Yu-Gi-Oh! GX - Episode 016

The Duel Giant, known as King Goblin of the Dark Night in the Japanese version, is the sixteenth episode of the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime.

Summary
It's night at Duel Academy, and an Obelisk Blue student has just lost to a giant of a man, who takes the student's rarest card for wining. He tells him to learn from this experience, and walks off. The next day, Chumley Huffington relates a rumor to Jaden Yuki and Syrus Truesdale about a large Duelist who is being the card "The Duel Giant", who has been challenging Obelisk Blue students to Ante Duels in the dead of night. Dr. Crowler approaches them, and tells them he's giving them a special assignment to investigate the Duel Giant incident. They pay a visit to the Duel Arena, where an Obelisk Blue student is Dueling a small Ra Yellow student. The Obelisk has a Set card, 200 Life Points and "Marauding Captain" on the field, while the Ra has 300 Life Points and "Mad Sword Beast". Jaden can spot "Earthquake" in the Ra's hand, which should allow him to win the Duel. However, he cannot make up his mind whether to play it first, or simply attack. After some chiding from his opponent to hurry up, he attacks. The opponent activates his face-down "Reinforcements", giving "Marauding Captain" 500 more attack points and the win. Bastion Misawa comments that the students name is Brier and he's a very good Duelist, but seems to suffer from a bad case of stage fright, which causes him to make mistakes. Brier departs the arena, and is seen with a much larger Ra, who Bastion calls Beauregard. Syrus suspects he may be the Duel Giant simply due to his size, but Bastion reveals that he's at the Academy to become a game designer.

Jaden chases them though, and accuses Beauregard of being the Duel Giant. Brier states he isn't, and the two depart. That night, the three hide outside the school and wait. They hear a scream, and run into the forest, finding the same Obelisk that Brier lost to, who has just lost to the Duel Giant. Jaden tracks the Giant down, and challenges him, even agreeing to ante "Winged Kuriboh". The Giant begins by Summoning "Giant Orc" in Attack Position, while Jaden plays "Winged Kuriboh" in Defense Position. The former then destroys the latter, but is also force to shift to Defense Position. However, the Giant Summons "Second Goblin" and equips it to "Giant Orc", allowing it to go back into Attack Position. Jaden plays "Polymerization", fusing "Elemental Hero Burstinatrix" and "Elemental Hero Clayman" to Fusion Summon "Elemental Hero Rampart Blaster", using her effect to attack directly while halving her attack while she is in Defense Position. This attack blows off The Giant's costume, which consists of tattered Obelisk Blue jackets, to reveal Beauregard. However, Jaden calls for the true Duelist to come out. Brier climbs out from behind a nearby rock, where he can been giving Beauregard instructions via headset. The two had teamed up to get back at the Obelisks who would always make fun of them - Brier for his short stature, and Beauregard for his weight. Because he wasn't Dueling directly, Brier's true abilities were able to shine through, and he won every Duel the Duel Giant had, in contrast to when he Duels in person and loses due to nervousness. Jaden convinces them to continue the Duel.

Beauregard still wears the Duel Disk, but Brier gives him orders in the open, not via headset. He Summons "Goblin King" and then discards "Warrior Dai Grepher" and "Big Shield Gardna" in order to Special Summon two "Half-Goblins" via their own effects. "Goblin King" gains 1000 attack points for every face-up Fiend-type monster on the field, besides itself, so it's attack is currently 3000. "Goblin King" destroys "Rampart Blaster", while "Giant Orc" attacks directly, switching to Defense Position. "Second Goblin" switches "Giant Orc" back to Attack Position. Jaden draws, and plays "Pot of Greed" to draw two more cards. He Summons "Elemental Hero Sparkman" and equips him with "Spark Blaster", which he then uses to switch "Giant Orc" to Defense Position and the two "Half-Goblins" to Attack Position. He then activates "The Warrior Returning Alive", to return "Clayman" to his hand, before playing "Polymerization" to fuse him with "Sparkman", Fusion Summoning "Elemental Hero Thunder Giant". He uses its effect to destroy "Giant Orc", with the equipped "Second Goblin" also being destroyed. He attacks and destroys a "Half-Goblin" and then plays "De-Fusion" to split "Thunder Giant" and Special Summon "Clayman" and "Sparkman", who attack and destroy the second "Half-Goblin" and "Goblin King", winning Jaden the Duel. Beauregard begs Jaden to only turn him in, and leave Brier out of it. However, Jaden states he's not turning either of them in. However, this means they still have homework to do. Crowler questions how they Duel Giant could just disappear, and how all the cards stolen from the Obelisk Blue students could suddenly be returned.

