Yu-Gi-Oh!/Characters/Minor Antagonists

Insector Haga (Weevil Underwood)


Haga was the Champion of the Japanese National Tournament, who then was invited to Duelist Kingdom by Pegasus. Despite putting Yugi at a disadvantage, he loses his first match. He later turns up in Battle City, as well as the Doma arc.

As his name suggests, he uses an Insect deck. His trump cards are Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth and Insect Queen (which he lost to Jounouchi via the ante rules of Battle City, but he quickly gains another one). -
 * Adaptational Heroism: He's still a complete jerk in Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction but he's on the protagonists' side.
 * Adaptational Villainy: In the original version and manga, he knew about the field power bonus rule in Duelist Kingdom because Pegasus told him about it as a "special preview" for winning the Japanese championship. In the English dub, however, he's a thief who stole the secret, bragging about doing so.
 * Animal Motifs: Bugs.
 * Big Creepy-Crawlies: The vast majority of his cards are big bugs.
 * Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: When Yugi first met Haga, he seemed like a very nice guy, nicer than Ryuzaki ironically enough. He was very polite overall, gave some advice to both Yugi and Jounouchi, and seemed pretty tame to the Genre Blind. Yugi liked and admired him right after meeting him, which was why he trusted the complete stranger with handling his grandfather's cards despite their not being water-proof and a large body of water being nearby. It was more noticeable in the Japanese version than in the English dub, in which he sounded unbelievably sarcastic the entire time. Now, of course, fans know what he's really like.
 * Cheaters Never Prosper
 * Critical Research Failure: In-universe. He had no idea, it seems, that Jonouchi might have a monster that Parasite Paraside was ineffective against. "What kind of Insect duelist are you?" asks Solomon, who clearly does know it.
 * Deal with the Devil: Joins Dartz to attempt revenge on Yugi.
 * Determinator: Along with Ryuzaki, in the anime. Never gave up no matter how many times he got his ass kicked. Biked off of a cliff to catch the rope ladder from Raphael's helicopter. Just because he wanted a better chance at defeating the Pharaoh. Then, in the next tournament, they both beat up a duelist, tied him up, stole his clothes, and stood on top of each other just for another chance at fame. Yeah. They both qualify.
 * Dirty Coward: Resorts to cheating every time, and always loses it when he loses.
 * Four Eyes, Zero Soul
 * Freaky Is Cool: Adores insects, spiders, and all things creepy-crawly.
 * God Save Us From the Queen: His ace card is Insect Queen, a horrific looking beast that looks like a Giant Spider with a monstrous woman's upper torso.
 * Giggling Villain: "Hyoi hyoi hyoi hyoi hyoi hyoi!"
 * Hannibal Lecture: Gives one to Yami; it actually almost works.
 * Informed Ability Supposedly, he was the Duel Monsters champion before Duelist Kingdom, although he's only won once on-camera, to Rex, and he tends to be humiliated a lot.
 * Jerkass: BIG TIME.
 * Jerk Jock: For a guy who plays a card game, he is so clearly channeling this attitude.
 * Leeroy Jenkins: His first big mistake was a move like this during his first duel with Yugi. He was playing conservatively and building a solid offensive line of monsters as Yugi was defending, but then he got a little full of himself and was a little too eager to attack Yugi's Dark Magician, and ran straight into Yugi's Mirror Force while doing so.
 * Let's Get Dangerous: His second battle with Yami.
 * Meaningful Name: Aside from his obvious dub name, his Japanese given name roughly means, "Moth Wings." Particularly fitting given what one of his trump cards is.
 * Nerd Glasses
 * Not So Different: Points out that Yami was as selfish and callous as he was when he unleashed the Seal and points out that technically Yami's worse since he knew he'd put his friend in danger, which even he didn't do.
 * Scary Shiny Glasses
 * Smug Snake: His main attribute and, arguably, his principal weakness. He really is a great duelist and strategist but he is very over-confident and tends to underestimate his opponents, leading to his inevitable downfall.
 * The only time he seemed to stop being so smug (at least at first) was against the Pharaoh during the Doma arc. He genuinely expected a big duel when he initiated it and spent about three-fourths of the duel utterly stomping the Pharaoh. He didn't really start doing badly until his smugness crept in again. Oh, and especially when the Pharaoh absolutely flipped out in response to his cruel joke, and got help from quite a few good draws in his final play.
 * Those Two Bad Guys: With Rex.
 * Too Dumb to Live: This guy falls for one of The Oldest Tricks in The Book during his duel with Jonouchi. Twice. And he does it while calling Jonouchi the "unskilled amateur".
 * Villainous Breakdown: Every time he loses.
 * Villains Want Mercy: And as Jonouchi tells him - before refusing to grant it - he really should have thought of that before cheating.
 * Villainous Crush: Shows a few signs of having one on Anzu in the original Japanese version only. He attempts to flirt with her at the Battle City tournament, calling her "a cute lady." Her reaction was less than interested. He apparently had some hard feelings about that because later, in the Doma arc, he tells her that she looks terrible despite saying that she shouldn't feel proud "just because she's cute" an episode later. He apparently doesn't take well to rejection.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: In Battle City, he hired a kid to sabotage Joey's deck. When the kid demands his payment of a rare card, Weevil gives him a lame card. When the kid protests, Weevil sprays him with silly string and runs away (in the manga, it was a can of insecticide).

Dinosaur Ryuzaki (Rex Raptor)


He lost to Haga in the finale of the Japanese National Tournament. Just like Haga, he was also invited to Duelist Kingdom. He loses to Jonouchi. He later appears in the Battle City and Doma arcs.

