Predictions and Observations:
Truth and Consequences II,
Signs of Doom I, II, III

Episodes Made Available Officially:
This Post Posted:

I realized after I sent out the last post that Kalin kept his hand empty on purpose, and all Akiza and Misty have is their hands. That's another way to look at the duel symbolism of having only one's hand to rely on; they don't have the past or the future, only the people backing them up. That was the symbolism of Kalin's hand, because he was most dangerous once he'd chased away his last friend.

Did anyone else just *cringe* when Mina yelled for Jack? It's 'cause he's her hero and she carries a torch for him, but, ow. Poor Trudge.

It seems to me that the biggest conflict within this duel, superseding even the whole Signer-vs-Dark-end-of-the-world-at-sunset thing, was over who Akiza really is, a conflict mostly played out in the big showdown between Sayr and Yusei. Yusei values her as a person, Sayr as a power, and she can be either one. Sayr claimed that, even though he was manipulating her, he provided her the guidance and support, the psychological comfort, necessary for her to function and to be her best. If we're talking sheer psychic firepower, he might even be right. Yusei, I think, doesn't disagree with that, but with the premise that "most powerful" equals "best", and the premise that that power is worth manipulating and exploiting her for, not to mention worth ruining lives like Sayr had Misty's, Toby's, and Carly's.
But, I add, who said Akiza can't be a psychic and still be human? It's part of who she is, and she trusts both Yusei and Sayr because they aren't afraid to deal with *all* of who she is, including the really dangerous part. Akiza has proven she can control her powers when the chips are down; she *is* a good person, and her powers can be used for good. They're part of who she is, and she's dealt with accepting them her whole life; she's getting closer, and as she does, she has more freedom to be someone who has powers, not someone who is them.
But I'm not done talking about this yet! I asked, earlier, whether the presence who said that Akiza was "gone" when Akiza's mark first appeared and she pinned her dad to the wall with real cards was a slip of the pen. I think, if we trust Sayr to tell the truth, that was the aspect of her power he locked up, that sort of alter-ego who destroys without mercy, and that's what we saw here in Akiza's eyes. That's my guess, anyway. Akiza's been destructive at other times (Battle With the Black Rose, The Profiler, Duel of the Dragons, Clash of the Dragons), but that's because she was being defensive, trying to protect herself, trying to survive. She may have been trying to recapture that merciless persona, to become so feared she would never be hurt again, but I think there is actually a whole separate Nightshroud to Akiza, so to speak. I could be wrong.

So Misty really *didn't* summon down her geoglyph until now. How come? Well, it would've wrecked the house of mirrors just like Black Rose Dragon did, I suspect, and maybe she wanted to set the right mood? Right now, that's the best reason I can come up with. Maybe this signals that, up until now, Misty was just toying with Akiza, setting her up, that she wasn't really serious about this until now?

Misty sacrifices pieces of her Sad Story to keep DQ of TE on the field; continuing the Sad Story metaphor, now that her destructive grief is in place, it doesn't matter where it came from, and everything that happened before just serves as fodder to keep it going.

Well, that's "Sayr's a twisted loony" in no uncertain terms: "She's who I say she is, and right now *I* say she's a one-woman army who will obey my every command... she's through with nothing until I say she is, and I'm *never* letting her go!"

"It is because of me that she will finally be free to unleash *all* her powers, and that is something you could *never* give her!" That would be a dig at Yusei and Akiza as a couple; remember, Sayr knew all about Akiza's crush on Yusei, and he accused Yusei of having "special feelings for this girl" last episode. Nobody asked Sayr and most of us are long past telling him to go jump in a lake and get eaten by a giant nuclear salamander of doom (oh wait, he did), but could he have a point? Yusei's a great guy and personally I think he and Akiza are adorable, but there aren't all that many experts on psychic powers, and Yusei sure isn't one of them. With regard to that side of herself, Akiza no longer has anyone to turn to for more than moral support. Sayr had a vested interest, but he understood things about her and her powers that she didn't; he demonstrated that with the "witch's island" stunt.

Why scapegoat Akiza? After all, Sector Security can't touch Arcadia. Arcadia was well-guarded against large organizations-- Sayr could tie Security's hands by blackmailing Goodwin. Though, it occurs to me, are we talking about the same Goodwin? Why hadn't Goodwin hunted Sayr down personally by now, or do we not think Goodwin can take Sayr? That would've been fun to watch, but it's kind of a moot point after all this. However, I'm sure an organization like Arcadia makes its share of individual enemies like Misty, too numerous to blackmail. It would make perfect sense for Sayr to create situations like this, where the blame falls on individual targets instead of on the Movement itself, because Arcadia can protect the individual targets, as it protected Akiza with all that coverup, and the Movement itself was never suspected. The Arcadia Movement is big, and there are a lot of ways to attack something that big, unofficially.

He secretly broadcast the entire conversation to Misty and got Sayr to start blabbing like a comic-book supervillain?! And that would be why Yusei rocks as both strategist *and* engineer. You rock, Yusei!

I want to take a moment to discuss duel disk broadcasting technology. Since their invention, duel disks have broadcasted; Battle City's broadcasted to a satellite monitoring for Egyptian God cards, and also to the official Battle City website, which streamed duels live and must've required quite a phenomenal internet connection to function properly. I've hypothesized that, since the broadcasting technology was so strong, Kaiba also made that the mechanism by which duel disks talk to *each other*, thus hitting two birds with one stone, and that format has endured. This explains why even an illegally-constructed model like Yusei's can talk to the New Domino Kaibadome's computers; if it couldn't, it couldn't function in a duel with any other duel disk either, because the duel disks all talk to each other in the same format, and that's the same format they use to update the scoreboard in the Kaibadome and the web page on the laptop next to Serenity's hospital bed. Now--why a live feed function on every single one, including Sayr's city model, Yusei's that he constructed himself, and Misty's that just kind of appeared in a burst of shadowy power? Well, duel banter has seemed uncanny; how do they hear each other, halfway across a stadium full of screaming people? Microphones, of course. And since everyone has a duel disk, it would make tons more sense, rather than mic everyone -- a laborious process -- to have the mikes built in to something all duelists have and keep close: the duel disks. Now, that explains why all duel disks have mikes and speakers (so they can hear their opponents). Now, how was Yusei able to turn on Sayr's mike and Misty's speakers? I'd imagine that, in the Kaibadome, before a match, some duelist will forget to turn on their mic just before entering the arena (can't imagine how they could be thinking about anything else, lol), and the guys at the computers can remote-activate it before the duelist looks silly onstage for nothing and ruins the tension. If the function exists, a hacker like Yusei can trigger it. But he just pressed the one button, and he didn't have time to do anything intricate. I'd say it's more likely that when two duel disks are activated within a certain radius of each other, and one duelist turns on his mic, the other duelist's communication channels (mic and speakers) also turn on, because why else would the first duelist turn on the mic, unless the duel disks were activated, the duel was about to start, and he had something to say to his opponent? A lot more mysterious is, how did Yusei turn on Misty's speakers? At this point, my best guess is that they were already on for Akiza and Misty's duel, and Misty's duel disk picked up broadcasts from Yusei's and Sayr's duel disks because *all duel disks broadcast the same way*, the mics were on, and they were close. That theory suggests that *Akiza* also overheard this enlightening conversation, though she missed the important part about her. Though she does know that Sayr framed her because she was a convenient scapegoat, and that it's all true about Arcadia, and she would've heard Sayr say she was a great find because she was naïve.

