"Champion or Chazz-Been?", known as "Thunder VS Elite-kun! Mecha Ojama King Takes Off" in the Japanese anime, is the fifty-fourth episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime. With Aster Phoenix not showing up in classes, Dr. Crowler devises a scheme to make Chazz Princeton the new star of the Academy, however before that can happen Chazz must defeat Reginald Van Howell III in a Duel in order for him to return to Obelisk Blue.
Summary[]
Before the Duel begins[]
The episode begins in the Obelisk Blue Duel Stadium, Chazz Princeton and another young Obelisk Blue student with long, spiky, brown hair are shuffling each others decks in preparation to Duel. The brown haired Obelisk Blue student says that he's glad to be able to Duel against Chazz; this mildly amuses Chazz and he tells the young to prepare to push himself to the limit.
Jaden Yuki, Syrus Truesdale and Alexis Rhodes come running down the corridor to the Duel Stadium's entrance, with Alexis musing over the fact that the Duel was set up so quickly. Vice-Chancellor Bonaparte then tells everyone to take their seats as the Duel is about to begin, just as Jaden, Syrus and Alexis arrive, Bonaparte continues to explain that should Chazz be able to win the Duel he'll be allowed to return to the Obelisk Blue dorm.
Upon hearing this Jaden says that is sounds kind of interesting, while Syrus questions why Chazz was chosen as Jaden would also have been a good choice. When Syrus finishes saying this Dr. Crowler steps in and explains why Chazz; to which Alexis questions what the reasons are. Crowler then begins explaining that this term Aster Phoenix has enrolled at the school and this would increase the Academy's status, but...
The flashback[]
Crowler then cuts to a flashback earlier in the day. He is sat on the floor of his office playing He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not with an orange flower. Bonaparte then enters and asks what Crowler is doing, Crowler explains that despite enrolling Aster Phoenix hasn't been to any classes and assumes that he must hate the Academy. Bonaparte tries to tell Crowler that it doesn't matter, but Crowler becomes overwhelmed at the last petal of his flower being a "he loves me not". Quickly after this happens Crowler runs towards his desk saying that if they can't have Aster then they'll have to go with a Plan B. He then picks up a Poster reading "Houzan Gokaidou vs. Jun Majoume: Star Search Duel" (it should be noted that in the Dub the poster has all the words on it removed) saying that is they make Chazz into a star that will throw Aster into the water and increase the Academy's status.
Bonaparte is against at the idea of a Slifer Red student becoming the star of the Academy, but Crowler then assures him that the money that his family could bring the Academy that Chazz could become a star regardless of what dorm he's in. So returning him to Obelisk Blue would, ultimately, be in the school's best interests.
Back to the Duel Stadium[]
Alexis, Jaden and Syrus are all rather unimpressed by Crowler's reasons for choosing Chazz. Bonaparte then introduces the challenger as Reginald Van Howell III. The crowd then begins to cheer for Reginald, but Chazz is still not impressed by him. Unlike Chazz, Jaden is very impressed with the fact that a first year student got into Obelisk Blue straight away, Syrus then comments of the fact that Chazz was in the same position at the start of last year. Crowler then begins to think to himself that if Chazz can beat someone like his former self then this proves he is still as strong a Duelist as he was before.
Bonaparte then explains that as Reggie is the newcomer he gets the first move, he then tries to leave the stage (although this is made difficult as the stage is taller then he is). Reggie then asks Chazz why a student who was at the top of the class in Junior School has fallen to the ranks of Slifer Red. Chazz responds by telling Reggie that since he lost to Jaden and that he (Jaden) wouldn't rise to his level, then he'd just lower his. This comment mildly offends Jaden, while Syrus begins to think to himself what the point of a Duel that gets Chazz back to Blue. Chazz continues by saying that by beating Reggie he'll return to Blue and his former glory. Chazz then says to himself that by returning to Blue he won't have to put up with Jaden's idiocy.
The Duel begins[]
Reggie starts and Summons "Marauding Captain" in Attack Position and uses its effect to Summon "Warrior Lady of the Wasteland", Chazz is unimpressed by the weak monsters that Reggie is using, Reggie then equips them with "Jewel Sword" and "Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade" respectively increasing their ATK by 300. Jaden and Syrus are very impressed that Reggie managed to use two Equip Spell Cards in his first turn. Reggie ends his turn by placing 1 card face-down in his Spell & Trap Card Zone.
