Maximillion Pegasus

Maximillion J. Pegasus, known in Japan as Pegasus J. Crawford is the President of Industrial Illusions and the creator of the game of Duel Monsters, and owns many cards that have never been released to the public. He owns a private Island called Duelist Kingdom, in which Pegasus resides in a castle in the center of the island. He possesses the Millennium Eye during the Duelist Kingdom saga. He tries to take over KaibaCorp and gain possession of the Millennium Items to combine KaibaCorp technology with the items in the hope of reviving his dead wife, Cecelia.

Pegasus in Yu-Gi-Oh!
Pegasus first met Cecelia at a party thrown by his businessman father in Las Vegas 14 years ago. She died when they were 17. It was unclear whether or not they married in the original Japanese anime, and no mention of their marriage was mentioned in the manga.

In the anime, Pegasus searched the world looking for anything that could possibly revive the dead. His quest led him to Egypt, where their beliefs of an afterlife intrigued him. There he met Shadi, the ghost of a guardian of the Millennium Items, who gouged Pegasus's left eye out and replaced it with the Millennium Eye after Pegasus passed its test.

In the original manga, Pegasus travels to Egypt to try to inspire his lost interest in painting after Cecilia dies. He never tried to revive his wife, but rather attempts to defeat Yugi and take control of KaibaCorp so that he could use the Solid Vision to conjure a lifelike image of her. Pegasus soon learned of the ancient Shadow Games that were played in ancient Egypt and became obsessed with their powers. He created a new game in the United States, basing a card game on the duels of ancient times. Combining the magic of the Millennium Items with these cards had the same effect as using them with the stone slabs originally used. One notable problem he had was the Egyptian God Cards, whose powers were too great for him to manage. Fearing for his life, he returned to Egypt, and had Ishizu Ishtar, a current guardian, bury them in the Pharaoh's tomb.

Having learned of Yugi's possession of the Millennium Puzzle, he blackmails Yugi into coming to the Duellist Kingdom by stealing the soul of Yugi's grandfather, intending to defeat Yugi in the subsequent duelling contest and use his Millennium Puzzle as part of his plan to revive Cecelia. Having defeated Kaiba in a duel thanks to the use of his Millennium Eye- which allows him to read his opponents' minds and see which cards they are holding-, Pegasus witness the subsequent duels between Yugi, Joey, Bandit Keith and Mai Valentine before facing Yugi himself in a final confrontation. Although Pegasus's Millennium Eye initially gives him the advantage, Yugi and the spirit within the Puzzle are able to outsmart him by using a 'Mind Shuffle', where each of them play a card face-down and then switch to the other mind without letting the other know what card they played. While the risk of them creating conflicting strategies is present, they regard it as necessary to defeat Pegasus, using this strategy to destroy Pegasus's Toon World card before he draws them into a Shadow Game. Although the game is too much for Yugi, causing him to collapse, the spirit is still able to resist Pegasus's Eye with the aid of Yugi's friends reaching out to protect Yugi, allowing him to destroy Pegasus's monsters and thus win the duel.

In the manga, Dark Bakura tears out his Millennium Eye and gives Pegasus a replacement ball instead, leading Pegasus to disappear without a trace under the presumption that he is dead.

In the second series of the Japanese anime, Pegasus is the inspiration for Dungeon Dice Monsters, a game that Duke Devlin created. Pegasus's defeat at the hands of Yugi is the reason that Duke challenges Yugi in both second series anime versions. Pegasus approves the creation of Duke's game, wanting to expand it further.

In the anime only, Pegasus returns in the Waking the Dragons and gathers information on Paradius company and the company's true intentions. His soul is taken by Mai Valentine, but is restored by the end of the arc. He is told of the Ceremonial Battle towards the end of the series, where he gives a small narration of how Yugi's past adventures have led to this. At the end of the Japanese version of the anime, he is seen making a business deal with Zigfried von Schroeder.

Pegasus in ''Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light
Pegasus also appears in Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light, which takes place between the end of Battle City and the start of the Waking The Dragons arc, though it was produced and released when the TV series was in its final arc in Japan. Kaiba approaches Pegasus and demands to know what card can compete against Yugi. Although Pegasus had the card Kaiba wanted, he said he would only give it if Kaiba could defeat him in a Duel. Kaiba accepts the challenge and defeats Pegasus to gain the two cards that he needs to combat Yugi. This surprises Pegasus as there should have been only one card. Pegasus later assists the protagonists in the movie, including saving Tea Gardner, Solomon Muto, and Mokuba from being crushed in a collapsing building.

Pegasus' role in Yu-Gi-Oh! R
In Yu-Gi-Oh! R, Pegasus's kōhai (protégé) and adopted son, Yakou Tenma, takes over Industrial Illusions after Pegasus is defeated.

