This is in my opinion the worst card art in the game number c96 dark storm. Name a single thing in this image
Rating: 1/10
I saw this card's name and went "please have a wizard hat. Please let this dragon be wearing a wizard hat." I pulled up the card and lo and behold! A dragon with a wizard hat on! Hell yeah :) Pinnacle of card design.
Rating: 10/10, hat dragon
Alright, okay. Maybe I was a little too mean to Acro. I went back and pulled up another random Scareclaw card and I promise I like this one so much more. To me, the green works so much better here than it does on Acro (maybe because the green parts aren't larger/more buff). I especially like how it's the transitional color from gray to black on the furry looking parts. The brightness of it also pairs well with the electric blue that is this monster's namesake (astraphobia = fear of lightning). Speaking of that, it fits the theme extremely well; I mean, just look at all those lightning orbs shooting electricity everywhere. The dark, clouded sky in the background is also evocative of thunderstorms (I also just like the darker background in general. Seems to fit better with a monster with "scare" in its name). I think what I like most about this guy is that it's a completely unique creature they just threw out here. Like, maybe it partially looks like some animals out there, but for the most part it's its own thing. I really like the four fluffy ears, and my absolute favorite part is the ear antennas.
Rating: 10/10, -keeps the scary electrical monstrosity in my home-
Idk where noodles are supposed to enter the picture here. I can understand the rest of this monster's name perfectly, even the "spice" part (those hands are looking pretty spicy), but I'm not seeing noodles at all. Oh well, because this is still a pretty cool monster. The angle the it's drawn at is fun, and I like that it looks like it's caught in a powerful gust of wind. Whether that second part is an illusion from the lines in the background or the intended interpretation is beyond me. I think what's really getting me about this guy is that I don't understand what the microphone looking things (for lack of a better word) attached to it's back are. I mean, what even are those??? Almost all of the Rush Duel monsters I saw before this guy seemed to be parodies of existing cards, so it's nice to see a completely unique monster from the format.
Rating: 8/10
Hey, weird question for you guys since I’ve been looking through rush duel cards a little bit: If I ever review a maximum monster, would you guys prefer if I reviewed it as a whole (i.e. all three cards in one post) OR would you like me to review each part individually? It doesn’t look like there’s all too many so idk when this will actually be relevant, but I was just curious incase one pops up when I’m hitting the random page button.
I've talked about horrifying cards before but... What in the absolute world is going on with these monsters??? This is some next level body horror shit. And by body hour I guess I mean Absorption. There's so much to unpack here. The big one is the obviously suffering fly that's desperately trying to escape but uhhhh what the hell is up with the red vein-like things??? (On one of these guys it straight up looks like blood). Also, all the weird sunken eyes??? What purpose could those possibly serve? All of this seems to distract from a big point, which is the literal bacteriophage just kinda latched onto the dragon there. I guess that's what's causing this horrifying scene, because I can't really think of any other reason this would be happening. I will say the background is pretty sick though.
Rating: 9/10, is this animorphs but for dragons?
There is so much going on with this monster. Obviously, the main part is that this is an internet cat girl, but the more you look the more details you notice. I think my favorite one is the random roller blades she's wearing. I don't know why she's wearing them or how she's effectively rollerblading on her knees, but I like the colors and the design. Other details include: the weird transparent jacket with white cuffs, what is probably weird, blocky headphones (that clearly have hair under them lol), and some geometric thing that is maybe a necklace(???) maybe attached to said headphones. I could go on, but I think the most disappointing part is realizing that the white "wire" thing behind her isn't a cat tail. The positioning is very deceptive, especially at a glance, but it isn't attached to her at all. Idk what it even is if not a tail. In regards to this being the OCG artwork: here we have a monster who can keep her boobs, but they took the time to erase the smallest of crotch definitions in the TCG artwork; the change is literally so small I was staring at both wondering what was different. You know what, there may be a lot of incomprehensible things going on here, but it all kind of works together honestly. Just don't think about it too much.
