this is to be expected, which is why it's surprising that it doesn't happen. Kyoutou Waterfront can resist being destroyed by removing a single Kaiju Counter, which it can accumulate each time any card is sent from the field to the graveyard.
Mythology Gag: Mecha-Dogoran's effect to equip a Kaiju monster from the controller's hand or Graveyard to itself and then gain ATK equal to that monster's ATK is likely a reference to how its basis, MechaGodzilla, was created using DNA extracted from the bones of Godzilla.
Non-Indicative Name: Radian, the Multidimensional Kaiju... is a DARK monster. Also, it suggests Rodan's, but it looks more like a cross between Dark Lugiel and Ultraman Belial.
Not Zilla: Dogoran is the "main" member of the archetype and is a pastiche of Godzilla.
Nuke 'em: Dogoran, at the cost of three Kaiju Counters from anywhere on the field, can destroy all monsters the opponent controls. However, Dogoran can't attack that turn.
Our Demons Are Different: Radian is a Fiend-Type monster that looks like a huge bat-demon hybrid made of darkness.
Our Dragons Are Different: Thunder King is a three-headed dragon inspired by King Ghidorah, and Mecha-Thunder King is a Cyborg version like Mecha-King Ghidorah. Amusingly, Thunder King is Thunder-type rather than Dragon-type, which harkens back to Thunder Dragon and the archetype that it would inspire shortly afterwards. Mecha-Thunder King, like Mecha-Dogoran, is Machine-type.
Power Nullifier: Kumongous, at the cost of two Kaiju Counters from anywhere on the field, can negate the effects of a monster that is summoned. Furthermore, that monster cannot attack that turn.
Punny Name: In the OCG. Kaiju is usually spelled with the kanji for "strange beast" (怪獣). The archetype name, however, is spelled with the kanji for "destruction beast" (壊獣), also pronounced "kaiju".
Ro Beast: Jizukiru, Mecha-Dogoran, and Mecha-Thunder-King, all of whom are Machine-Type to boot.
Self-Duplication: Radian, at the cost of two Kaiju Counters from anywhere on the field, can create a clone of itself with the same ATK.
Status Effects: By using three Kaiju Counters Gandarla can halve the ATK and DEF of every other monster in the field.
T. Rexpy: Dogoran, as a Not Zilla, has some T. rex-like features, most notably with its facial structure, which fits with its Dinosaur typing.
There Can Only Be One: Only one Kaiju monster can be controlled by a player.
Weak, but Skilled: Gameciel is the weakest out of all the main Kaiju monsters with only 2200 ATK, however it has arguably the strongest Kaiju Counter-related effect out of all of them: By removing two Kaiju Counters, it can negate the opponent's activation of a card or effect then banish that card. And this effect is NOT "once per turn", meaning if you can accumulate enough Kaiju Counters to fuel Gameciel's effect: You can thereby shut your opponent down from doing anything.
Ultraman Copy: Radian, is heavily inspired on two famous villains from the Ultra Series that are Ultras themselves: Ultraman Belial and Dark Lugiel.

Karakuri

Animatronics are crazy, sometimes.

Karakuri monsters are an archetype of EARTH Machine-Type monsters based on mechanized Japanese puppets in the style of medieval Japanese characters. The rely on swarming the field and manipulating battle positions — a recurring effect is that Karakuri monsters must attack if able, and when attacked switch to Defense Position.

Angry Guard Dog: Karakuri Watchdog mdl 313 "Saizan". It also has the ability to give the other Karakuri more power when its controller takes Battle Damage from a battle involving this card.
Attack! Attack! Attack!: All non-Synchro "Karakuri" monsters must attack if able.
Combat Hand Fan: Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 "Burei" has a gunbai as his weapon.
Early-Installment Weirdness: Karakuri Spider was released before all the others and was originally called "Mechanical Spider" and on top of its far different appearance, blows up any DARK attribute monster it battles at the end of the Battle Phase.
Goroawase Number: All Karakuris have numeral names (with a multiplication pattern within these names; the first 2 numbers multiplied gets the last number), rather like model numbers for machines. However, these numbers feature distinctive pronunciations with a mix of kun'yomi and on'yomi readings (these are the readings written in the last quotation marks part of the Karakuris' TCG names), and typically reference some aspect of the Karakuris themselves.
- Karakuri Barrel mdl 96 "Shinkuro" -> "Synchro", referencing how it's the archetypal Tuner monster. The "shin" part of the reading comes from an extra 真 ("true") character in Barrel's OCG name that the TCG name did not translate.
- Karakuri Bonze mdl 9763 "Kunamzan" -> "namusan", which is a Japanese phrase loosely meaning "amen" rooted in Buddhist chants. It's a reference to how Bonze is based on a Buddhist monk.
- Karakuri Muso mdl 818 "Haipa" -> "hyper".
- Karakuri Ninja mdl 919 "Kuick" -> "quick". The name is also a reference to "kunoichi" (九ノ一), a name for female ninjas in Japanese that includes the characters for nine and one, referencing how Kuick is a female Karakuri ninja.
- Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X "Bureido" -> "blade". The "bu" sound for all the Karakuri Shoguns in the OCG name comes from the character 無 ("nothing"), which is rendered as a 0 in TCG. The "do" sound comes from an extra 怒 ("rage") character in the OCG name not translated in the TCG name.
- Karakuri Super Shogun mdl 00N "Bureibu" -> "brave". The second "bu" sound comes from another untranslated character 武 ("martial").
- Karakuri Gama mdl 4624 "Shirokunishi" is a Subversion; its designation is not a Goroawase Number wordplay but rather a reference to a Japanese common toad nicknamed "four-six toad" (四六のガマ) from Mount Tsukuba.
Improbable Weapon User: Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 "Burei"'s weapon resembles the Bansho Fan, an artifact from Journey to the West and Dragon Ball. It had the power to create massive gusts with each wave of the fan, which could also symbolize its ability to change battle monster positions on the field.
Intrepid Merchant: Karakuri Merchant mdl 177 "Inashichi". He helps out by retrieving any Karakuri card from your Deck when it's Normal Summoned.
Keep It Foreign: To make sure the Karakuri archetype stood out in the TCG, Konami kept the name untranslated.
Shown Their Work: Why do all the Main Deck Karakuri have those pesky "Must attack if able" and "If this card is selected as an attack target, change its battle position" effects? This is because their namesake, originally built in the Edo period, were rudimentary automatons only able to move in a predetermined pattern - so they don't have a choice whether to attack or defend.
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.
Zerg Rush: Karakuris were one of the earliest decks capable of Synchro spamming, particularly with their Tuners being targets for Machine Duplication. This allows them to call out multiple Shoguns by using their effects to summon more monsters for use as Synchro material, often translating into enough ATK on board for a one-turn kill.

Keeper

Adreus, Keeper of Armageddon

Tiras, Keeper of Genesis

Armades, Keeper of Boundaries

The Keepers are a trio of brothers, consisting of two Rank 5 Xyz Monsters and one Level 5 Synchro Monster known respectively as Adreus, Keeper of Armageddon; Tiras, Keeper of Genesis; and Armades, Keeper of Boundaries. Each of them has their own separate effect, but are tied together by their own shared lore.

Anti-Magic: If Armades attacks or is attacked, your opponent cannot activate cards or effects until the end of the damage step.
Forever War: The product page for Judgement Force tells of how Adreus and Tiras battled endlessly against each other for two years (ever since their release in Generation Force), until Armades decided to step in and stop the fighting between his brothers.
Glass Cannon: Adreus, Armades, and Tiras respectively have 2600, 2300, and 2600 ATK, but only 1700, 1500, and 1700 DEF.
No-Sell: Tiras cannot be destroyed by card effects. However, he needs to have at least one Xyz Material attached to him in order for his effect to work.

Koa'ki Meiru

The Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru, the lifeblood of the archetype

The Koa'ki Meirus are a varied Archetype; specifically designed at the time to be anti-meta, which at the time meant anti-LIGHT and DARK. Their effects range from effect negation to destroying cards to stopping the playing of cards. They also have high ATK for their Level, so they can counter almost anything. Their major weakness is their reliance on their power source, the Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru. Unless the player discards one at the end of their turn, or reveals a monster in their hand that's the same Type as their Koa'ki Meiru monster, Koa'ki Meiru monsters self-destruct at the end of the turn. Their strongest cards in term of stats are Koa'ki Meiru Maximus, Koa'ki Meiru Rooklord, and Koa'ki Meiru Valafar.

