Fanfic / Chaos Effect

Chaos Effect is a Yu-Gi-Oh! Self-Insert Fic by Mr. Chaos, mostly known for his A Song of Metal and Marvels series.

When a shrewd, crude, but goodhearted 30-year-old awakens in Domino City as a 22-year-old man named Edwin Chaos, he initially wants nothing to do with it. But as he's presented with a ticket to Duelist Kingdom in lieu of his in-universe uncle, who can't go due to a broken leg, he decides to accept the call. He initially plans to ensure canon plays out. With Chaos added to the mix, that option quickly goes out the window.

It can be read on FanFiction.net.

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Chaos Effect provides examples of:

• Above Good and Evil: Selene fancies herself this, as a goddess.
• Adaptation Expansion: A fair bit of worldbuilding in this story:
  • Tristan's family is well-known for being the best furniture makers in Domino City, and Téa's family has a long history of police service.
  • Noah's Arc introduces several new Deck Masters:
    • Joey uses Gambler of Legend, with the ability of "The Turn and The River": Pay 1,000 Life Points to force both players to draw 2 cards. He uses this ability in tandem with Arcana Triumph Joker to win his Duel.
    • AI Aria, Nezbitt's champion and Joey's opponent, uses Red-Eyes Black Dragon, with the ability of "Black Dragon Forge": Pay 1,000 Life Points to activate 1 "Red-Eyes" Spell or Trap card from your Deck.
• Alternate Self: Edwin and his friends have multiple adventures involving The Multiverse, so they keep meeting other versions of themselves, some of them wildly different.
• And I Must Scream: Edwin's fate in Kaiba's virtual world: he can't eat, he can't sleep, and time moves much more slowly. So as a trade-off for all his grinding, he's left a bit unhinged and very, very ready to return to the real world. Taken to an extreme in Chapter 116, when he's trapped in Noah's virtual world and thrust into an empty area cut off from the rest of the world, and informed that the time dilation is also amplified, with seconds outside being years inside. Though he's given a reprieve when the Chaos Wars begin.
• Ascended Extra: Several characters get more limelight thanks to Edwin's intervention, and similarly, several characters that barely ever Dueled became formidable competitors in their own right:
  • Edwin actively talks Rex Raptor out of the downward spiral that had him on equal grounds with Weevil, and he becomes a pretty decent guy, as well as remaining a solid Duelist, even making it to the second round of Battle City.
  • Mokuba grows close to Edwin as the latter protects him throughout Duelist Kingdom, and later gets his own Deck, the Ice Barrier archetype.
• Berserk Button:
  • Edwin has two. First, do not badmouth Edwin's deceased mother, and on the same subject, do not talk flippantly about the cruel realities of loss and death. Second, do not hurt or threaten children.
• Blind Without 'Em: Edwin mentions in Chapter 5 that he can't see more than six inches in front of his right eye without his glasses.
• Break the Haughty: Back-to-back examples in Chapter 111, with Seto mocking (Yami) Ishizu's foretelling powers as either a hoax or useless without her necklace. She, in turn, mocks him for hiding behind the moniker of Seto Kaiba when his birth name was Seto Shinryu, his birth parents not the most wealthy people before they passed away.
  • And Chapter 112 takes it even further: not only does Yami Ishizu defeat Kaiba with Obelisk by sacrificing his own Blue-Eyes White Dragon monsters to summon it, after the Duel is over, Yami Ishizu claims his first Blue-Eyes White Dragon by the ante rule...and tears it in half before his eyes.
  Yami Ishizu: I have no need for such weak things.
• Break Them by Talking: In Chapter 4, when Mokuba reveals his identity to Yugi, Edwin pulls this trope on him by explaining what happened to Seto:
  Edwin: I am Edwin Chaos. And your brother would be very disappointed in you.
  Mokuba: Shut up! You don't know a thing about my brother! He left because of Yugi! Because he didn't know who he was anymore after losing to him!
  Edwin: No. Mokuba you didn't understand him.
  Mokuba: How would you know, you weren't there!
  Edwin: But I am a big brother. I know what it's like to care for someone. So believe me when I tell you Kaiba didn't leave because he lost to Yugi.
