Predictions and Observations:
Creepy Crawlies

Episode Aired: September 20, 2008
This Post Posted: September 26, 2008

This episode begins very similarly to the last, with Yusei riding through the tunnels at top speed, thinking of Jack.

Wasn't Shadow Spell played in Champion vs. Creator?

Okay, so our first real look at Jack as a main character (as in, he's the person in the scenes between him and Goodwin whom we already know) demands that I spend some time on how he ticks. Actually, this episode has greatly improved my opinion of both Jack and Yusei; Jack, because he gave Yusei that advice, and Yusei, because he took it to heart and still does even though Jack double-crossed him. And there's more about that below, including a likely story about how someone who was a staunch enough friend to Yusei to say that suddenly turns traitor. But, this is the paragraph for my other questions, such as a general one regarding that mark on Jack's arm, which seems to be of similar design or style to the one on Goodwin's shirt. And it's also in the opening sequence; it's important. Now, Jack's style and deck. About all we know about Jack's style is what he told Yusei: balance, and trusting in your whole deck. But if I may say so, for all he's the world champ, I'd imagine he's a smidge off his game at the moment, and we'll have to wait and see just how balanced he still is. Seems to have a deck of archfiends, which we were first introduced to with Titan. I don't plan to hold it against him, but there's the old rule of “like deck, like duelist” to consider with that.

I'm not sure I like Goodwin. For now I'll hold off, but something about him bugs me. Maybe it's that he praised this social system in which the satellites work so that the “chosen” get the good life, might be just the term “chosen”, or that he said everyone has a “role” when it dovetails with Nervin's saying “us satellites should just stay put” and we already know what our heroes have to say to that. I'd submit him as a likely candidate for having slipped a few lies in Jack's ear to convince him that the only way to get to the city was by betraying his friends. And the design on the shirt beneath his suit coat is... interesting. Worth keeping an eye out for because I get the feeling it's important. And in a certain shot in the opening sequence, he looked pretty sinister; I will tentatively tag him as this year's villain.
With the gray suit and the hair, he kinda reminds me of a cross between Aster and Sartorius. That's scary. But they both turned out to be okay guys in the end... eventually...

We got a nice aerial view of New Domino. I noticed that there were several large points, such as Jack's house, and very definite lines connecting them like a dot-to-dot, and then everything around those. We'll probably get to find out why, but for now, I'm a'wonderin'.

"Dwelling in the past can sometimes cost you your future", a line of Goodwin's. It really stood out at me. A lot. For one, it goes with “I think it's time to bury the past, move on, and forget about Jack Atlas” and “Let 'im go, bro. Don't risk your freedom for some wheels and a card.” However, with this same advice that Yusei's friends gave him, forget the past and move on, comes not concern, but an implied threat: “can sometimes cost you your future.” But I think the other reason it stood out at me is that I've identified another theme: the past and future, with these lines and “It's the key to our-- our-- / Future. That's why I have to do this.”

Card-throwing seems to be an art amongst good duelists. Since the days when Yugi lived in OLD Domino, several good duelists have shown us their crazy-incredible card-throwing expertise. And it stands to reason: back then, if one could duel, he could also defend himself or others, if he could use his cards as weapons. Few duelists ever went anywhere without their deck. Now, if one can turbo-duel (I also note) they can also defend themselves, transport themselves relatively anywhere quickly, and generally function as an independent unit.

Worth noting that Jack LIVED in the Satellite "years ago", and asking whether he would've wanted it destroyed while he lived there.

"Those from the Satellite exist so that the chosen may prosper." 'Kay, I'm rollin' with this while not trying to get too Belowski on it (i.e. big complicated sociopolitical words). I remember with amusement how I used to rail on Duel Academy's social structure, and wonder vocally why the Air Force delivers their rare cards. You get used to anything, as I got used to the Academy, but right now, with such a small canon (two episodes) the frame of reference is a bit small. Therefore, for an added layer of understanding, I turn to my nerdliness in history and social studies, and may make several obscure references. My first question is how one gets a place in the Satellite; are all of them criminals or troublemakers? Is it possible to be second-generation (i.e. your parents were satellites so so are you)? My second question is how on Earth things got to this point. Granted, I say first, in the future we must be careful to recycle and conserve, as swiftly-depleting resources make the remaining ones more precious. Is it really necessary, though, to have an entire inferior class of people dedicated to recycling what others discard? This is a class-based system, hailing back to a far more primitive time than, so it would seem, modern sensitivities would embrace. Heck, it's practically slavery by a different name. How has the society of Yugi's and Jaden's time, which was similar enough to our own that you could kind of take this sort of thing for granted, regressed (yes, regressed!) to this?