I don't think Sayr's coming back, although in theory he *would*, since Martha did after getting eaten by Uru. That's kinda heavy. We have a lot of shades of not-dead-but-dead in this show, and you have to be pretty darn bad to deserve any of them. In the end, some of the villains you meet along the way are even worse than the main bad guy to defeat in the final battle. Sayr was a really nasty piece of work, and we're well shut of him. But, wow. And, only time we ever rooted for an Earthbound Immortal. Unless we were cheering for Aslla Piscu the *first* time Sayr justly got his. Speaking of which-- he's really gone this time... right?

Akiza tried to spare Misty; that's a new thing for her. Before, she hadn't really thought too far beyond surviving the duel, so to speak, slapping her opponent down so they couldn't criticize or reject her. I think, perhaps, that this attempt at mercy really shows us that she's become a new person; she's seen the humanity in her opponent, to the point that she doesn't want to hurt her.

I have a feeling we'll see that locket again. It's a symbol, and now it's Akiza's, along with Misty's quest to find Toby. I predict that Akiza, as the last remains of the Arcadia Movement, will endeavor to clean up its mess, so to speak, and in the process, search for Toby and those like him. Unless this is a shade of not-dead-this-side-of-the-Pacific, of course.

Signs of Doom

"So *you're Akiza*, huh?" What's that supposed to mean, Crow? But this is the first time they're meeting face-to-face, and I'm trying to think when anyone told Crow exactly who all their far-flung allies across the Satellite today were, because Crow only knew Yusei and Jack, and possibly Trudge, and just kinda got pulled along for the ride, getting to know people as he went. He probably would've heard about Akiza from Yusei at some point, and I wouldn't be surprised if Crow saw right through him when he described her as beautiful.

Wow. When I transcribed the appearance of the King of the Netherworld, it had me reaching for my Thesaurus on the word "slime" within the first ten seconds. Ew. Just, ew.

So, after all this, there's still the fifth star of destiny, Ccarayhua. Will Black Rose Dragon still close it? Is it smart to leave it open? Does it matter?

Why didn't the Crimson Dragon warn us about *this* at the end of the Fortune Cup instead? It knows destiny, not the future, I guess-- but wouldn't it have known that there was currently no double-Signer (Signer with two marks) and there had to be? Maybe it was showing the Spider symbol, not as the final battle, but as a crucial moment; after all, ten minutes before it appeared, Goodwin became a Dark Signer.

So much for Goodwin's house. I'm remembering the time the Signers spent there, never once suspecting this was where it would end. But they took an important step there: they actively stepped up and chose to save the world, as a team.

"I had my reasons" What are they, pray? Inquiring minds want to know. Why *did* Goodwin gather the Signers? Because Roman told him to, I guess. Because he still cared about his brother. I guess Yusei has proof, just by the fact that the four of them were gathered by Goodwin, that Roman was and is very important to Goodwin.

Wait-- Goodwin's shirt has had an ancient-art-looking bird on it *the whole time*. It was staring us right in the face!

Wow. Add it to the list of hyperbolical jokes about Goodwin: He turbo-duels while standing still. I can't believe that one of those silly Goodwin jokes I came up with a bunch of posts ago was actually true: he *was* both a Signer and a Dark Signer at the same time! Could he also divide by zero *and* believe that it isn't butter? Did he always know the exact location of Carmen Sandiego? Could he he slam a revolving door? I suppose we'll never know. Though, depending on some chronology and facts about New Domino that we don't know, it's possible that he was in two places at once. Wouldn't put it past him.

Why did Goodwin vs. Roman have the become-a-Dark-Signer stakes? Why have other duels not had them? We just saw someone lose to a Dark Signer and become a Dark Signer. Then again, Sayr lost to Carly and didn't become a Dark Signer (Sayr as a Dark Signer? Run!). Is it the Dark Signer's choice? If so, why did Roman choose that set of stakes, even if he never thought he would win?

Mirror Force, Solemn Judgment, and Divine Wrath were the three traps Goodwin dropped on the ground. All three are very powerful traps; it isn't that he couldn't have beaten you with those cards, Roman, but rather that he *could've*, if he'd *used* them, but he didn't, on purpose. I note also that Solemn Judgment and Divine Wrath both follow a heavenly theme, and all three of these cards sort of scream righteousness and light. Mirror Force was one of Yugi's favorite traps; say no more. This is our only clue as to how much Goodwin's deck changed when he became a Dark Signer; but keep in mind he decided to do this long before that. Goodwin ended the duel with a hand full of exceedingly useful traps that would have saved him from just about anything; it's obvious right away that he was pulling punches.

I get it. Four Signers, four Dark Signers, and the fifth Sign of each set is given to the same person-- the center of the conflict, its origination, and its conclusion. That one person can, in theory, stop the fight by winning it within himself. Maybe this *could* happen but never does. Roman thought he was making it a clean break, separating the two sides so the Dark Signers *could* be entirely defeated, and so the Signers wouldn't be outnumbered five-to-four, with the fifth Signer mark buried somewhere on *his* arm underneath all the darkness. So he gave the mark to Rex, not realizing that the nature of the fifth mark itself is one of duality; it *always* shares its Signer with an Earthbound Immortal. That's the way the battle works: it demands that people face their own inner darkness, and that is personified in the Signer with two marks.
We've seen the Signers face their own dark sides, even as they battled the Dark Signers. Luna won allies by saying she had come to destroy them, and fought enemies by saying she was on their side. Akiza found the strength to control her powers, to show mercy, and to accept responsibility for her past. Jack faced the temptation of being the dark king, of selling out his friends to be number one again, time and again, and finally gave up being a loner forever. Yusei shouldered the heaviest burden of all; two of his dearest friends were sent to the netherworld by his own hand, he faced down all the heaviness of Zero Reverse, and at one point he was afraid to duel ever again.
My point is, Goodwin became a double-Signer thinking he was doing something new; he wasn't. He didn't even realize that all he did was provide the final piece of the battle of Signers-vs.-Dark, the one Roman was supposed to be, but tried to eliminate: The Signer with two marks. In the end, really, the two Goodwin brothers shared this role. I don't even see Goodwin's logic; how could a double-Signer break the cycle, when the cycle *always includes a double-Signer*?

Light and darkness at the same time? Can you *do* that? In theory, no... ish. Wouldn't one cancel out the other, or something? Not if light isn't the opposite of dark, and one thing we're finding out in this battle is how similar they are, in their way. They're both absolutes, and they're both merely powers with motives and neither is right or wrong.

Roman, too, had the option to choose between Signer and Dark, but he relinquished one in favor of the other, even if he chose to become a Dark Signer. At this point, I'm beginning to think that he was the *less* twisted of the two Goodwin brothers. Then again, he also took the easy way out by giving up the battle within himself in favor of a larger-scale one.

Goodwin said that Roman wouldn't be able to beat Yusei. If Goodwin didn't think Yusei could win, would he have done something different? Did he think so based on Yusei's own merit, or just because the light was destined to win?

You know, Goodwin, when the bad guy who caused Zero Reverse, pitted Rally against Yusei to force his hand, and dumped two different people into the Reactor, says *you've* gone mad... you might want to pay attention.

Oh, those fickle Signs. In the beginning, they were that which bound the Signers together; they had to be friends because they shared a common fight. Now that which connects them is far more substantial and meaningful. What I'm getting here is that the Signs don't matter as much as we think they do. If they did, Goodwin would've won.