  Mokuba: He said—
  Edwin: That he didn't know who he was anymore. But I don't think it has anything to do with Yugi. I think it has to do with him. Seto Kaiba became the man he is through cunning, not cruelty. He took over Kaibacorp by convincing the Big 5 that he was the best option when compared to your stepfather. And then he decided to do away with the war divisions and turn Kaibacorp into something that made people happy, rather than bringing them pain. Think about that… and then think about what he did to Yugi's grandpa. He forced an old man to duel him purely because he wanted to control the final Blue Eyes White Dragon in existence. Never mind that Solomon Moto had retired from dueling. Your brother put him in the hospital and then tore that card up! After he already had it! He could have locked it away where no one would ever find it but he maliciously tore it up in front of Yugi. That wasn't cunning! That was cruel! That wasn't Seto. That was Gozaburo.
  Mokuba: (tearing up) No… that-
  Edwin: Your brother didn't know who he was anymore because he realized he was turning into the man he hated the most in the world. So he went off to find himself, to remember how he had become Seto Kaiba. And if that Seto, the one who got you two out of that orphanage, saw you right now using a stolen deck to fulfill a half-thought out scheme… he'd be ashamed of you.
  Mokuba: (forfeits the Duel)
• Butt-Monkey: Weevil was this in canon, and this story, if anything, only shoves him lower. Edwin curb-stomps him out of Battle City and destroys his Duel Disk as soon as the tournament begins, and a flash forward to the GX era shows him ravaging for food in a dumpster.
• Christmas Creep: Commented on in the fourth Christmas Filler Arc, where Edwin ponders on the prevalence of this and states his surprise that they didn't end up doing Christmas before Halloween this year.
• Christmas Episode: The story has Christmas Filler Arcs whenever the holiday season arrives in real life, which tend to pop up in the middle of ongoing arcs. This always gets lampshaded by Edwin, who is annoyed to find himself dropped into the filler without warning, but he's still happy to go along with the holiday spirit (and then right back to annoyed when hijinks ensue).
  • The first one, coming right before the Duelist Kingdom finals, sees Edwin being challenged to a duel by Santa Claus, who is possessed by the spirit of the Millennium Crown and enraged at Edwin not buying into the commercialist aspects of Christmas.
  • The second one, coming early on in the Battle City arc, sees Edwin's friends choosing to postpone Christmas celebrations to celebrate Edwin's birthday instead (as it falls on the 25th and is usually overlooked for Christmas), only for the party to be crashed by the Millennium Crown, which is now possessing Frosty the Snowman and is out for revenge.
  • The third one, interrupting the Battle City Finals, is a parody of Die Hard wherein the KaibaCorp office Christmas party is attacked by the adult Peanuts gang. Further complicating matters is that when Edwin manages to contact the Domino City Police, they decide that the best course of action is to follow "Die Hard Protocols", forcing Edwin to go through the motions of the movie no matter the lack of logic.
  • The fourth one, later on during the Battle City Finals, sees the heroes dragged into the plot of a Hallmark movie, having to win a talent show in order to save the house that Yugi's grandpa just inherited in the small town the plot takes place. Meanwhile, Kaiba and Marik get dragged into romance plots, and Yami Bakura tries to explain the meaning of Christmas to someone he just met.
• Cliffhanger:
  • Chapter 5 ends with Yuri Gardner, Téa's older sister and a police officer, calling her parents when she finds out what's going on in Duelist Kingdom and that Téa is on the island.
  • Chapter 6 ends with the Pharaoh reflecting that in the face of the goddess Selene's claim that Edwin belongs to her, he, the Pharaoh, can no longer consider Edwin an ally.
  • Chapter 8 ends with Edwin panicking about the fact that Mai is undeniably crushing on him.
  • Chapter 11 ends with Shadi appearing and using the Millennium Key to enter Edwin's mind.
  • Chapter 12 ends with Edwin arriving at Pegasus's castle, expecting to be the last one there and thus be excluded from the finals. In fact, he's the first, giving him an automatic $3 million and a shot at Pegasus.
  • Chapter 85 ends with Ishizu, just as Odion was getting her on the backfoot, activating a card that allows her to play Obelisk the Tormentor, which she infiltrated Kaiba's safe to retrieve. After all, she never gave him the card to keep; only to borrow.
  • Chapter 96 ends with Yami Ishizu berating Yugi for hindering the Pharaoh by hesitating to play the God Card, followed by touching the puzzle. The following chapter reveals the effect of this: she trapped Yugi in a Lotus-Eater Machine within the puzzle.