As his name suggests, he uses a Dinosaur deck, though his trump cards are all Dragons: Serpent Night Dragon (which he lost to Espa Roba via the ante rules of Battle City), Red-Eyes Black Dragon (which he lost in a wager to Jonouchi), and Tyrant Dragon, which he gains in the Doma arc. -
 * Adaptational Heroism: In Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction much like Haga is.
 * Adaptational Villainy: He may have been a jerk in the manga, but at least he was helpful and doesn't team up with Haga. In the anime he does team up with Haga and is a straight antagonist in the Doma filler arc.
 * Animal Motifs: Dinosaurs
 * Deal with the Devil: Joins Dartz to attempt revenge on Jounouchi.
 * Determinator: See Weevil/Haga's description for the trope.
 * Dinosaurs Are Dragons: Actually, it's reversed--Dragons Are Dinosaurs. He's a dinosaur duelist, but his strongest monsters are Serpent Night Dragon, Red-Eyes Black Dragon and Tyrant Dragon, as when the original anime was being made there were no high-powered Dinosaur cards and the type as a whole was very unsupported. This would be fixed several years later during the timeframe of GX's production, hence Tyranno Kenzan.
 * Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: We'll give him that; his cards are pretty cool,
 * Informed Ability: Same deal as Weevil/Haga, but he has never won on-camera.
 * Jerk Jock: Not to the same degree as Weevil, but he's still very smug about his abilities and treats weaker players like garbage.
 * Nice Job Fixing It, Villain Combined with Hoist by His Own Petard. His bet against Jonouchi to take Time Wizard is what gave Jonouchi the idea to use the card against him, and win the duel. Later, Red Eyes proved Jonouchi's most useful card.
 * Those Two Bad Guys: With Haga/Weevil.

Panik
An enormous man with the soul of a thug, he serves as one of Pegasus' Eliminators. He defeats Mai and is in turn taken down by Yugi. His deck is based around using Castle of Dark Illusions to shroud the field. Most of his monsters gain field power bonus when played at night.


 * Axe Crazy
 * The Brute: Of the Eliminators. He's probably the least talented of the four, uses thuggish tactics to intimidate his opponents,is none too bright, and very violent.
 * The Bully: How Yugi sees him.
 * Cheaters Never Prosper: His use of pyrotechnics has little effect on Yami, who disposes of Panik after his victory.
 * Dark Is Evil
 * Deflector Shield: He combos Chaos Shield with Castle of Dark Illusions to make his side of the field impossible to attack.
 * Dirty Coward: Pushes other people down in order to make himself feel braver. Yami isn't buying it.
 * Dumb Muscle: One of Yugi's stupider opponents, Panik relies more on scare tactics and pyrotechnics than actual talent.
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": In the Japanese version, he's only known by his title, "The Player Killer of Darkness."
 * Evil Sounds Deep
 * Kick the Son of a Bitch: Yami Mind Crushes him. No one really cares.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast
 * Psycho for Hire: Joined up with Pegasus because he likes breaking people.
 * Pyromaniac: Uses flamethrowers to fry the opponent's seat during duels and throw them off their game. He later tries to kill Yugi with them.
 * Slasher Smile
 * Sore Loser: Tries to burn Yugi/Yami to death after they beat him.
 * Stone Wall: His Castle of Dark Illusions, which not only has incredible defense, but shrouds the field in darkness, making it impossible for his monsters to be attacked. The addition of his Chaos Shield further defends his monsters and his Life Points, at the cost of locking his cards in place, and preventing them from attacking.

Keith Howard (Bandit Keith)


The American Champ, called "Bandit" Keith due to him winning all the big prizes. He issues a challenge to Pegasus, but he's defeated. He turns to the darker side of dueling afterwards, until he winds up in Duelist Kingdom to get revenge on Pegasus. After his defeat by Jonouchi he is expelled from the tournament, and in the anime, ends up as one of Marik's first Mind Slaves.