Achilles' Heel: They need the Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru or another monster of the same Type to stay in the field, otherwise they'll self-destruct at the end of the turn. Diamond Core provides a layer of protection, though only for a single turn.
BFG: The Core Blaster will destroy any LIGHT or DARK monster that battles the Koa'ki Meiru monster wielding it.
Brainwashed and Crazy: According to Master Guide 3, Kozaky implanted the Iron Core into verious living beings, transfiguring and mind-controlling them in the process.
"Unable to make artificial beasts on our own, we used this core to create them by using it on living creatures."
Creating Life: According to the Master Guide 3, Kozaky created "Koa'ki Meiru Powerhand" and "Koa'ki Meiru Sandman" as his first experiments with the Iron Core.
"We're finally ready, and for our first step, we've decided to amuse ourselves by implanting it into a pile of scraps and a doll made of sand. The experiment was a success, and next we shall use it on living things with a will of their own."
Depleted Phlebotinum Shells: Core Blaster uses the power of Iron Cores.
Flawed Prototype: Implied with Koa'ki Meiru Overdose. Its appearance and name suggest that it may be, in fact, unstable.
- Averted with the actual card called Koa'ki Meiru Prototype, which doesn't require a maintenance cost unlike most of the archetype and can, in fact, keep them around longer.
Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Koa'ki Meiru Shield has a similar artwork and effect to Mirror Force. When "Kozaky" and "Magical Scientist" were making the Koa'ki Meiru, they probably made equipment to protect their new species (possibly based off existing skills and technology). If this was true, then it would explain the similarity of "Koa'ki Meiru Shield" and "Mirror Force".
Our Dragons Are Different: Koa'ki Meiru Drago and Maximus. Maximus especially - The best way to describe it is as a weird mix between a dragon, a spider and a Xenomorph. Konami was known for sneaking Alien cameos in their games and Maximus might be one of them.
Phlebotinum Dependence: Koa'ki Meiru monsters need to be in close proximity with their own kind or be maintained by an Iron Core, or else they self-destruct.
Power at a Price: Most of their monsters are terrifically powerful for their levels, but need to be regularly maintained or they destroy themselves. Maximus, their strongest monster, appropriately has the steepest cost - it needs to banish an Iron Core just to be summoned and cannot be maintained by simply revealing a card, forcing the player to discard a Koa'ki Meiru card every turn to keep it alive.
Punny Name: "Koa'ki Meiru" is a stylized translation of "Core Chimail" and "Koa'ki" is a pun on "Kozaky", who's one of their creators.
Raising the Steaks: Ghoulungulate is an animated corpse of a certain animal.
Sigil Spam: They all have their team logo somewhere in their bodies. Exaggerated by Koa'ki Meiru Rooklord.
Visual Pun: Koa'ki Meiru War Arms' name and effect are a play on the fact that it is a bear that can equip itself; it has the ability to "bear arms".

Koala

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1090_3.jpg

Koalas are EARTH Beast-Type monsters who have more of a defensive-oriented playstyle with powerful Fusion Monsters. Included alongside them are other Beast-Type monsters like Des Kangaroo and Tree Otter, who can support koalas with their effects and fuse with them to bring out their full potential. They are used by Hayato Maeda/Chumley Huffington in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX as well as other unnamed duelists in Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL and Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V.

All Your Powers Combined:
- Master of Oz possesses the combined total ATK and DEF of both of its Fusion materials.
- Koalo-Koala's original ATK is the combined total of Sea Koala's DEF and Tree Otter's ATK, while its original DEF is vice-versa.
Badass Adorable: All of them are pretty cute-looking, but quite a few of them pack a punch and have decent effects going for them.
Boxing Kangaroo: Invoked by the art of both Des Kangaroo - and by extension, Master of Oz.
Damage-Increasing Debuff: Once per turn, Sea Koala can change the ATK of one monster your opponent controls to 0, but you must control another Beast-Type monster other than itself to activate and to resolve the effect.
Fusion Dance:
- Big Koala + Des Kangaroo = Master of Oz.
- Sea Koala + Tree Otter = Koalo-Koala.
Glass Cannon: Big Koala, Master of Oz, and Koalo-Koala are all very strong monsters in terms of ATK. However, they have nothing to protect themselves against effects that can cripple or destroy them. Even more so in regards to Koalo-Koala, who has 2800 ATK and the ability to destroy your opponent's monsters by discarding Beast-Type monsters, but has a measly 200 DEF, meaning it will be screwed if forced into Defense Position.
Life Drain: If Vampiric Koala inflicts battle damage to your opponent by battle with a monster, you can gain life points equal to the battle damage inflicted.
Mix-and-Match Critter: Master of Oz and Koalo-Koala both invoke this, the two of them being koalas that are half-kangaroo and half-otter respectively.
Unskilled, but Strong: Master of Oz has no special gimmicks, but it's almost as big of a beatstick as monsters like Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon at 4200 ATK and 3700 DEF, making it one of the strongest Fusion Monsters in the game in terms of stats.

Konami Arcade Games

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/konamigames.png

Insert Coins to Continue.

The Konami Arcade Game cards are a recurring series of cards based on Konami's shoot'em up video games, most notably Gradius. They aren't particularly strong on their own, but come with a variety of support cards, and have effects that usually activate when they successfully destroy an opponent's monster.

The B.E.S. archetype, coming from the Gradius series, also fall under this series.

Armor-Piercing Attack: Cyclon Laser allows Gradius to inflict Piercing damage if it attacks a Defense-position monster with lower DEF.
Attack Drone: Gradius' Option can only be special summoned if a Gradius is on the field, where it takes on Gradius' attack and defense. Several other Gradius-based cards can also summon Option tokens if they successfully destroy a monster.
Brain Monster: The Brain Golem is based off the first boss of Salamander. Like its original, it resembles an oversized human brain that attacks foes with its tentacles. Shooting the Brain Gole, in the eye destroys it. The artwork, in a divergence from the original Golem sprites, gives it multiple eyes. It has an effect that lets it negate face-up LIGHT monster effects and an effect that lets it attack again once it destroys a LIGHT monster, making it perfect against the Gradius-themed fighter ships, which have the LIGHT attribute.
Chicken Walker: The DUCKER Mobile Cannon, which are based of the same mooks in the Gradius games. Its flip effect could be seen as the DUCKER Mobile Cannon summoning its allies to attack the fighter ships as well.
Power Nullifier: Brain Golem negates the effects of all face-up LIGHT monsters.
Weak, but Skilled: Their attack points aren't impressive, but they have a lot of supporting effects and cards.
Zerg Rush: Since most of them are low-level LIGHT monsters, they're pretty easy to support and summon, and some of them can summon additional tokens to support you if they successfully destroy your opponent's monsters.

Kozmo

"Duel of the Fates", indeed.

Kozmo are an archetype based on both The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Star Wars and made their début in the TCG version of Clash of Rebellions. The Level 4 and lower monsters are based on characters from the two franchises, and banish themselves from the field to summon other Kozmo monsters from the hand; while the Level 5 and higher monsters are based on Star Wars ships with design elements from Wizard of Oz objects, and can banish themselves from the Graveyard upon destruction to summon another Kozmo monster from the deck. Together this allows the archetype to maintain field advantage and allow tag-outs of monsters to react to the opponent's moves.