  • Chapter 98 ends with Edwin stopping breathing when Yami Ishizu stabs him with a spear in the mind world.
• Crazy-Prepared: Edwin thinks things through thoroughly, and while things don't always go how he plans, he usually has enough resources to withstand it.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Pegasus, in most things, is this. Most people tend to fall for it, to their peril, including the Big 5.
• Dark and Troubled Past:
  • It's not exactly clear what happened to Renard, but it's known that he lost many people he cared about dearly. And beneath the gentlemanly exterior is an experienced torturer and killer.
  • Solomon Muto has an abundance of skeletons in his closet, and it's stated that many people around the world are indebted to him for something or another, living in fear of the day he'll collect.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • As Edwin lampshades more than once, he and Mai seem to be the only Duelists who bother bringing any camping supplies for Duelist Kingdom.
  • Edwin points this out to Mai in Chapter 6 concerning her aroma strategy, referring to what Pegasus did to Bandit Keith as an example of what could have happened to her.
• Dramatic Irony: Chapter 53 starts with Serenity being escorted to her physical therapy by a male nurse with a calming voice, who gives his name as Rishid. Those familiar with the Japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh! will recognize that that's Odion's original name and that Serenity is being kidnapped.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • The author wrote the interaction between Edwin and Mai in the first chapter in an attempt to sink any ships between them before they could form. Yet the two end up falling for each other before the end of the first arc.
  • The author plotted at the end of Chapter 2 of potentially turning on Yugi and company when it suited his purposes, not believing he'd fit in with their gang. Yet while he's not part of their inner circle, and sometimes borders on Token Evil Teammate, he's still a good friend.
• Evil Counterpart: Abundant in the Dark Reflections arc. For the prominent ones:
  • Joey had his arrogance turned up to eleven, along with the revolting backstory of not only raping his sister, but doing so frequently. That is revealed shortly before said sister murders him for losing a Shadow Game to her.
  • Serenity, here a skilled Duelist with the Evil Eye archetype to match the duplicate Millennium Eye she wears, is a ruthless servant of the evil king of Domino who relishes in ripping people's souls out. But setting her sights on Edwin proves to be a fatal mistake.
  • Yuri Gardner here is the Chief of Police, someone who hardened her heart against the corruption and decided she may as well be at the top. She is everything that the good Yuri hates and fears, and this encounter plays another huge part in how she ends up joining Edwin.
  • Aiden Order, Edwin's own counterpart, is the technologically savvy and smooth-talking right-hand man of the evil king who specializes in turning people into loyal servants but expert Duelists to suit the king's ends. In reality, he's always been The Starscream, and his mind-altering powers came from the Millennium Rod.
  • The evil king of Domino? Solomon Muto. After Yugi did most of the work solving the Millennium Puzzle, Solomon fitted the last piece himself, then used his newfound powers to kill both Yugi and the Pharaoh and take over the city, fueling himself with the sacrifices of countless souls and producing duplicate Millennium Items for others to fight for him with. He sees value in others only to the extent that they can fulfill his wishes. While largely an Idle Rich, he wields the Danger! cards with great skill when he chooses to dirty his own hands.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!:
  • In Chapter 4, Edwin is reflecting on how he needs to not interfere in canon, how he needs to not make it to the finals, not stop certain Duelists from being kicked off the island, and not stop Mokuba from being locked in a dungeon and having his soul stolen. As soon as he reviews that last point, his conscience slaps him and he rushes off to save Mokuba before that can happen.
  • In Chapter 97, Yami Ishizu is facing torturous interrogation by Renard in retaliation for trapping Yugi, not the Pharaoh, in a Lotus-Eater Machine. After half an hour of stubbornly resisting, Yami Ishizu realizes that not once during the process did he ask how to free Yugi, and makes the connection that Renard was just a distraction so Edwin and the gang could use the Millennium Key to undo it. And she immediately uses her own Item's powers to pursue them.
• Face Fault: In Chapter 4:
  Joey: But there is no reason to worry about it because you have the brilliant mind of Joey Wheeler on the case and I always get my man!
