Predictions and Observations:
Eyes On the Prize

Episode Aired: June 25, 2011
This Post Posted: July 1, 2011

Whoa! I just found out through complete coincidence-- 'cause the continuity's fairly solid, if you allow some passage of time for Crow's shoulder to heal, but I'd wondered about Akiza's wearing her usual street clothes again-- that we just skipped twelve episodes! Last week was episode#110, naturally, and this week was ep#123. Glad we got the whole 500 episodes thing sorted out before we reached the ones they decided to skip. Now, how come? More defenestrations? More sterling examples of Yusei driving himself crazy by worrying too much? More freaky psychic organizations? More fun with clocks? Was there an episode they wanted to avoid showing on a major holiday again...? Nope, the 4th of July's on a Monday this year. Huh. How odd. Well, as in the past, I predict we see them falling onto our heads sometime in July, four to six at a time. Something tells me this is going to be an interesting summer. Or maybe they'll only release them subbed; which would really stink. I wonder; are we still in Season 2?

I'm noticing that Akiza still wears her hair roller when, technically, she could try other hairstyles these days. I'd been kind of wondering when she would tell any of the other Signers that her powers are gone; I kind of get the sense that she's keeping to herself with that. Or that's the sense I got *before* I found out we skipped twelve episodes. She may very well have gotten them back by now. But if not, the observation stands.

Wow. So we already know more about Team Ragnarok than we ever knew about Team Catastrophe-- we know all three members' names, for one, within the first seventeen seconds of the episode, which caused my jaw to drop. Heck, by the end of the episode we may even know more about them than we ever did about Team Unicorn, which is kinda saying something. It seems an almost aggressive amount of exposition, gratuitous; there's so much they're not hiding that, it seems to me, most rival teams would say is none of your business and if you want answers you can get 'em on the track. Yet, would we have the sense that we've got another full-fledged superhero team in the Grand Prix, without knowing all that we do? Their powers came to them much in the same way the Signers' did, and the reason they teamed up is very familiar (more on that later). Having heard all this backstory, we can understand where they're coming from, and with that already established, have this duel be about which team of superheroes takes down the Emperors, not about "Wait a minute, did I just see your eye change color?" "No, of course not, you're seeing things, but I know your arm just turned red." "That's, um, the sheen of my runner." "Who in the deck are you people, and are you with the robotic psychopaths in the robes?!" "No, but I bet you are!" and on and on. If we'd just randomly run into another team in the WRGP with superpowers on the track, everyone would've had a lot of explaining to do.

The most skilled duel team in the world? Wasn't that Team Unicorn? Guess not; they were the ones who first made the format well-known, but that they aren't considered the best at that format anymore suggests that it's been around longer than we think.

So, the rocky thing in the sky; Divine Temple, I take it? Kinda reminds me of the Millennium Puzzle hanging in the sky during Dawn of the Duel/Millennium World. At least it's falling out of the sky slowly, I guess.

Wow, this is kind of cool. We've actually managed to run up against another team of duelists with superpowers trying to save the world from exactly the same thing, who think they can do it better than we can. This is sort of a new one, unless you count Kaiba's bid to take down Pegasus in Duelist Kingdom. We've had failed heroes in this canon before-- those who took a shot at the bad guys and got slammed for it-- but usually they weren't as well-qualified to take on the bad guys as our heroes were. Kaiba couldn't stand up to the Millennium Eye the way Yugi could with his own Millennium Item, and it was definitely for the best that Joey lost the final Duelist Kingdom playoff to Yugi. My point is, even after 500 episodes, this is an exciting new twist that we haven't really seen much before.

So the Emperors of Iliaster have named their team New World. How apropos. Have they managed to repair Primo yet? Did he get a say in the team name?

Where did the strange wave come from, that made the planes' instruments go funky? Let's blame Iliaster for now. Always a safe bet. But seriously, though. Was someone or something trying to eliminate Haldor before he got powers and became dangerous? Or was something trying to awaken those powers-- because all three of the Rune Eyes first showed when Haldor, Dragen, and Broder were in danger, and protected them from harm.