Blackwing Bora and Mad Archfiend are fairly standard leads for Crow and Jack respectively; for one, they led these when the Enforcers raided the Magicians' secret hideout in the flashback in Dark Signs II.

What stood out at me was Yusei's leading Max Warrior. The monster reminded me of Kalin the first time Yusei played it, during A Score To Settle, and I think it tells us exactly what Yusei means by what he said before he played it-- "the power you get for fighting for what's right". 'Right' is a subjective and loaded term, and I think, viewed a certain way, 'the power you get for fighting for what's right' can be taken to mean the power gained from one side or the other, both sides of which, Goodwin has. Yusei's pointing to what Goodwin doesn't have but they do; I point to that which really gave the Signers the strength to take on this challenge and win it, and this goes back to Max Warrior-- they're fighting for their friends, their families, their future, their homes. Yusei didn't beat Kalin because he had to take out that control tower and save the world; he was fighting for the sake of and in the memory of his best friend, no matter what dumb things either of them did back in the day. This whole time, Signers and Dark Signers have been in his battle for personal reasons that have nothing to do with the Signs, and in the end the Signs don't matter in any of these duels until they're over and someone gets netherworlded. I also think Yusei's talking about the fact that they are out to protect innocent people from being, y'know, eaten by a giant radioactive condor. Goodwin may have a lot of power on his side, but might doesn't make right-- not in this game, it doesn't.

By the way, Yusei's, Crow's, Jack's, and Goodwin's names are spelled out on the scoreboard. It's kind of a tiny thing, but speaking with regards to holding only the episodes themselves as canon, stuff like that is the only official spelling we get. Not very many things ever get spelled out on screen, which means I rely mostly on educated guesses, and we all eventually fall into majority consensus, which is, if I understand things correctly, just as subjective; someone else's educated guess instead. We weren't in much *doubt* on the spellings of these names, but with the scoreboard screens in this duel, they're official in the dub canon at least.

So it would seem that combining all five marks is not a function of heart, but one of consciously exerting power. Yusei's and Jack's finding strength they never knew they had pulled it out of them, but that Goodwin can combine the Signs suggests it's more a matter of willpower and also it helps if you know what you're doing. Still, I note that *Goodwin* didn't draw Majestic Dragon. No Majestic Sun Dragon or Majestic Moon Dragon for him. So HA!

It occurs to me that the sludgy King of the Netherworld crossing the sea is something of a political metaphor. The City ignores the Satellite, but it can't stop the degradation of having a lower, inferior class from crossing the sea, and the time has passed them by in which the satellites wouldn't try to bridge the gap, however much the City has tried to postpone the day by forbidding satellites to carry cards or enter the city limits. The Satellite has nasty problems; those guys are living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The City can't ignore the imperative for their freedom any longer, however ugly the situation may appear.

I love how Crow and Yusei both had cards ready to build off of Jack's move on the second round. Goodwin's messing with the dream team here. These guys have been dueling together as a team since they were younger than the twins. I wouldn't be surprised if Crow and Yusei already knew that Jack wouldn't be one to wait a turn longer before finding a way to attack, and therefore they were ready for him to do some damage.

Now, back when I first found out about the Condor Immortal, it looked pink to *me*, and still does, and I predicted Angela might be our next Dark Signer, because she's still somewhat extraneous to the plot and pink is a color we identify with her. So far we've had her provide exposition by giving scene-setting news reports; we've seen her act as a foil to Carly, teasing her and giving us our example of the kind of journalist Carly isn't but is afraid she has to be; and we've learned that she had a secret deal going with Goodwin in which she got exclusive scoops, and we're not sure if that includes the leak earlier that Jack is from the Satellite. I was close; Angela wasn't the Dark Signer, but she's the only person we know who got sucked up by the Immortal this time. I get the distinct feeling that we aren't done with Angela yet; how has her life changed now that she no longer has that deal with Goodwin? We never found out if she *did* manage to calm that crowd, and how she did it.

Maya Memorial Park? A nod to another Mesoamerican ancient culture I guess. Are we taking a trip into their mythology next? The best known Mayan myth is the Popol Vuh, which narrates the adventures of multiple generations of Hero Twins. If Leo and Luna take up basketball and travel to the underworld across successively more dangerous rivers to play in an extremely unfair matchup against the lords of the underworld, we'll know what mythological canon we've stumbled into now. It actually wouldn't be terribly far-fetched based on what we know right now, in terms of symbology; the stories of the Hero Twins are associated with multiple monkeys, and in the end, after sacrificing themselves and then being reborn several times (hey look it's Yusei), the Hero Twins all but demolish the underworld and ascend to the heavens to become the sun and the moon, which we also identify with Luna (whose name means 'moon' in Latin) and Leo (because the astrological sign with the same name is identified with the sun). Heck, Maya mythology is *already* centered around a game... by the way, all of this is from my gigantic tome of world mythology: "Mythology: Myths, Legends, and Fantasies", published in 2003 by Global Book Publishing.

Angela mentioned that the Mark of the Condor appeared at 5:47 pm. That's right after the duel ended, right when the sun set. This is kinda silly, but with modern technology, I can look up online what time of year the sun sets at 5:47, and where in the world. Postulating that New Domino is somewhere in Japan, I calculated with the coordinates E140.0, N38.0, and I came up with the 15th of March. Postulating my home area of California's central coast, with coordinates W128.0, N38.0, I came up with January 25th. Postulating that this "island in the middle of the ocean" was probably somewhere in the Pacific, and it seems to be about as temperate as I'm used to, and therefore maybe still a dozen degrees north of the Tropic of Cancer, I plugged in coordinates W165.0,N38.0 and got sunset at 5:47 on June 2. This is all courtesy of the U.S. Naval Observatory website (http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php).

Offering to the Immortals is an awfully powerful card to not have a catch to it, as Crow so eloquently pointed out. Is that card really in the game...? Ah. It is. Shows what I know. But the conditions under which it can be activated are exacting, so it does balance out.

The Quechua words are so much fun. I've been studying phonetics, and I think the Moon Dragon's name is an example of a uvular plosive consonant (it's pronounced in the very back of the mouth with an explosion of air), and my English-trained tongue is a bit sore from attempting it. Those are sounds not found in English. Essentially, it's what actually *happens* when there's a Q sound without a U. Julie Rath-- or more recently, I just found out, Darren Dunstan-- must be having fun vocal-directing these words.

So, how to spell *this* one? I suppose I will actually look up the card. I didn't want spoilers, but since the adventure's over, I can look up the official spelling of all the Earthbounds' names.
Okay, here we go: The spider is Uru; the Hummingbird is Aslla Piscu; the Monkey is Cusillu; the Lizard is Ccarayhua; the Giant is Ccapac Apu; the Whale is Chacu Challhua; and the Condor is Wiraqocha Rasca. This is according to Yugioh Wikia (http://yugioh.wikia.com/); they look at the actual cards, I rely on the dub anime-- we move in different circles, and I appeal to them as a source of information I don't have.

Oh, gosh. This post just wouldn't be complete without mentioning the awesomeness of Crow. Same goes for Jack. The Yu-Gi-Oh! canon has a real thing for heroic sacrifice, but somehow it never gets old. And the metaphor and symbolism, Crow taking on the mantle of being "the Stranger" if Goodwin won't... Crow becomes the story he told... Jack finally really takes a stand and gets what's important to him... it's just so awesome. I've already said everywhere else in this post what else I want to say that's important, but just... that's how it's done.