He uses a Machine deck, which is later augmented with many rare cards by Marik. His trump cards are Metalzoa, Barrel Dragon, and Slot Machine; while under Marik's control Machine King and rare fiend Zera The Mant are added to his arsenal. -
 * Adaptational Badass: In the manga Joey kicks his ass in a fistfight. In the anime, Keith hands Joey his rear end, and beats up Bonz, Zygor, and Sid all at once. He's even more awesome in the video games; in Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction, where he takes over the Rare Hunters/Ghouls after Marik's Heel–Face Turn and leads them in invading and occupying Domino City. When you duel him as a boss, he even summons the Winged Dragon of Ra against you!
 * Blond Guys Are Evil: Blond and the biggest douche in the entire show.
 * Brainwashed and Crazy: In the anime Marik does this to him at one point.
 * The Brute: And lord, how. He even beats up Yugi, of all people! Contrast to Pegasus, who takes up the role of the Squishy Wizard.
 * Cheaters Never Prosper: Where to start...
 * First off, he brings dozens of different decks to a tournament where the rules specifically state you can only have one. When called out on this, he states he isn't in it at all. (Meaning he was never invited, which makes Keith a trespasser in a tournament he isn't even in.) This is left out of the manga.
 * He walks Ghost Kozuka through his duel with Jonouchi, so that he can see every card Jonouchi has. He beats up Kozuka, Takaido, and Satake and steals their Star Chips after Kozuka's defeat, and traps Yugi, Jonouchi, Anzu, Honda, and Bakura in an underground labyrinth. Keith then steals Jonouchi's entry card to try and avoid their duel, and hides his set of "7 Completed" cards inside his wristbands during their match. And yet he still gets his ass kicked by Jonouchi. All of this caused Pegasus to either kill him in the manga or eject him from the island and into the ocean, depending on the version.
 * This continues to when he's under Marik's control in the anime, using a mechanical device concealed in his loose sleeves to gain whatever card he wants when he draws.
 * Cool Shades/Sunglasses at Night/Sinister Shades: Keith always wears his shades, and they do a lot to enhance both the sense of menace and assholery that he gives off.
 * Eagle Land: Type 2.
 * Evil Laugh/Un Evil Laugh: Your Mileage May Vary. Keith's high, girly laugh isn't especially menacing, but it does sound quite unhinged.
 * Eviler Than Thou: He never really gets the chance to act on it, but his objective is to payback Pegasus for humiliating him.
 * Foil: Keith's short-temper, Smug Snakery, and use of physical force makes for a pretty strong contrast with Manipulative Bastard and Gentleman Snarker Pegasus.
 * Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: They're typically hidden by Sinister Shades, but when we do see Keith's eyes they're small, narrow and veiny.
 * Hair-Trigger Temper
 * Hoist by His Own Petard: Twice in one episode:
 * In his duel against Jounouchi, he ended up losing because he played the sword and shield card, causing his and Jounouchi's monsters to have their attack and defense points swapped. But because Joey had a trap card that allowed him to sent his Red-Eyes back one turn, it ended up with Kieth losing the duel.
 * After he loses the duel, rather than just walk away, he informs everyone that Joey's entry card was not his own and that Joey should be disqualified. When asked how he could possibly know this, Pegasus reveals that Kieth was the one who stole Joey's entry card in the first place. Depending on the version, this leads to Kieth either getting killed or being shot out into the ocean.
 * Hypocrite:
 * He regularly stresses that nobody's ever beaten him without cheating (referring, of course, to Pegasus), in spite of... well, being Bandit Keith.
 * Also, in Yu-Gi-Oh! R he calls Jonouchi out claiming that Capture Summon (a card that lets the user take an opponent's monster and summon it) is a broken card; even though his Pillager card is an even more broken version of the same effect.
 * Informed Ability: He's known to be the American Champion (or Intercontinental Champion in the dub), making him the fictional equivalent of World Championship Qualifiers like Sean Montague and Kris Ferber. He's never been shown winning on-screen, lost to Jonouchi, and seems to cheat rather frequently, putting his actual skill into question. That said, his actual deck and strategies seem to be very good by Duelist Kingdom's standards, and it's easy to imagine him beating most of the other competitors. He'd also been out of the tournament circuit for years and gone to some dark places, meaning his skills may have degraded.
 * Jerkass: Other characters may be more evil than Keith, but no one--except maybe Gozaburo Kaiba--is a bigger asshole.
 * Jerk Jock: Keith's what happens when the captain of the football team from every teen movie ever made turns twenty-six and decides to play Duel Monsters.
 * Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales: If this guy was supposed to mock Americans, they did a bad job; he's a rather popular villain among fans in the States.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Or at least to distrust.
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Towards Pegasus.
 * Russian Roulette: Played it in his depression over his loss to Pegasus.
 * Smug Snake: Lord yes. Keith thinks the world owes him something.
 * Sore Loser: Does not take defeat well. "No one beats Bandit Keith!"
 * Underestimating Badassery: Does it to Joey and Pegasus.
 * Wearing a Flag on Your Head
 * Underestimating Badassery: Does it to Joey and Pegasus.
 * Wearing a Flag on Your Head
 * Wearing a Flag on Your Head

"Ghost" Kotsuzuka/Bonz
A creepy midget who plays a Zombie deck, "Ghost" Kotsuzuka is first introduced as one of Bandit Keith's henchmen, alongside his friends Zygor and Sid. Seeking to scope out the competition, Keith sets Kotsuzuka and Jonouchi/Joey against one another; when Kotsuzuka is defeated, Keith beats him up and steals his Star Chips. Kotsuzuka resurfaces alongside Sid and Zygor at Battle City where he makes the fatal mistake of challenging The Spirit of the Millennium Ring.

His trump cards are Call of the Haunted (which is a lot more powerful than its real-life counterpart), Pumpking the King of Ghosts, and Great Mammoth of Goldfine.


 * Anime Hair
 * Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: A skull-faced midget who runs a Zombie deck?
 * Cheaters Never Prosper: Rather than dueling, he, Sid, and Zygor spend all their time at Battle City scaring people into giving them their Locator Cards. This ultimately leads to them encounter Bakura and making an abrupt exit from the show.
 * Everything's Deader with Zombies
 * Those Two Bad Guys: His henchmen, Sid and Zygor. Zygor's the Dumb Muscle, Sid's the talker.

The Meikyu Brothers (The Paradox Brothers)


Two eccentric brothers of implied Chinese descent hired by Pegasus as eliminators. They take on both Yugi and Jounouchi in the series' first Tag Team Duel, threatening to leave the good guys trapped underground if they lost. They reappear in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, facing Judai and Shou in a Tag Team Duel, but are defeated once again.

The brothers both use decks that turn the game into a labyrinth board game. Their trump card is Gate Guardian. -
 * Bald of Evil
 * Bash Brothers
 * Creepy Twins
 * Evil Laugh
 * Finishing Each Other's Sentences
 * Knights and Knaves: Pull this when questioned on the way out of their dungeon.
 * Rhymes on a Dime: Only in the dub.
 * Tattooed Crook
 * Theme Twin Naming/ Meaningful Name: In the Japanese version, their names are Mei and Kyu (Meikyu is Labyrinth). In the English version, their names are Para and Dox (Paradox).

The Rare Hunter/Seeker
The first Rare Hunter encountered in the show (unless one counts a brainwashed Keith) he's never given a name. He beats Joey and takes his Red-Eyes and is in turn beaten by Yugi. He runs an Exodia deck that focusses on assembling Exodia and using it to defeat his opponents.


