Yu-Gi-Oh: Hydeverse

Yu-Gi-Oh: Hydeverse is a series of videos produced using the AI voice tool ElevenLabs. What started off as a random fooling around with the AI voice soon develops into its own original crossover story. Most of its humor stems from lampshading hanging and meta humor involving the trading card game such as using terms like "Bricking." The main plot mostly focuses around Yugi Muto/Pharaoh Atem, Joey Wheeler and Seto Kaiba doing a tier-list video that slowly gets them dragged into many adventures with characters from across the Yu-Gi-Oh! universe. The video series can be found here.

Tropes used in Yu-Gi-Oh: Hydeverse include:

The Ace: Surprisingly, Mokuba is this when it came to playing Minecraft.
Actually a Doombot: Paradox turns out to be this when Yusei, Jack and Crow ran him over with their Duel Runners,
Alternate Timeline: Paradox recruited other villains who won in their respective duels in their own timeline. Notable Examples include:
- Gozaboro and Noah Kaiba successfully stealing Seto and Mokuba's physical bodies to escape the digital realm.
- An alternate version of Pegasus, Dark Bakura and Dark Marik who won their duels in their respective timelines
Berserk Button: There are quite a few shown throughout this video series:
- One notable example is when Seto Kaiba and Joey Wheeler teamed up to duel Aster Phoenix and Zane Truesdale at Six Flags. Aster used his Destiny Hero Plasma to absorb Seto's Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Suffice to say, that move got a strong reaction from Seto.
- Using Mokuba to win an argument with Seto is a sure fire way to earn his ire.
Big Brother Instinct: Seto Kaiba, Joey Wheeler and Zane Trusedale are this towards their younger siblings respectively.
Book Dumb: Joey turns out to be this to a certain degree as revealed when playing Monopoly.
Born Lucky: Joey Wheeler manages to get lucky in both duels and in non-duels. To give an idea of how lucky he is, Atem mentions Joey only lost time roulette once.
Butt Monkey: Joey Wheeler, despite being Born Lucky, still doesn't stop him from being the target of many of Seto's remarks.
- Chazz Princeton was hit with this at the Duel Academy Gauntlet challenge, ranging from opponents taking too long to finish their turns, dealing with the Ojama Duel Spirits' Shenanigans (that only he can see and no one else, which makes people think he's a bit crazy), Duelists that run the First Turn KO decks and having an opponent surrender right as he was about to do something cool.
Call Back: There are many of these scattered throughout the show referencing past events from the characters' multiple adventures.
The Cameo: Marik Ishtar made a brief appearance and Weevil Underwood got mentioned when his Online Alias was used when the Duel Monsters trio are at Six Flags. Bastion Misawa, Syrus Truesdale and Yubel make an appearance at Duel Academy.
Composite Character: This version of Seto combines the snarky and sarcastic dialouge of the English 4Kids Dub with some personality traits of the original Japanese version.
Character Development: There are notable moments where a character's attitude has changed as the story progresses:
- A most notable example is Seto's relationship with Joey. Prior to Six Flags, the two's relationship was on a knife's edge as the two has an intense, almost hostile, rivalry just like in canon. After Six Flags however, while the two still bicker with each other, their rivalry has calmed down alot.
- Another example is Atem's relationship with Jaden. At the start of the series, Atem seems to barely tolerate interacting with Jaden, going out of his way to avoid contact with him as much as possible. By the time, they meet again at Six Flags, they got to know each other better and even helped each other out. By the time of Duel Academy, they seem to enjoy each others' company.
Cheaters Never Prosper: Paradox did this halfway through his duel against Mai and Aster.... Too bad it did nothing as he still lost.
- It wouldn't be Bandit Keith if he didn't try to pull off something like that.
Curb Stomp Battle: It happened off screen where two park officials were sent to duel Atem and Jaden for Atem clearing out the prize stores at the fair. The same thing happened to Dartz when he tried to duel Jaden.