So we just witnessed a rather interesting incarnation of duel rules. The rules on what happens when a duelist is incapacitated are always fairly inconstant, dependent on the situation, because it doesn't happen in duels that aren't a little on the shady side to begin with. Regulation tournament duels rarely get that violent, especially these days; remember how the stadium was up in arms over Akiza's psychic powers during the Fortune Cup? The rules are that it doesn't happen. If it does, the duelists are kind of on their own, and if it does, they probably aren't the type of opponents to determine what such a rule will be fairly. However, the duel equipment does behave a certain way, and the way it does determines the rules, I guess. Duelists differ, but we've seen it proven that they all use the same basic duel disks, and we've often seen the equipment act as referee. Perhaps the simple, pragmatic rule is, to the extent that a runner is working, the duelist is still in the duel. If Jack or Crow had been up against Goodwin individually, the match would probably have been technically an interrupt, the way Yusei's first match with Kalin was. In this case, Jack and Crow weren't riding, so they didn't get turns; but, since their teammate was still in the duel, whatever they had on the field already was still in play. The question of whether or not they could still *be* attacked is moot, because for Goodwin there would've been no point until he'd dealt with Yusei first. I guess it's fair; I'm also remembering how, in many tag-duels, the team loses if one player on it goes down. It's never been the case before that a duel could be interrupted without it being interrupted for everyone; with runners breaking own as an interrupt, not a loss, that is now a possibility, and this is how it was dealt with this time around.
As a last thing, I wondered if this obscure handling of a duelist being incapacitated explains Mai's skipped turn in Mind Game III. Let me explain. This is bringing up ancient history, but the last time I saw Mind Game, Mai vs. Marik in the first round of the Battle City Finals, it puzzled me that, when Mai's arms were restrained by Marik's Holding Arms and she couldn't reach her deck, her turn got skipped. In theory, they would be at an impasse, because Mai can't take her turn and continue the duel if she can't draw, but in order for her to do that, Marik would have to call off his monster, which he could only do on his own turn, not hers. What ended up happening was, yeah, Mai's turn got skipped, which is hardly fair. Of course it's not fair, and that was the least of Mai's problems, I know, but perhaps the same rule applies and that's why Mai's turn got skipped.

The Inca thought of gold as sweat of the sun, and silver as tears of the moon [3]. I realize I should've started brushing up on my South American mythology long before now, but there it is. There is a sun god Inti and a moon goddess Quilla in Inca mythology. I also read about a creator of all civilization called Viracocha. [4] The word 'Capac' (I found all YGO sites when I searched with two C's) means "splendid" or "glorious" and was a title used by Incan warlords and emperors. The word "apu" in Quechua means 'divinity' [2], a deity that has jurisdiction over a specific mountain or feature of the landscape [4]. The Incas, like the Aztecs, believed in cycles of creation and destruction, each age (or pachacuti) lasting a thousand years.[5] I'm reminded how the battle between the Crimson Dragon and the Earthbound Immortals happens every five thousand years, in the same cyclical fashion. The myths of Viracocha also sound a bit like Goodwin. As Goodwin showed up in the Satellite as a mysterious but incredible stranger, and as he must've washed up on the beach of New Domino having attempted to fly there from the Satellite and a scant few years later was already Director-General, Viracocha sometimes, as gods will, appeared on earth in the form of a stranger that most people wouldn't help; a poor, old beggar. Viracocha, though considered the beginning of it all, was not honored or paid attention to as much as other gods like Inti and Quilla. He already did his part, and left the world and its more minor gods to live with what he created. [5] Sounds familiar.
The Andean Condor is also very special to the indigenous mythologies of the Andes. It's featured on several coats of arms, flags, money, and so on, and is considered a symbol of power and health. [6]
By the way, the Quechua word for "light" is "illa" [5], though I know "aster" is Greek for "star". "Iliaster" may be best translated as "LightStar".
[1] http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/meaning_of_Capac.html
[2] http://www.rediscovermachupicchu.com/inca-rulers.htm
[3] http://www.crystalinks.com/incan.html
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incan_mythology#Deities
[5] Mythology: Myths, Legends, and Fantasies, published in 2003 by Global Book Publishing
[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andean_Condor

I wonder if Jack will continue to struggle with the inclination to be a loner.

Debris Dragon looks a lot like Stardust Dragon in miniature. I was trying to figure out the connection, and it occurs to me that stardust *is* debris; it's a byproduct of stars. I looked it up; scientifically, stardust is a category of solid cosmic dust that is older than the earth itself, found inside meteorites now and then when they land. Such material is of interest to science because it tells us about what the universe was like before we came along, how it's changed, where it's come from and where it's going. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_dust)

Incidentally, a shooting star is the same thing as a meteor, and no matter what you call it, it's a meteorite when it hits the ground. "Satellite Shooting Star" is the wacky Kaibadome MC's nickname for Yusei, and we do have a couple of "meteor" cards; I noticed it when Goodwin played Meteor Flare here. There's also Yusei's Meteor Stream card, which would have won A Blast From the Past for him.

Scrub Raid. I don't know what I can say that won't seem obvious and like I've said it dozens of times before. I love card symbolism. This was the card that Yusei activated to try and save Jack from ending up on the wrong end of Inti's special ability, but Jack refused it; but he had the same card and played it facedown and activated it to save Yusei from Rasca. It's just poetry in motion, I tell you. Since this is a turbo-duel, it's in even more motion, and no less poetic.

Hey Goodwin, that's the difference between you and Yusei-- when *you* know you've lost the duel, you're sunk; when *he's* supposed to know he's lost the duel, he's just getting warmed up!

Once Goodwin looks into his heart and realizes Roman is still there the Crimson Dragon *leaves* him? Explain *that* one! ...Okay, I'll try. Once Goodwin was honest with himself about what he wanted, the Crimson Dragon's power shifted to support that aim, namely shifted to Yusei's side, because Goodwin's actions were against what he really wanted, which is to live up to and please Roman. The Crimson Dragon gave him a happy ending too, by joining Yusei. Now, this suggests something interesting about the properties of the Crimson Dragon, if it isn't just dreadfully fickle, and is worth keeping an eye out for.
However, I do believe we've seen this before. The Seal's appearance on Goodwin's chest earlier in the duel suggests that combining the five Signs is not a matter of heart, but one of will; if it were heart, it would be a good-guys-only thing. Goodwin's resolve weakened, when he realized Roman would disapprove and that still mattered to him.

Wow, so Crow's the new fifth Signer, huh? Well, those Signs may be fickle, but they aren't wrong on this one. Crow earned it. He's been fighting like a Signer even though he wasn't one and he could've decided it wasn't his fight. It's amazing how well this fits, almost like it was meant to be (har, har). The fifth Signer dragon, which we still have yet to meet, is yellow and looks a bit like Power Tool Dragon; we've always identified Crow with the color yellow, and, like Leo, it didn't matter much to Crow whether or not he was a Signer, when it came to stepping up against the Dark Signers. I also note that, back during the Fortune Cup when I tried to predict the fifth Signer by applying the costume design knowledge I've gleaned in college theatrical classes, yellow was a color I was looking for, pertaining to the fifth Signer, because the colors yellow and orange were not very well-represented among the Signers we knew so far. The Signers now have a well-rounded color scheme, and my prediction there was not wrong.
So, I predict that, now that we've gotten past the part of the Signers' destiny that contained four Signers, one double-Signer, and four Dark Signers, we'll get on with the part that contains five full-fledged Signers who have already saved the world once before. Clearly the Signs are not done with us yet; we haven't even met Crow's dragon. I also note that Yusei now carries the mark of the Dragon's Head. Now, I mentioned earlier that by trying to split up his two marks, Roman failed to reckon with the apparent mandate of destiny for a double-Signer; failed to reckon with the fact that that Sign's destiny was to share its Signer with an Immortal. That's the same Sign that's on Yusei's arm right now, ladies and gentlemen. Does it still have that duality, now that this adventure has wrapped up just as it began--with the double-Signer--, or is it just a Sign now? Why did it go to Yusei, and Yusei's Sign relocate to Crow? What's special about the Dragon's Head, such that it went to a specific Signer? What does this mean is in store for Yusei next?