Action Girl: Farmgirl (Dorothy combined with Luke Skywalker) is depicted as this.
Adaptational Attractiveness: Dark Lady (as seen in the "Kozmourning" artwork) and Goodwitch are both far more beautiful than the Star Wars characters that they adapt (Darth Vader and Yoda). As for their Oz counterparts, while Goodwitch obviously gets her beauty from Glinda, Dark Lady is also this trope to her counterpart Elphaba.
Alas, Poor Villain: Farmgirl and Goodwitch mourn Dark Lady's passing in the artwork for Kozmourning. The scene resembles both a sorrowful Dorothy regretting having to kill the Witch and Luke Skywalker mourning his father's death.
Amazon Brigade: The entire archetype consists of women, robots, a lion and spaceships. Although, the gender of the Soartrooopers is unknown.
Animesque: Played straight with the female Psychic-type monsters' designs as they were drawn by Genzoman, but inverted with their overall concept, as they combine two American media franchises.
Attack! Attack! Attack!: The archetype's bread and butter revolved around summoning high-powered monsters in quick succession during the battle phase to potentially wipe out the opponent's defences and life points in the first few turns.
Beauty Equals Goodness: As a carryover from the original Wizard of Oz, Goodwitch in her card artwork is depicted as a beautiful witch wielding a lightsaber, and Farmgirl is also quite cute. Contrasted against them is Wickedwitch who is partly cybernetic and more sinister in appearance. Dark Lady, however, while wearing a mask, is not scarred and deformed underneath as Darth Vader was; as shown in Kozmourning, her face is still beautiful.
Composite Character: Each card is a combination of a character/place/object from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and one from Star Wars.
- Goodwitch is a composite of the good witches from Oz and Obi-Wan from Star Wars, with elements of Qui-Gon Jinn and Yoda from the latter (her lightsword is green like Qui-Gon's, and her robes take some inspiration from his, also she shares Yoda's pointy ears and green complexion). She also has a couple elements of Han Solo, wearing a similar brown vest and being the apparent pilot of Kozmo Forerunner, the archetype's equivalent to the Millennium Falcon.
- Similarly, Wickedwitch combines elements of the wicked witches with Darth Maul (using his distinctive dual-bladed lightsaber) and Darth Vader (she appears at least partially cybernetic).
- Farmgirl is a more straightforward fusion of Dorothy and Luke Skywalker. Amusingly, her appearance is closer to that of Luke's wife in Legends canon, Mara Jade.
- Strawman is a combination of the Scarecrow and C-3PO.
- Tincan is a combination of the Tin Man and R2-D2
- Soartroopers are based on the Winged Monkeys and Imperial Stormtroopers.
- Scaredy Lion is a combination of the Cowardly Lion and Chewbacca.
- Dark Lady is a combination of the Wicked Witch of the West and Darth Vader, more directly for both.
- Dark Planet combines the Death Star with the Wicked Witch's castle.
- Kozmotown combines the Emerald City with Coruscant.
Cool Spaceship: The good guys have Kozmo Forerunner and Kozmo Sliprider; the bad guys have Kozmo DOG Fighter, Kozmo Dark Destroyer, Kozmo Dark Eclipser, and Kozmo Delta Shuttle.
Cowardly Lion: The Trope Namer appears as Scaredy Lion, combined with Chewbacca.
Dark Is Evil: The villains and their ships are all DARK monsters.
Evil Makes You Ugly: Curiously enough, while the trope hold true for both the characters Dark Lady is composed of, Dark Lady herself subverts the trope; as Kozmourning shows, she's still beautiful under her mask.
Faceless Goons: Kozmo Soartroopers is one card depicting three soldiers in black armor with metal wings, combining the Stormtroopers and Flying Monkeys.
Gadgeteer Genius: Dorothy/ Farmgirl is also this, having restored the derelict Kozmo Sliprider for her own use and building her personal mechanical companion^noteToto in her artwork.
Glass Cannon: When they hit, they hit fast and mercilessly. Slow them down or neutralize their effects, and they're not nearly as threatening. In addition, despite having high ATK, most of their more powerful members have relatively poor DEF.
Green-Skinned Space Babe: Goodwitch has green skin and pointy ears like Master Yoda.
Kill Sat: Dark Planet, the "boss" of the archetype, is a space station much like the Death Star, but cylindrical rather than spherical.
Laser Blade: As befitting an Archetype referencing Star Wars, Farmgirl, Goodwitch and Wickedwitch use 'lightswords', which are lightsabers in all but name.
Light Is Good: The hero characters and their vehicles are all LIGHT monsters.
Malevolent Masked Men: Kozmoll Dark Lady since she is a combination of the Wicked Witch and Darth Vader.
May the Farce Be with You: The cards are pastiches of Star Wars (and Oz) characters, vehicles and locations.
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Owing to the two characters she combines, Dark Lady is a masked space witch with a Laser Blade.
Off to See the Wizard: The cards are pastiches of Oz (and Star Wars) characters, vehicles and locations.
Public Domain Stories: Oz is one of these.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: As befitting an Expy of Darth Maul, Kozmoll Wickedwitch wears a black cloak and wields a dual-bladed red lightsword.
Robot Buddy: The hero characters have Strawman and Tincan as such.
Robot Dog: Farmgirl has one big enough for her to ride like a pony, a reference to Dorothy's pet Toto.
Shout-Out:
- As you might guess, the entire archetype is one for Star Wars and Wizard of Oz. They even reference both the red slippers from the movie version (Kozmo Sliprider) and the original silver shoes (Kozmoll Wickedwitch's boots, as well as Kozmo Forerunner)
- The artwork of Kozmo Lightsword is an obvious recreation of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn's duel against Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace.
- Kozmoll Wickedwitch and Kozmoll Dark Lady are shout-outs to a specific Oz adaptation; in the Japanese game their names are Kozmo - Dark Rose and Kozmo - Dark Elphaiber
Transplanted Character Fic: The Oz characters in a Star Wars setting, naturally.
Wicked Witch: Kozmoll Wickedwitch, who's also the counterpart of Darth Maul for the Kozmo Archetype; also, Kozmo Dark Lady, who combines the Wicked Witch of the West with Darth Vader.

Kuriboh

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kuri.png

The unofficial Series Mascot.

Kuribohs are in the running for Series Mascot. An archetype of small monsters that are usually Level 1 with 300 ATK and 200 DEF. They act as supporters, mostly by protecting the player from damage. To date, every series has had a main character use some form of Kuriboh — Yugi Mutou had Kuriboh, Judai/Jaden Yuki had Winged Kuriboh, Luca/Luna has Kuribon, Yuma has Kurivolt and Rainbow Kuriboh while Kaito/Kite has Kuriphoton, and Yusaku has Linkuriboh while Ai has Linguriboh. The 5D's and ARC-V mangas had Junkuriboh and Performapal Kuriborder used by Yusei and Yuya respectively. The strongest of them is Judai's Winged Kuriboh LV10, which can destroy all enemy monsters and damage the opponent equal to the ATK of those monsters.

Action Bomb:
- Detonate's effect destroys all Kuriboh and Kuriboh tokens on your side of the field, then allows you to destroy the same number of cards your opponents controls.
- Winged Kuriboh LV10's effect lets it be sacrificed, so that it destroys all of your opponent's monsters and inflicts damage according to the sum of their ATK.
Anti-Magic: Winged Kuriboh LV9's effect banishes all spell cards your opponent plays. Paradoxically, its Atk is also determined by the number of spells in their graveyard.
Back from the Dead: Both of Kuribohrn's effects can revive monsters from the graveyard.
Composite Character: In the Scripted Duels, Kuribandit was Normal Summoned as the other Five Kuriboh Brothers and Five Star Twilight hadn't been released yet but it retained its anime effect, namely allowing Yami Yugi to Tribute it at any time and add the non-Monster cards he found to his hand whereas the real life one can only be Tributed during the End Phase and you can add only one Spell/Trap card.
Dark Is Not Evil: Kuriboh and some of its retrains are of DARK attribute, but it and its counterparts are consistently portrayed as benevolent in the anime.
Explosive Breeder: Multiply has this effect on Kuriboh. In the card game, it merely fills your monster zones with as many tokens as possible, but in the anime it actually produces a wall of Kuribohs that keeps growing with time.
Fusion Dance:
- As demonstrated in a duel against Rafael, Kuriboh fused with Kuriba, Kuribe, Kuribi and Kuribu can become either Kuribabylon or Kuribandit. The latter was released in the TCG as a simple effect monster.
- Winged Kuriboh and Light and Darkness Dragon were fused together by Judai in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX manga to form Ma'at.
The Goomba: Kuriboh is one of the weakest monsters. Curiously, Kuribō is also the Japanese name for the Trope Namer.
Holy Hand Grenade: Winged Kuriboh LV10's effect destroys every monster on the opponent's side of the field and inflicts their combined attacks as burn damage.
Magic Music: Used in Flute of Summoning Kuriboh to add Kuriboh to the hand or to Special Summon Winged Kuriboh.
Our Demons Are Different: Most members of the archetype are Fiend-type monsters, yet look like adorable balls of fur.
Palette Swap: Wretched Ghost of the Attic is a Kuriboh monster in all but name.
Punny Name:
- Kuribon's name is a pun on Kuriboh and Ribbon. Fittingly, Kuribon has a ribbon attached to its tail.
- Relinkuriboh's name is a reference to Relinquished. Fittingly, its appearance bears some similarities to Relinquished and the two cards have good synergy with one another.
- Again with Kuribohrn whose name is a pun on Kuriboh and Reborn.
Ridiculously Cute Critter: All of them qualify, barring Kuribabylon under the Seal of Orichalcos.
Scary Impractical Armor: Winged Kuriboh LV9 and Winged Kuriboh LV10 wear a ridiculously stylized red armor that somehow makes them look majestic.
Series Mascot: Kuriboh or one of its variants has appeared in every anime or manga adaptation so far.
Taking the Bullet: Rainbow Kuriboh can summon itself from the graveyard to protect the player from a direct attack.
Theme Naming: Every member of this archetype has some variant of "Kuriboh" in it's name, whether tacked on, inserted in, or changing it following a "Kurib-" basis.
Weak, but Skilled: It's one of the weakest monsters in all incarnations of the game, but it can be used in more ways than one. This also applies to the other Kuri monsters as well.