Which brings me to my next discussion: magic properties. So, I'm noticing that, like a Signer's Sign might, each of the Rune Eyes showed when its duelist was in danger. Haldor's guided him through that cloud of smoke and helped him not crash into that mountain; Dragen's protected him through an avalanche that would've killed anyone else; and Broder was about to get slammed against a rock pillar that got inexplicably struck out of his way by lightning. Each of these saves required more power than the last, so I think it's safe to say that the Rune Eyes increased in strength by being gathered together. We have yet to see what else they can do. Also safe to say that the cards chose them and the cards are tied so closely to the Runes that it's hard to tell which came first-- whether they're destined to be Runed 'cause the cards picked them, or whether the cards picked them because they're Runed. In all, the Runes are similar to the Signs in a lot of ways, and it's clear that Runes and Signs sort of set each other off, just from Team 5Ds' running into them in the park and having their signs glow almost as much as with your average Dark Signer duel. Since they're so closely related, I just have to ask about a piece of the puzzle that's still missing should it be the case that the Runes are another set of marks with all the same properties as Signs-- is there a Crimson Nidhogg, too? My other question: we know there's two groups with marks that work like this, so could there be more? My other other question: if the Runes do have properties that the Signs don't, or vice versa, what are they and what makes these two apparently similar phenomena different, besides of course appearance, placement, and origin?

Which military did Haldor pilot for? We do see some insignia, but I haven't found anything that matches that plane. A lot of fighter airplanes are painted green on top and white on the bottom, probably for the same reason plenty of animals are a different color on top than on the bottom-- camouflage; from above, the plane's green top will look like part of the ground, and from below, the plane's white belly will blend in with the sky. The crown insignia on the side of one of the planes didn't turn up any matches either. The CO's badges there are also fairly general; there are a lot of pins with wings in military insignia. I have a feeling this could be determined, but I don't have the resources.

I think what we're meant to understand with regard to Haldor is that he's just as preoccupied with saving the world as Yusei is. But I still have a lot of unanswered questions about Haldor; what can I say... he doesn't seem scared enough. I'm noticing that as soon as he found out about all this he sort of dropped everything and decided to go save the world, and I want to understand better how come. What premonitions has he seen? Or is this just sort of what he'd been waiting for? Maybe it's just 'cause he's also the 'Goodwin' of the team, he gathered them together and told them they were chosen/needed to save the world, that he's just slightly bugging me. He seems to be accepting all this a bit too readily.

I'm pretty sure Team 5D's, not Team Ragnarok, are going to be the ones throwing down with Team New World. I just have this feeling; call me crazy. It's going to end up being only Team 5D's, and Yusei specifically, who can save the world, 'cause that's kinda just the way it goes with these things. Whether Ragnarok will get the first shot at the bad guys remains to be seen; if they do, it won't end well. If, indeed, they aren't just here to try to save the world and ultimately fail so Team 5D's can do it-- if in fact there will be a Fimbulwinter that only Team Ragnarok can melt-- clearly this is not the apocalypse they're looking for, and I'm wondering if we'll see them fulfill *their* magical destiny later on. If this *is* the apocalypse they're looking for, I predict that they fight first, they fight valiantly, they can't finish it, but we couldn't have done it without them.

There is a precedent or two for Norse mythology in the YGO canon. As of yet, Team Ragnarok doesn't share any cards with Zigfried von Schroeder, but by the end of this they very well might play a few cards we've seen before. The other precedent is Yugi's Ragnarok card at the end of Battle City, which summoned to the field every single monster in Yugi's deck at once for a spectacular assault on the Winged Dragon of Ra. Wonder if we'll see *that* card? Could get fun...

All right, I actually know quite a bit of Norse mythology, and a lot more than I did the last time we had Norse cards. So I'll rack my brain, crack open my books, brush up, and hope everyone'll humor me as I tell a few Norse myths that I think might relate to our situation. I'll use all caps occasionally to help keep this navigable.