 * Cheaters Never Prosper: In addition to loading his deck with three copies of Exodia, he also marks his cards in the dub (in the original, his cards are counterfeit). He still loses, and it's largely because his deck is so filled with Exodia pieces that he can't draw anything else.
 * He cheats even worse in video games, not only using multiple copies of Exodia pieces, but multiple copies of Sangan, With of the Black Forest, and Graceful Charity, all of which are Limited on the in-game lists.
 * Egomaniac Hunter: Displays this attitude towards card hunting.
 * Everybody Calls Him Barkeep: He's always addressed as "Rare Hunter" in the anime; the name "Seeker" is only used in one of the video games. In the manga version, Yami asks his name, but then decides he'd rather not know.
 * Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: When he can't use Exodia as a surprise, this guy is all talk. (In fact, Yami didn't have to "destroy" Exodia to win, seeing as he had Dust Tornado set; he just did it to teach the guy a lesson.) Yugi's entire dialogue during the duel is a "The Reason You Suck" Speech with a Paranoia Gambit built in that Seeker falls for hook line and sinker.
 * Obviously Evil: He's gaunt, sallow, creepy-looking, and wears a black, scary robe. Clearly up to no-good.
 * Smug Snake: Seems to think that simply having Exodia makes him invincible.
 * Stone Wall: Stone Statue of the Aztecs and Gear Golem, which he uses to defend his Life Points while he searches for Exodia.
 * Unsportsmanlike Gloating: It wasn't losing the duel and his best card that made Jonouchi upset. This guy had to beat him up before taking it. That was what crossed the line for Jonouchi and Yami.
 * Villain Has a Point: He's sadistic scum, yes, but he was well within his rights to tell Jonouchi not to help Yugi, as such an act is not permitted in a tournament, even using Real Life rules.
 * Wake Up Call Boss: For the Battle City arc. He demonstrates how dogged and dangerous the Ghouls actually are in their pursuit of rare cards by beating the tar out of Jonouchi after he defeats him in a duel.
 * You Have Failed Me...: Courtesy of Marik.

Pandora/Arkana
A former stage magician who lost his good looks to a fire and his girlfriend to the BSOD that followed, he serves as one of Marik's Rare Hunters in the hopes of winning her back. He runs a Spellcaster deck designed specifically to counter many of Yugi's best cards, and many of the cards emulate a magician's act. His trump card is the Dark Magician.


 * Axe Crazy
 * Cheaters Never Prosper: Trims his cards and uses trick shuffling to bring his Dark Magician into his opening hand.
 * Dirty Coward: Panics every time the duel is turning against him.
 * Evil Counterpart: Not Arkana himself, but his Dark Magician, with its white hair and evil smile is very much the evil counterpart to Yugi's Dark Magician.
 * Giggling Villain
 * Love Makes You Crazy
 * Love Makes You Evil
 * Mask Power
 * Nice Hat: Still wears his magician's hat.
 * Slasher Smile
 * Stage Magician
 * The Un-Reveal: Shows Yugi his face. Yugi is repulsed, we don't get to see it.
 * Victim Falls For Rapist: His goal is to get Marik to brainwash Catherine into loving him again.
 * You Have Failed Me...: Courtesy of Marik.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Has no problem with sacrificing his monsters wily-nily, and has the gall to insult them.

Lumis and Umbra
Two of Marik's Rare Hunters, whom he orders to take on Yugi and Kaiba in a double duel. They run a Mask Deck that focusses on locking down the opponents' options and draining their Life Points. Their trump cards are The Masked Beast (3200/1800) and Masked Beast-Des Gardius (3300/2500).


 * Acrofatic: Lumis is surprisingly agile.
 * Bash Brothers: Before Kaiba starts screwing with them.
 * Dark Is Evil: Most of Umbra's monsters are Dark.
 * Light Is Not Good: Most of Lumis' monsters are Light.
 * Mask of Power: Most of their cards are masks that make their monsters stronger or their opponents' monsters weaker.
 * Mask Power: Far more competent with their masks on.
 * Meaningful Name: Lumis and Umbra mean light and dark.
 * Not-So-Harmless Villain: In their first apperance, they don't wear their masks and are easily defeated. In their second they keep Yugi and Kaiba busy for four episodes.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: They play dumb the first time they run into Yugi and Kaiba. The second time, not so much.
 * Only Known by Their Nickname: In the Japanese version--Mask of Light and Mask of Darkness respectively.
 * You Have Failed Me...: Marik pulls it on Lumis (Umbra had already fallen off the building).

Rishid Ishtar (Odion Ishtar)


Marik's older brother by adoption and dragon. He poses as Marik while Marik tries to infiltrate Yugi's gang.

His uses a deck themed on Egyptian mythology, which consists almost entirely of Trap cards. His trump card is Mystical Beast of Serket.

-
 * Affably Evil: Is very polite in his duel with Jounouchi, in the dub referring to him as "Mr. Wheeler," and clearly respects Jounouchi's dueling skills even when Jounouchi is about to lose. It's what gives his Marik disguise away. In addition, he himself isn't so much evil as he is completely devoted to protecting Marik.
 * Anti-Villain: He only follows Marik to protect him and keep his dark personality in check.
 * Badass Cape
 * Bald of Evil: On first appearance.
 * Big Brother Instinct
 * Cannibalism Superpower: His Mystical Beast Serket gains half the ATK of every creature it devours. This is a bad thing.
 * The Dragon
 * Jerkass Facade: In his duel with Jounouchi, as he's supposed to be impersonating Marik. Jounouchi eventually sees through it.
 * Large and In Charge
 * Morality Chain: He keeps Marik's dark personality in check.
 * Noble Demon
 * Noble Top Enforcer: Unlike Marik (and every other Rare Hunter), Odion forgoes cheating in favor of kicking ass fairly.
 * Obvious Trap: His deck is based around setting those, which the opponent is then forced to activate.
 * Red Right Hand: The scarring/tattoos on his face.
 * Scary Black Man
 * Tattooed Crook
 * Trap Master
 * Scary Scorpions: His Mystical Beast Serket. 2500 ATK. 2000 DEF. Can add half the ATK of every creature it devours to its score. That's pretty darn scary.
 * The Stoic: Contends with Raphael and Shadi for the title.
 * The Unfavourite: His adoptive father never saw him as more than a servant, and it only got worse once Ishizu and Marik were born.
 * Villain Ball: He had Joey beat. Then Marik forces him to grab this by summoning Ra.
 * Worthy Opponent: Plays totally fairly and respects Jounouchi's skills as a duelist. The sentiment is returned by Jounouchi, who notes unlike a lost of his past opponents, Odion has played a fair duel and it's been one of the toughest yet. Which leads into problems since he's supposed to be impersonating Marik, who has shown no problems cheating and setting up unfair games.

