Predictions and Observations:
Trapper Keeper II

After that flashback in the beginning, I wasn’t worried anymore about Jesse losing just because Trapper seemed to be calling the shots. Right after, the change was sudden and clearly visible. Jesse was even messing with Trapper a bit, telling him with absolute certainty that the Crystal Beasts were coming back. He was making quite a comeback until Trapper created the Classic Paradox (can’t win, can’t lose) by bringing Jerry Bean into the picture.

If there were rumors about the Crystal Beasts, they must have been made some long stretch of time before they found Jesse. Or not. The situation suggests it, however I’ve found a pair of quotes that specifically refute it: “A coupla years ago, Pegasus created some cards…” (Chazz, Jewel of a Duel I) and “I met him a few years ago at a regional tournament down south…” (Pegasus, in Aster’s flashback, Jewel of a Duel II). They both seem to outline a similar amount of time ago. Huh.

Emerald Turtle has the same special ability as, say, Submarineroid or Spear Dragon, I’m guessing?

GX seems to be making, then breaking, the Classic Paradox a lot lately. All good fun. The same thing happened with Alexis in Win Mr. Stein’s Duel.

Jesse mentioned that Sapphire Pegasus broke his seal once before for him. Does he refer to when the Crystal Beasts first chose him, or some other misadventure?

The music stops entirely when Sapphire Pegasus doesn’t appear on the field. That’s a common tactic; any music, no matter how chilling, is more comforting than no music at all.

And by the way, wouldn’t just a hologram of Sapphire be summoned? Not everyone has duel spirits, so in theory the spirit would just make itself part of the hologram in normal, non-shadow duels, right? Perhaps with some cards, like the Crystal Beasts, since only their chosen can control them, the only time when they would appear on the field is when their spirits are summoned, so they have no holograms? I’m almost afraid to ask all of the questions pertaining to that, not least of which are: “Then how do the duel disks accept them and use them, rather than consider them false cards?”, and “How the heck does Kaiba DO that?!” (Then again, if Kaiba doesn’t know about duel spirits by now… wouldn’t surprise me, but if it were a snake it would have bit him years and years ago…) As a possible theory, I believe that the Winged Dragon of Ra was much the same (I say “was” because by GX, it’s been destroyed), in that only certain people could play it. There’s actually only one canon time (Pyramid doesn’t *quite* count) when the Winged Dragon of Ra is played in a modern duel that isn’t a shadow game, and that’s the Final Duel. It’s quite possible that, since only the Millennium Eye protected Pegasus while he was making the Egyptian Gods, Kaiba knew better than to try and make holograms for them (seems a bit out-of-character, though…), so therefore when they were summoned, if their spirits did not come, nothing would happen (but wouldn’t they still be considered in play, just “invisible”, as it were?), similar to what happened here with Sapphire? And since the Crystal Beast cards are similarly powerful, nobody made them holograms because it was dangerous?

What just happened? I believe we’ve just had our first bio-band-related fatality, if you call that a fatality rather than something more akin to a likely permanent ‘Realmming. I’m not really sure what the duel spirits did to Trapper there. Right now, I’ll just keep it at the back of my mind so I’ll remember this the next time I’m talking properties of spirits and energy and so forth, and for now, go with “Huh?”

It’s worth asking: Who took Trapper’s duel spirit(s)? And will we soon be meeting him or her and rescuing more hunted spirits?

According to Trapper, he was a lot like Jesse (or Jaden) once, with a powerful bond with duel spirits. It’s a very chilling thought that, if not for the heart and skill that keeps the Neo-Spacians and Crystal Beasts safe from evil magic and crazies like this, that could be them.

Amazing. Trapper turned good. I wouldn’t have believed it, especially since he was having so much fun being evil. Villains like that are the best kind. They’re the kind that you love to hate. Witness the comment about giant tarantulas last week.

The bio-band drain seems quite temporary. If you can manage to wake up or to not faint, the energy comes back to you fairly quickly. This seems fairly evident in Jaden’s antics in this episode, as well as Adrian’s continued antics (“Time to dodge some lasers!”), and Jesse’s ability to stay awake.

One more duel with Jaden. Viper vs. Jaden? Yeeha! Kick his tush, Jay! Or did he just mean another duel that includes Jaden? And by the way, how long are we going to be “almost there”? It’s a nonstop cliffhanger.

