Predictions and Observations:
Formula For Success

As a math nerd, I would like to ask what sines and cosines have to do with trap cards. And the functions on the bat written all in variables… I’m nitpicking, and it really is just a plot component, math gibberish.

Did anyone notice? Bastion’s monsters relate to chemistry: A water molecule is two Hydrogen atoms and one Oxygen atom, just like Bastion’s two Hydro-geddons and one Oxy-geddon were the requirements to summon Water Dragon.

What was Alexis doing out by the dock late at night? Perhaps she was waiting up for Zane, because that’s his haunt? The two of them seem to be a pair, even if they’re probably not a couple.

I loved how Jaden and Zane both understood exactly what Bastion was doing but Alexis and Syrus didn’t. Jaden and Zane are duelists on a level all their own.

The title of the episode: We pit Bastion’s dorm room wall formulas vs. Chazz and his trying to live up to his brothers’ formula for success.

I noticed that in this episode we are shown how both Bastion and Chazz are more than faces in the crowd. We discover that Chazz has two older brothers; one in politics and one in finance, and Chazz has to live up to being the third piece of their plot, and provide the power of being the best duelist on Earth to their trio. Talk about pressure. People have gone insane trying that strenuously hard, you know (Zigfried’s dad and Zigfried himself come to mind in particular)…bad idea…
But I digress. We find that Chazz is more than just ambitious or out for superiority at school. Not that I’m saying this is a particularly great cause, but part of getting to know a character in Yu-Gi-Oh! is discovering why they duel. I would also like to add that peer pressure in Obelisk Blue is absolutely horrendous. If Chazz weren’t such a creep I’d feel sorry for the guy, getting laughed out of class like that.

Speaking of Chazz’s brothers, we are hinted to, yet again, about what an important role Duel Monsters plays in world society in GX. It’s essentially one of the three pillars of world domination!

Facts Learned about Duel Academy:
-Students eat in their own dorms. There is no all-dorm mess hall.
-The card shop lady’s name is Ms. Dorothy (Dorothea?)
-Even in PE uniforms, students are separated or separate themselves by wearing armbands in their dorm color.
-Students are assigned seats, and the seating chart goes by proficiency, with Slifers towards the front, and Obelisks grouped in the back.
-Ras get better food than Slifers

Facts learned about students:
-Alexis will usually not snitch on anyone.
-Bastion used to have a total of seven decks. Now he has six. Apparently he keeps the six decks with him at all times…
-Bastion calculates everything on his dorm-room walls, cards, baseball bat, anything he can write on.
-Bastion gets caught up in his calculations and ends up being late (Attack point quantum mechanics??).
-In short, Bastion loves math.
-Bastion refuses to be promoted until he has defeated Jaden in a duel.
-In spite of this dream, Bastion is Jaden and Sy’s friend; there are no ill feelings despite his goal.
-Chazz has a new seat.
-Chazz might have just been demoted, but we’re unsure whether he was still demoted if Bastion declined to be promoted
-Chazz is now an object of ridicule by his fellow Obelisks
-Chazz’s older brothers seek to dominate the world through becoming the best in Politics, Finances, and Duel Monsters. Chazz himself seems to resent this.
-Chazz has two older brothers.
-Chumley highly distrusts students from other Dorms, because he’s worried that they’ll make fun of him.

That’s a bit scary. I just randomly typed those out before realizing that I listed the characters in alphabetical order: Alexis, Bastion, Chazz, Chumley…

The Slifers and Ras have PE together. This much we know. It may be the whole freshman class together, or it may be pure coincidence that Jaden, Syrus, and Bastion are in the same class. It also seems that the teams are Slifers vs. Ras. This would make sense and also give some other reasons for the armbands besides Dorm rivalry. Or it could be a mere coincidence also that Jaden and Sy are on one team and Bastion on the other.

A new theory on promotion: In order to be promoted, one must defeat a higher-ranked student in a duel. This would make Jaden’s promotion after his victory against Chazz perfectly standard and not just because Sheppard was impressed, though he clearly was. This would also make Bastion v. Chazz a fairly standard thing, as it seems to be, and not at all suspicious of Crowler to test and promote Bastion this way. This system of winner- promoted-loser-demoted also keeps the ranks of Obelisk Blue thinned, because in theory, since there’s always a switchout, it always remains the same number. Obelisks must defend their position or be demoted, so eventually the school stacks up to the best duelists being in the highest rank, as it’s supposed to be. Therefore, to graduate an Obelisk is the equivalent of honors, because it means that you worked your way to the top and defended your position from all challengers, making you worthy of recognition. On a sidenote, Jaden v. Alexis was unofficial of course, and even though Crowler witnessed it, he would have conveniently forgotten because Jaden’s such a ‘Slifer slacker,’ and therefore let it pass unnoticed that Jaden had defeated Alexis.

Attack point quantum mechanics??

What was with the dragon and tiger thing with Bastion and Jaden? Is that some kind of symbolism? Is it something to be revealed?

That’s all for right now, everybody! More tomorrow, when we see…umm…(checks)… Monkey See, Monkey Duel! Ha! We’ve found ourselves another dueling monkey! Or is it something else? I don’t know of any monkeys or monkeylike students at Duel Academy. Less than 24 hours! Yay! -Clio