Kurikara Divincarnate

Kurikara Divincarnate is a Level 1 FIRE Fairy-Type monster that punishes opponents for using monster effects. According to the Valuable Book EX 3, this effect represents the Divincarnate punishing evil itself.

Anthropomorphic Personification: The lore describes her as the manifestation of the punishment for evil.
BFS: Her gigantic sword itself is described as a blade of wisdom. It is so big, that the artwork barely covers its majesty. According to her concept art, this blade could only be lifted through divine power. This blade is called the Flamesword of Prajna.
Divine Race Lift: Acala, the wielder/true form of Kurikara in Buddhism, is usually depicted as a brutish male deity with black or dark blue skin in Indian depictions or red or yellow skin in Japanese ones. In either case, it's a far cry from the depiction in this game.
Horned Humanoid: According to the concept art, the fires emitting out of her forehead are her horns.
Kill It with Fire: According to the Valuable Book EX 3, Kurikara Divincarnate uses her blade of wisdom to cut down the impure and return them to ashes.
Knight Templar: According to the lore, she is the punishment for evil and so will kill evil with the help of her hellfire dragon lord buddy.
Playing with Fire: Her outfit has fiery motifs. Her background shows a raging fire and she has the assistance of a hellfire dragon. There's no doubt that she can manipulate fire. In fact, she's incarnated to punish evil by returning them to ashes.
Power Floats: According to her concept art, she moves around by floating. Such a feat could only be achieved with great power.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: In Buddhism, Kurikara is the dragon coiled around the Kurikara-ken, the sword wielded by the wrathful deity Acala (and, in some depictions, an incarnation of Acala himself). Like the Divincarnate, Acala is characterized as a destroyer of evil.

Labrynth

Welcome to my parlor.

Labrynth (and sub-archetype "Welcome Labrynth") is an archetype of DARK Fiend monsters that focus on using Normal Trap Cards, both in and out of their archetype. Lore-wise, the Labrynth monsters manage a palatial castle known as "Labrynth Labyrinth", headed by the great "Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle" and filled to the brim with deadly traps that will make quick work of the least careless of adventuers. Braving the dangers of the silver castle is a lone female Knight, Lady Labrynth's arch-nemesis whose expertise and skill allows her to outmaneuver the Labrynth's traps with ease.

The Ace: The nameless female knight in the artworks of the Trap cards, who easily trounces the traps set out by Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle's servants. It seems Ms. Knight has Seen It All, judging by the expression on her face—or at least, gone through this a lot.
Animate Inanimate Object: The lower-leveled Chandraglier, Stovie Torbie, and Cooclock are all living pieces of furniture. Candraglier attacks by using its hot candle wax or by dropping on its foes. Stovie Torbie attacks by hurling hot firewood with its tail or by lashing its foes with its fiery tongue.
Battle Butler: Arias the Labrynth Butler, as her name implies. In addition to being a Badass in a Nice Suit, she has the unique ability to send herself from your hand or field to the Graveyard during either players' Main Phase to either Special Summon a "Labrynth" monster or set a Normal Trap from your hand, with the added bonus of being able to activate that set Trap on the turn it is played.
Boss Room: The castle's garden is described as "a stage for the final battle".
Creating Life: Arias has the ability to create life with her tea set.
The Dragon: Labrynth Archfiend, a living suit of armor and almost as strong as its mistress. Indeed, while Archfiend's 2000 ATK starts out weaker than Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle, it can gain ATK for every Normal Trap in your Graveyard—and its 2800 DEF makes it the toughest shield in the archetype.
Early-Bird Cameo: Arias the Labrynth Butler first appeared as the black-and-blue silhouette in the artwork of Big Welcome Labrynth before she was officially revealed on July 2023.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: In lore, the Aria sisters are incredibly worried about Lovely donning her Lady form and rushing out of her chambers to meet the knight, as Lady isn't immune to the traps of the castle; in game, Lady is untargetable by the opponent and can't be destroyed by card effects as long as there's a set trap, which is the exact opposite.
Homoerotic Subtext: Lovely could not be any less subtle. A doll of herself and Miss Knight are sat together in her original card art, her axe is the sapphically associated labrys, she's welcoming Miss Knight with a heart shaped gust of flower petals in Big Welcome, and the romaji name of the archetype includes ラビュ, or rabyu, the romaji form of 'love you'. The reference art depicts her a lot less energetic when Ms. Knight doesn't show up. And even if Miss Knight is deadpan in every appearance so far, she still keeps coming to visit... Whenever the Labyrnth archetype's Fiend monsters have tea, their cookies are even shaped like Miss Knight's head.
Intelligible Unintelligible: Based on the storyline contained in the Valuable Book EX 3, the furniture-based monsters can easily communicate their thoughts to the servants, despite lacking the capability of speech.
Let's Get Dangerous!: Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle gets serious in her Lady of the Labrynth form as seen by her outfit changing into a more battle-ready attire. Her effects even show that she's truly the master of hidden traps.
Leeroy Jenkins: Lovely/Lady definitely has shades of this in her latter form. At the slightest hint of anything, be it another Labrynth effect or a Trap going off, she can summon herself to the field immediately. She has to do this in defense position, however, possibly implying a bit of hastiness she has to recover from before she can properly fight.
Living Statue: According to the Card Art Works, the servants of the archetype are made of stone, but their hair isn't. Arias complains about having to groom her hair as a result. Labrynth Archfiend can stand still and pretend to be a statue as well.
Theme Naming:
- The servants of the Labyrnth archetype are based on Ariadne from Greek Mythology's Labyrinth. In particular, Arias is based on the misinterpretation of the Arias statue^notenow known as a statue of Dionysus as Ariadne, which explains her androgynous appearance quite handily.
- The non-Fiend type monsters are named after various pieces of furniture, with the exception of Archfiend.
Ninja Maid: Both Labrynth Servants, Arianna and Ariane, are the Silver Castle's maids. Although they set the traps and keep the place tidy, they can hold their own in battle as well.
Noblewoman's Laugh: According to her concept art, Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle does this every time Ms. Knight shows up. Big Welcome Labrynth depicts Lovely taunting Ms. Knight like this.
Playboy Bunny: The concept art notes of Silver Castle: "She’s sorta Bunny Girl-ish (i.e. She’s got a Casino Game Table Dealer thing going on)".
Pretty Princess Powerhouse: Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle may look dainty, but she still has 2900 or 3000 ATK
Trap Master: The archetype's playstyle is to use Trap Cards to remove opposing monsters from the field and activate their own card effects. Many of these effects not only support Trap Cards, but encourage the usage of splashable, staple Traps like Mirror Force. In lore, the castle has many fake entrances to trick intruders. There's even a fake entrances with an endless staircase.
Villains Out Shopping: In her concept art, Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle is making a card pyramid to pass the time while waiting for Ms. Knight.
Workaholic: It didn't make it to her official artwork, but an earlier sketch of Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle put bags under her eyes, presumably from all the time she spent cooking up snares for the knight.
Worthy Opponent: Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle feels that Ms. Knight is worthy enough to pass the trials of her castle, and considers any day she doesn't show up on her doorstep a dull one indeed.

Lair of Darkness / Diabolos

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lair_of_darkness__artwork.jpg

Darkest Diabolos in his Lair.

Lair of Darkness is a series of cards related to the titular Field Spell. Lair of Darkness allows you to tribute one of your opponent’s monsters once per turn as a cost to activate your card effects. The boss monster of this series is Darkest Diabolos, Lord of the Lair, a monster that can Special Summon itself when a monster you control is tributed, as well as reduce your opponent’s hand at a cost of tributing a monster.