Pegasus in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Pegasus makes frequent appearances in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. At the end of the first year, he calls upon Chumley to work as a designer for I², and later makes his return during the GX tournament when one of his employees, Frantz, steals the only remaining copy of The Winged Dragon of Ra.

Sometime later, he issues a Triangle Duel against Crowler and Vice-Chancellor Bonaparte for their right to work at Industrial Illusions, after the two believe themselves to be fired by Chancellor Sheppard. Pegasus wins the triangle duel but accepts them as employees until Sheppard arrives and tells the two that they were not actually fired. Shortly afterwards, Pegasus and Sheppard meet in private to discuss the threat of the "Ultimate D-Card" that was stolen from Aster's father.

After his meeting with Sheppard, Pegasus doesn't appear again until twenty episodes into the third season. Before that, however, Aster recalls a meeting he had with Pegasus a few months ago on the Crystal Beasts and their owner. Pegasus reveals that in his opinion the best duelists in the world are: 1. Yugi Muto, 2. Seto Kaiba, 3. Joey Wheeler, 4. Aster Phoenix, and 5. Jesse Anderson. Having discovered the Rainbow Dragon lithograph, Pegasus fulfills his promise to Jesse to create a corresponding card, and has it sent to the other dimension where Duel Academy had been transported via a wormhole.

Pegasus in other media
Pegasus makes a number of appearances outside of the various Yu-Gi-Oh! Anime and Manga adaptions. He appears as an opponent in many of the videogames, using his signature Toon Theme deck. His most prominent appearance in the video games is in Yugioh: Reshef of Destruction, in which Pegasus once again appears as the main villain. Having found an ancient stone tablet, Pegasus is possessed by an ancient creature known as Reshef the Dark Being, and renames himself "Sol Chevolsky." Using his resources, Pegasus summons forth all of his former minions, including the Paradox Brothers and Panik from the Duelist Kingdom Arc, and sends them to claim the Millenium Items while he prepares to free the Dark Being from it's stone prison.

Ishizu Ishtar foresees the calamity that the Dark Being could unleash, and recruits Yugi, Joey, and the player's character to put an end to Pegasus' evil plans. They eventually succeed in freeing Pegasus and defeating the Dark Being, but Reshef attempts to possess him again. Saddened by his evil actions, Pegasus allows the Dark Being to take his soul, telling Yugi and his friends to seal him away with Reshef trapped inside of him. Pegasus ultimately accepts his fate, expressing his gratitude at having faced such powerful duelists before he is sealed into the stone tablet.

Naming
In all Japanese versions, Pegasus is known as Pegasus J. Crawford. In the English anime and manga, the name is instead Maximillion Pegasus.

In the English Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelists of the Roses video game, and in the instruction booklet for Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories, his original name, Pegasus Crawford is used, while in the other games his English anime and manga name is used. Pegasus is unusual in that his English name is used in the English manga while most Yu-Gi-Oh! human characters keep their Japanese names in the English manga. In the video game, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Falsebound Kingdom, the character representing Pegasus within the virtual world of the game is named Pegasus J. Kroitzel.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction, Pegasus takes an alias. In the Japanese version, he takes the name Taiyō Tenma (天馬太陽, Tenma Taiyō). In the English version, he takes the name Sol Chevalsky.

Voice/Mannerisms
Pegasus has a habit of calling Yugi "Yugi-boy" and Kaiba "Kaiba-boy" in the Japanese and edited English versions of the anime and manga. This trend continues in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. It is assumed he is trying to get under their skin or is simply showing his childish personality. However, when sufficiently provoked he can have a temper. Pegasus is also notable for his foppish manner, dandified appearance, and effeminate hairstyle, all of which have led to him being referred to as "cutie-pie" and an "overdressed prima donna." In the Japanese versions, Pegasus often uses English words inter-spliced with Japanese, including English curse words like "Goddamn" and "Shit", replacing all second-person pronouns with the English word "you", and tends to end his sentences with a long, drawn-out "desu". His most common expression is "Unbelievable!".

Yu-Gi-Oh! Deck
Pegasus uses a Toon Deck focused around the card Toon World which, in the anime, is a one of a kind card that allows him to play special Toon Monsters. Also, only in the anime, Toon World seems to have the ability to transform other monsters into their Toon counterparts. Specifically for his duel with Yugi Muto, Pegasus created the cards Relinquished, Thousand-Eyes Restrict, Thousand-Eyes Idol, and Dark-Eyes Illusionist. In his first duel with Yugi, he plays a test deck that deals with taking control of Yugi's monsters. In Duelist Kingdom, along with his Toon cards, Pegasus' deck mainly focused on using his opponents own monsters and card effects against them. Later on, in the anime, his deck focused only on the Toon Archetype cards. He also uses some cards, such as Prophecy, that allow him to take advantage of his mind reading abilities.

Movie Deck
In the movie, his Deck focuses on swarming the field with his toons.

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Deck
In Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Pegasus' Deck has much more Spell-Trap support for his Toons.