By the way, I really was confused this entire time which mark was the head and which the tail. In my defense, our canon evidence conflicts with itself. Now, though, we're certain: Crow's Sign is the tail, and Yusei's new one that was once Roman's is the head... right???

"In between the light and the darkness... a place of peace"? Like the eye of a storm? Actually that's a good analogy; storms are formed by opposing forces colliding-- warm fronts and cold fronts. Doesn't matter which you prefer, any more than it matters which side you're on in this battle; when they collide, all heck breaks loose. However, past the very most intense center of it all, at the point the Crimson Dragon hits the King of the Netherworld head-to-head, there exists this place of peace. One my first thoughts about this was, wouldn't anywhere between the light and the darkness be sort of the "battleground" between the two, as they struggle to move the status quo one way or the other? But precisely between would be a perfect balance, I guess, and perhaps a small, small part of the resulting gray would technically be precisely between and therefore neither one more than the other. A place of peace.

So, the story of the Goodwin brothers, from start to finish. The earliest we know anything about is twenty to seventeen years before the present. During this time, they were both lab assistants to Professor Fudo, working on the first Ener-D Reactor, located in what is now the Downtown District of the Satellite. Rex later described his brother as a "genius", and said that he was "always very proud of him"; I get the sense that Roman had more of a background in the science related to the Reactor, and Rex joined the Reactor Project because he wanted to follow in Roman's footsteps. When Fudo announced that he was shutting down the Reactor, it seems to me that Rex was disappointed, but nothing more; he was the one who said that their not knowing how the Reactor is related to the wacky weather was a reason to press on, to figure it out.
He was probably fairly unaware that trouble was brewing until all heck broke loose and he found Fudo lying in a hallway shot. After sticking the three dragon cards in his back pocket and making sure Fudo would get out of there safely, I would imagine, Rex, knowing that something bad was happening, went looking for Roman next. Now, if Fudo was still in any shape to escape and send Yusei away, why *didn't* he hang onto the dragon cards? After all, Rex wasn't planning to leave the Reactor just yet, he was going looking for Roman; wouldn't it have been a bad idea to give him the cards? Maybe it was because Fudo already had some idea what was happening to Roman, which could be inferred from the serendipitous naming of the Four Stars of Destiny (whose official names, according to Mina in Mark of the Monkey I, are in fact Ccapac Apu, Ccarayhua, Aslla Piscu, and Cusillu), but figured it likely that Roman would wait until Rex had escaped. He knew, after Roman betrayed him, that the cards were safer with someone Roman was less likely to betray. That's my only guess.
Anyway, next Rex went looking for Roman, who *also* handed him something having to do with the Crimson Dragon and told him to run for the hills. Turns out Fudo hedged his bets right, because Roman must've waited until Rex was somewhat safe before kablooeying the Reactor, because he went to all the trouble of making that capsule.
So Rex Goodwin made it out of Zero Reverse, with three out of four keys to the Reactor in his back pocket and carrying a big weird glowing canister, probably taking shelter somewhere in the Satellite. He probably rescued little else but the clothes on his back. This is where things get fuzzy, by the way. The next time we see Rex Goodwin in the history of the Satellite or the City, it's as The Stranger. Crow says that the Stranger was not a native satellite; "This story begins when a stranger came to the Satellite; no one knew who he was or where he came from...", which must suggest that Rex didn't lay low in the Satellite this whole time, or if he did, he laid very low indeed. Considering what he was carrying, how scared he must have been, not understanding anything about why he was carrying it, except that it's obviously ridiculously dangerous, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to think that Crow thought the Stranger came from somewhere else because Rex didn't come out of hiding until he was ready to escape from there. This would have been a period of perhaps four to eight years, and that inference is based on the history we know of Crow; he's probably a year or two younger than Yusei, but definitely around the same age, which means he was also a baby around the time of Zero Reverse. Crow says the Stranger was a hero to "us Satellite kids"; the way he speaks of this occurrence in Signs of Doom II suggests that he was old enough to remember it happening, and that he was a kid during that time. This means the building of the bridge must've happened when Crow was at least four, and at most maybe nine, causing me to conclude a gap of three to eight years between Zero Reverse and the building of the bridge. Probably more like four or five. We could even extrapolate that, since Goodwin knew Crow by name when they met at the Reactor, he knew Crow as one of the satellite kids-- which may be the only way he'd know who Crow was-- and we can therefore deduce that the bridge was built *after Crow was nicknamed Crow*, which is a flashback we saw in A Whale of a Ride III. Rex would've spent that time building that runner, or repairing it; we know it took Yusei about two years to build a runner in the Satellite, because Jack left the Satellite two years before Yusei followed him.
Now, my question remains *why* Rex built the bridge. Yusei says that it was because he still cared about Roman, but to me that reason alone doesn't quite make sense. During that time Roman would've been hiding out in the Old Reactor, possibly recruiting Deevac as a Dark Signer, and biding his time. It may be that Rex laid so low in the Satellite that other satellites thought he was a stranger, because Roman as a Dark Signer tried then to catch Rex and take the cards and the fifth Sign from him, thus bringing this whole thing to an early finish. Perhaps Rex knew that, to obey Roman's injunction before, he had to escape the Satellite before Roman could catch him. Perhaps Rex tried to get to the City to build another Ener-D Reactor, to keep the project going like Roman had wanted, which he did, this one engineered by Zigzix; though in theory, unless Zigzix was also on the first Reactor Project, Goodwin would know more about Ener-D Reactors than Zigzix does, right? Perhaps Goodwin was getting to the City and rising to the top in order to have the most resources, so he could do what Roman told him to and locate the Signers. Perhaps, in his confusion, Rex's reasoning would make no sense knowing what we know now. Did he intend to finish the bridge, to connect the City and the Satellite? This wasn't a dream of Roman's, that we know of, so why? How much of what actually happened with regard to the Daedalus Bridge was part of Rex's plan, and how much was unexpected? Goodwin said that when he built the bridge, he thought he couldn't fail, but found out that he was wrong; though it's possible that anything Goodwin says about his building the bridge during this duel is lies, because he already knew that this was something he could use to devastate Crow; Crow told him he looked up to the Stranger when they met at the Reactor.
So, at the end of it all, Rex leaps the end of the Daedalus Bridge and sails off into the sun, never to be seen in the Satellite again-- at least not as The Stranger. Did he land on the other side, somehow? Did he swim the rest of the way? We didn't see the capsule with the Sign in it on the Stranger's runner; did he take the capsule with him or hide it somewhere and come back for it? Did he go to the City from there?
How did he get from starving-fugitive-washing-up-on-the-beach to Director-General of New Domino in just a few short years? Will we ever find out? All we know about the time intervening is that Goodwin dispersed the three dragon cards to the wind *as Director-General*, but *more than two years ago*. I'm fairly certain of the first bit because in the pertaining flashback (ep#47) he was speaking to Mina, in an office at Security Headquarters, and looked much the same as he does now. I'm absolutely certain of the second because we know that Yusei and Jack had Stardust and Archfiend as of the Big Flashback, which was two years ago. We also know that Goodwin was Director-General two years ago because Lezar said that he had been sent to extend an invitation to Jack "on behalf of Director Rex Goodwin" (ep#25). We also know that during this time Goodwin had the 'conduit' built into his left arm to allow him to absorb the mark of the dragon head. However, we also know that Goodwin didn't oppress the Satellite all that actively. The Satellite was just about like it is now during the tale of the Stranger that Crow told, with the exception of runners being illegal, which probably came about long before Goodwin managed to become Director if it was a result of this incident. Goodwin's maintained the status quo, but the Satellite became a land of trash, factories, and second-class citizens before his time. Luna's history may offer another interesting insight into when Goodwin became Director-General; Goodwin and Lezar say that Luna knew some things "even we did not", which suggests that Goodwin was in power by that time because the office of the Director-General, including Lezar, was interested in information about the Crimson Dragon. Goodwin and Lezar say this happened eight years ago. I actually made a chart. This would've been when Crow was about nine, which definitely points that the Daedalus Bridge was built earlier. This would also suggest that Goodwin became Director-General around when the twins were born, assuming Luna was three eight years ago, making the twins eleven now. This was probably also around the time Akiza attended Duel Academy. She was about five during Zero Reverse, making her twenty-two now (ep#22 and ep#40). This also means that Yusei was no older than fifteen when the Enforcers ran, and Jack and Crow probably younger than that, *if*, by saying that he's a native Satellite and Yusei isn't, Jack means he was born after Zero Reverse. Isn't this fun?