Atop a Mountain of Corpses: Downplayed, but Lair of Darkness depicts Darkest Diabolos roaring triumphantly in the middle of a battlefield, with Torment Tokens rising from the deceased creatures around him.
Dark Is Evil: The monsters associated with the Lair of Darkness are DARK attribute, and they are very malevolent.
Dragons Are Demonic: Diabolos, of course. So much so there's a rather humorous error that promotes Fiendish Rhino Warrior milling Darkest Diabolos for future Summoning - that cannot be achieved as Darkest Diabolos is a Dragon, not a Fiend.
Hellhound: Ahrima, the Wicked Warden is a dog-like Fiend that can search for Darkest Diabolos and Lair of Darkness. This symbolizes its role as the harbinger of hell.
Like Cannot Cut Like: Diabolos cannot be tributed by your opponent, which means it is immune to the effect of Lair of Darkness.
No-Sell: Darkest Diabolos can't be tributed by your opponent's cards.
Plaguemaster: Lair of Darkness promotes the usage of the Virus Traps (Lilith outright making them searchable) to tribute your opponent's monsters and shred their hand, field and deck apart.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: Darkest Diabolos, Lord of the Lair is primarily black with red Tron Lines.
Satanic Archetype: Diabolos’ name means “devil,” and it's a demonic dragon that rules over an evil realm.

Legendary Dragons / Legendary Knights

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/legendarydragons.png

The legendary dragons Critias, Hermos, and Timaeus.

Legendary Dragons are a group of Spell Cards that first appeared in the "Waking the Dragons" arc of Duel Monsters and had the ability to combine themselves with other cards. Their true forms are the Legendary Knights

which can be summoned through the Spell Card Legend of Heart

Anti-Magic: Each of the knights has an effect that allows them to banish a face-up Spell or Trap Card when they are summoned. This is obviously meant as a counter to the Seal of Orichalcos.
Arch-Enemy: In the anime, they are the leaders of the monsters who oppose the Orichalcos.
Dark Is Not Evil: Doom Virus Dragon, Red-Eyes Dragon Sword, and the two Timaeus Fusions are all DARK monsters, yet are used by the protagonists.
Dragon Rider: Timaeus's Fusion forms consist of Dark Magician Girl or Dark Magician using Timaeus as a mount.
Equippable Ally: Hermos's Fusion forms are all weapons. In the anime, they're Equip Spells, and in the game, they're Fusion Monsters with an effect that equips themselves to a monster on summon.
Forced Transformation: The knights were all turned into dragons to weaken them.
Fusion Dance: The Legendary Dragons can fuse with other cards. Timaeus can combine with any Dark Magician monster to bring out their evolved Fusion forms. Critias can merge with Trap Cards to form Fusion Monsters. Hermos combines with monsters to create Fusion Monsters that can equip themselves to other monsters^noteEquip Cards in the anime. The three knights have their own combined form called Timaeus the Knight of Destiny.
Knight in Shining Armor: The dragons' true forms, the Legendary Knights.
Light Is Good: The Legendary Knights, their combined form, as well as the majority of their fusions are all LIGHT monsters.
Living Weapon: The Fusions summoned with the Claw of Hermos take the form of inanimate objects, yet are still considered monsters.
Our Dragons Are Different: The Legendary Dragons were knights turned into dragons and became weaker as the result. In the anime, they seem to be their own type of cards, as they can be played like any monster card, yet they have no stats whatsoever and they fuse with other cards instead, with each of the three dragons having his own gimmick. In real life, the Legendary Dragons simply are Spell Cards and substitute as Dragon-Type monsters that are needed as Fusion Materials for their Fusions.
Shout-Out: All three take their names from Plato's dialogues (an abbreviated version in the case of Hermos).

Legendary Planets

It is with us now. Laughing at us.

Legendary Planets, also known as the Planet Series, are a series of ten cards that appear in the Yu-Gi-Oh GX manga, based around the celestial bodies in the solar system. While being possessed by Tragoedia, Edo Phoenix's father created them.

Elemental HERO Terra Firma was used by Judai/Jaden Yuki, The Big Saturn by David Rabb, Splendid Venus by Reggie MacKenzie, The Tyrant Neptune by Jim Crocodile Cook, The Despair Uranus by Amon Garam/Adrian Gecko, The Tripper Mercury by Johan Andersen/Jesse Anderson, The Grand Jupiter by Edo/Aster Phoenix, The Blazing Mars by Austin O'Brien/Axel Brodie, The Suppression Pluto by Fubuki Tenjoin/Atticus Rhodes, and The Supremacy Sun by President MacKenzie. However, most users were possessed by Tragoedia while playing them.

All Your Powers Combined: The Tyrant Neptune gains the total ATK and DEF of all monsters that were tributed to summon him as well as the effect of one of them.
Back from the Dead:
- The Blazing Mars can Special Summon himself from the Graveyard with his effect.
- Should The Supremacy Sun be destroyed, he can be revived at the start of the next turn by discarding a card.
Dub Name Change: From Planet Series to Legendary Planet. As for individual members of the series, their names weren't altered apart from removing the capitalization of the planet's names, although a few of them did receive some changes.
- Elemental HERO The Earth —> Elemental HERO Terra Firma.
- The Splendid Venus —> Splendid Venus.
- The Tripping Mercury —> The Tripper Mercury.
Foil: Elemental HERO Terra Firma and The Grand Jupiter can be seen to each other. Both are Level 8 Warrior-Type monsters with 2500 ATK and 2000 DEF and with the ability to absorb another monster's ATK. This might be intentional, since their owners are Judai and Edo, respectively.
Fusion Dance: Terra Firma is the fused form of Elemental HEROes Ocean and Woodsman.
Irony: Despite being based on the sun, The Supremacy Sun is a DARK monster. Actually invoked, as Tragoedia did this intentionally.
Light Is Not Good: Splendid Venus is used by an antagonist in the GX manga, and she has an effect that cripples any non-Fairy-Type monster on the field, implying that she is prejudiced against anyone who isn't a Fairy-Type monster.
MacGuffin: Along with Winged Kuriboh, Tragoedia tries to use the Legendary Planets to unseal his heart.
Reptiles Are Abhorrent: The Tyrant Neptune is a Reptile-Type monster and was used by a Brainwashed and Crazy Jim in the manga.
Spell My Name with a "The": All of the Legendary Planet cards have a "The" somewhere in their name. Averted with the English names of The Earth and The Splendid Venus, as the former was changed to Terra Firma and in the latter's case, the "The" was removed.
Theme Naming: They are named after celestial bodies (primarily planets) from our solar system. In addition, with the exception of Terra Firma, all cards from the series follow the same pattern: The (adjective or noun) Planet.
Token Good Teammate: Terra Firma and The Grand Jupiter are the only Legendary Planets not to be used by a villain or a Brainwashed and Crazy character.
Two Girls to a Team: Splendid Venus and The Tripper Mercury are the only female Legendary Planet monsters.

Libromancer

Libromancers are a Ritual-focused archetype that are based around a group of students that have the power to transform into or call forth powerful entities through summoning magic. The word Libromancer itself is a portmanteau of "libro" (from the latin root word liber meaning "book") and "mancer" which is a name for a practitioner of a specific type of mystical art, indicating that their specialty is manipulation of literature. Notably, each of their Ritual boss monsters seems to be a reference to a certain type of book, from classical novels to modern day comics and manga.

Anthropomorphic Personification: Each of their Ritual monsters seems to represent a physical embodiment of a different type of literature:
- Firestarter and Fireburst both seem to be a shout out to the action/superhero genre. In fact, the duo is based on the concept artist's beloved American comics and the Americanness inspired by a visit to a Comic-Con long ago.
- Mystigirl is a mix of the magical girl and regular high fantasy genre.
- Doombroker primarily invokes the mystery/horror genre. Doombroker is a vigilante who brings judgement to those who the law can't judge.
Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Despite not needing to wear glasses in the Doombroker form, Agent tends to adjust his non-existent glasses.
Dark Is Not Evil: Libromancer Doombroker seems to be this as while he has a dark costume and gloomy disposition he is shown to be a vital part of the team and can even be seen performing what appears to be a rescue in the artwork of the Libromancer Intervention trap card.
Fighter, Mage, Thief: Each of their ritual monsters fits one of these three classic archetypes:
- Firestarter and Fireburst are both fighters that specialize in physical combat and have several battle related abilities such as ATK gain, effect immunities and the ability to deal extra battle damage.
- Mystigirl is the mage with a strong focus on defense and protection over physical might and comes with the ability to grant support to her fellow ritual monsters and temporarily reduce an opponent's monster to 0 ATK while nullifying its effects.
- Lastly, Doombroker is the thief, having pretty average overall stats for a boss monster and a heavy focus on subversion and tripping the opponent up. He has powers that let him attack directly, set additional Libromancer traps each turn and can send an opposing monster straight back to the deck.
Fusion Dance: The main deck monsters fuse with in-universe fictional book characters to achieve their ritual monster forms. The term Libromancer this refers to the magical art of book manipulation.
Magical Girl: Mystigirl seems to be a reference to the magical girl genre of manga as well as possibly the entire fantasy genre in general. (She's also classified as a fairy type rather than a spellcaster type, possibly making her connection to classic fantasy a bit stronger.)
Magic Skirt: Despite wearing shorts underneath her skirt, the concept artist took aim to avoid angles where Magigirl's shorts are visible.
Power Fist: Libromancer Fireburst can be seen using giant flaming fists as his primary weapon. Naturally, he also serves as one of the archetypes main offensive powerhouses with a ton of battle related abilities and a starting ATK/DEF of 2800.
Power Nullifier: When special summoned Mystigirl can immediately zap an opposing monster down to zero attack points and temporarily short out its effects. This only works for a single turn however, and her low ATK score of 1400 means she'll likely need some support to get any good mileage out of this effect.
Refugee from TV Land: The plot for the Libromancer archetype, according to the VBEX3, is about fictional book characters invading the city by hijacking people's bodies. It's up to our protagonists to fuse with the heroes and save the day.