Next, all about RAGNAROK. The word means the final destiny or fate of the gods. For the Norse, fate was a fact of life; you couldn't change it, and the best you could do is accept it gracefully, honorably, like a warrior. The end of the world in Norse mythology is all but choreographed, and it is understood that the gods cannot stop or delay it; it just has to play out the way it's supposed to. According to Norse mythology, the world was created in bloodshed, when the original frost giant Ymir, after his defeat, was used as raw material to build the world; his blood became the ocean, his brains became the clouds (no, seriously) and so on. Thus, the wheel would turn again and the world would end in bloodshed, too. Specifically, a great battle called Ragnarok, in which all of the gods were destined to perish, as would pretty much the whole universe, save a few who would rebuild the world even better than it was before and live in peace, and that better world is what the gods would fight for, even though they knew they were destined to lose. For the Norse, the best death was a heroic one in battle; those killed thus went to Valhalla, the Hall of the Fallen, where they would party all night and practice fighting all day, awaiting the day of Ragnarok, when Odin himself would lead them, humanity's finest, the Einerjar or "glorious dead", into that final epic battle. It is said that Ragnarok will be presaged by three terrible, icy winters-- the Winter of Winds, the Winter of Wolves, and the Winter of Swords-- and no summers inbetween; this is the period called FIMBULWINTER. Then the wolves that chase the sun and moon will catch and eat them, an earthquake will set loose all the evil that was imprisoned, including Loki and the Midgard Serpent, the land will be flooded by ocean, the watch-god Heimdall will blow his mighty horn signifying the point of no return, and the battle will begin.

The name AESIR refers to the main race or family of gods in the Norse mythos. The Norse legends start out with two-- the magic-and-war oriented Aesir, and the fertility-and-wealth-oriented Vanir. Then there was this squabble between them, and reports vary on that one, but usually include lots of property damage in Asgard (the land of the gods) and often having it end with the exchange of members between the two groups to ensure peace. The Vanir sent their best-- Njord and Freyr-- while the Aesir sent more forgettable folks-- Mimir the wise and Honir, who became chieftain of the Vanir but wasn't much use without Mimir to advise him. Eventually they got sick of Honir and beheaded Mimir; they shipped his pickled head back to the Aesir and our favorite wisdom nut Odin is said to occasionally consult it. After that, the two tribes sort of merged. Scholars wonder if this isn't signifying that there used to be two Norse religions that reconciled with each other.

Remember the page from HALDOR'S BOOK, that we see around, oh, three or four minutes into the episode, right after the top of Act 2? I recognize the page on the right as a depiction of Sleipnir, the eight-legged uber-horse. Later on I'll mention the myth of Loki turning into a mare to seduce a certain horse-- that equine liaison was complete with offspring, and that's where Sleipnir came from. On the left, the smaller illustration can't really be distinguished. I'd bet the bigger one is *someone* fighting the Midgard Serpent; they've got a sword, so it's probably not Odin or Thor-- they'd have a spear or a hammer respectively. Maybe just some brave warrior.

I noticed that ALL THREE CARDS WERE FOUND IN SIMILAR SETTINGS. They were all protected by deep, twining roots of ancient trees. This seems as good a time as any to mention Yggdrasil, the World Tree. The Norse canon holds that the universe is composed of three tiers-- Asgard, land of the gods; Midgard, where we mortals dwell; and Niflheim, the underworld. Through the center of these three, like a great big spindle, or like the bundle of roots that housed each of the Aesir cards, twines Yggdrasil, the tree that was there at the beginning of the world and will survive Ragnarok.

ODIN is a capricious, complicated, and many-faceted god. He rules the Norse pantheon, is known also as the All-Father, and is known just as well for his pursuits of wisdom, knowledge, and magical power as for how he incites war, and can abandon or sabotage his chosen side at any time; he is giver of all victory, and of all death, in battle. With his foreknowledge of the future, and of Ragnarok's approach, his only sound strategy is to pit armies against each other at every opportunity to build up his private army of slain warriors in Valhalla, and he does so without mercy. The spear is sacred to Odin and his own spear, Gungnir, cannot be turned aside; also sacred to Odin is any death by a spear or by hanging. He is also identified with ravens; two of them, Huginn and Muninn (whose names mean thought and memory), act as faithful companions to him and bring him back news from all over the world. Among his myths also are the lengths he went to for the magical mead that originates all poetic inspiration, how he traded one of his own eyes for a drink from the fountain of wisdom, and how he hanged himself from the World Tree impaled by a spear for nine days in order to gain the knowledge of runes: the written word.