Rating: 9/10, she has your IP address
I cannot express how little this looks like a trap in progress. It looks more like a bunch of people wandered over to the edge of this river going "why the hell is this brightly colored dude playing music by a rushing river in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere???" Dumbstruck because they're entranced? No, dumbstruck because this guy is so wildly out of place. So, I guess this card is supposed to be a reference to the Pied Piper of Hamelin, a guy who first lured rats into a river to drown them, and then the children of the townspeople after they refused to pay him. This card is less sinister (even though he's still going to drown that poor rat :( ) because it's just some (already doomed) guys. I do like the presentation of this card, even if the intended interpretation isn't so clear. Also, now that I've noticed it, everyone having a white outline to indicate that they're under the effects of the piper's spell is a neat little detail.
Rating: 8/10, this isn't even a trap card
Apparently this card is meant to be the personification of acrophobia, but I really feel like they could've done a lot better. "Has wings and flies" is like, the bare minimum they could've done. It doesn't even look like this monster is flying all that high. It's not even that scary looking, either, just sort of generically "cool scary," if you know what I mean. The first thing that drew my eye here wasn't even any of the above stuff, more so the fact that the green parts look so odd and out of place on this monster. Now that I've been looking at them for a while, it honestly looks like this monster is hulking out more than anything else. Something that this card has literally no reason looking like. Hilarious. In all honesty, my favorite part of this card is probably the background. Would probably be complimented better by a better monster design.
Rating: 6/10
The way they edited this card for the TCG is so funny. They literally gave this monster top surgery. That's not even a joke. Of course, they also got rid of any definition in the crotch area, and also seem to have tried to reduce it's hip size by... Literally moving the whole bottom right section of the card a few pixels over (flip between the original image and this one on the wiki to see what I mean), making some parts look a little off (the left wrist in particular suffers from this). Despite this editing mishap, I really like this interpretation of Helios. It feels both unique and pretty accurate for an ancient, powerful god. I may be a little biased in that I love designs that include weird floating objects that are meant to be heads, but I've never seen an interpretation of Helios before like this. I mean, even the translucent body and bandages are interesting. Overall, a solid design that screams "all powerful cosmic being."
Rating: 10/10, -shoots transgenderification beams at you-
"A hermit frog that has been in existence for thousands of years, it attacks with tadpoles."
I love this monster's face. It screams "hehe >:) I'm Evil." The red eyes (not just on the monster itself, but on its tadpoles and staff itself) help with this. Speaking of the staff, I love that as well. It both looks like a frog with its mouth open, but could also be seen as a really huge tadpole (with a super long tail). With this guy being an incredibly ancient hermit and all, you'd probably expect the background to bit a bit different, but no, they went with creepy red void/lava texture because ??????? You know.
Rating: 8/10
Damn, I’ve seen Infernity cards before, but this one??? Easily the coolest one I’ve seen yet. A lot of the Infernity monsters have “creepy little guy” looks, but with this one they just went straight flaming demon skull. I assume that the flames + black frame are a portal of some kind that the skull is coming out of, but I guess it could also be interpreted as just a part of the monster itself. I kinda like my interpretation because the skull could be seen as the guardian of the portal, but either way, I guess it’s guarding something. The background feels a little unusual for a fiend type card, but I really love the color contrast with the main monster.
Rating: 10/10
Oh yeah baby, it’s weird as hell card time. I can’t even call this monster scary just because I like whatever the hell it has going on so much. This is one of those cards that kinda just holds the essence of early yugioh in it. The funny thing is, it only vaguely looks like a brain, in that sorta lumpy/cartoony way. I probably would’ve called it “Eye Golem” or something, but I guess it’s also twofold based off of an existing monster so... Anyway, something that I thought was interesting is that this monster sort of looks like it’s underwater (the background ripple texture is part of this, but for me it’s mostly the coral-like formations at the bottom left there). And even then... They could’ve made this monster look like brain coral. Which, you know, would’ve (again) made the “brain” name fitting. Well, regardless of all that, I still like this weird monster, even if I don’t understand it.