Light and Darkness Dragon & Ma'at

Light and Darkness Dragon

^Ma'at

Light and Darkness Dragon is the composite of Light End Dragon and Dark End Dragon, as well as Jun Manjoume's/Chazz Princeton's ace monster and spirit card in the GX manga. Winged Kuriboh transfered the Feather of Ma'at from itself to Light and Darkness, resulting that Light and Darkness became the enemy of Tragoedia.

Ma'at is the fusion between Light and Darkness Dragon and Winged Kuriboh; she wields the power of the seven Millennium Items and is Tragoedia's biggest nemesis. The Millennium Item she is associated the most with is the Millennium Scale.

Adaptational Badass:
- Light End Dragon and Dark End Dragon were originally only Effect Monsters in the GX manga, but they are Synchro Monsters in the OCG/TCG.
- Light and Darkness Dragon is one of the main reasons why Manjoume is much more badass in the manga than in the anime.
Anti-Magic: In cost of losing 500 ATK and DEF, Light and Darkness Dragon can negate the activation of Spell and Trap Cards and Monster Effects once per chain during either player's turn.
Badass Cape: Ma'at wears a cape that resembles the capes of the Pharaoh's high priests.
Belly Mouth: Dark End Dragon has not only a belly mouth, but a belly face.
Breath Weapon:
- Light and Darkness Dragon has two of these: Shining Breath and Dark Baptism.
- Dark End Dragon attacks with Dark Fog with its regular mouth. Its Belly Mouth has also one: Dark Evaporation, which is the effect that sends a monster to the Graveyard.
Call-Back: The Feather of Ma'at was originally used by Shadi in the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga. It comes back in the GX manga and it plays a major role in Tragoedia's backstory and eventual defeat.
Cast from Hit Points: All three dragons have effects that make them lose 500 ATK and DEF, but in turn, they can unleash powerful effects simultaneously.
- Light End decreases the ATK and DEF of the monster it battles. This effect can be used multple times per turn.
- Dark End can send a monster the opponent controls to the Graveyard once per turn.
- Light and Darkness can negate the activation of Spell and Trap Cards or Monster Effects once per chain during either player's turn.
Dark Is Not Evil:
- Dark End Dragon is not evil and is used by Manjoume, the Deuteragonist of the GX manga.
- Light and Darkness Dragon is more light than darkness and its dark side is not evil, either.
Dragged Off to Hell: In cost of losing 500 ATK and DEF, Dark End Dragon can send a monster the opponent controls to the Graveyard. It doesn't destroy it, it sends it to the Graveyard. Given its devilish characteristics and the fact that its Dark Evaporation effect does drag off the opponent's monster under the ground, it's a perfect analogy.
Fusion Dance:
- Light End Dragon and Dark End Dragon are the composite of Light and Darkness Dragon.
- Ma'at was a Fusion Monster in the GX manga, the fusion between Light and Darkness Dragon and Winged Kuriboh. In the OCG/TCG, she is only an Effect Monster.
Good Wings, Evil Wings: Light End Dragon has angel wings, Dark End Dragon has devil wings, and Light and Darkness Dragon has both of them.
Heroic Sacrifice: Light and Darkness Dragon and Winged Kuriboh sacrifice their lives to seal Tragoedia once again.
Light Is Good: All of the LIGHT monsters are good monsters. Light End Dragon has resemblance to angels, Light and Darkness Dragon's dominant side is the light, and Ma'at wields the sacred powers of the Millennium Items, but she does not use their dark powers.
Screw the Rules, I Have Supernatural Powers!: In the manga, Judai only manages to pull off Ma'at's effect six time in a row because the Millennium Items wielded by her allow him to see the cards he is going to draw.
Status Effects: In cost of losing 500 ATK and DEF, Light End Dragon can decrease the ATK and DEF of the monster it battles by 1500 until the End Phase. This effect is called Light Expansion.
Take Up My Sword: When Light and Darkness Dragon is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, you can target a monster in your Graveyard; destroy all cards you control and Special Summon that target. Since Light and Darkness cannot be Special Summoned at all, it can only Special Summon a replacement.
Taking You with Me: Unfortunately, when Light and Darkness is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, all cards you control are destroyed, but it gives you the opportunity to Special Summon a monster from your Graveyard. Whether you Special Summon or not doesn't matter; your field is gone. However, since it is an effect that requires right timing, this effect will not be triggered if the timing is missed.
Yin-Yang Bomb: Light and Darkness Dragon has two halves. The right half represents the light and the left side represents the darkness. Light and Darkness is primarily a LIGHT monster, but it is also a DARK monster as well.

Lightray

Lightray is a series of monsters who are LIGHT versions of existing monsters. Most of them are Special Summoned by having a certain number of cards banished or in the Graveyard, and focus on banishing LIGHT monsters and supporting LIGHT Attribute monsters.

Anti-Magic:
- Once per turn, Lightray Daedalus can destroy one Field Spell Card alongside two other cards on the field.
- When a Spell/Trap card is activated, Lightray Gearfried can banish one Warrior-Type monster from your graveyard to negate its activation and destroy it.
Gold and White Are Divine: They all wear white and gold in their attires.
Good Counterpart: They can be considered this to the Dark Counterpart monsters.
Hoist by His Own Petard: You have to be careful when running more than one of them, as using their abilities too much won't leave you with many monsters to play late in the game. It's an even bigger risk if your deck revolves around summoning or retrieving monsters from the graveyard.
No-Sell: Lightray Madoor can prevent its destruction by battle once per turn.

Lightsworn

Forward, the Light Brigade!

Lightsworns, called Lightlord in the OCG, is an archetype of LIGHT monsters. They often have strong effects and good support cards, but can be costly — Lightsworns either mill cards from the deck to use their effects, or mill cards at the end of the turn to stay on the field. Thus the player runs the risk of milling good cards to the Graveyard, or even running out of cards and losing. Their strongest card is Judgment Dragon, who can destroy the field for a cost of 1000 Life Points.

A sub-series known as the Twilightsworns

(Twilightroads in the OCG) was later released, consisting of DARK versions of Lightsworn monsters whose effects require you to banish Lightsworns from your hand or Graveyard and mill the deck whenever another Lightsworn monster’s effect is activated. Their strongest card is Punishment Dragon, who can shuffle all cards in the Graveyards and all face-up banished cards other than Lightsworn monsters at the cost of 1000 life points. Lore-wise, they are connected to the Dark World archetype through the cards that tell of their origins.