If we're IDENTIFYING HALDOR WITH ODIN, I hesitate to trust him. It's seemed so far that he's more or less shown their whole hand right here; we know as much about the backstory of the Ragnaroks as we ever knew about the Unicorns, if not more, and we just met them. They told us why they duel, why they're here, why they don't like us much, and on and on; they talked our ears off with exposition, especially Haldor. But if Haldor's anything like Odin, he's probably not being as transparent as he appears. We see that Haldor has had a constant preoccupation with saving the world for most of his life-- even back when he first became a pilot, it was "to protect the world from harm"-- and he went to some lengths to gather those he needed to fight beside him. He seems to have had some premonition or other, to know that being a pilot isn't enough to save the world from what's coming, and to already know what he should be doing instead; we've also seen him doing his homework, reading up on the subject-- both future knowledge and learning are definitely characteristic of Odin. So is desire for magical power; I think being the individuals destined to save the world, to have such a calling, is very meaningful and important to Haldor in itself, and, logical reasons such as Zero Reverse or not, he wants to believe that he's the leader of the chosen ones, not Yusei, and for that reason it may be hard for him to let go, even if he comes around to realize that this is the Signers' fight, not his-- at least primarily so. One thing I'll look for in my continued study of these myths is whether Odin ever faces a conflict of knowledge vs. desire for it, and what he chooses.

THOR has been called "brawn to Odin's brains" (Littleton), and while most gods in the Norse pantheon are fairly complex, Thor is simple and straightforward. He is big and strong and spends most of his time fighting and killing the enemies of civilization, the giants and monsters. His symbol is a hammer; specifically, his dwarf-made uber-powerful hammer, Mjolnir (Mjollnir, pron. MYOLL-neer), his weapon of choice, which not only hits what it aims at and hits it hard, but returns like a boomerang when thrown. Some archaeological and historical evidence suggests that Thor was revered equally, if not above, Odin himself, and on a wide scale; lots of places and people are named after or dedicated to Thor. Nobles who went raiding worshipped Odin, the crafty battlefield manipulator; common farmers, vastly more numerous, worshipped plain, honest Thor and asked his protection in their everyday lives. I found a MYTH ABOUT THOR that really reminded me of Dragen and his situation. This is an adventure myth that was pretty popular in its day. In it, Thor travels with some companions to a castle ruled by giants. When they arrive, they are asked to prove their importance in feats of skill. Loki, there as one of Thor's companions (see below for more about this), steps up to demonstrate his feat of choice: he can eat faster than anyone else. The master of the castle, Utgarda-Loki (no relation to Loki himself, apparently, but the name's the same in two versions), appoints an opponent, Logi, to put this to the test, and Logi not only beats Loki, but eats the table right out from under him. A second of Thor's companions challenges that he can win any footrace; the giants appoint Hugi as his opponent, and he is easily outrun. Now it's Thor's turn. He claims an incredible capacity for drinking, but barely manages to lower the level of the huge drinking horn they give him. Finally, Thor tries a wrestling contest; by now, the unimpressed head giant assigns his feeble old nursemaid to be Thor's opponent-- and she wrestles Thor to the ground. Utgarda-Loki lets them stay the night, then sends them on their way in the morning, accompanying them some of the way; he asks Thor, once they've left the castle behind, how he liked his visit. Thor is honest about how upset he is at failure, but what hurts most is the damage to his reputation; now everyone will think he's a fool. Then the giant king reveals that Thor and his company have been deceived at every turn. Logi, champion of the eating contest, was the personification of Fire, which no one can out-consume; Hugi is the personification of thought, which no one can outrun. The glass they handed Thor was actually the sea, and while he didn't drain it, he drank enough to cause the ebb and flow of the tides from then onward. Finally, the old lady Thor tried to wrestle, no one could defeat; Elli is the personification of Old Age, which brings everyone down eventually. With a friendly warning that, should Thor try to attack that castle they'll just trick him again, Utgarda-Loki vanishes on the spot before Thor can hit him with his hammer.