Before Chazz starts his turn Reggie says that he's always admired Chazz and has longed to Duel against him. A short flashback occurs showing Chazz mid-Duel in a maroon uniform, while Reggie watches him, in a green uniform, from behind a tree (the dub excludes this flashback). Reggie then continues to say that he mostly admires the cards Chazz uses, his strategies, his attitude of laughing at the face of criticism, and wants Chazz to show him the ultimate Duel. Chazz then begins to notice that Reggie's attitude is similar to his in the previous year.
Chazz begins his turn by Summoning "X-Head Cannon" in Attack Position, he then uses "Graceful Charity" drawing three cards and then discarding "Chthonian Polymer" and "Ojamagic". The effect of "Ojamagic" activates adding "Ojama Black", "Ojama Green" and "Ojama Yellow" to his hand, as he does this the Monster Spirits of the "Ojamas" pop up in front of Chazz saying "You called us?". Ojama Yellow then floats over Chazz and says how eager he is to fight, which extremely annoys Chazz.
Reggie is surprised to see Chazz using such weak cards in his Deck, Chazz responds by telling him to watch carefully. Chazz activates "Ojama Ride" discarding his three "Ojamas", much to their surprise, and Summoning "Y-Dragon Head" and "Z-Metal Tank", both in Defense Position. Chazz then removes from play his three monsters to Fusion Summon "XYZ-Dragon Cannon", he then uses the effect of "XYZ-Dragon Cannon" discarding two cards to destroy "Marauding Captain" and "Warrior Lady of the Wasteland". Chazz the attacks directly with "XYZ-Dragon Cannon" inflicting 2800 to Reggie. Reggie grimaces at the damage, but activates the effect of his "Jewel Sword" which lets him draw a card when it's destroyed.
Reggie's comeback[]
Bonaparte is impressed with how well Chazz is Duelling, and Crowler, as he comes to sit next to Bonaparte, says that he expected as much. Despite Chazz slumming it in Slifer Red his true strength is like that of the Origami Crane, this analogy confuses Bonaparte.
Reggie begins his turn by drawing and activating "Pot of Greed" allowing him to draw two more cards. He then activates his face-down "Call of the Haunted" bringing back "Warrior Lady of the Wasteland". He then equips her with "Great Sword" increasing her ATK by 300. Chazz doesn't see how another weak equip card will help his monster hold a candle to his "XYZ-Dragon Cannon", but Reggie then Tributes "Warrior Lady of the Wasteland" to Summon "Gilford the Legend". Jaden asks how Reggie Summoned "Gilford the Legend" with only one tribute, but Alexis explains that a monster equipped with "Great Sword" can be treated as two tributes.
Reggie activates the effect of "Gilford the Legend", equipping it with the "Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade", "Jewel Sword" and "Great Sword". He then activates "Wicked-Breaking Flamberge - Baou" discarding "Armed Samurai - Ben Kei" from his Hand to activate it, with all these cards equipped to "Gilford the Legend" its ATK increases from 2600 to 4000. Reggie attacks "XYZ-Dragon Cannon" with "Gilford the Legend" and cleavers it in half and reducing Chazz's Life Points to 2800.
Chazz continues regardless[]
Chazz chuckles and then says that if Reggie couldn't have at least managed his "XYZ-Dragon Cannon" then the Duel wouldn't have been very interesting. Chazz then begins his turn by drawing "Pot of Greed" and activating it, letting him draw two more cards. He then activates "Ojamandala" paying 1000 Life Points to bring back his three Ojamas in Defense Position, the "Ojamas" then appear while happily cheering "we're reborn!".
Chazz asks Reggie if he knows why he uses these weak cards in his deck; Reggie says that he does but Chazz doesn't believe them. Chazz then activates "Ojama Delta Hurricane!!", his "Ojamas" then jump up into the air and waggle in front of "Gilford the Legend"; they then press their buttocks together and start spinning. The spinning "Ojamas" surround "Gilford the Legend" who then is destroyed in a large explosion. Reggie then falls to his knees at the realisation that his mighty "Gilford the Legend" has just been destroyed by nothings like them. He then grits his teeth and uses the effect of his "Jewel Sword" to draw a card. Chazz places a card face-down, to which Reggie says that he bets that the card is another Ojama-whatever card, to which Chazz just smiles and ends his turn.
