Tyranno Hassleberry

Tyranno Hassleberry, known in Japan as Tyranno Kenzan (ティラノ剣山, Tirano Kenzan), is a Ra Yellow duelist who enters Duel Academy in the second year. To his surprise, he was assigned to the Ra Yellow dorm despite scoring high on the Duel Academy entry exam due to the fact that he did not attend an associated preparatory school. In both versions, people tend to call him only by his lastname.

Character design


Tyranno's outfit follows a dinosaur and military theme. His usual outfit consists of a Ra Yellow uniform, unbuttoned and stripped of its sleeves with a green shirt underneath. He also wears beige combat pants, white wristbands with matching bands just above his feet, a bandana featuring a dinosaur face, bone earrings, and a necklace of dinosaur bones. His hair consists of long, black dreadlocks. Sometimes his pupils are narrowed into reptile like slits and the colour of his eyes lighten to make his eyes look more like a dinosaur's. He carries an Academy-issued Duel Disk on his left hand. In many flashbacks, Tyranno is seen wearing a Jurassic Park T-shirt.

Character biography
Tyranno first appeared heading a gang and stealing the Duel Disks of those he defeated. Battling Jaden, he was defeated and returned the stolen items, quickly coming to idolize Jaden. Although his dorm is technically Ra Yellow, he decides to live in Slifer Red to be closer to and learn from Jaden. From his introduction onwards, he often fights with Syrus over who is better suited to being Jaden's best friend. (In the Japanese version, it is over who has the right to call him "‘‘Aniki’’" which translates into “big brother”).

In episode 73, it is revealed that Tyranno was hospitalized after a rock slide during an archaeological dig. The incident permanently damaged the tibia of his left leg, but the bone fragment of a dinosaur fossil he unearthed during the excavation was used to replace it. Tyranno believed that as a result of Jaden's influence, the dinosaur DNA awoke a great power within him, which supposedly protected him from being converted by Sartorius into one of the members of the Society of Light. It is implied that this accident is also the reason for Tyranno's unique ability to narrow his pupils into reptile-like slits.

During the field trip to Domino City, Tyranno teams up with Syrus in a duel against the first duo of the Light Brigade, Frost and Thunder. Although the two are pinned down by their opponents, who tuned their decks specifically to combat their cards, they end up pooling their efforts to combine their monsters into "Super Vehicroid - Rex Union". Despite their teamwork, however, Frost ends the duel by wiping out all players but himself, and promptly drags them to Sarina's lair, from where they are transported to KaibaLand as bait for Jaden and Aster by order of Sarina.



At the end of the second year, Tyranno, along with Linda, chase after Prince Ojin as he prepares to arm the laser satellite. Unleashing the full force of his dinosaur DNA power and assuming a Duel Spirit form (appointing himself the title of "Spacesaurus"), he travels into space with "Elemental Hero Glow Neos" to divert the satellite's blasts. While the returning Sarina keeps it from firing any further, the two are successful in destroying the satellite.

With the start of the third year, Tyranno chooses to remain in Ra Yellow instead of advancing to Obelisk Blue; to him, the issue of which dormitory he is officially a part of is irrelevant. Agreeing to aid Jim Crocodile Cook in his investigation of mysterious electromagnetic waves coming from the jungle, his dinosaur DNA reacts to additional signals sent by Professor Viper, which render him uncontrollable. Jim duels with Tyranno in a Dis-Duel and successfully reverts him to his former self within the first few rounds of the battle, but is ultimately beaten.

When Jaden and co. go into the other dimension, he is sacrificed when Jaden duels against Brron, along with Alexis, Chazz, and Atticus. He is later discovered to be alive, and held prisoner with everyone else who died in the Duel Spirit world in an alternate dimension by Yubel.

In the Fourth Season, he pairs up with Blair for the Pair Duels. He makes it to the final duel against the pair of Jaden and Alexis, during which Blair uses Partner Change so she can be partners with Jaden due to her crush on him. Alexis later destroys the card and switches back to being with Jaden, and defeats Blair and Tyranno. Comically, Tyranno displays of fear of Alexis and Blair when they were his partner when they got angry.

In his duel with Daigo Sorano his dinosaur DNA protected him from Trueman (needing the opponent to carry some form of Darkness which Tyranno did not have), until Trueman 'revealed' that the dinosaur bone in Tyranno's leg was that of a dinosaur he had eaten in his previous reincarnation as a dinosaur. (in reality, Trueman lied to create darkness within Tyranno) Tyranno is then defeated, but is revived when Jaden defeats Nightshroud.

Voice/Mannerisms
In the English dub, Tyranno speaks with a Southern accent and uses stereotypical cowboy slang and military jargon, leading to a few jokes exclusive to the English dub. He often says "Sam Hill" which is a euphemism for "Hell", or "Damn".

In the original series, he ends the majority of his sentences with either "(da) don" (Japanese explosion onomatopoeia) or "zaurus" (the Japanese equivalent of "saurus").

Deck
Tyranno plays a Dinosaur Deck. Like many decks revolving around such cards, his strategy relies on Summoning powerful, high-Level monsters quickly, such as his "Ultimate Tyranno". Tyranno does so using a various assortment of cards, including "New Ultra Evolution" and "Ultra Evolution". Several of his cards allow him to take advantage of his opponents playing Defense Position monsters, such as "Dark Tyranno" and "Dark Driceratops".