What all do we learn from the final Act, the epilogue? We know that sufficient time has passed that Akiza got a postcard from Misty from Paris and Yusei, Jack, and Crow *built the bridge*. My opening guess is time has passed somewhere in the ballpark of a few weeks to a month.

Speaking of which, Misty's in Paris, or next to some *other* Eiffel Tower, lol. I'm reminded of the Soul Collectors; when we caught glimpses of them in Sinister Secrets III and The Final Journey, they were traveling Europe. I actually mentioned something in my journal a few months ago, that I looked forward to a happy ending for the Dark Signers like the Soul Collectors got; specifically I said I hoped we'd see them somewhere in Italy next season, because at least two out of three SC's ended up there, though I think Raf was near the Arc du Triumph in Paris. Looks like I got my wish.

It would seem that Kalin and Greiger are also traveling, and from the sounds of it they're traveling together. I never really thought of them as a team or a pair. They'd never met face-to-face. One thing they have in common is that they both were mistaken in blaming Yusei. But remember, they don't recall any of that (more on that later). Well, one thing, Kalin's a fighter to the core, and I think Greiger would respect that a great deal. Where are they, anyway? Visiting Greiger's home in Peru, maybe?

Whaddaya mean she doesn't remember a single moment of it?! Carly insists that she doesn't remember a second, and certainly she acts like she doesn't. At what point does her memory stop? Does she remember being blasted out of the top window of the Arcadia Building and nearly being killed? Has she ever met Misty, or Jack, or even Yusei? Certainly she doesn't remember how much she matured, the strength she found in herself, the conviction of purpose that caused her to force Ascilla Pisku to throw the duel to Jack, a feat of *impossibility*. She doesn't remember her prophecy, or how profoundly she changed Jack's life. The next time she and Jack end up face-to-face, will be an interesting moment. He remembers, she doesn't. Will he try to protect her from what happened? Will he fill her in?

Can we generalize Carly's amnesia to the other Dark Signers? The first and most imperative problem we encounter with that is simply this: if they didn't remember the duels in which they forgave, or realized they were wrong, wouldn't they still be out for vengeance against the same people they were after before? Misty would still think Akiza caused Toby's disappearance; she wouldn't be sending her friendly postcards. Kalin would still blame Yusei as a traitor, and be willing to give up everything for vengeance against him. Carly would still, in theory, be hurting after Jack tried to chase her away from the fight.

Hey, here's a question. We know that both Carly and Kalin learned to turbo-duel after they became Dark Signers. Can they still turbo-duel?

I'm noticing some similarities between what the Dark Signers will have forgotten. The end of Akiza's duel, in a certain way, was similar to the end of Jack's; both have been entrusted with carrying on, in the memory of the Dark Signer they defeated. And neither Dark Signer will remember. Carly won't remember that she sacrificed everything in the name of the possibility of a bright future in which Jack is king; Misty won't remember that Akiza tried to save her, or know that Akiza is searching for Toby. Those are things that only Jack and Akiza remember now.

It's kinda sad; it's hard to even think of the former Dark Signers as the same people anymore; there's so much that *never technically happened*. They don't remember so much that shaped who they were when they found it in themselves to forgive, who they still are to the Signers, but they don't even know it.

The Peabody Awards are international awards for excellence in television and radio broadcasting, and as of the '90s, there are some Web categories too. YouTube won one in 2008. The latest round of Peabodies, the 2009 winners, were announced March 31st. This quick bit of research was from Wikipedia's entry on the Peabody Awards, and the official website of the Peabody Awards at http://www.peabody.uga.edu.

They built the bridge!! Ya know? I've been asking it, and I've come to the conclusion that it's kind of silly to ask how they actually managed to build the bridge. *Yes*, they're amazing, but they're only three guys, even if that's more than one, and they don't have that kind of construction equipment, and how on Earth did nobody from either island notice they were out there for a few weeks at least building a gigantic bridge? It's part of the legend; if they weren't larger-than-life before, they are now. My best guess at this point? Magic. Maybe Majestic Star Dragon built the bridge, because it *was* repairing the damage to the City and Satellite done by the King of the Netherworld, and part of the fallout from this whole mess *was* the fallout from Zero Reverse. I can get wanting to surprise people, but if it was just the three of them building, magic or not, why *not* inspire people to help them? And I can tell they didn't because they were the only people there, when if anyone else knew about it, they'd want to cross it as soon as they could.

They built the bridge!!
What will this do to the social structure of the City and Satellite? How many Satellites will move? How many *citizens* will move? Will the societies mix, or still stay mostly separate? Will Satellites flood the City for a few weeks, savoring, for instance, the freedom to have those cheeseburgers and milkshakes Blitz, Tank, and Nervin were going on about, and then head back home and get back to their lives?
What laws will need to be rewritten in New Domino? Do they even think there's a chance that satellites in the city can stay illegal? The Facility would be stuffed within hours; nobody would obey that law. Is this the task of New Domino's legislative (Go Senator Izinski!) or executive branch (which at this point would be... an arm-wrestling contest between Lezar and Mina?)? Will the Director-General of New Domino City, whoever that is now, have jurisdiction over the Satellite, or will the Satellite remain autonomous except for intervention by Security? It should be noted that the Satellite is a prime example of the kind of anarchy that works, mostly (Outcast Alley is another story).
How will it all work economically? Will Satellites flood the City's job market with competition? Will most Satellites keep working in the factories in the Satellite? Will the factories pay better, being aware that satellites could run off to better-paying jobs in the City? Will someone do something about all the pollution from the factories so we at least get some sunny days in the Satellite more than once a month?
Will the Satellite be rebuilt? Will the standard of living rise there overall? *Was* the Satellite rebuilt the same way the City was after the battle, by Majestic Star Dragon? Indirectly, it even rebuilt the connection between the Satellite and New Domino.