Reggie's final effort[]
Reggie is now furious. He plays "Premature Burial" paying 800 Life Points, reducing his Life Points to 400, to bring back the "Armed Samurai - Ben Kei" in Attack Position. Next, Reggie the effect of his "Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade" removing from play the "Marauding Captain" and "Warrior Lady of the Wasteland" from his Graveyard and places them in the back pocket of his trousers. Reggie then equips "Armed Samurai - Ben Kei" with "Lightning Blade" and "Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade" increasing the ATK of "Ben Kei" to 1600.
Reggie then attacks and destroys "Ojama Yellow", he then explains that "Ben Kei" can attack once more for each card equipped to it; and since "Ben Kei" has "Premature Burial" and his two swords it gets three extra attacks. Reggie then proceeds to destroy "Ojama Black" and "Ojama Green", he then goes to attack Chazz directly, Chazz thinks about using his face-down "Ojama Delta Wear" but decides against it. "Ben Kei" successfully attacks Chazz reducing his Life Points to 200. Reggie then begins saying that cards like those are worthless when it comes to defense. At this time Chazz uses his face-down "Ojama Delta Wear" to bring back his three "Ojamas", much to their delight.
With the "Ojamas" now crying tears of joy at the thought of Chazz choosing to take damage just so they could all be on the field, Reggie interrupts saying that the Academy was right with Chazz being suited to Slifer Red as he has now reduced himself to using small fry like the "Ojamas". Reggie continues by saying that he's heard about Slifer Red, describing it as a crumbling building; with horrible food; tiny rooms; a cat for a dorm head; and to top it all off all the Duelists there are horrible. Chazz replies by saying that it's true that all the Duelists are trash, but he's taught them that the weak stay weak. This comment angers both Jaden and Syrus. Chazz then continues by saying that by reducing himself to their point of view he can see things the elite can't.
The last turn[]
Chazz draws and smirks. He then says this is the reason why he revived his "Ojamas" and plays "Polymerization", the "Ojamas" then jump into the swirling air and form "Ojama King". Reggie is surprised that "Ojama King" has 0 ATK Points. Chazz then says that there are somethings only the "Ojamas" can do. Chazz then plays a Spell Card which both he and "Ojama King" say in unison "Mecha Ojama King Transformation". "Ojama King" then jumps in the air and reappears as an odd robot version of himself, Chazz then explains that "Mecha Ojama King Transformation" allows him to tribute "Ojama King" to Summon "Mecha Ojama King".
"Mecha Ojama King" then laughs and Chazz says that with the effect of "Mecha Ojama King" he can Special Summon one "Ojamachine" and he chooses "Ojamachine Yellow"! The effect of "Ojamachine Yellow" activates and Summons three "Ojamachine Yellow Token" to Chazz's side of the field. "Ojamachine" opens it's mouth and out comes an "Ojamachine Yellow Token", which then does the same until all 3 Tokens have been Summoned.
"Mecha Ojama King" commands the Tokens to attack and they begin leaping toward "Armed Samurai - Ben Kei". This shocks Reggie as all of Chazz's monsters have 0 ATK while "Ben Kei" has 1600. The first of the "Ojamachine Yellows" attacks "Ben Kei" and explodes on impact, Reggie then declares his victory, but Chazz smirks and explains that when "Ojamachine Yellow" attacks all Battle Damage inflicted to Chazz is reduced to 0, while Reggie takes 300 points of damage.
The remaining "Ojamachine Yellows" attack "Ben Kei" and reduce Reggie's Life Points to 0. Chazz then says that it doesn't matter what happened last year and that it'll be impossible for Reggie to reach his state of mind in a million years. Chazz then continues to say that even though Reggie was the top of his class in junior high, but he's still below the Red Duelists; and that he should remember that you can't just look down on the Reds or "trash cards".
Aftermath[]
Upon hearing this speech the whole stadium begins cheering for Chazz and Jaden, along with all the Slifer Red students, run up to Chazz to give him a hug saying that they didn't realize how much Chazz liked Slifer Red so much. Chazz is confused by comment saying that he didn't mean anything like that, but nobody listens to his protests. The Slifer Reds then begins throwing Chazz up into the air. Crowler and Bonaparte walk down to the Arena and Crowler says that since Chazz loves Slifer Red so much that he guesses it would be futile to take him away from it. Crowler then announces over the arena's speaker's that Chazz has chosen to stay at Slifer Red, much to the Slifer Red students delight. However, Chazz is still against the idea, but nobody still pays any attention. Meanwhile Crowler grins at Chazz's achievements while Bonapatre sighs and mutters to himself that he'll never understand Crowler's reasoning behind that decision.