The Big Five


The Kaiba Corp board of directors, consisting of Oshita (Gansley), Otaki (Crump), Ooka (Johnson), Ota (Nesbitt) and Daimon (Lector). Played a part in Kaiba's takeover of the company when Gozaburo ran things, but once Kaiba took over he stripped them of their power and left them as figureheads. They've since tried various schemes to take the company for themselves, that ultimately result in them being locked in a virtual world; they must each defeat a member of the main cast in a duel in order to escape.

Oshita uses a Reptile deck that concentrates on locking down his opponent's options; Deep Sea Warrior is his Deck Master. Otaki uses a water/ice deck filled with penguins; his Deck Master is Nightmare Penguin. Ooka uses a Fusion deck along with cards that emulate a courtroom setting; his Deck Master is Judgeman. Ota uses a Machine deck that has Perfect Machine King as its trump card; his Deck Master is Robotic Knight. Daimon uses a Lockdown strategy that focuses on Injection Fairy Lily and Satellite Cannon; his Deck Master is Jinzo. -
 * All Your Powers Combined: Twice. The first time is when they all possess Tristan's body, the second is when they sacrifice all of their Deck Masters to summon Five-Headed Dragon.
 * Ambiguously Brown: Lector. He's got dark skin, dark hair, and a six foot thick Southern accent in the dub.
 * American Accents: Lector's a pretty straight up Dixie accent in the dub.
 * Amoral Attorney: Ooka/Johnson. In the Japanese version he says outright he has no problem twisting the facts, and claims "the truth" is whatever tale he can spin for the court.
 * Anime Hair: Lector.
 * Bald of Evil: Ganzley in his real body, Lector as Jinzo.
 * Beard of Evil: Lector.
 * Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: They betrayed Gozaburo to Kaiba, and Kaiba to Pegasus, before trapping him in a virtual world. After they themselves were trapped there, they join up with Noah, but have no problems flaunting his rules and going behind his back in their desperation to get out of there. Finally, they violate the terms of their duel with Yugi and Joey, refusing to return Tristan's body despite having promised to.
 * Cool Mask: Ganzley as Deep Sea Fisherman. Lector wears one along with some Sinister Shades when he first appears; one could argue that the mask he wears as Jinzo counts too.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executives
 * Cyborg: Lector as Jinzo; Nesbitt would desperately like to be one.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Somewhat surprisingly, Ganzley, who keeps up a pretty constant barrage of understated sarcasm in the initial part of his duel with Yugi.
 * Deal with the Devil: They cut deals with Pegasus and then Noah in hopes of gaining control of KaibaCorp. Lector's "A Deal With Dark Ruler" card simulates this, summoning Berserk Dragon in exchange for half his lifepoints.
 * Death by Irony: All of them lose in ironic fashions:
 * Ganzley spends the duel insulting Kuriboh and loses due to its ability
 * Crump declares Dark Magician Girl is useless without the Dark Magician, so Tea summons Yugi's
 * Johnson loses because he can't tell if Joey's telling the truth about his cards or not'
 * Nesbitt picks Serenity as an opponent because she's inexperienced and it's her monster that finishes him off
 * Lector considers himself superior to Kaiba and loses when Kaiba pulls out a monster with a higher level than Lector's
 * In their combined duel with Yugi and Joey, they allowed Joey to duel with Yugi because they thought he would be the weak link, but it was Joey's cards that won them the duel.
 * Defeating the Undefeatable: Their Five-Headed Dragon is supposed to be unbeatable, having the highest attack of any monster in the game at that time, and an immunity to Trap Cards, Spell Cards, and attacks by any monster that doesn't have the Light attribute. Yugi and Kaiba take it down with Master of Dragon Soldier in their first confrontation with it, while Yugi and Jonouchi/Joey use a Dark Flare Knight/Mirage Knight combination the second time.
 * Dirty Old Man: Otaki/Crump.
 * Divergent Character Evolution: Initially they're an Omniscient Council of Vagueness, with the collective goal of taking over KaibaCorp for unspecified, but undoubtedly sinister intentions. In the "Virtual Nightmare" arc, they're all given separate personalities, and objectives, and while they all share the goal of defeating Kaiba and escaping into the real world, their reasons for hating him are fleshed out, with them being gaining separate backstories and motivations. Ganzley and Johnson are just greedy, Crump resents Kaiba mocking his penguin obsession, Nesbitt's angry about his work being disposed of, and Lector's The Resenter par excellence.
 * Dracolich: Berserk Dragon.
 * Everything's Better with Penguins: Crump certainly thinks so, and his Nightmare Penguin Deck Master reflects that belief.
 * Evil Old Folks: Ganzley, who actually needs a cane to support himself.
 * Evil Sounds Deep: In the dub, they all have fairly low voices, with Ganzley and Nesbitt hitting the lowest notes.
 * Faux Affably Evil: Johnson and especially Lector, who in the English dub at least, is incapable of addressing anyone informally, despite being the biggest bastard of the entire group.