A bruise to match that mark on your face; then you'd look like Yubel! Seriously, what is that little triangle? A tattoo? Is it THE kind of mark (as in "If THEY saw you, they'll track us down and mark us all!")?, making it canon that Rally and Yusei don't have marks? Wait-- I went back and looked, and Rally does have a little triangle-shaped mark under the left eye, where Nervin was pointing. Is that it? I thought it was some shadowing to accent the corner of the eye. But Yusei doesn't have one of those; I looked.

So Yusei's new chip has a homing signal in it? Raise your hand if you're surprised.

"...And when Jack Atlas says do something, I do it." Jack is apparently new to the City, and yet he seems to command not only obedience because of his position, but respect, when not so long ago, apparently he was in about the same position Yusei is, minus the fugitive status. Is it because he's a celebrity?

I think Trudge is played by the same voice actor who plays Professor Viper in GX Year 3. And I think bug guy (we still don't know his name, by the way. In my transcripts of this episode, I call him and his cronies "Bug guy", "Angry", and "Laugh") is played by the same voice actor as Chazz.

Trudge called his new deck a "pursuit deck"; does that refer to the deck itself (as in "No way! HE's the kid with the Crystal Beast Deck!"), or is that a term for a deck built for turbo duels? Or is it called that because it will be used in the police's pursuit of Yusei?

Okay, I mentioned this earlier too (A Snake in the Grass I) that fistfights are rare in this canon. What I want to know is how Yusei knew bug boy was a duelist, and bug boy apparently knew that Blitz and friends weren't.

Yusei mentioned earlier that he doesn't rely on one card, and he doesn't plan to start; this dovetails with Jack's advice that Yusei believe in his entire deck. But, note this: they're still pinning all of their hopes for the future on Stardust Dragon.