  (Yugi, Téa, Tristan, and Edwin face-fault)
• Flat-Earth Atheist: Kaiba refuses to believe in magic. The truth repeatedly stares him naked in the face, and he always find an excuse to dismiss it. Though he has no issue believing in theoretical concepts with an actual scientific basis, like the multiverse theory.
• Flat "What": Mai's response in Chapter 1 after he defeats a card shop owner in a first blood Duel by playing Sparks on his first turn.
• Forced Transformation: In Chapter 115, it's revealed that Noah has trapped Seto Kaiba in the body of Mecha-Dog Marron, similar to how Tristan became an Acrobat Monkey after losing to Nezbitt in canon.
• Forgiveness: In Chapter 99, Edwin forgives Yami Ishizu for trying to kill him and briefly succeeding; the Near-Death Experience put a lot of things into perspective for Edwin, and he accepts that Yami Ishizu is ultimately just sick and in need of a cure, which he plans to help with.
• Gender Flip: One of Edwin's alternate universe counterparts, Edna, is from a universe where everyone's gender is reversed from what it is in the story's primary universe.
• Gilligan Cut: When Kipling Chaos gives Edwin his own Deck to use in the tournament, encouraging him to win with it:
  Edwin: I do know at the very least that with this deck... this amazing, powerful deck... I have a shot.
  (scene break)
  Narration: The deck sucked.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Edwin's forcibly censored swearing for the Duelist Kingdom saga, much to his chagrin.
• Halloween Episode: As with Christmas, the story uses two-part Filler Arcs that pop up whenever Halloween approaches in real life, interrupting the story for their sake, to the annoyance of Edwin.
  • The first one is right before Battle City, wherein a self-righteous superhero fanboy named Parker decides to punish society for its fascination with villains by causing everyone who dresses up as one to become their costume so he can beat them up by transforming into heroes to fight them. Edwin is not at all impressed with this and tricks him into becoming Lord Zedd so that Edwin and several others can become Power Rangers to kick his ass.
  • The second one occurs before the Battle City finals, as Parker escapes prison to take revenge. He does this by teleporting them into an old horror movie and transforming them into classic movie monsters, expecting this to drive them to evil acts and somehow convince them that his views are right. Naturally, this doesn't happen, as the only one who acts remotely evil is Edwin (and that's only because he's the Invisible Man and the invisibility is driving him insane), and he quickly scares Parker enough that he undoes the transformation.
  • The third one occurs during the Battle City finals, with Edwin and the others crossing paths with Mystery Inc. when the latter visit Japan.
• Heel Realization:
  • Edwin dislikes Pegasus's actions, but he also knows about Cecilia and who Pegasus really is. With Pegasus watching and listening to everything on the island, Edwin starts him down this path long before he reaches the castle.
  • The Pharaoh has this as well. When Yugi finally confronts him about his unfair treatment of Edwin, forcing him to confront the issue, the Pharaoh realizes that it's his subconscious remembering his clash with Endymion in Ancient Egypt. Upon realizing that, and that Edwin has nothing to do with it, the Pharaoh actively tries to be more respectful.
• I Heard That: In Chapter 98, when Joey mentions a dish called the "Joey Special":
  Edwin: What do you want to guess that the Joey Special is just two pizzas?
  Téa: (snickers)
  Joey: I heard that, Ed! And I'll have ya know the Joey Special is a pizza taco!
• I Lied: Edwin. Frequently and unapologetically. Even though it's only ever to bad guys, Atem still takes offense.
• Imagination-Based Superpower: The Millennium Items run on the logic that the mind is the only limit.
  • The Millennium Ring is the first to show this, giving its user the ability to open portals to other worlds. This could be the realm of Duel Monsters, as Yami Bakura shows, or anywhere in the multiverse, as Edna Chaos shows.
  • The Millennium Key acquires this next thanks to Yami Bakura giving Edwin the idea. From that point on, Edwin can turn any door into a portal to any other door, anywhere in the world.
  • The Millennium Necklace allows the user to see the past and future. Ishizu expands on this to gain power over memories, such as her Yami form imprisoning Yugi in a false memory.
  • The Millennium Puzzle goes without seeing this for a long time, and it's not until Yami Ishizu traps Yugi in a Lotus-Eater Machine, as mentioned above, that the Pharaoh finally takes Edwin's advice to jailbreak the Puzzle. And he concludes that the Millennium Puzzle has the power to solve any puzzle. Or, in other words, answer any question, overcome any trial, uplift or break anyone around him... As is appropriate for The Hero, it's possibly the most broken of the powers.