Now, to COMPARE THOR WITH DRAGEN. Dragen was very proud of his own competitive spirit; he braved unknown adventures to find and get to that card because when he went out and made a name for himself as a duelist he wanted a card worthy of him. He also has a strong sense of honor as a duelist, to the point of being too hard on himself; that he was tricked and trapped isn't reason enough to forgive himself for having thrown that duel. Why that myth reminded me of him was that he *was* tricked and trapped, and wound up battling the elements; no one out-eats fire or outruns thought, and clearly no one out-slimes Iliaster. I also note that, just as Odin was worshipped by the nobles going to battle and Thor by the farmers just trying to get by, Haldor comes from lots of money, Dragen didn't even have enough stashed away to pay an urgent medical bill. I also recognize Jack and his style in Thor's straightforward approach; nothing fancy, just a big hammer (or a big dragon) and a big ego. I think Jack and Dragen may discover they have a lot in common; I also think the first duel of 5D's vs. Ragnarok ('cause you know it's gonna start with Jack vs. Dragen and end with Yusei vs. Haldor) may well end up actually being what we thought 5D's vs. Unicorn would start with: power deck vs. power deck. We've also identified Jack with giants, (and ogres, and golems-- most recently Power Giant) Thor's natural enemies.

LOKI is another not to completely trust; he is often considered the Norse god of evil and mischief. He wasn't really *worshipped*, but he's a figure in a lot of myths, and often moves the action forward by being the villain or just by stirring up a bit of trouble. In many myths he does use his cunning to help the gods (usually after almost messing things up badly and having his arm twisted to fix it), and he's often found as a friendly companion to Thor or Odin. That Thor story earlier is an example of this, and then there's the time he helped them stiff the contractor they hired to build a wall by seducing his workhorse in the form of a beautiful mare and making the builder late to complete the wall. However, he's destined in the end to go too far with his pranks and practical jokes, and cause the death of everyone's favorite god, Baldr (Baldur), god of beauty. Loki gets punished severely for that one, tied down with a snake to drip venom on his face. He gets released at Ragnarok, and he's leading the charge of giants, monsters, and chaos and betraying the other Aesir. Incidentally, his offspring include some very unpleasant Norse deities: Hel, goddess of the underworld you get sent to if you *don't* die in battle (which is not a pleasant place; my favorite account of her realm Niflheim includes human paving stones, but that could've been creative license on the author's part); Jormungandr (or Jormungand) the venomous snake that encircles the world, Thor's arch-foe; and Fenrir (or Fenris), the all-but-indomitable, gigantic wolf who bit off Tyr's hand and is destined to kill Odin himself at Ragnarok. By the way, Loki himself is destined to kill and be killed by Heimdall.

Now, as for COMPARING BRODER TO LOKI... well, when we met him, I got the impression that he steals loot from treasure hunters who come to the jungle all the time; he had a racket going there. He's definitely a tricky and mischievous fellow. I am very curious as to what we haven't seen from him yet, because as I said before, Loki is characterized most by what he does in the stories, and he's often the impetus that drives them forward and creates conflict. I wonder if Broder will end up messing up big-time with his teammates, and if Team Ragnarok will come out of this whole mess as close as they seem to be now? After all, the death of Baldr is, like Fimbulwinter, another thing that sets the stage for Ragnarok.

It just so happens that one of my texts, my Encyclopedia of Secret Signs and Symbols, has a RUNIC ALPHABET, so here's a bit about runes. As I already said, Odin endured an awful lot to gain the power of runes and language, and I may not have mentioned that all of his subsequent powers are also associated with his command of runes. The runic alphabet contains no horizontal lines-- only vertical and diagonal-- because horizontal lines are difficult to carve into wood. The runes each carry not only a sound, but mean words individually and have whole stories attached to each. I read this in my Encyclopedia, but have yet to track down any of these myself. The runic alphabet I have in front of me here is called the Futhork alphabet; don't ask, that's just what they call it. I see a match for Dragen's rune here; it means the word Thorn, is associated with the god Thor, and signifies a giant, or attack and defense. I see no direct matches for Haldor's or Broder's runes. One comes close to Haldor's rune, As, meaning Ash, associated with Odin, and meaning Yggdrasil (the world tree) and the primal sound Aum (not sure on that one either, but the book says so). I'll continue my research on runes and investigate other sources, but not 'til next post. That's all on this for now.