So, of course, the main discussion to be had this week is regarding what we now know about Jack and Yusei's friendship. They once were close; their duel, that Jack was willing to tell Yusei what he didn't want to hear, and that Yusei remembers Jack's lesson and still keeps it in mind suggests to me that they were once friends and rivals of the best kind. I've gone back and looked at Yusei's comments about Jack ("I'm comin' for ya, Jack, and this time, I'm going to settle the score!" / "Jack didn't stay. So why should I?" / "You beat me once, Jack, but I've learned my lesson." / "An old friend once told me that when your back's against the wall, and it feels like there's no way out, as long as you trust in the power of your deck, you can find a way out of any situation.") And I think that, even beyond getting his card back, Yusei wants his friend back. In this episode we caught a glimpse of Jack, and he seems to be resisting his past (and past acquaintances), which suggests that part of him still misses them and regrets betraying them. Now I'm going to spin a likely tale; it's not canon, just based on canon evidence. I'm guessing that whatever sort of government rules Domino and the Satellite organizes a sort of sweepstakes from time to time, a carrot to go with the stick as it were; one person from the Satellite can be elevated to the status of upper class in Domino (complete with amazing ocean view). But only one, and only very infrequently; it would be expensive, but would keep morale manageable in the Satellite when in theory being essentially written off by society would produce lawlessness and chaos. So Yusei, Jack, and their circle dreamed of all getting out of the Satellite together, but Jack got scared. This dream does seem quite far-fetched, and maybe someone from the City got a chance to tell him a few lies. Anyway, Jack turned desperate and decided he had to choose-- friends, or escaping the Satellite forever. What if the score Yusei's settling isn't with Jack? Now, New Domino's *benevolent* government has accepted Jack into their society, and have to make sure that Jack's friends don't try to follow him. Their M.O. is to promise that one person gets out of the Satellite and into the plushest part of the city, only one, and no strings attached. If Jack's friends came after him and succeeded, other satellites might think they could do the same. Therefore, the government cracked down on the one person most likely to: Jack's closest friend, Yusei.
I even have a theory that the laws against satellites having cards or runners are meant to give the police an excuse to go after Yusei when he didn't do anything but be Jack's friend. That Yusei and Jack dueled, in broad daylight, in the Satellite, in that flashback suggests that the no-deck law is fairly recent (although Trudge's phrasing of it doesn't, and Trudge would be expecting him, the person the law targets, above all, to have a deck anyway), and it's now canon that runners are also illegal. However, Jack came from the Satellite with Yusei's runner and at least one card, Stardust Dragon, breaking both of those laws. Does the sweepstakes deal also include asylum from any past crimes (depending on how you get into the Satellite (which I've also been wondering about and have written about here), it may have to by definition), meaning that the authorities ignore that Jack *suddenly* has a runner and a deck? Anyway, that the authorities' credibility and... well, authority, hinges on whether they do what they said they would-- namely, take Jack, and only Jack, out of the Satellite-- suggests why the police are so interested in Yusei but perhaps couldn't have known he had his own deck. Or maybe Trudge knew Yusei had a deck but didn't think he'd have the guts to just show it to a police officer, which, if it had worked, would've been some nice psychological warfare.
So the question returns: why are the authorities after Yusei? Why did they specifically pull this big operation to trick him into the open in the first episode? One reason, of course, is that he's likely to try to get to Jack, who, in addition to the possibility of having political authority hinge on his perfect transition to high society, has a reputation as a famous duelist that, if their pro league is anything like GX's (not another one! Pleeeease!) is rather fragile. Do the fans even know he comes from the Satellite? So what's another? Trudge has his own grudge, but if Yusei were arrested, what would be the charges? For one, they could search where he lives (if they could find it, that is) and find an illegal duel runner; he'd probably also be carrying a deck or two. But if those laws were there before, how could Yusei and Jack have dueled, or Yusei test his first runner in that hopeful flashback of Tank's, and if they were after Jack left the Satellite, it's hard not to think "Post hoc, ergo propter hoc" (after it, and therefore because of it). It also seems likely that if the laws had always been in place, cowardly bullies like bug boy would have decided it wasn't worth the trouble to carry a deck when it was asking for trouble and they could duel better with their fists anyway. Only the true duelists, those who couldn't stop dueling if they wanted to, like, yes, Yusei, would risk carrying a deck anyway. However, if the laws are recent, people might not know, people might not believe that such a law would-- or indeed, could-- be enforced, and it makes the scenario of Yusei being challenged by a guy like that more likely. Bullies are mostly cowards (think Panik), especially in this canon; they wouldn't have the guts to carry a deck if it was, and always had been, illegal. Also, if the laws WEREN'T there, how WOULD they get Yusei off the streets? Probably trump up some charge; if they can create and enforce a flat-out class system like the City and the Satellite, nothing, but nothing, would surprise me.

Yusei built “Jack's” runner himself from scrap? I was right, then, about Yusei being as good a mechanic as he is a duelist, if not better. Did he pick it up himself, or did someone teach him how? How could he make a runner that could perform to a professional standard without ever having gotten a good look at one? Yusei grew up on the streets, so it's not like he could ever really get near a runner to copy. Maybe that's why his are better; he wasn't relying on past models, and he invented something independently better? And of course he probably built the runner he rides now after Jack took the first.

I looked up what an antlion was and what its retribution might entail, just for the heck of it. Antlions are insects in the family Myrmelontidae, and usually the term "antlion" refers to larvae of these. Also, fun fact for all of you "Sub-Desert Duel" fans out there, they're often called doodlebugs in North America because of how they "doodle" in the sand with their movements. They dig conical burrows in the sand with the loose dirt as steep as it can be on the sides without caving in; therefore when anything small enough steps onto the burrow, it ends up sliding into it and getting buried, along with the antlion, which then eats it. It makes the trap then buries itself; I'd say that its retribution, which is essentially payback usually by a higher power and usually for something bad, would be both painful and arbitrary. Anything could step onto that burrow, even the most saintly ant there is, and it doesn't matter. I'd say that the most accurate part of this name for this card is that bug boy ended up costing himself a lot more points with that card than he cost Yusei.