• Insistent Terminology:
  • Edwin is adamant that fizzy soft drinks are pop, not soda.
  • In the third Halloween arc, the Pharaoh repeatedly denies that he's a ghost, stating that he's a spirit and there's a difference.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • In Chapter 4, while Kemo is being more forceful than necessary with a Duelist that had his chips and Deck stolen, his reasoning isn't entirely unfair:
  Kemo: Listen, you know how many different excuses we've heard so far from people who lost all their Star Chips? They hid them, they must have fell out of their dueling glove, a bird took them, my opponent cheated… we've had 12 duelists eliminated so far and half of them used lame excuses like that. We don't have time to investigate all of them.
• Karma Houdini: Edwin mentally lampshades this in Chapter 2, how characters in that world seemed to be able to get away with anything.
• Kill It with Fire: When Edwin pulls a Big Damn Heroes in Chapter 60, he invokes a Shadow Game against Marik where each must choose a champion to fight. Marik chooses one of his hunters. Edwin, meanwhile, chooses fire, using the Millennium Key to turn every nearby door into a portal to a blast furnace, and burning all of the Rare Hunters alive.
• Like Brother and Sister:
  • Edwin establishes this relationship with Edna Chaos, his Distaff Counterpart from Earth-3.
  • Later, Téa also admits to seeing Edwin as the brother she never had.
• Lotus-Eater Machine: At the end of Chapter 95, Yami Ishizu confronts the Pharaoh and Yugi about the latter failing to play Slifer the Sky Dragon, potentially compromising the entire world as a result. Chapter 96 reveals that, fed up with the perceived weakness, Yami Ishizu used their powers to imprison Yugi's mind in one of these, deep inside the Millennium Puzzle, where he can't be reached and won't be an obstacle to the Pharaoh. With difficulty, Edwin, the Pharaoh, and the rest of the gang manage to break it over the next three chapters.
• Medium Awareness: Due to his self-insert status, Edwin is able to notice the sudden shift in things when Filler Arcs happen, even as everyone else just goes along with it. Those who have close relationships with Edwin slowly become cognizant of it themselves, starting with Mai (his girlfriend), then Téa (adopted siblings), and later Renard and Yuri (bodyguards).
• Mental World: The story actively explores the real-life concept of "mind palaces." Yugi makes one in Chapter 7 to finally speak with the Pharaoh (sooner than in canon) and Edwin is shown to have built one as well. And, of course, the Millennium Key allows its wielder to enter these places.
• Mirror Universe: There's an arc set in-between Duelist Kingdom and Battle City, where Edwin, Tristan, Tea, and Yuri are sucked into a morality-flipped universe, where everything has a punk dystopian aesthetic and Solomon Moto rules Domino City with an iron fist. Edwin, being Genre Savvy, takes the time to educate the others on this trope and its variations when helping them adjust to what's happened to them.
• Musical Episode: The prologue to Battle City is a musical episode, much to Edwin's annoyance, as his position of being someone from outside the Yu-Gi-Oh universe means that he's the only one totally aware of the sudden music and singing when no one else is.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Part of Pegasus's Heel Realization in Chapter 15; he'd second-guessed some of his actions to that point, but when Edwin points out how Cecelia would feel about his actions, he sees the answer with the Millennium Eye:
  He saw Cecelia finally returned to him... only to twist away, sobbing at what the world had been forced to endure for their second chance. She fled from him, repulsed like the Bride from Frankenstein's monster...
• Narrative Profanity Filter: Edwin is incapable of cursing despite his best efforts, leading to many hilarious substitutes. He finally breaks the censor in Chapter 24.
• Noble Demon: Pegasus, pre-Heel-Face Turn. Though a ruthless Duelist and strategist, in Chapter 2, he sympathizes with Joey's plight for Serenity, and also intends to deal with Weevil personally if he makes it to the castle when he hears what he did to Yugi's Exodia cards.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Edwin's uncle, Kipling Chaos, somehow broke his leg after slipping on a candy bar wrapper shortly before the start of the story.
  • In Chapter 6, while glossing over the gang conversing around a campfire, Edwin talks about how he had a rule named after him at the University of Michigan barring students from doing anything they wanted for a senior project after he did a mock Mission Statement for a brothel.