 * Fat Bastard: Ganzley and Crump are noticeably portly.
 * Five-Bad Band: If the name wasn't a tip off.
 * Big Bad: Oshita/Ganzley (among the group at least)
 * The Dragon: Daimon/Lector, who seems to be second-in-command, and is definitely their best duelist. One could argue that Five-Headed Dragon is this to the group as a whole, with Berserk Dragon being Lector's.
 * The Brute: Ooka/Johnson, his dueling "strategy" is to abuse his Deck Master's Kill'Em All ability to keep the opponent's field cleared.
 * Evil Genius: Ota/Nesbitt, robot engineer and weapons expert.
 * Dark Chick: Otaki/Crump, the most sympathetic and absurd, being a penguin fanatic and all.
 * Fluffy the Terrible: Lector's Injection Fairy Lilly. She's a small cute fairy with only 400/1500. However, by paying 2000 Life Points he can raise her attack to 3400 until the end of his turn, making her very hard to get rid of.
 * Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Johnson's real body, Lecter's Deck Master body.
 * Genius Bruiser: Subverted. Nesbitt thinks he's become one after fusing to create Perfect Machine King but he's probably the weakest duelist of the group.
 * Good with Numbers: Otaki/Crump.
 * Grand Theft Me: What they try to do.
 * Humongous Mecha: Nesbitt becomes one when he fuses with Machine King to become Perfect Machine King.
 * I Lied: Lector's response when Yugi reminds him that he promised to return Tristan's body if the Big 5 were defeated.
 * Last-Name Basis: Only Crump's first name has been revealed, and they are all addressed by their last names.
 * The Load: Ota/Nesbit, who is arguably the weakest duelist in the group (having been defeated by Serenity of all people) and in the duel against Yugi and Joey totally blows the substantial lead that Ganzley, Crump, and Johnson had established, requiring Lector to step in in order to stave off defeat. Crump, perhaps surprisingly, isn't this; despite his humiliating loss to Tea he firmly establishes himself as a Not-So-Harmless Villain during the group duel.
 * The Man Behind the Man: They think they're this to Pegasus; in reality he's just using them.
 * Not-So-Harmless Villain: Crump. He uses a deck filled with penguins, which he's been obsessed with since childhood, and comes off as so pathetic in his duel with Tea that you almost feel sorry for him. Then in the duel between the Big Five and Yugi & Joey (in which most of the cards on the field belong to other Big Five members) he and his Deck Master, Nightmare Penguin, really come into their own, boosting the power of the WATER monsters Ganzley had played and establishing an enormous lead for the Big Five.
 * Odd Name Out: Daimon in the Japanese, as the only one who's name doesn't begin with an "o". He arguably counts in the English as well, given that his name is a Shout-Out to Hannibal Lector, while the others are just made up names.
 * The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: In their initial appearances.
 * One-Winged Angel: Nesbitt fuses with Machine King to create Perfect Machine King. The entire Big Five do this in their final match, when they summon Five-Headed Dragon.
 * Our Dragons Are Different: Their Five-Headed Dragon is a Game Breaker with 5000/5000, that destroys all cards on the field through the act of being summoned and can only be harmed by a monster with the Light Attribute. After it's destruction in their duel with Yugi and Jonouchi/Joey, Lector summons the Berserk Dragon, a freaky undead monster with 3500/0 that can attack the entire field at once (but fortunately loses 500 ATK points every turn).
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Lector delivers a lengthy one to Kaiba in which he calls him out on his ruthless attitude and treatment of Mokuba.
 * Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Ganzley's deck.
 * The Resenter: They all resent Kaiba for his control of the company, but Daimon/Lector is the most classic example, feeling control of the company should have come to him due to his status as Gozaburo's right-hand man.
 * Shout-Out: In the English dub, "Lector" is named for Hannibal Lector, and in the Jinzo body looks the part a bit.
 * Sinister Silhouettes: In their initial appearances.
 * Smug Snake: All of them. They range from very low-functioning (Crump and Nesbitt) to the far more high-functioning Ganzley and Lector. Johnson may be the most classic of them, with his condescending attitude, arrogance, and smarmy personality.
 * Spikes of Villainy: Their deck masters have this to varying degrees, most prominently Deepsea Warrior and Jinzo.
 * Villain Ball: Oshita actually had Yugi beat, but decided to drag their duel out because he wanted to watch him squirm.
 * Virtual Ghost
 * Your Princess Is in Another Castle: In the group duel, Yugi and Joey manage to do the near impossible and take down the Five-Headed Dragon, which served as the group's collective Deck Master and is all but undefeatable. They celebrate, they cheer--and then Lector activates A Deal With Dark Ruler to summon Berserk Dragon as their new Deck Master, even as Yugi and Joey's all powerful Mirage Knight splits back into the Dark Magician and Flame Swordsman that were used to summon it. Uh-oh.