"And bullies never learn, unless you stand up to them." The people who write this show must just LOATHE bullies. I can think of several quotes similar to this off the top of my head: "I've dealt with a lot of bullies in my life, and there's only one way to deal with them: you have to stand up to them." (Yugi, The Light at the End of the Tunnel) "And besides, I have very little patience for bullies." (Kaiba, don't know the episode but I think it's The Master of Magicians I) "Didn't anybody teach YOU ya shouldn't mess with little kids half your size?” (Joey, The Dueling Monkey) “"No one likes a bully—especially me!" (Kaiba, The Dark One Cometh IV) I knew how to find a GX quote, but I couldn't find it. I know I mentioned it, sometime, and it's in a post. But I've looked through most of them and I've got nothing. It's very frustrating. Anyway, standing up to bullies is a long-standing Yu-Gi-Oh tradition.

Yusei has two decks; one for turbo duels and one for regular?

Cool! You can actually detach the duel disk from the runner! Looks like a Battle City model. Were they both using the old Battle City versions?
And if so, that suggests a shorter passage of time than I'd figured between GX and 5D's; otherwise, the original models would probably be entirely out of use, since most people have different models in GX. But maybe the original Battle City models are still popular (minus the little bat-winged projectors, of course) because they're standard. Anyway, I wonder if we'll start seeing duel vests and so forth when we see some regular duels in New Domino, amongst people who can actually afford fashionable duel disks that make a statement.

"I always knew that there were bugs down here in these tunnels..." What, hadn't you ever come down here yourself? And, apparently most satellites don't, or it wouldn't be a safe place to keep a runner.

I get the feeling that this isn't the last we'll see of bug boy (we might even learn his name!), and I certainly wanted to take a paragraph to talk about him. He mentioned that he got "dumped" in the Satellite, and wanted to get back to the City. Is that how it goes with everyone, or is he a special case? Seems a bit absentminded; there aren't many duelists who accidentally fall prey to their own card effect and then not know it. That was funny. Notice that Yusei used that to his advantage, too and followed up by taking out a lot more lifepoints with that Antlion card.

That Yusei is scared of insects is actually really interesting, in terms of the canon itself. On an episode level, it's another Panik Attack, an episode about triumphing over fear; in terms of the series, it shows us that Yusei can and does face his own fears, similar to Panik Attack's showing that Yugi stands up to bullies and faces frightening situations with, as Mai puts it, “guts”; but far more exciting is that I think back to Yugi and Jaden, and I can't think of anything like Yusei's phobia of insects. The characters are becoming more layered and three-dimensional with each series, and watching the canon grow, always encompassing everything from “The Heart of the Cards” down, is beautiful.

It's Doom Dozer, the bug that almost ate Syrus and Ojama Yellow!

So, this is the part where I ask all the questions that, in retrospect, will seem very silly. I read my first couple GX posts the other day, and they were a hoot and a half. But I have some commonsense questions I decided it couldn't hurt to put out there.
People in the Satellite also consume and produce waste; who recycles for them, or do they also recycle that?
Following Yusei, I think we've gotten sort of a skewed view of satellite life; he's hiding from the law, so it's understandable that he wouldn't work at the recycling plant with Blitz, Tank, and Nervin (maybe he used to). He seems to live in a long-abandoned transit tunnel of some kind (makes a handy garage) and probably has since he started building duel runners (which take up some space and aren't legal) or since runners became illegal (which, as I've spelled out elsewhere, might be about the same time he did). I wanted to ask, do they pay the factory workers in the satellite, or just provide them with subsistence living (i.e. you work, you get a roof over your head and some food). If they pay them, where can they buy things such as food (company store?)? If Yusei and Rally can't work at the factory (without getting arrested, at least), how do they get food? Are Tank, Blitz, and Nervin tightening their belts to share? All we know is that satellites end up improvising a lot by "borrowing" things from the scrap heap; Tank mentioned that they "rigged" a cable to watch Jack's match. Yusei built, apparently, two duel runners out of scrap. What else do people improvise? Another weird idea I had was in recalling what human beings historically have done in times and places of hardship; there's some bitterness, but mostly it's a feeling of being "all in the same boat". If I had to imagine what else went on in the satellite, one of the first things that would come to mind is music; it requires no technology, is universal, promotes community, soothes frazzled nerves and weary hearts. We haven't seen many other satellites, aside from bug boy and his cronies. Are there any families there (which may tell us one way or another whether it's only wrongdoers who get sent to the Satellite, or if one CAN be second-generation satellite)? They're weird questions that will probably never be answered, but understanding the social structure of New Domino and the Satellite would be a whole new dimension (though maybe not one of the five, lol) and would be very neat.