  • In Chapter 8, Pegasus offhandedly remarks that he went through "a dreadful Metal phase as a teen."
  • In Part 2 of the first Christmas special, Edwin mentions bad experiences with turkey gravy between high school and the time his grandmother tried to darken the gravy with coffee.
• Off the Rails: It turns out that Pegasus has already created Synchro, Xyz, Pendulum, and Link Monsters and has all of the Decks locked up in the depths of his castle, though he's not planning to release them to the world yet. At the end of Duelist Kingdom, as Edwin appropriates some of the Decks for himself, he accidentally triggers an automated system to release all of the others throughout the world, catapulting the gameplay forward by several generations.
• Oh, Crap!: Abundant.
  • Edwin's first spoken line in the story when he realizes he's become a Self-Insert.
• Oh, No... Not Again!: Aria in Chapter 115. When Vencent says that someone is attempting a hostile takeover of KaibaCorp, she complains about it being the third time that year, with Martin pointing out that Edwin's successful attempt makes four.
• Original Character: Several.
  • Yuri Gardner is Téa's older half-sister from their father's first marriage. First appearing as a straight-laced detective of the Domino City Police, the blatant corruption in the place eventually drives her out; she ends up re-embracing her preferred Goth attire and becomes Mai's bodyguard. Her Deck focuses on the Dark World archetype.
  • Renard Volpe is a European Champion Duelist with skills that even Kaiba acknowledges. An affable gentleman with a love of pirate fiction (yes, that means One Piece), clear morals, and mastery of the Fur Hire archetype, he first appears as one of Pegasus's Eliminators and later is hired to be Edwin's full-time bodyguard.
  • An entire cast of OCs work at KaibaCorp or Industrial Illusions, mainly serving as tertiary background characters, based on the author's close friends. Prominent examples include Aria Potts, a younger woman and KC's lead beta tester; Cassie Garnett, Pegasus's protégé and head of lore at I2; and Martin Fielder, head of KC's legal department and one of the few employees willing and able to refuse something to Seto.
• Put on a Bus: Edwin, Yugi, and the Pharaoh exit the story for eight chapters at the end of Chapter 119, with the author's notes stating it's meant to give the other characters more of a spotlight.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Edwin gives these out frequently.
  • One to Yugi in Chapter 6 about how he's coddling Joey too much, not helping him grow.
• Running Gag: From Chapters 6 to 9, people remarking on the fact that Edwin is wearing his pajamas. Something fully reasonable for the middle of the night.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: Briefly in Chapter 6, Edwin does this to Rex, who immediately clams up.
• Sequel Hook: Chapter 100 gives two of these: one ten years in the future for GX, when Edwin is headmaster of Duel Academy and Mai, his wife, is a professor there; and one ninety-six years in the future for 5Ds, where Edwin and Mai are still alive and well and are Akiza's parents.
• Shout-Out: Enough to justify its own page.
  • In Chapter 1, Edwin compares the pajamas he wakes up in to the sort that some schmuck would be wearing when Bugs Bunny pops in wishing he'd turned left at Albuquerque. He also compares them to Scrooge McDuck.
  • In Chapter 2, as part of his intimidation of Weevil, he references Lord Varys as he mentions that he has "little birds that sing sweet songs to me."
  • At the end of Chapter 2, Edwin quotes the Survivor motto, "Outwit, Outplay, Outlast" as he forms an alliance with Yugi and Joey. The author's notes elaborate that Edwin chose that particular motto on purpose.
    Author's Notes: Sometimes alliances work… and sometimes you have to shatter them at the right moment.
    
    As I warned with the description... this isn't me replacing Yugi as the lead or becoming his new best friend. This is what happens when you take a habitiual liar and schemer and put them in a world ripe for plotting and plans. And that doesn't always mean you get a white knight.
  • Chapter 3 has Edwin comparing Pegasus to Kingpin when he worries about the man going through his mind, finding he was from another world, and obsessing on that world having a living version of Cecilia he could claim.
  • Edwin compares one-off Original Character Alto Stratus's appearance to a Flying-Type Gym Leader and voice to Christian Bale.
  • In Chapter 4:
    • Edwin makes several allusions to Pennywise while Dueling against the Mimic of Doom, a.k.a. "Ghost Kaiba." He also calls him Edward Cullen at one point.