A lot of loose ends got tied up with the end of it all. What's still left?
ILIASTER, is one of the big loose ends I'm noticing. Sort of. We had some foreshadowing that never got resolved. To recap, we've so far learned that Iliaster is an organization of Guardians of the Star, including Goodwin, supposedly sworn to maintain balance in the universe by summoning the Crimson Dragon. "Iliaster" itself has been defined as "the power that gives everything in nature its inner essence and outward form... binding them together" or in other words, "magic glue." (The Facility II). Now, more recently, we've found out that the man who approached Roman when he visited the Nazca Lines was from Iliaster, and he was the one who told Roman to start listening to the light of the Reactor, and finish it at all costs. Clearly Iliaster knew all about this before it happened, and wanted it to happen, even the part with the Zero Reverse and the Dark Signers. I asked myself why, and right now my answer is that Iliaster is on the side of the light, which as we know is merely one power, not the right one per se. If they already knew that the Signers would win this battle-- and if Goodwin knew, they did, and Goodwin told Roman he already knew the Signers were destined to defeat the Dark Signers-- even though they brought a whole bunch of darkness, that's a net gain for the side of light. They're still out there, and they're probably celebrating right now. Don't seem like the nicest guys to me, and they think the Signers are working for *them*, which in a way they are, because the Crimson Dragon is a force of light and they got the marks, but they've got a rude awakening coming if they think any of the Signers will do their bidding.
We've also seen Goodwin and Lezar communicating with shady characters that are yet unexplained, in "A Web of Deceit II" (ep#28) and Destiny's Will I (ep#56). The second is probably from Iliaster; the first, I doubt it. This is the guy who said "The Dark Signers may present a problem," to which Goodwin responded, "Yes, but it's nothing we can't handle, my old friend. If they want to fight me, well-- they'll get more than a battle, they'll get a *war*!" Will we ever find out what that was all about, now that Goodwin is gone?
We have yet to hear anything about Deevac or Sayr getting back from the Netherworld. Can't we just leave them there, please? I guess Deevac hasn't really had a fair chance to be likable-- I'm still wondering what kind of sicko the guy must be to enjoy going after the twins. But Sayr-- can't he just *stay* there, this time?
Speaking of the twins, we still have yet to meet their folks, and there are a few unanswered questions around why Luna used to stay inside all the time (Akiza suggested in Digging Deeper I that she already knew the world would reject her), and why the twins' parents are always traveling somewhere or other. People have suggested that that was because they were afraid of Luna, too.
And of course, our romances are still wide-open: Akiza and Yusei, and of course the circus that is Trudge - Mina - Jack - Carly.
Yusei still thinks of himself as "not a *big-time* anything", last time I checked; he just became turbo-duel champion of New Domino *and* saved the world from the Director-General within the same week, then went on to build the bridge within the same month; he'll have to face the press eventually. I'm wondering again about my idea earlier, when we first met Carly, about a blog being a satellite's kind of journalism, and Carly being the perfect person to bridge the gap between Yusei and the New Domino media.
And finally, we've still got five Signers-- and no Dark Signers. What now? Crow just became the fifth Signer, and we have yet to meet the yellow dragon that fought alongside Stardust, Archfiend, Black Rose, and Ancient Fairy Dragon in the ancient battle, the one that looks kind of like Power Tool Dragon but isn't. There's more in store for the Signers, and for them specifically, as Signers.
What bridge will they build next?

Oh my gosh, I just thought of a whole new way of looking at all of this!! Today in English class, we talked about authority: who has authority over whom, how come, is authority the same as power, and what are people willing to do or not do just because some authority says so? I realized that this entire arc could be re-framed in terms of authority; when we split into class discussion groups, I was a group of one, and severely weirded people out.
I'm going to start this discussion by looking at Yusei specifically. His journey, his battle, seems to me to be about accepting authority that is given to him, accepting being the top authority. I cite that favorite quote of mine, from "A Duel To Remember", about how Yusei, even when he doesn't remember his own name, doesn't really think of himself as "a 'big-time' anything." In the Fortune Cup, Yusei defeats Jack, becomes the champion, and begins to become the de-facto leader of the Signers; at that point, Jack no longer is a higher authority than Yusei (more on that later), and Yusei's at the center of attention a lot more than he's used to. Yusei's next big confrontation is against Kalin, who was the de-facto leader of the Enforcers, "because nobody could beat him" (ep#42) and because he was ambitious, aggressive, and inspiring (ep#33). Jack and Crow both walked away, refused to recognize Kalin's authority over that of their consciences (especially Crow), but Yusei stayed because he wouldn't deprive Kalin of the last friend he had, because he believed that "no one deserves that pain." (ep#55) In the end, the other three Enforcers valued their friendship over any disagreement, and came to Kalin's aid. Yusei tried to convince Security that *he* was the leader of the Enforcers, but Security caught him out. Now, to win against Kalin, Yusei must *really* become that leader; he must surpass Kalin. During this same time, as I try to structure this both chronologically and logically, Martha also declared Yusei to be important, to have authority and influence over others, when she berated him for endangering himself foolishly (ep#36). We see how much authority Martha has over Yusei (Martha has authority over *everyone*, which is why she rocks) when she kicks him out to go help Akiza once he's healed. Yusei also has some authority over Akiza, but I'll talk about that later, too. The first time Yusei faced Roman, Rally's loyalty to Yusei, Yusei's authority, was far greater than Rally's fear of Roman or Uru, and Rally made a powerful statement about how important Yusei is. Yusei becomes bigger than his circumstances, bigger than the terrible birth of the Satellite itself, a moment of betrayal, anguish, and destruction. It's truly that larger-than-life caliber that Yusei has reached, that abolishes the barrier between City and Satellite.
Jack's plotline, by contrast, is one in which he must *cede* authority and power. Jack became champion by betraying his best friend Yusei, when told that Yusei was a potential rival for his dreams of stardom. Jack convinced himself that he was right to turn his back, that Yusei was a softhearted fool who put dueling second to his pathetic friends, and by demonstrating this in endangering Rally and forcing Yusei to choose, assumed power over Yusei. Even so, he still finds himself worrying about Yusei coming after him to settle things, two years later. In their near-miss illegal match in A Blast From the Past I-II, Yusei evens up the lines of power, creating doubt between them as to the true champion, and we see between then and the Fortune Cup how much nearly losing to Yusei shook Jack up. At the same time as he loses power as he knew it, Jack's humanity emerges. A lot of that is fear and doubt; we see him nearly throw in his deck and refuse to duel until he can get a rematch with Yusei and be certain again. We find out that he has some honor as a duelist, and he has qualms about calling himself the champion when he knows that Yusei nearly won and would have if the duel had gone a second longer. Actually losing at the end of the Fortune Cup shook him up even more, and really brought it home to him that the championship -- "temporary greatness...fickle fans who love you when you're on top and hate you when you're not..." (ep#31)-- was not all it's cracked up to be. Jack learns to trust people. He has no choice but to trust Yusei, because it's official now that Yusei, not he, is the best duelist in the world. In Surely You Jest I, we see him demand that Yusei live up to that, even at the expense of his own pride; Jack could have taken advantage of Yusei's doubt and indecision to say that he was the better one after all, but instead he ceded leadership of the Signers to Yusei. With his injured arm following the Fortune Cup, Jack must trust Carly to help him, or he can't defend himself from Trudge-as-a-drone (ep#29). Carly starts out as the very picture of weak; she gets pushed around by Angela and her boss and even Jack, and she is ever at the whims of fortune. Ordinarily, Jack would dismiss her at first glance. He confides in Carly and calls her a friend, and in the end he breaks through to her as a Dark Signer by placing the power to destroy him in her hands (ep#59). Ultimately, in the final battle, he weakens a bit, then declares the end of his "loner ways" forever, even in the face of Wiraqocha Rasca, stating that, in fact, this is why banding together is so important (ep#63-4).
Next I want to talk about Akiza. Overall, her plotline is about what authority she recognizes. We know that, throughout her life, she's suffered from a lack of authority figures she could turn to; her powers scared even her parents. When she found someone who would stand up to her, who would look behind the mask and think of her as human, she was hooked. Unfortunately, that person was Sayr, who found her humanity useful in his own plans for her powers; he calls her one of his "greatest finds" because "her powers were as strong as *she* was naïve!" (ep#61) The most obvious iteration of this struggle over what authority she recognizes is the friction, both in her mind and externally, between Yusei and Sayr. Sayr knows well that Yusei is a threat to his power over Akiza before their first duel even finishes, and that threat solidifies when Sayr realizes that Akiza has a crush on Yusei, and blames that for the decrease in the ferocity of her power (ep#36). Yusei also saw the person behind the Black Rose's mask, and how scared and lonely she was; he had set out with the goal of uniting the Signers, and that meant becoming friends with her, regardless of anything. She could try to hurt him all she wanted, and he wouldn't back down. However, at the end of the arc, Akiza acts independently; she relies on Yusei as a friend, but her first concern is for Misty, her opponent, and afterward she vows to find Toby, and in doing so assumes responsibility for righting some of the wrongs of the Arcadia Movement. In the final battle, Akiza and Luna do their part by watching the backs of the other three Signers along with their dragons.

