Uhhh, Ra isn't exactly unique in this regard? All the monsters in this game are in a sense immortal; they don't die of their own accord like actually living creatures, don't grow old or anything, and a player actively has to murder them. And then, they just come back in the next game fully formed and ready to do it all again. We're already accustomed to this kind of thing, so Ra won't exactly get headlines with that title.
If, on the other hand, Ra is operating on the kind of immortality that won't even let it be KILLED... perhaps we should start seriously asking where the special effects end and the cheating begins.
Okay, right off the bat already just leaning on the unremarkable definition. Probably the safest move, if I'm being honest.
While the giant bird and massive lizard hiss and roar at each other over everyone's heads, other!Marik has a laugh riot on his side of the platform. Yami gapes up at the monsters, turning over how Slifer's 6000 points had absolutely no effect on Ra in his head, and wondering if this is Ra's hidden power. I would say Yami should be so lucky, but in the next panel, other!Marik confirms that he's right; Ra has the power of immortality and nothing can kill it... for this turn, anyway. What a big ability to hold back until the very end. Mind-blowing.
I hope my sarcasm is bleeding through the screen right now.
Someone, though I'm not sure who, out of Yami's friend squad says that this is Ra's true form as they all gape up at the god monsters. Then it looks like other!Marik shouts from the platform that this is the monster that beat Jonouchi? I don't know if it makes much sense that he would bring that up at this juncture, but the speech bubbles are a bit unclear. Jonouchi himself exposits that this special power, the "Egyptian God Phoenix", burns up all of the monsters out there regardless of attack points if other!Marik coughs up 1000 life points. Honda asks what in the world that means, if Ra bites it too, and seems rather adamant in his confusion, at first refusing that answer, and then saying he doesn't know. Unless that's Yami talking up on the platform, which I don't know why he would be.
These speech bubbles weren't thought out very well...
At least I know it's Jonouchi speaking when he says he doesn't know how strong that Ra thing is, but he's really worried that it might put Yami into shock just like it did him. Valid fear. He begs Yami silently to hang in there, glaring up at the platform as if trying to beam his determination into Yami's brain. And I'm still half-convinced he can, considering my old "a piece of Jonouchi is TOTALLY in the puzzle" theory.
Yami accuses other!Marik of thinking he's safe, though Slifer isn't done attacking yet. Other!Marik adopts the most normal straight expression I've ever seen on him, and it's almost scarier than seeing his tongue lolling like a perverted maniac. Yami explains that he activated Slifer's special ability the moment other!Marik summoned Ra.
Yami, other!Marik is one of the few people who even knew about the existence of these god cards before a few days ago. How in the world did you for one moment imagine this might surprise him?
Of course, that attack disperses with no damage to Ra, and Yami is just floored by this. Meanwhile, other!Marik laughs his ass off that Yami thought that measly lightning bolt would penetrate the armor of fire around Ra. Normally I wouldn't find the word "penetrate" suspect, but considering this is other!Marik we're talking about... Yami growls in frustration while other!Marik announces it's his turn to attack, muttering in ancient Egyptian once again. Kaiba knows that this is it, the 3rd power described on Ra's card in Hieratic text.
Why the hell not? KT has spent this whole arc building up Ra as the biggest and baddest; I say we see how big and bad it can get. Slifer can take one for the team.
Other!Marik says that activating this power costs 1000 life points, leaving him with 3000, but he's pretty sure the darkness will be perfectly pleased to take this offering. A pretty big chunk of OG Marik's forearm is taken, and with a typically creepy grin, says that Yami will burn along with his dragon now. Ra rockets above other!Marik, who prays for the flames to consume Slifer, as is appropriate to a god-creature. It descends upon Slifer, flaming tendrils consuming the roaring dragon.
While everyone on Yami's side gets toasty, other!Marik declares that Slifer is dead triumphantly, yukking it up. Yami is hunched on one knee, an arm up to guard his face against the virtual fire, while Honda and Jonouchi shout both encouragement and uncertainty that he can make it at him. Mixed messages all around. Yuugi, with his missing knees and elbow, groans, and Yami echoes the sentiment from the ground. By this point, the flames have died down enough for other!Marik to see they're both still alive, and he says this is good, because he "needs" them to suffer more. I feel like this word is being used improperly, so scare-quotes go around it.
Yami glances up sideways at Yuugi, asking if he's alright. Yuugi can only wince and groan in response at first, but eventually forces out a statement that he's fine. Yami just looks at him, speechless, no doubt not wanting to call him a liar, buuuuuut... Anyway, they both know they've lost their god card, and they only have one left. Still in a much better position than someone who had none to begin with, so count your blessings, boys.
Other!Marik tells Ra that this is enough, almost in a scolding way, and commands it to go back to the graveyard. Then he addresses the hunched and barely-standing Yami, informing him that now his turn's all over, Revival of the Dark dictates that Monster Reborn goes right back in Yami's graveyard. A blurred streak shoots into Yami's Duel Disk for maximum effect, though Yami observes this more with an anxious exhaustion than anything. It's his bad luck that other!Marik isn't done yet, stating this is when he does something ELSE, restoring shock and horror to Yami's features.