    • When Edwin activates Endymion's effect, he mentions that his magician is "no mere conjurer of cheap tricks."
    • When seething at the Pharaoh's hypocrisy when it comes to judgmental behavior, Edwin compares him to Helen Lovejoy.
    • Edwin quotes the 11th Doctor while intimidating the Mimic of Doom, bluffing and boasting about his knowledge: "Secrets that must never be told, knowledge that must never be spoken... knowledge that would make parasite gods bleed."
  • In Chapter 5:
    • Renard quotes one of the most famous passages from T. E. Lawrence, which Edwin joins in on:
    Renard: For you see...all men dream. But not equally. Those who dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity.
    Edwin: But the dreamers of the day... are dangerous men. For they may act their dream with open eyes. To make it possible.
    Both: This... I did.
    • After leaving Renard, Edwin finally realizes that his outfit was the same as Don Karnage.
  • In Chapter 6, Edwin compares (Yami) Bakura's politeness to a scorpion asking a frog for a ride across the river.
  • In Chapter 7:
    • He quotes Sherlock Holmes to Joey. The reference is lost.
    Edwin: Facts, details, information... I can't make bricks without clay.
    • He confronts Yami Bakura with Doctor Strange's line, "Dormammu, I've come to bargain!" Preceded by him saying I Always Wanted to Say That.
    • In response to Yami Bakura's mad cackling after the above, Edwin reflects that Yami Bakura is at least smarter than Ultron. Shortly thereafter, he calls him Palpatine.
• Signature Move: Edwin's ace monster and the keystone of his main strategies is established in Chapter 1: Endymion the Master Magician. It's later shown that he was Endymion in a past life.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Edwin. To his chagrin, he's censored by the 4Kids dub for a large part of the story.
• Spell My Name With An S: Mr. Chaos deliberately misspells Yugi's surname as Moto to match its pronunciation in the English dub.
• The Starscream: Kemo, one of Pegasus's prominent bad guys in Duelist Kingdom, turns out to be this. In the final part of the arc, seeing things from his perspective reveals that he had every intention of ultimately taking over KaibaCorp himself after Pegasus was done, seeing him as a fool that he could manipulate however he needed to.
• Take a Third Option: In Chapter 7, during the Duel against Yami Bakura, Edwin points out that rather than playing the Ring Spirit's game, they can simply stop playing until he forfeits. Because, after all, this is a Shadow Game with no time limit, and unlike Yugi, Yami Bakura has been actively ignoring his physical needs. How long can that last with the added pressure of the dark magic? Edwin's goading gets so bad that he tricks Yami Bakura into making an illegal move, causing him to lose the Duel by default.
• Touché: From Chapter 20:
  Mai: Pegasus and those Toon monsters are pretty impressive—
  Edwin: Not really. Destroy the book and you can take out his entire strategy.
  Mai: (chuckles) Not everyone has Endymion, Edwin.
  Edwin: Harpie's Feather Duster.
  Mai: Touché.
• Trauma Button: Edwin nearly spirals into a panic attack at the start of the Virtual World Arc, due to flashbacks to the living hell that was his time trapped in Kaiba's virtual world.
• True Companions: Edwin establishes this rapport with Mai, Renard, and Yuri.
• Wham Episode:
  • Chapter 86: The end result of Ishizu's Duel against Odion? When she wins using Obelisk the Tormentor, Odion is knocked out hard, which results in Yami Marik emerging. But it also results in Yami Ishizu emerging, born from the conflict of her duty to the Pharaoh at all costs and her refusal to sacrifice her brother.
  • Chapter 112: Kaiba loses to Yami Ishizu, putting him out of the tournament before the semi-finals can begin. And for even longer-reaching consequences, Ishizu claims Kaiba's first Blue-Eyes White Dragon by the ante rule...and tears it in half.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: In Chapter 99, during his brief time dead and in limbo, Edwin receives a brief speech in this vein from the one person whose word he values above any other: his late mother. That person tells him that he has always been an angel, and he was the one who refused to see it. Edwin takes it to heart, and when he returns, he's quick to tell everyone that the "Guardian Devil" is dead.
• You Shall Not Pass!: For the brief period that Edwin is dead, Brom Bones bars anyone on the other side from claiming his soul, allowing him to return to his body. This includes briefly fending off another avatar of death.