I’ve finally gotten a chance to settle down and do more gemstone research. I thought I’d never get around to it. I like to do some research on things when I get a chance; a couple weeks ago, I dusted off my historian’s hat and looked up the Neolithic revolution, last year I brushed up on Tarot, and the year before that I learned about the basics of alchemy, to name some examples. During Jewel of a Duel, I gathered a bunch of gemstone information (a mine of it, you might say, lol), but never got a chance to go over much of it, until now. So, an update: in my reading about emeralds, it says that the color green was associated, in ancient Rome (I’ve also been looking for connections between these gems and ancient Rome), with Venus, the goddess of love (Greek Aphrodite).

There seems to be a theme with traps and being caged vs. freedom and wildness this year. This could get a bit weird. To begin with, when the bio-bands were first introduced, this quote stuck out at me:
“Gecko: They have *got* to be kidding me!
Cook: Why?
Gecko: What are we, in prison? I mean, come on! They’re *forcing* us to wear a *monitoring* device, as if we’re criminals! Or worse—like we’re animals being tracked down in the wild!
Cook: Actually, tracking animals is a way of *protecting* ‘em, not *hurting* ‘em. They need our help. Ain’t that right, Shirley?” – Hanging With Axel I
Almost every duel this year has been precipitated by a trap of some form or another; no one has just decided to throw down to settle some dispute. Let’s see: Jesse and Jaden would most likely have dueled, and soon, on their own, but Viper declared that exhibition match and chose them as the “competitors—or should I say, victims!” Axel took no chances in his match with Jaden, and even though he could have just asked for a duel, instead he captured Syrus to force Jaden into it. Adrian set up Duel For Jewels to spring Viper’s trap, as it were, and allow himself to obey the letter of the law without getting himself killed. And then Chazz scooped him up with a helicopter and made the decision of *who* to duel very easy. And of course, for the past two duels, our heroes have been wandering around the biodome falling into traps at every turn, not to mention being lured into duels, and Axel’s been trying to get out of the trap *he* ended up in. Primal Instinct is sort of an odd exception with regard to duels being started by or as traps. I have my theories about whether Viper can control the waves, and if so, it’s no exception at all. However, this duel specifically pitted Hassleberry’s unrestrained primal instinct vs. Jim’s book-learning, and interestingly enough, the books won.
On the subject of the overall themes of duels, of course Trapper Keeper has been the very embodiment of freedom vs. cages. Professor Stein gave up the life of his dreams, believing himself trapped by what his family wanted him to do (speaking of which, I s’pose he wasn’t paying attention during the School Duel in year 1…), and was bitter about it.
Now, the big one: themes in characters. This could get very strange. Interestingly enough (or perhaps just par for the course), the four transfers are the most interesting with regard to freedom vs. traps. Adrian traps others (Duel For Jewels, and cutting power to the biodome) to allow himself to avoid traps, and it’s not because he’s afraid. It’ll be interesting to discover what kind of character he is *without* Viper around to fight against. Jim Cook is almost more interesting, because citing the quote above, along with how he duels, he seems to stand more toward the traps’ side; he loves the wild, and he protects it and, yes, tames it. Axel is also very interesting, and the thing about him that really hit me on this subject is that he trains for duels by putting himself in danger, then escaping.

I happened to be watching Trapper Keeper I and realized what else was being said with the line, “See, duel spirits are made up of energy— energy I can take.” I can totally understand why it took a while to hit me, but it’s now canon that duel spirits are made up of energy. Or rather, I argue, energy is what allows them to exist here as opposed to the Shadow Realm or (may I be so bold) the Dominion of the Beasts. I’ve theorized before on this in posts on The Shadow Duelist II, A Spirit Summoned, and A Greater Porpoise (to name the ones I could easily find), and this supports a lot of that. However, if I’m right, the spirits Trapper “destroyed” may not have been gone; with no energy left, they may have just lost their grip on this world and gone back home. Another possible theory, of course, is that they also need energy to go home, in which case their spirits would have been trapped, powerless, in this world, and they would have just existed, invisible, until they got their strength back. Then they would still be in the capsules, and Trapper could drain them again. Talk about a horrible fate. Another theory, of course, would allow the spirit itself to get sucked up or die along with the last of its energy. It’s kind of moot at this point, but the “duel spirits are made of energy” line is an important quote.

Hold on. There seems to be a lot of energy-draining going on this year; I wonder if Viper’s bio-bands gave Trapper the technology to make those things…?

Well, that’s about it, and we’ve got reruns on the horizon. (that has a nice ring to it) Anyway, I’ve got my eye on the listings, and I’ll let everyone know when any new ones pop up. In the meantime, we’re smack in the middle of the second weekend of Sweet Charity (if you’re in the Santa Cruz, CA area, don’t miss it!), and the 3:30 A.M. reruns are into the very end of the Gx Tournament, and will then continue into Year 3 with Third Time’s a Charm. That's all for now! -Clio