Gozaburo Kaiba


The former head of Kaiba Corporation and Seto Kaiba's adopted father. When Kaiba took over the company, Gozaburo either fled in shame, commited suicide or was killed by Kaiba himself, depending on the adaptation. In the anime, he is the mastermind of the Virtual World arc and Noah's father.

He uses an Exodia deck, focusing on Exodia Necros. -
 * Abusive Dad: To his three sons.
 * Archnemesis Dad: Has reached this status with regards to Kaiba by the time of the Virtual World Arc.
 * Ascended Extra: In the original manga, he was a Posthumous Character only seen in a Flashback scene. In the anime, he's more fleshed out.
 * Badass Moustache: A little bit badass, mixed in with loads of ruthlessness, but the 'stash is undeniably badass.
 * Big Bad: Of the Virtual World Filler arc.
 * Big Ol' Eyebrows
 * The Chessmaster: He's a superb chessplayer. He also has traits of this as a villain, setting his plans in motion far in advance.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive
 * Death by Irony: He tries to pull this on Kaiba, intending to defeat him in duel monsters the same way Kaiba defeated him in chess. It didn't work out.
 * Evil Mentor: His grooming of Kaiba to be his heir was intended to make him a vessel for Noah's mind. In the dub he comes to decide why bother, when Seto is just as smart and capable as Noah, while in the Japanese he decided to take Seto's body for himself when he died.
 * Fatal Flaw: His arrogance and pride — he thinks he's always in control of the situation and has thought everything out so there's no way he can lose. Kaiba beats him this way twice, first by manipulating Mokuba into spending time with Gozaburo so Gozaburo thinks Mokuba will support his control of KaibaCorp over Kaiba; he thus allows Kaiba and the Big Five to buy up 49% of the company, ignorant to the idea that maybe Mokuba won't support him after all. Second, he believes Exodia Necross is completely invincible and will win him the duel to the point he never plays any other cards, never anticipating Kaiba might find a way to banish the Exodia parts in his graveyard and strip Exodia Necross of its powers.
 * Filler Villain: Although he at least has a legitimate reason for showing up.
 * Glass Cannon: Exodia Necros seems invincible, but when Kaiba figures out its weakness, he tears both it and Gozaburo to shreds.
 * Grand Theft Me: Tries it on Kaiba.
 * Hotblooded Sideburns: His chops complete the trifecta that include his 'stash and his 'brows.
 * It's Personal: With Kaiba.
 * Jerkass: BIG. FUCKING. TIME.
 * Knight Templar Parent: About the nicest way to interpret his personality is that he's so harsh and strict to temper Noah and Seto into strong, capable businessmen worthy of taking over Kaiba Corp. This is pre-death though; by the time of the Virtual World he tells Noah You Have Outlived Your Usefulness, and doesn't care much about Kaiba anymore either.
 * Lack of Empathy: He's an Abusive Dad who considers his biological son expendable, and later returns to try and trap Kaiba and his allies in the Virtual World. He tells Kaiba that you can trust no one, including him, neglects Mokuba, abandoned Noah before using him for his own ends, and generally doesn't care about anyone beyond himself and his own legacy. He's not as over the top about it as the Spirit of the Millennium Ring and Dark Marik, but yeah--there's no empathy there.
 * The Man Behind the Man/Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: The dub included foreshadowing of his appearance, most notably that Noah acts all along as if he knows Gozaburo is watching. In the original though his arrival is completely unexpected and Noah is shocked to see him, thinking he was dead like everyone else.
 * Not Me This Time: Done in hindsight, oddly enough. Amelda believes he had orchestrated a war profiting enterprise to make money, which resulted in the deaths of Amelda's parents. While Seto was quite willing to believe this, it wasn't true. The "Gozaburo" that Amelda had seen involved in it was Dartz in disguise.
 * Not Quite Dead
 * Offing the Offspring: His objective by the time of the Virtual World arc.
 * Omnicidal Maniac: Turns into this by the end of the Virtual World arc.
 * One-Winged Angel: Transforms into a corrupted virus after his defeat, and tries to first possess Kaiba, and then take the group with him.
 * Parental Abandonment: Of Noah
 * Self-Made Man: According to Kaiba.
 * Sink or Swim Mentor: A totally evil one.
 * Smug Snake
 * Social Darwinist
 * Spared by the Adaptation: Sort of. In the original manga, he is Driven to Suicide after losing his company to Seto. In the anime, he doesn't perish until much later in the Virtual Nightmare arc.
 * Taking You with Me: Tries it on the cast at the end, when he attacks their blimp.
 * Villain Ball: When he learns that the virtual world is set to be destroyed, he decides to take Kaiba's body by force and escape, but Kaiba convinces him to back off and finish the duel, since he was so intent on proving himself superior.
 * Villain with Good Publicity: When alive, his public image was that of a charitable philanthropist, which was only a PR façade.
 * Virtual Ghost
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Pulls it on Noah.

Grimo (Grerimo)
A duelist working for Dartz, he duels Yugi to test out the powers of the Seal of Orichalcos as when combined when the Egyptian God Cards. He plays a Warrior deck designed to swarm the field. In his duel against Yugi, he added the stolen Obelisk the Tormentor. When he loses, he manages to pass Obelisk to Rafael before his soul is taken.


 * Beard of Evil
 * Bilingual Bonus: He speaks in Latin in the dub before he challenges Rex and Weevil.
 * Black Cloak
 * Establishing Character Moment: For the entire Doma organization, unveiling their dangerous-looking Duel Disk knock-off, the Seal of Orichalcos, and he can control the God Cards.
 * Flat Character: Who is this guy? Why does he work for Dartz? What type of person is he? Questions we never get answers to.
 * High-Class Glass
 * Your Soul Is Mine: It's practically his first line.

Rafael


One of Dartz's henchmen, he lived a life of luxury until a shipwreck killed his family and left him stranded on a desert island with only his deck for company. As a result, he's very attached to his cards and refuses to let them be destroyed.