Rating: 8/10
#Brain Golem#yugioh#yu-gi-oh#ygo#Effect Monster#Dark#Fiend#Actually wtf look up 'brain golem' but the original dnd version#THAT'S what you'd think a brain golem would look like: a guy made of brain matter#I also looked up the middle step (the gradius brain golem) and I might've been a little harsh saying this doesn't look like a brain#When it honestly just looks like the ANGLE they drew it at messes with your perception of 'brain' (idk if this sentence makes sense)
BOY is this monster’s name a mouthful. Then again, most D/D cards I’ve seen have similar ultra long names, so its not exactly unique in that regard. My favorite part of this monster is actually the color scheme. The mix of yellow, purple, pink, and green fits together really well here. While normally I love brain in jar robots, this monster doesn’t give off quite that feeling (despite... basically being that if you think about it). Maybe this is because it doesn’t look enough like a robot? Not that it’s meant to, of course. In regards to this being a D/D card, I don’t quite understand how this is meant to be a historical figure of any kind (even if they are, you know, from a different dimension). Maybe it’s because I don’t understand how you can be a “knowledge king” and also a conquistador at the same time (I wouldn’t call conquistadors smart, just evil).
Rating: 9/10, big brain
Solomon understands me
I think the name here says everything you need to know: They took Rainbow Dragon, and made it so much more impressive. A huge part of this card that I like about this card compared to the original Rainbow dragon is that the Crystal Beasts' namesake crystals are much bigger and brighter on this monster. I barely notice them on the original, when they're such a huge part of these monsters! The prismatic, multicolored background is the perfect backdrop for the ultimate version of this dragon. And there's even little clouds at the bottom??? That once you notice them completely change your sense of scale of this dragon? I even like the pose of this monster more than the original. It feels very... Grand.
Rating: 10/10, the way Rainbow Dragon should be
This card’s Japanese name “Dragon Killer” is so much cooler and matches its effect perfectly, but the English name is alright. Seeking out dragons to kill them still makes some sense, but it does create the illusion that this monster itself is a dragon. At a glance, you would probably say that this monster is a dragon and not a fiend disguised as a dragon. Knowing the truth, however, it was a pretty smart idea to make it look like a dragon, because looking like one probably makes it easier to get close enough to (unsuspectingly) kill them. They also did a good job of making it look just enough like a dragon, but still keeping more of a traditional yugioh fiend look to it. The purple miasma background is a little weird, but honestly not that distracting here.
Rating: 8/10
Thank god they finally let grandpa play the children’s card game again
Someone left their bead alligator on the beach... No but seriously that's exactly what this monster looks like, and I love it. I honestly think this guy looks straight up like an alligator and not anything like artist interpretations of how extinct archosaurs looked. Which isn't to say, this guy couldn't be an archosaur. It's just very alligator shaped (I mean, look at those little legs. Cute). The decision to make this monster completely out of little spherical jewels is so baffling to me, but the result is so cute. If I had any criticism here, it's that the style shift from the monster to the background is a little jarring (from kinda cartoony, black outlined everything to pretty realistic shoreline).
Rating: 9/10, It's been bejeweled
Oh no, the dark snake came back because I made fun of it. At least I don't have my back turned like this poor unfortunate soul here. Right off the bat I'll say this card's composition is nice, especially the overhead perspective essentially from the snake's point of view. I also like the deadly purple hate waves radiating from the viper's body. However... My major problem with this card is that the sliced in half snake on the ground doesn't really... Look like it's sliced in half unless you think about it/look at it for a while. It looks more like it's burrowed it's way into the ground (the longer top part especially looks this way). Something about this detail kinda ruins the feel of the card for me. Why is the viper mad if the other snake doesn't actually look dead, you know?
Rating: 7/10