Deadly Euphemism: Going missing can be best described as getting killed.
Determinator: Par for the course of a Yu-Gi-Oh series where characters (especially the heroes) will stand their ground and take a lot of punishment in order to win the duel.
Disproportionate Retribution: Alexis Rhodes mentions that workers involved in packaging could lose their job over something as small as a packaging error when discussing about Eggwiches.
Early Installment Weirdness: The first few videos use genuine curse words. In later episodes this is mostly absent or replaced with less harsh variants.
Expy: Acknowledged and even discussed in-universe as there will be many expies meeting each other across the Yu-Gi-Oh! universe.
Flat Earth Atheist: Seto Kaiba will always try to find a scientific/grounded explanation to the various magical occurrences that happens around him, just like in canon.
Foreshadowing: What could occasionally pass off as a random joke/comment could be a hint of future events to come.
Imagine Spot: At Six Flags, Joey and Seto discuss about what would happen if there are multiple copies Egyptian God Cards which leads to two separate imaginations on how it would happen. One from Joey and one from Seto.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Seto Kaiba. Just like his canon counterpart, he is arrogant and will look down on lesser duelists. Despite this, his care for Mokuba and him hanging out with Joey and Yugi shows his softer side.
Knight Templar Big Brother: Seto Kaiba is this to Mokuba Kaiba. When Espa Roba attempted to scam Mokuba online. Seto not only tracked Espa down but also flew to his location to confront him.
- This did get deconstructed slightly, as Mokuba lost a few subscribers when Seto yelled at them and they (Mokuba's subscribers) took it personally when Mokuba is playing Minecraft.
Lampshade Hanging/Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Most of the humor stems from moments like these: One example is when Joey Wheeler, Mai Valentine and Mokuba Kaiba were playing Monopoly and Joey notes on how they immediately threw stakes in their Monopoly game rather than playing it normally. Mai just answers that they live in a society of Adrenaline Junkies.
Laser-Guided Karma: A positive example. Atem giving up a rare misprint to help Jaden out at Six Flags to pay for someone's medical bill is returned in kind when Jaden helped hid him from the fans at Duel Academy.
Loophole Abuse: Aster used Destiny Hero Dogma's special ability to bypass the no attacking on everyone's first turn rule at Six Flags to halve Seto and Joey's Lifepoints. Much to Joey's annoyance
Mythology Gag: Examples can be found sprinkled around the story:
- In the second tier list video, Seto mentions he used to have a thing for the color green. This is referring to Toei's Run of Yu-Gi-Oh! when Seto Kaiba was portrayed as having Green Hair.
- The characters playing other games such as Monopoly instead of Duel Monsters, reference Toei's Run of Yu-Gi-Oh! back when it involved a variety of different games.
- When Yusei, Jack and Crow emerge from the time stream and onto Duel Academy, Joey and Atem note that Yusei sounds very familiar. This is a reference to Tristan and Yusei sharing the same voice actor.
Mutual Disadvantage: Inverted and played for laughs. Jaden and Atem tries to duel each other for the Second Golden Eggwich. However, the main aim was to start off with a bad hand (hence the term bricking). Unfortunately, they keep getting good starting hands which went on for some time before Alexis and Zane shows up.
Nice Guy: Jaden Yuki is as chill as ever. Just like his canon counterpart.
Odd Friendship: Joey Wheeler and Chazz Princeton seem to get along well despite their clashing personalities.
Oh Crap: Mai's reaction upon realizing that Mokuba plays Monopoly with his brother.
Original Generation: Karis Kane and Damian Mercurius are two filler villains created specifically for this crossover story.
Pet the Dog: Seto Kaiba gave Joey Wheeler a compliment (in his own way) after their tag duel at Six Flags.
Reality Ensues: There are examples as to how a game Duel Monsters doesn't always solve everything, ends up causing more problems. There are also instances of this occurring outside of Duel Monsters as well:
- Seto Kaiba, upon finding out that Cheez Waffies have been discontinued, sent an an E-Mail to the CEO of the food company to challenge him duel to a duel. Naturally, the CEO declined calling Seto, deranged for even attempting to hand over the company over a card game.
- In Duel Academy, Jaden Yuki has to deal with student loans and payments for a car. Turns out blowing your money on boxes of booster packs for a card game isn't the most financially smartest idea after all, as he is now low on funds. Turns out he did it out of choice rather than a consequence.
- Dartz in the anime has one of the most overpowered and mechanically broken decks capable of wreaking intense havoc on his opponent. Turns out all that powerful cards can't do anything if it lacks any form of synergy which results in Dartz Bricking by turn two and lost to Jaden.
- Attempting a Turbo Duel on regular motorcycles come with a myriad of problems due to lacking the proper technological advancements as shown with Aster and Joey's first attempt with Crow Hogan trying to teach them.
Running Gag: There are a few recurring jokes that is sprinkled around the series:
- One of them revolves around Pharaoh Atem's strategy of stealing the opponent's monster and using it against them.
- A common joke among duelists is that they don't or can't be bothered reading the card descriptions.
Serious Business: It turns out that it's not just the card game of Duel Monsters is taken seriously:
- Something as simple as a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors is taken very seriously to the point where Seto and Joey played the game until the night.
- This also extends to the Golden Eggwich too as someone could lose their job if there was a packaging error.
- Marik's takes his new job as a pizza delivery boy seriously and will make sure the delivery arrives, whether it's heavy rain or explosions from Duel Monsters.
Spiritual Successor/Spiritual Sequel: The entire web series could be a more grounded and slightly more serious take on Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series and a sequel to Yu-Gi-Oh!: Bonds Beyond Time with the appearance of Paradox.
Take That: There are a few instances where there are moments such as this:
- There are many occasions where characters take jabs at the modern day video game industry.
- During a tournament, two over the top villainous duelists: Karis Kain and Damian Mercurius, try to outwit each other with overpowered decks and ridiculous powers. Suffice to say, the duel didn't go anywhere as one of them gets dragged to the Shadow Realm while the other gets obliterated by a Kill Sat.
Time Travel: The first big threat the Heroes face are villains who won their duels from alternate futures. It's also how Yusei Fudo, Jack Atlas and Crow Hogan from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's make their debut into the story.
There Is No Kill Like Overkill: When Atem runs off to aid one of the security guards in Six Flags against another random duelist, he summons Slifer the Sky Dragon to defeat said duelist.
Trademark Favorite Food: Surprisingly, Seto Kaiba has a fondness for Cheez Waffies. When he found out the snack got discontinued, he sent an E-mail challenging the CEO of the Cheez Waffies company to a game of Duel Monsters for the rights of the brand.
- Eggwiches (particularly the Golden Eggwich) are a favorite among the students at Duel Academy.
Trademark Favorite Drink: Joey seems to have an affinity for Pepsi.
Villains Want Mercy: Alternate Timeline Pegasus attempted to do this when he is about to lose to Seto kaiba. Seto's counter offer was to give Alternate Pegasus a Neutron blast to the face.
- The same goes for Alternate Timeline Gozaboro Kaiba who tried to bargain with Zane Truesdale. Like Alternate Timeline Pegasus above, it didn't work as Zane just flat out demolishies Gozaboro's Exodia Necross.
Villainous Breakdown: Alternate Pegasus and Paradox go through this in their respective duels.
Vitriolic Best Buds: The Duel Monster trio's relationship in a nutshell. Joey, Atem and Seto will hurl insults at each others' favorite cards and beliefs, yet it doesn't stop them from hanging out to make tier list videos and having casual talk with one another.