Action Girl:
- Shire. Sure, she only has 400 ATK but she gains 300 ATK extra for each Lightsworn monster with different name in the graveyard.
- Felis, who can Special Summon herself when milled and acts as a Tuner for the summoning of their Synchro.
Archangel Michael: Michael the Arch-Lightsworn gets his name from the Archangel Michael, as he looks like an angel.
Ascended Demon: Weiss, Lightsworn Archfiend is a Lightsworn version of Snoww, Unlight of Dark World.
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 can resurrect a Lightsworn monster from the Graveyard at the cost of discarding one card from the hand.
Big Good: Either their Synchro monster Michael or Judgment Dragon count as this, being the boss monsters of the archetype.
Brainwashed and Crazy: Judging by the artwork of Dark World Brainwashing, this is what creates the Twilightsworn.
Dark Is Not Evil: The Twilightsworn monsters are seemingly Evil Counterparts to the Lightsworn monsters, but Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel claims that they are Lightsworn monsters wearing the Twilight Cloth, black magical cloth that lets them manipulate darkness, in desperate situations. The notable ones so far are Jain, Lyla, Lumina and Ryko. Judgement Dragon also has a Twilightsworn counterpart in Punishment Dragon.
Death Is Not Permanent: If the Lightsworn fall in the real world, they return to the Realm of Light. However they have immortal souls, so they can continue to dispense justice with another temporary body.
Distaff Counterpart: Felis has the same effect as Wulf; also Felis is a Cat Girl and Wulf is a Wolf Man.
Dragon Rider: Michael the Arch-Lightsworn is riding Judgment Dragon in his card art. This indicates that he is the true leader of the Lightsworn, as he has tamed their mightiest beast.
Druid: Aurkus is the group's druid. He classified as Beast-Warrior as druids can change into deadly animals on command.
Dub Name Change: Lightlord in the OCG, Lightsworn in the TCG.
Female Feline, Male Mutt: Felis' and Rinyan's are the feline to Wulf's and Ryko's mutt.
Fusion Dance: Judgement Dragon and Punishment Dragon can be fused through Contact Fusion to form Enlightenment Dragon.
Gender-Blender Name: This is the main reason why Lightlord was changed by the translators.
"Lord" is a male title, the female equivalent is "Lady". "Lightlord" would be a fine title if all of the monsters were male - which they are not. You would have to use "Lightlord" for the male monsters and "Lightlady" for the female ones. But what about Ryko and Gragonith, are they "Lightlord" or "Lightlady"? Perhaps we'd need a 3rd category, called "Lighthing". Or perhaps "Lightit". Also you'd need to change things like Judgment Dragon to work off of "Lightlord and/or Lightlady". Or even "Lightlord / Lightlady / Lightit monsters".
Glass Cannon: 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, and they have basically no protection from card effects or any form of destruction. Special mention also goes out to Lyla, who has a reasonable 1700 ATK and a Spell/Trap Card destruction effect. Trouble is, said effect also shifts her into Defense Position and cannot be changed manually until the end of the next turn, and she has a very paltry 200 DEF.
Gold and White Are Divine: To go with their Warrior Heaven theme, most Lightsworn monsters' designs make liberal use of white and gold.
Goggles Do Nothing: Ehren wears goggles as a part of her outfit. She most likely wears them as a fashion statement as she clearly doesn't place them over her eyes.
Guest-Star Party Member: Weiss, Lightsworn Archfiend is the Lightsworn counterpart of Snoww, Unlight of Dark World.
Inconsistent Dub: In Spanish, there is a discrepancy since some monsters are called "Luminoso(s)/sa(s)" while others are called "Lightsworn(s)", making it difficult to determinate that they are monsters of the same archetype.
Knight Templar: Judgement Dragon is the greatest weapon of the Lightsworn who judges criminals of crimes both large and small, with equal disdain. With incredible power that mows down everything in its path, Judgment Dragon is capable of crushing an entire nation by itself. After being tamed by Michael, its power has since been stabilized by him (thus why Michael only targets one, although he banishes).
Life Drain: Jenis's effect steals 500 Life Points from the opponent each time a card is sent from the player's deck to the Graveyard.
Light Is Good: They are LIGHT-Attribute monsters who fight on the side of good and justice.
Martial Pacifist: It might be important to note that Ehren doesn't actually destroy the monster she attacks, thus referencing the fact that she is a monk.
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". In fact, Rinyan is part of a military unit dedicated to sneaking behind enemy lines for the purposes of causing chaos and collecting information. At times, they'll snatch treasures that are thought to be the work of magic.
- 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.
- Likewise, Minerva is also the name of a Roman Goddess, presiding over wisdom. This refers to her Spellcaster-typing and later becoming an angel. Her Synchro form even has her Greek version Athena as a title.
Mystical Waif: Lightsworn Maiden Minerva. She's weak at combat, but she can get from the deck a LIGHT Dragon-Type whose level is lesser or equal to the number of Lightsworn monsters in the Graveyard. She can also Tune to call up for Michael or an older version of herself.
Mystical White Hair: Jain has mystical white hair because he is a paladin that can use light magic as seen by the glowing sword in his artwork. In addition, he can wield the Twilight Cloth and use the powers of darkness as well.
Our Dragons Are Different: Gragonith is heavily based on a Winged Unicorn in design, while Judgment Dragon appears to take inspiration from the Eastern depiction crossed with a gryphon. Neither is particularly traditional in design, to say the least.
The Owl-Knowing One: Minerva and her owl are references to the Goddess Minerva and the Owl of Minerva.
Person of Mass Destruction: Judgement Dragon's effect destroys every other card on the field at the cost of 1000 life points (and can be used multiple times per turn, in case your opponent somehow still has cards after that). After it's tamed by Michael, its effect becomes a lot more controlled, but banishes its target instead.
Power Gives You Wings: Shire seems to have butterfly wings in her card art, which represent the souls of the other Lightsworn giving her strength. Minerva actually has wings, but they are rather small, the events of Lightsworn Sanctuary and her subsequently becoming Minerva, Lightsworn Saint led to her wings growing to angelic lengths.
Reluctant Warrior: Raiden is one of the Lightsworn’s big guns, who’s gone behind enemy lines and taken out plenty of enemy commanders. However, beneath these actions lie his wish for peace, his desire for a swift end to the conflict.
Squishy Wizard: Lyla's effect allows you to destroy a Spell or Trap Card at the cost of switching her into Defense Position until your next End Phase. But with only 200 DEF, she likely won't last that long.
Took a Level in Badass: When Minerva gets older, she turns into the Lightsworn Saint, the first revealed Xyz monster for the Lightsworn.
Walking Shirtless Scene: Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn. The only things he's wearing are his scarf and long pants.

Lunalight

Purple Butterfly (top) and White Rabbit (bottom) performing Reincarnation Dance

Lunalight, known as Moonlight in OCG, are an archetype of DARK Beast-Warrior-Type monsters. They employ a Beatdown strategy, using their Fusion Monsters to repeatedly attack the opponent or their monsters while using effects to clear out their opponent's backrow or prevent their Spell or Trap Cards from being effective and increase the amount of damage they'll be able to inflict. They are used by Serena/Celina in ARC-V.