It occurs to me that a law against cards and runners in the Satellite, essentially a law against dueling, means that the only duel action in the Satellite (in theory) is on TV. It gives the satellites an automatically inferior position, because they can only be spectators. In canon symbolism, a deck and a duel disk equal the power to fight for what you believe and who you care about, to stand up for yourself and make your voice heard (I'm drawing on the "What Lies Beneath" sequence; Zane gave Syrus' duel disk back, and in turn Syrus gave Axel's duel disk back).

I realized after I sent off last week's post that the quote "Don't underestimate us satellites, 'cause what you see as weakness is what truly makes us strong." reminds me of another quote: "Y'know, teach, you really shouldn't be makin' fun of us Slifers like that. I mean, I'M a Slifer, and I beat you, so when you make fun of us, you're really makin' fun a' yourself!" (A Duel in Love)

I love this show (all four of them) because it's a show in which there are some really great good guys and they almost always win. I love it because in this universe the people who win are the ones who love the game itself more than anything. It reminds me that life's a game and the Heart is nothing more or less than true intention. I love this show because it's, yeah, inspiring, and comforting. No matter what's going on in my life, Yugi will always have defeated Pegasus at Duelist Kingdom, Jaden will always be the Slifer "slime" who makes stuck-up Obelisk Blues look silly, and Yusei will always have learned a lesson about the Heart from his greatest rival.
I've been learning how to drive lately, and last night I had my first major accident. I ran over an island in an intersection in downtown San Jose, CA. It was scary, but somehow everything else I'd been worrying about doesn't seem like such a big deal anymore. The damage was fairly minor, and no one was hurt, by the way. Anyway, right afterward, while I was letting myself calm down from the shock, I found myself thinking a lot about 5D's. Like I said, it's very comforting. My respect for Yusei grows further; he spends his time seeing just how fast his runner CAN go, and at this point, I can no more imagine being a good driver, let alone drive at the highest possible speed and live to tell of it, than imagine myself as Socrates.

I wrote a song. It's still in the process of getting a tune. Once it has one, I'll record myself and put it on my website, http://www.mykland.com/cliosite/index.html. For now, I've got lyrics, and whoever reads this is the first to see 'em.
I close my eyes and I can still remember
When we were friends and rivals, you and I
We dueled and chased our dreams back then together,
The dreams that gleamed in sunrise in the sky

You taught me what I'll always carry with me,
Part of me, like my runner or my deck:
You showed me all the strength within I couldn't see,
The strength I called on when things went to heck.

CHORUS
When we dreamed of the future, it never seemed so hard
All I got left is a rogue guiding star
Where would I be now, if you hadn't taught me
To trust in every last card?

Maybe you were scared we'd never get there,
Perhaps that's why you stabbed me in the back.
It's not that it was mean or it was unfair
That pulls me racing after you, Jack.

It's that you didn't mean it, though you meant to
It's that you know this isn't who you are
When you find that you need a friend to turn to,
Know that there's nothing can keep me far!

We dueled and chased our dreams back then together,
The dreams we always thought were far beyond
To get you back, you know I'll go wherever
And suddenly our dream is all but won!

Pipe Dreams is the next episode. Yusei's riding through a pipe to get to Domino, just as he's dreamed; that's one possible reason. But a 'pipe dream' is a fantasy that can't come true, literally something you dream of while smoking something intoxicating in a pipe. Some may consider Yusei's dream of escaping the Satellite completely chimaerical, but we all know he's gonna prove 'em wrong.

That's all, folks! -Clio

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF THIS EPISODE HERE