GARM of the Nordic Beasts, or sometimes also spelled Garmr, is mentioned in the Edda, among the only surviving literary works that tell us about any Norse mythology, as the fiercest of hounds, depicted as basically the hellhound that guards the gates of Niflheim.

Here's my list of sources I brushed up with, referenced, and also highly recommend in reading about Norse mythology:
The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology, by Arthur Cotterell and Rachel Storm, a quick A-Z; I didn't look at this one as much as I meant to.
Mythology: Myths, Legends, and Fantasies, Global Book Publishing, my gigantic blue mythological tome.
Mythology: The Illustrated Anthology of World Myth and Storytelling, ed. C. Scott Littleton, my gigantic red mythological tome.
The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Signs and Symbols, by Adele Nozedar, for the rune translations.
Wikipedia's entry on Garmr: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garmr; I could've sworn one of the books mentioned him, too, but I couldn't find the reference again.
The video game Age of Mythology, by Microsoft Games, which actually has some very detailed and, as far as I can tell, accurate information about different mythoses, and is also fun. "Yehr-vill!"
The Everworld novel series, by K.A. Applegate, for a unique and unforgettable interpretation of several mythologies including a good helping of Norse. "Glory, glory hallelujah; lordy, how we'll stick it to ya..."

Now I'm thinking about all we learned from Team Unicorn about how teams are formed. Team Unicorn formed primarily because a dueling team is "something where the joys of dueling can be shared, and that helps heal the stings of defeat." (ep#100) Team Ragnarok became a team for a different reason, but knowing the Signers we find it quite familiar, because they became a team last season for the very same reason-- because they shared a battle, a foe, a destiny. As Yusei put it, "Like it or not, we *have* to be friends!" (ep#45)

I'm also already seeing the three-person-team dynamic in Team Ragnarok, and I predict their lineup is Dragen, Broder, Haldor. Dragen has a mundane and non-apocalyptic grievance to settle, making that part of the match very grounded in reality, especially the harsh kind; this is the basic stuff, and I predict it's the first thing to get untangled. I predict we start with Jack vs. Dragen, because I think both teams want to see this resolved the old-fashioned way; I think Jack would take issue with Team 5D's putting up anybody else first when it's his dignity being impugned, and if nothing else, I think Haldor will want to give Dragen the chance to get this out of his system so he can focus on the mission.
Now, Haldor is team captain, and he's as preoccupied with saving the world as Yusei is. What's important overall to both teams, expressed through their captains especially, is taking on Team New World, and this duel is going to end with their resolving that-- that means it ends with Yusei vs. Haldor. Moreover, Haldor has already picked a personal fight with Yusei by dragging Zero Reverse into this.
Now, the middle guys, in this case Crow and Broder, are always sort of the thematic floaters. Jack and Dragen are already glaring at each other, as are Yusei and Haldor, but we have yet to see the role these middle two will play. One thought I've had is that the raven, a member of the crow family, is sacred to Odin. Another is that having Loki bust out in the middle of the duel could get interesting, depending on how long 'til Ragnarok hits, if you see what I mean. Is this the Loki who's a friendly and sometimes mischievous companion of the other two, or is it the one who betrays them and leads the other army at Ragnarok? When Broder takes the field, what new twist will Loki bring to the duel? One thought I even had, our lineup may actually be Dragen, Haldor, Broder-- but if Broder and Loki play last, count on a sharp turn for the worse that has little to do with the duel; things turning out a) not the way anyone expects, and b) probably worse for his own teammates than anyone else, but pretty bad for everyone. If we don't see any interesting sharp turns from Loki in this duel, brace yourself 'cause we haven't seen the last of the Ragnaroks and that means we're waiting for them to happen later on.

Now, as I understand it, the Rune Eyers have yet to save the world just yet; to them it's all still hypothetical. They're where we were roundabout the end of the Fortune Cup or something. They've still got a lot to prove to themselves, and a lot to figure out about saving the world that the Signers have already been through. I wonder if any of that will come up?