He uses a Guardian deck, along with many cards that protect his monsters from going to the graveyard, and is so far the only one of Dartz's henchmen whose cards are mostly real. His trump cards are Guardian Eatos and Guardian Dreadscythe. -
 * Always Someone Better: To Rebecca, who mentions that after she became the US champion, there were rumors that she only won because Rafael doesn't compete in championships. Arguably to Yami himself, given that Rafael beat him in their first duel, and only loses the Heroic Rematch because he essentially surrendered after realizing the error of his ways despite still having the advantage in duel terms, though Yugi could still conceivably win.
 * Berserk Button: Calling his dead family meaningless.
 * Do NOT send any of his monsters to the graveyard, ESPECIALLY Eatos (which he considers his mother).
 * The Chessmaster
 * Dark and Troubled Past
 * The Dragon: To Dartz
 * Evil Counterpart: Is sometimes seen as Yami's.
 * Excalibur in the Rust: Variation. His cards are so old that the ink is fading and the edges are frayed. That doesn't change the fact that he has one of the most powerful decks in the series.
 * Gambit Roulette/Xanatos Gambit: He goads Yami Yugi into playing the Seal of Orichalcos, and beating him while he is under the influence.
 * Genius Bruiser
 * Heel Face Turn
 * Hotblooded Sideburns: They point out.
 * Knight Templar: A perfect counterpart to Yami Yugi, only more ruthless.
 * The Magic Poker Equation: The series as a whole is an example of this trope, but Rafael's drawing abilty still stands out, seeing as how he discards his entire hand on his first turn in both his duels to draw two extra cards each turn, manages to pull out his Guardian monsters with ease, a feat that requires the respective equip card to be present on the field, and is still able to duel competently.
 * Meaningful Name: It's quite possible he's named after Archangel Raphael; he has a guardian motif, and angelic wings appear before he duels.
 * Noble Demon: The only one of Dartz's minions that isn't Ax Crazy.
 * Redemption Earns Life: After his loss against Yami Yugi.
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Rafael or Raphael?
 * Start of Darkness: Heartbreakingly highlighted in his past flashbacks.
 * Utopia Justifies the Means
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: The only one who's not having a Slasher Smile or Smug Super, having a vendetta against a certain organization and fight anyone just because they're there. Also the only one that honestly believes that Dartz will inspire world peace.
 * Worthy Opponent: To Yugi. In their first duel he introduced himself as a true duelist, which Yugi finds ridiculous. In the Heroic Rematch, Yugi calls him a true duelist himself.
 * You Can't Fight Fate: Or so he believes, anyway. Ironically, according to Dark Yugi, his bonds with his family and monsters hold the power to change destiny.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Hates duelists who treat monsters this way, but resorts to this himself after Eatos is destroyed and Deathscythe hits the field.
 * Your Princess Is in Another Castle: Yami assumes he has gained a great advantage when he finally manages to destroy Guardian Eatos in their rematch, sending Rafael into a near breakdown. But while Eatos is Rafael's favorite card and extremely powerful, destroying her summons Guardian Dreadscythe, which is even worse.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Hates duelists who treat monsters this way, but resorts to this himself after Eatos is destroyed and Deathscythe hits the field.
 * Your Princess Is in Another Castle: Yami assumes he has gained a great advantage when he finally manages to destroy Guardian Eatos in their rematch, sending Rafael into a near breakdown. But while Eatos is Rafael's favorite card and extremely powerful, destroying her summons Guardian Dreadscythe, which is even worse.

-

Amelda (Alister)


One of Dartz's henchmen, he and his little brother were caught in a warzone in a city caught between two countries supplied with Kaiba Corp weapons. When his brother was killed in battle, Amelda developed a deep hatred of Kaiba Corp

The first time he's shown dueling, he uses Pegasus' stolen deck along with fire cards focusing on Balrog. His true deck has a military theme, with soldiers, tanks, etc. His trump cards are Soldier Revolt and Air Fortress Ziggurat. -
 * Bare Your Midriff: Makes you think Dartz has  or at least one Dark Chick working for him.
 * Berserk Button: Seeing the Kaiba Corp helicopters.
 * Dude Looks Like a Lady: And HOW.
 * Evil Counterpart: Kaiba's second one in the anime.
 * Evil Genius
 * Playing with Fire: His deck motif the first time around.
 * Revenge by Proxy:
 * Start of Darkness: Survived a terrible war
 * Tragic Keepsake: Carries his brother's favorite Dyna Dude action figure to always remember him.
 * Used to Be a Sweet Kid: He once was a proud big brother to his younger sibling until Gozaburo,, destroyed his home town. And he used to actually look like a normal boy.
 * Used to Be a Sweet Kid: He once was a proud big brother to his younger sibling until Gozaburo,, destroyed his home town. And he used to actually look like a normal boy.
 * Used to Be a Sweet Kid: He once was a proud big brother to his younger sibling until Gozaburo,, destroyed his home town. And he used to actually look like a normal boy.

-

Varon (Valon)


One of Dartz's henchmen, he was a street kid who befriended a nun in a church owned by a gang. When the church was set on fire, Varon beat up the gang and blamed them, and was sent to prison. He drifted through the system getting into fights constantly until Dartz recruited him

He uses an Armor deck, in which the monsters are parts of cybernetic armor (like helmet, boots, gauntlet, shield, etc) that actually attach to him. Since the Seal of Orichalcos makes the duel real, he can attack the opponent personally and beat them senseless. His trump cards include Big Bang Blow and Buster Pyle. -
 * Accent Adaptation: Has an Australian accent in the dub.
 * Attack! Attack! Attack!: At one point, he even declares that he doesn't care if his opponent has an obvious trap card set, he would still attack.
 * Ax Crazy: He doesn't look very stable when he defeats Rebecca and Duke.
 * Slasher Smile: Not at all.
 * The Berserker: Rushes into any situation where there's a battle without thinking of the consequences, and is willing to duel anyone, even if it means not taking their souls away.
 * Blood Knight: The ONLY duelist in the series who isn't a Well-Intentioned Extremist, a certified Nice Guy or a psychopath obsessed with winning and killing everything that can duel. This love of a fight is what translates somewhat to Jaden Yuki in GX.
 * Boisterous Bruiser
 * The Brute: Literally has a deck that allows him to win with just punching rather than solving with complex plans that actually pay off.
 * Evil Counterpart: Is arguably this to Joey. He's who Joey could have turned into if things at home at gotten just that little bit worse.
 * Murder the Hypotenuse: He tries to do this to Joey, who he sees as an obstacle to Mai.
 * Not So Different/Worthy Opponent: He and Joey gain a lot of respect for each other over the course of their duel.
 * Powered Armor: His deck motif.
 * Shout-Out: His back story is a reference to Cyborg 009.
 * Saint Seiya anyone?
 * Smug Super: What the dub makes him out to be.
 * Start of Darkness: See Street Urchin
 * Street Urchin:  he pretty much lived on the streets until he joined Dartz.
 * Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty: His Psychic Armor Head has an AI that analyzes his opponent's cards and gives him advice.
 * Yandere: For Mai, claiming that she's the only one who can understand him. He gets better, though.