Duel Giant's turn

 * Summons "Giant Orc" (2200/0) in Attack Position.

Jaden's turn

 * Summons "Winged Kuriboh" (300/200) in Defense Position.

Duel Giant's turn

 * Attacks and destroys "Winged Kuriboh", with "Giant Orc" switching to Defense Position via its effect.
 * Summons "Second Goblin" (100/100).
 * Activates "Second Goblin's" effect, equipping it to "Giant Orc". While equipped, "Second Goblin" can switch "Giant Orc" back to Attack Position.

Jaden's turn

 * Activates "Polymerization", fusing Elemental Heroes "Burstinatrix" and "Clayman" to form "Elemental Hero Rampart Blaster" (2000/2500) in Defense Position.
 * Attacks directly with "Rampart Blaster", whose effect halves the Battle Damage inflicted to the Duel Giant. (Duel Giant 4000 → 3000)

Duel Giant's turn

 * Summons "Goblin King" (0/0).
 * Discards "Warrior Dai Grepher" and "Big Shield Gardna" to Special Summon two "Half-Goblins" (500/500 each) in defense position.
 * "Goblin King" gains 1000 attack for every Fiend-type monster on the field besides itself, so it's attack increases to 3000.
 * Attacks and destroys "Rampart Blaster" with "Goblin King".
 * Attacks directly with "Giant Orc" (Jaden 4000 → 1800), whose effect switches him back to Defense Position.
 * Activates "Second Goblin's" effect to switch "Giant Orc" back to Attack Position.

Jaden's turn

 * Activates "Pot of Greed", drawing two cards.
 * Summons "Elemental Hero Sparkman" (1600/1400).
 * Equips "Spark Blaster" to "Sparkman", using it's effect three times to shift both "Half-Goblins" to Attack Position and shift "Giant Orc" to Defense Position. Afterwards, "Spark Blaster" is destroyed.
 * Activates "The Warrior Returning Alive", returning "Clayman" from his Graveyard to his hand.
 * Activates "Polymerization", fusing "Sparkman" with "Clayman" to Fusion Summon "Elemental Hero Thunder Giant" (2400/1500) in Attack Position.
 * Activates "Thunder Giant"s" effect, destroying "Giant Orc" and by extension, the equipped "Second Goblin".
 * Attacks and destroys a "Half-Goblin" (Duel Giant 3000 → 1100).
 * Activates "De-Fusion", splitting "Thunder Giant" to Special Summon "Clayman" and "Sparkman".
 * Attacks and destroys the remaining "Half-Goblin" with "Clayman" (Duel Giant 1100 → 800).
 * Attacks and destroys "Goblin King" with "Sparkman" (Duel Giant 800 → 0).
 * Jaden wins.

Differences in adaptations
The duelist is known as "The Duel Giant" in the English version, while the Japanese version uses the term "Giant Duelist of the Dark Night". The rare card that he takes from the student at the start of the episode is "Perfect Machine King" in the Japanese version, but is changed to "Mind on Air" in the English version.

In the Japanese version, Cronos offers Judai exemption from a Duel theory report in exchange for identifying the giant. In the English version, Crowler offers to allow Jaden to be exempt from homework for the rest of the year.

The English version cuts a scene, which shows Ohara and Kohara in their dorm room, looking over all the cards they've won in the Ante Duels.

In the Japanese version, at the start of his duel with the disguised giant, Judai notes that his opponent is devoid of any eagerness or other such energy that all duelists feel. This lets him guess that the true Duel Giant is operating from a distance. The English version doesn't use this explanation.

In the Japanese version, Judai claims to Cronos that they were unable to find the giant, while in the English version, he claims he found him and beat him, but he escaped before Jaden could identify him.

Featured cards
The following cards appeared in this episode. Cards in italics debuted here.