Perhaps even another way to think of this is the higher authority of destiny versus that of friendship, which is framed here as light-and/or-dark vs. "the power you get for fighting for what's right" (or PYG-triple-F-WR). We've seen and heard which characters recognize which of these two authorities; Yusei has again and again held the importance of friendship over that of anything else, including when he chose not to abandon Kalin and in the end tried to get himself arrested for something he didn't do before he would let his friend get justly arrested, including in the Big Flashback when he chose Rally over Stardust Dragon, including when he valued his friends' safety over his own in his actions while he was in the Facility. Yusei has flatly declared, in no uncertain terms, that "Friends are the most important thing a person can have. Without them you're nothing." (ep#12) and that he does not recognize the authority of destiny (ep#58).
Goodwin, by contrast, is convinced that his actions are the the very dictum of destiny; he does some things that would be indefensible if the ends didn't justify the means, like pitting Luna against the Professor in the Fortune Cup, blackmailing Yusei by threatening to frame and arrest Rally and the gang, manipulating the Signers for who knows how long, and destroying Greiger's village. He comes by this view honestly; Roman is his big brother for cryin' out loud. Goodwin even conducted an empirical test of destiny's power by scattering the three Signer dragons to the wind and then finding out they ended up with the right people (ep#45). It becomes clear that destiny demands that the Signers and Dark Signers do battle for the fate of the Earth, and as the Goodwin brothers prove to us with all their double-Signering, it doesn't really matter which side you're on.
In the final battle, these two forces collide. Goodwin asserts that he has become the author of destiny itself, by wielding the forces of both light and dark. But Yusei asserts that this isn't over yet, and declares that he and his friends, though technically not Signers at the moment, have something that will always be stronger: "the power you get for fighting for what's right." At first blush, this seems like the same as being on one side or the other; "right" is relative, am I right? However, the Signers and Dark Signers alike were fighting for reasons that had nothing to do with being Signers or Dark Signers-- Misty fought for her brother; Luna defended the Spirit World and Leo; Crow *wasn't* even a Signer when he challenged Greiger over the fate of his nestlings, and Greiger was barely a Dark Signer when he accepted in revenge for the fate of his village; Kalin would be a Dark Signer forever if it meant he could pay back the best friend who betrayed him; and Yusei is fighting for the safety of his friends and his home, and for the promise of uniting the City and the Satellite. In the end, Goodwin conceded the point to Yusei that "the bonds we form *really are* all that matter in life." (ep#64) This is what Yusei's talking about, the subtle but earthshaking power that's available to duelists who duel for the right reasons, who duel because they care about others, and who have faith in themselves and never duel alone. We've seen it before, people; we're talking about the Heart of the Cards. The Heart knows no side, light or dark. In the original YGO, destiny and The Heart get collapsed a lot, because both are on Yugi's side, but here we see them distinguished from each other.

Note: I've decided to stop listing the precise specifics of the cards on the New Card List, due to sheer length and volume of effort. I will list the type of card, as specifically as can be determined from its use in the episode.

NEW CARD SECTION
Akiza-- Fragrance Storm, spell
Akiza-- Shining Rebirth, spell
Akiza-- Ground Capture, trap
Akiza-- Nature's Reflection, trap
Misty-- Reptilian Gardna, monster
Misty-- Advance Force, spell
Misty-- Reptilian Rage, equip spell
Misty-- Doom Gazer, trap
Crow-- Tune-Up One Two Three, speed spell
Crow-- Blackwing Anchor, trap
Crow-- Life Exchange, trap
Crow-- Shadow Dance, trap
Goodwin-- Oracle of the Sun, effect monster
Goodwin-- Fire Ant Ascator, tuner monster
Goodwin-- Sun Dragon Inti, synchro monster
Goodwin-- Weeping Idol, effect monster
Goodwin-- Dark Goddess Witaka, dark tuner monster
Goodwin-- Moon Dragon Quilla, dark synchro monster
Goodwin-- Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca, effect monster
Goodwin-- Meteor Flare, trap
Goodwin-- Offering to the Immortals, trap
Goodwin-- Passion of Vai Mahse, counter-trap
Goodwin-- Destruct Potion, trap
Jack-- Magic Hole Golem, effect monster
Jack-- Conquest of the Supreme Ruler, trap
Jack-- Fiendish Chain, trap
Jack-- Half-Straight, trap
Yusei-- Junk Archer, synchro monster
Yusei-- Joint Future, trap
Yusei-- Rising Rush, trap
Yusei/Jack-- Scrub Raid, trap

Sorry all this took so long, everyone. With four episodes at once, I went into this one feeling a bit burned out. It's a lot to process, at the level of detail that I do so. In addition, now that the arc is over (I hesitate to say 'season'; 4Kids seem to have changed their minds over where their season break is. I'm annoyed. I'm waiting for them to stick to it before I overhaul my filing system again... or at least until I have more time for such nonsense than I do now...), a lot of this is sort of discussing everything in review and retrospect. I've also been working on an overhaul of my transcribing system that requires me to go back over the transcripts I've already done and re-edit them, including all of 5D's, and ideally I'd hold this post until I was done with that, but it'll take over a month at this rate, especially considering what all I already have scheduled this month; it's show season again, and I'm beginning what is best described as nearly a solid month of tech week. Horrors.

Well, no idea when our next new episodes are or what's going on. I'll keep everyone posted as I learn anything. That's all for now, everyone! -Clio

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES II

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF SIGNS OF DOOM I

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF SIGNS OF DOOM II

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF SIGNS OF DOOM III