Oh great, he's invented another perpetual dueling machine to do the hard work for him again, just like when OG Marik had the trick to give him "infinite" cards. At least he's not abusing mathematical concepts this time around.
Yami is in exasperated disbelief that after that whole business with the prior turn, other!Marik gets to use the card AGAIN. Other!Marik of course asks partronizingly if Yami knows this means Ra gets special summoned yet again on his next turn, grinning in that deranged way he does. As he fondles the Monster Reborn he gets to play once more, he asserts that this means Yami will be a victim of the One-Turn Kill. Jonouchi uselessly comments in distress that this isn't good, because Yami has no monsters to protect him, and Honda says that Yami is toast if Ra is summoned again.
Hahaha. "IF".
Sweating and grinding his teeth, Yami growls. Other!Marik offers one small consolation that Yami gets to draw a new card per the fine print on Zombie's Jewel as though it's in the palm of his extended clawed hand. He wonders aloud how long one measly new card can keep Yami alive. As he laughs it up across the platform, Yami takes a hard close look at his Duel Disk.
Kaiba, if you want to maintain the illusion that you actually want Yami to lose so he can stop believing in miracles, maybe you should stop looking like you're manifesting his win so fucking hard right now. Just a tip.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? It started out quite awful. There was no logical arrangement of the speech bubbles, so there was no telling who was saying what. Even when the bubbles seemed to be in the correct places for the correct characters, the information was off. This final special power for Ra that hadn't been revealed as of yet appeared to have come from Jonouchi and Honda's mouths. There was a general chaotic disorganization to the dialog that I haven't really seen before in this chapter, and it gives me the impression that those pages were either planned under a bit of personal duress, or perhaps it was just excitement for drawing out the multiple double-page spreads in this chapter.
And let me tell you, they were stunning. It was really hard to choose between some of them to put in the recap above, because they were all intense and my descriptions of the ones I didn't include just did not do them justice. It wasn't just Ra and the flames, which managed to get that heat across really well, but the expressions on Yami and Yuugi's faces in particular. KT gets across the pain of Yami and Yuugi well, and how Yuugi reacts when Yami checks in with him. The brave face Yuugi tries to put on isn't convincing at all, but Yami doesn't really press the issue, and you really feel the utter exhaustion both of them are experiencing in the wake of the attack as well as their agony.
Yami's horrified exasperation when he finds out that other!Marik is about to put them through all that AGAIN is palpable too. Granted, part of my empathy in this moment might be attributable to my own exasperation at seeing another circular move to automate a god card's utility. It's not entirely irritating, because this is a different god card and a different set of supplementary supporting cards...
But it does strike me as a tad TOO convenient that there are so many ways to create this sort of "perpetual energy machine" effect.
Poor, poor Ra. Of all three god cards he was the one most severely nerfed IRL, to the point that when the devs realized their mistake they started releasing multiple support cards over the following decade just to give him some semblance of his in-source power. They even released cards for his Sphere and Phoenix forms (and there is a legitimate strategy now that enables a player to cycle between all three).
ReplyDeleteI hope that they left that "perpetual energy machine" issue nerfed though - the rest is fine, but I still don't like the idea that a player can just set up automated attacks that don't really require input since the beginning. Of course, I don't really know too much about how trading card games function in general, so maybe this is just how they work, lol!
DeletePerpetual energy machine isn’t an issue in irl decks dedicated to getting Ra on the field — Monster Reborn, the card that lets Marik repeatedly resurrect Ra from the graveyard, is limited to *one* copy in a player’s deck. Also, one of the nerfs that Konami used to cripple irl Ra was that he could *not* be special summoned so you couldn’t use Monster Reborn on him (in other words for a long time the only way to summon him was the normal “sacrifice three of your monsters” tribute all the god cards required).
DeleteLater support helped mitigate this restriction: the spell card Millennium Revelation lets you dump any of the gods you have in your hand to the graveyard in exchange for fetching Monster Reborn from the deck (or from the graveyard if it was previously used). Then on the very turn you send the spell itself to the graveyard, you are allowed to use Monster Reborn to resurrect Ra from the graveyard (but he has to go back in at the end of your turn).
Ra’s other forms also help — Phoenix Mode can be summoned *from the graveyard* if your regular Ra got sent to the graveyard (this is the only way the phoenix can come forth). Same stats as Obelisk (4000/4000), and unaffected by opponent’s card effects, you can pay 1000 life points to destroy one of your opponent’s monsters, repeat as needed. Phoenix Mode goes back to the graveyard at the end of your turn, but in exchange you get to summon Sphere Mode onto your field. Sphere Mode cannot be attacked or targeted for card effects, and when you’re ready you can tribute the ball to summon regular Ra from hand or deck, with 4000 ATK and DEF. And if Ra is destroyed by battle or card effect… well, the phoenix comes back out from the graveyard and the cycle begins anew. The cycle only stops when all your copies of regular Ra are in the graveyard because Sphere Mode only lets you summon Ra from hand or deck.
My head is SWIMMING right now, lol! I'd almost be afraid to have any of these cards in a deck (if I played this game) for fear that I'd forget like half the rules surrounding them. And that's not even to mention the various ever-changing tournament rules that straight up ban certain cards, from what I've heard.
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