Action Girl: Some of the Main Deck monsters are decent, but the Fusion Monsters are definitively this.
Amazing Technicolor Population: Panther Dancer is about the only one whose skin tone is anywhere near realistic unlike everyone else.
Amazon Brigade: All of them are female and they kick ass, with the Fusion Monsters serving as the main muscles while the Main Deck monsters support them.
Anime Hair: Most of them have crazy hair.
Anti-Magic: White Rabbit can return a number of the opponent's Spell and Trap cards to their hand equal to the number of Lunalight monsters besides herself.
Armor-Piercing Attack: Wolf's Monster Effect lets all Lunalight monsters gain the ability to inflict Piercing Damage.
Back from the Dead: Several cards from the archetype have the ability to summon monsters from the Graveyard.
BFS: Leo Dancer wields a Sinister Scimitar almost as big as she is. With one hand.
Cat Girl: In addition to Blue Cat and Tiger, all four Fusion Monsters (Cat, Panther, Sabre, and Leo Dancer) are themed around cats as well.
Cool Mask: Many of the Lunalights wear half masks based on the crescent moon.
- Leo Dancer wears her broken mask as a hair dec.
Cute Monster Girl: Given their very human-like appearances plus their animal characteristics, they are this trope.
Dance Battler: The Fusion Monsters, as evidenced by their name containing the word "Dancer".
Death of a Thousand Cuts: Cat Dancer stands out among her fellow Fusions for being able to inflict 100 damage to her opponent each time she declares an attack.
Dual Wielding:
- Cat Dancer wields two daggers.
- Panther Dancer wields a pair of Wolverine Claws, and she has a two razor-sharp bracelets, one on each arm. The bracelets are throwing weapons.
Dub Name Change: Moonlight to Lunalight.
- Lio Dancer to Leo Dancer.
Evolutionary Levels: Present with the Fusion Monsters. The next form require the previous one as a Fusion Material to be summoned.
- Cat Dancer —> Panther Dancer —> Leo Dancer.
Eyes Out of Sight: Panther Dancer's eyes are covered by her bangs.
Fashionable Asymmetry: Most of them wear crescent moon accessories on one side of their outfits.
Fusion Dance: The archetype focuses on using Fusion Monsters.
- Cat Dancer + Lunalight monster = Panther Dancer.
- Panther Dancer + 2 Lunalight monsters = Leo Dancer.
  - 3 Lunalight monsters = Sabre Dancer.
Little Bit Beastly: All of them are humanoid monsters with animalistic features.
Lunacy: The archetype is inspired by the moon and its legends. The artworks of the Main Deck monsters have a crescent moon in the background, while the artworks of the Fusion Monsters have a full moon in the background. Thematically, together with the Melodious, the Lyrilusc and the Windwitch archetypes, they all represent the four kanji of the Kachou Fuugetsu principle. The Lunalights are based on the moon kanji "getsu".
Mighty Glacier: They're not good at swarming the field, and focus largely on spitting out a single huge Fusion Monster to wreck the opponent's entire field. That being said, once said Fusion Monster hits the field, good luck taking it down before it annihilates the opposition.
Ms. Fanservice: Most notably, Cat Dancer. Though really, the entire archetype qualifies, due to being Cute Monster Girls with outfits that usually consist of form-fitting leotards with various accessories (naturally baring all of their legs). Not to mention the barely-there outfit of Leo Dancer.
Nigh-Invulnerability: All of the Lunalight Fusions have an effect that makes them progressively harder to destroy. Cat Dancer cannot be destroyed by battle, Panther Dancer cannot be destroyed by the opponent's card effects, Sabre Dancer cannot be targeted by the opponent's card effects, and Leo Dancer combines the latter two.
Obvious Rule Patch: To keep people from summoning the higher tier Fusions early on, Fusion substitute monsters can't be used for the Lunalight Fusions that require a Lunalight Fusion Monster. That said, they do still have Kaleido Chick, whose effect lets it gain another Lunalight's name by sending that monster from their Deck or Extra Deck to the Graveyard, as well as an archetypal Fusion card that can use monsters in the Deck or Extra Deck as Fusion material if the opponent controls an Extra Deck monster.
One-Steve Limit: Presumably the reason for the name change in the TCG, as there exist several cards with "Moonlight" in their names that aren't part of the archetype.
One-Woman Army: The Fusion Monsters are designed to obliterate the opponent's entire field by themselves. This is also their weakness, since it is rather hard to swarm the field with Lunalights, even with the help of the Pendulum Monsters. Cat Dancer takes this trope to the extreme, since she requires a Lunalight monster as a tribute to activate her effect that allows her to attack every monster twice, making it even harder to swarm the field.
Pokémon Speak: In the anime, they either say a noise effect related to the animal they are based on or say something else that is related to the animal they are based on. Panther Dancer outright yells "PAN~THER".
Spam Attack: Cat Dancer and Panther Dancer have both the abilities that let them attack each of the opponent's monsters twice per Battle Phase, while preventing them from being destroyed by the first attack to deal twice the damage. Given enough monsters to attack and Status Buffs from cards like Blue Cat and Purple Butterfly or Crimson Fox, One-Turn Kills tend to ensue.
Status Buff:
- When Blue Cat is Special Summoned, she can target any other Lunalight monster and make the target's ATK become double their original ATK until the end of the turn.
- Purple Butterfly can send herself from the hand or field to the GY to grant a Lunalight an additional 1000 ATK until the end of the turn.
- Panther Dancer gains 200 ATK each time she destroys a monster by battle until the end of the turn.
- Sabre Dancer gains 200 ATK for every Beast-Warrior monster in the Graveyards, or that is banished (e.g. the entire Lunalight archetype). She can also banish herself from the GY to power up another Fusion Monster and give them an extra 3000 ATK.
Status Effects: If sent to the GY by a card effect (e.g. Polymerization), Crimson Fox lets you target one face-up monster the opponent controls; its ATK becomes 0 until the end of the turn.
Stripperiffic: Subverted by Cat Dancer and Panther Dancer; while still fanservice-y, their outfits cover a decent amount of skin. Played all the way straight with Lio, whose outfit covers less than it bares.
Theme Naming:
- All of the Main Deck monsters follow the same naming pattern: Lunalight (Color) (Animal), except for the Pendulum Monsters which omit the color part.
- The Fusion Monsters have their own pattern: Lunalight (Animal) (Dancer).
Wolverine Claws: Panther Dancer has very long claws equipped to her. She can even get them out like Wolverine himself.

Lyrilusc

The Boss Monster known as Assembled Nightingale. Ready to whittle you down to nothing and look good doing it.

The Lyriluscs, known as the Lyrical Lusciniae in the OCG, are an archetype of WIND Winged-Beast-Type monsters. They focus on swarming the field with many Level 1 monsters to perform Xyz Summons of Rank 1 Xyz Monsters. This in turn helps their Xyz Monsters as the latter become more powerful if they have more Xyz Materials attached to them. They are used by Ruri Kurosaki/Lulu Obsidian in ARC-V.

Action Girl: Assembled Nightingale, Independent Nightingale—and to a lesser extent, Recite Starling—are offensively orientated members of the archetype.
Amazing Technicolor Population: The Extra Deck members have odd skin colors.
Amazon Brigade: All members are female.
Animal Motif: The original archetype's name references Lusciniae, a genus of singing birds. Overall, the archetype represents the bird aspect of Kachou Fuugetsu, along with the Melodious, the Lunalights and Windwitches representing the other three.
Cute Monster Girl: Played the straightest even among the other three Kachou Fuugetsu archetypes, as all of the members are especially cute, yet they are the most animalistic. The Main Deck monsters have the appearance of adorable, young teenagers, while the Xyz Monsters are beautiful and cute young women. Even Independent Nightingale counts to an extent.
Death of a Thousand Cuts: The key point of Assembled Nightingale's strategy. Rather than confronting an enemy monster directly, she inflicts multiple, weak attacks against the player directly, slowly whittling them down.
Feather Fingers: The wings of each member seems to be something of a cross between feathered wings and oversized hands with clearly visible individual fingers and thumbs.
Fusion Dance: Assembled Nightingale + any Lyrilusc monster = Independent Nightingale.
Harping on About Harpies: The Lyriluscs resemble small harpies. However, while they share the same Type and Attribute, they aren't the same archetype.
Letter Motif: LL, in conjunction with the Raidraptor's RR.
Meaningful Name: While the term "luscinia" refers to a genus of singing birds, the term is also feminine.
No-Sell: Assembled Nightingale can detach an Xyz Material to protect Lyriluscs from destruction for the rest of the turn and you don't take Battle Damage from battles involving them. Then there's Independent Nightingale, which—true to her name—is completely unaffected by all other card effects.
Spell My Name With An S: The proper plural of Luscinia is "Lusciniae".
Status Buff: Beryl Canary can grant any WIND Xyz Monster she helps Xyz Summon an extra 200 ATK. The Extra Deck monsters all have some variation of this as well—which, considering all but one of them have 0 ATK/DEF, helps them out substantially:
- Assembly Nightingale's ATK increases by 200 for each material attached to her.
- Recite Starling can increase the ATK/DEF of any other monster on the field by 300 for each material attached to her when she is Xyz Summoned.
- Prom Thrush and Ensemblue Robin both 500 ATK for each material attached to them. Prom Thrush can also detach her materials to give another battling monster 300 ATK for each one detached.
- Independent Nightingale gains 1 Level for every Xyz Material on any Lyrical Luscinia monster used to Fusion Summon her, as well as gaining 500 ATK x her Level.
Support Party Member: Recite Starling can boost the ATK/DEF of any monster on the field, which is crucial for this archetype, and search out other Lyriluscs from your Main Deck. And if she gets hit, your opponent takes the damage as well as you.
Theme Naming: All of the monsters from this archetype are named after passerine birds. Additionally, the Main Deck Monsters are also named after a gemstone.
Weak, but Skilled: Lyriluscs have very low ATK/DEF, but make up for it by being able to summon many of themselves to the field. The Xyz Monsters are no exception, as all start with 0 ATK/DEF but their effects make them dangerous.
- At a lackluster 1000 ATK, Independent Nightingale is the strongest monster in the archetype. Her effect, however, allows her to (1): gain a Level for every Xyz Material on the Lyrilusc Xyz Monster(s) used to Fusion Summon it; (2): gain 500 ATK x her Level, and (3): inflict 500 damage to your opponent x that Level once every turn.
- Assembled Nightingale starts out with 0 ATK/DEF, and she only gets 200 ATK for each Xyz Material. Even if she starts out with five Xyz Materials, she would only have 1000 ATK. However, Assembled Nightingale is capable of attacking directly and she can attack up to the number of Xyz Materials attached to her, thus she is capable of inflicting a big amount of damage. She also has a Quick-Effect to protect herself and other Lyriluscs.
Zerg Rush: The archetype's goal is to get as many monsters on the field in preparation for their Xyz Summon and to provide a high number of Xyz Materials. Thus, their Main Deck monsters have effects that allow them to either swarm the field easily or stack more Xyz Materials on top of their ace monsters.

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