So, hold the phone, here-- Haldor says that Yusei has more potential to repeat Zero Reverse, just because he's related to Professor Fudo? *That's* some kind of messed-up hereditary destiny sort of belief there that we haven't really seen before or something. Does Haldor really believe that, or is he just stirring up Yusei?

Now let's talk about the whole Dragen and Jack thing. First, can I just say, ow. What a bad situation, and it's kinda painful to watch. Like Jack's other major duel so far this season, we see his past as the heartless champ rear its ugly head. I predict that, like last time, Jack's going to need some reminding that he deemed friends more important even than dignity for a good reason, that that's made him a different and stronger person today than he used to be, and he's just going to need to make peace with the fact that for a couple years there he was among the biggest jerks in all New Domino and it was no fun.

Next, I note that Dragen is the latest in a long line of 5D's characters to face the choice between ambition as a duelist and the people he cares about-- Jack put Dragen in the same position he put Yusei in not too long before, and Dragen made the same choice that Yusei did. Man, this pattern is pernicious-- you see it *all over the place* in 5D's!

Now, speaking of "not too long ago", they said this was three years ago, and Jack was champion. That means it's been, officially, at least a year now since the Dark Signers, and Yusei is officially nineteen or twenty now. Incidentally, estimates for everyone else include similar vicinity for Jack, Crow, and Kalin; twenty-four or so for Akiza (because Zero Reverse apparently happened when she was five, ep#40); and twelve for the twins (assuming Luna was hospitalized *for* her coma, ep#18). Now, this little incident can't have happened long after Jack came to the city-- the longer the time Jack's been in the city in this flashback, the longer time has passed between the beginning of season 2 and now. Right after Jack came to the city is a time period we're actually not that familiar with, and I hope we glimpse more of it in the near future.

Now, I have a likely story as to what was going on behind the scenes in Goodwin's organization when it ordered Dragen to throw the match, just based on what I know of the characters and the time period. Jack just came to the city, and was probably still very uncertain; going from satellite to citizen is a change that takes some getting used to. Goodwin lured Jack to the city with promises that he would be celebrated as the champion, and Goodwin knew that as a Signer Jack would be no pushover, but couldn't be entirely certain that he'd conquer every challenge presented. Early setbacks in Jack's championship carried a substantial amount of risk for Goodwin's plans to keep Jack in the city and trusting him; Goodwin couldn't afford to have Jack lose, and couldn't be terribly certain of his abilities. The solution: build up confidence on both sides by letting Jack show off his moves in a way that's actually risk-free, and let Jack establish that sense of invincibility in his own mind and boost his confidence in his new environment. Now, should that likely story be anything approaching true, the million-dollar question that naturally follows is-- did Hunter Pace throw his first match with Jack, the one in which Jack won the championship, and what would've happened if Jack had lost that match?

Hey, here's a very useful piece of advice that both Jack and Dragen wish they'd had: when opportunity presents itself in the form of a disturbing little clown in a red blazer, do yourself a favor and turn it down, if at all possible.

Not a single recognizable card from Jack in that flashback duel, save of course Archfiend. Were Top Runner and Power Breaker cards he used back in the Enforcers days or a bit afterward? Did he change his deck when he reached the city?

Things I hope happen in this duel but it probably won't be quite this simple: Dragen figures out that Jack couldn't control everything Goodwin did on his behalf and that he profoundly regrets having been the man-child he was back then; Jack figures out that of course Goodwin did scummy things he couldn't control on his behalf behind his back and anyone who disliked him back then was merely a demonstrably good judge of character; and Yusei and Haldor each realize that they are not in fact the *only* person who can save the world, which will be very good for them, and hopefully each develops some respect for the other guy's ability to do so.

All right, I know we get a new ep tomorrow; I do not know the title, or whether it's the one that comes after this one or one of the twelve episodes we apparently just skipped over. I will keep everyone posted as I learn more; 'til then, my plan is to write a post and transcript on this Saturday's new episode. 'Til then, everyone! -Clio

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF EYES ON THE PRIZE