Later that day[]
Syrus is walking down the corridor outside the Principals Office, when he hears Crowler and Bonaparte arguing. He hears Bonaparte saying that the whole point of the Duel was to get Chazz is the star of the school and get him out of Slifer Red so they could get rid of that dorm. Crowler begins hemming and hawing but Bonaparte won't have any of it and says he'll never become the full time Principal with an attitude like that. Syrus is shocked by hearing this and runs straight to the his dorm room.
Syrus tells Jaden what he heard, at which Jaden is shocked at what he's saying about them getting rid of Red. Syrus then begins to worry about what will happen to them when/if the dorm is removed, and begins to think that they'll all be expelled. The building then begins to shake, this makes Syrus begin to panic and jump to the conclusion that the dorm is being demolished already.
However, when they get outside they see a large Tarpaulin covering half of the dorm with Chazz's family logo on the front. Chazz looks up and explains to Jaden and Syrus that if he's forced to stay in this dump he's at least going to make it liveable and is making a gorgeous room just for him. Jaden then has a bit of wordplay with Chazz about what he said, while Syrus says this must just be what it's like to be rich. However, Jaden is still worried about the future of Slifer Red and what might happen to it.
Featured Duel: Chazz Princeton vs. Reginald "Reggie" Van Howell III[]
Turn 1: Reggie
Reggie draws "Marauding Captain" and subsequently Normal Summons it (1200/400) in Attack Position. Since "Marauding Captain" was Normal Summoned, its effect activates, allowing Reggie to Special Summon "Warrior Lady of the Wasteland" from his hand (1100/1200) in Attack Position. Reggie then activates "Jewel Sword", equipping it to "Marauding Captain" and increasing its ATK by 300 ("Marauding Captain": 1200 → 1500 ATK) He then activates "Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade", equipping it to "Warrior Lady of the Wasteland" and increasing its ATK by 300 ("Warrior Lady of the Wasteland": 1100 → 1400 ATK). Reggie's hand contains "Gilford the Legend" and "Call of the Haunted". Reggie then Sets a card.
Turn 2: Chazz
Chazz draws. Chazz's hand contains "X-Head Cannon", "Graceful Charity", "Enchanting Fitting Room", "Mecha Ojama King Transformation", "Ojama Ride", and "Ojamagic". Chazz Normal Summons "X-Head Cannon" (1800/1500) in Attack Position. He then activates "Graceful Charity" to draw three cards ("Chthonian Polymer", "Chthonian Alliance", and "Ojama Delta Wear") and discard two ("Chthonian Polymer" and "Ojamagic"). Since "Ojamagic" was sent from the hand to the Graveyard, its effect activates, allowing Chazz to add "Ojama Green", "Ojama Yellow" and "Ojama Black" from his Deck to his hand.
Chazz then activates "Ojama Ride" to send "Ojama Green", "Ojama Yellow", and "Ojama Black" from his hand to the Graveyard and Special Summon "Y-Dragon Head" (1500/1600) and "Z-Metal Tank" (1500/1300) in Defense Position. Chazz then Removes from play "X-Head Cannon", "Y-Dragon Head" and "Z-Metal Tank" in order to Special Summon "XYZ-Dragon Cannon" (2800/2600) in Attack Position. Chazz then activates the effect of "XYZ-Dragon Cannon" to discard two cards ("Enchanting Fitting Room" and "Chthonian Alliance") and destroy Reggie's "Marauding Captain" and "Warrior Lady of the Wasteland". Since "Jewel Sword" was sent from the field to the Graveyard, its second effect activates, allowing Reggie to draw a card. "XYZ-Dragon Cannon" attacks directly (Reggie: 4000 → 1200 LP).
Turn 3: Reggie
Reggie draws "Pot of Greed" and subsequently activates it to draw two cards ("Armed Samurai - Ben Kei" and "Great Sword"). He then activates his face-down "Call of the Haunted" to Special Summon "Warrior Lady of the Wasteland" (1100/1200) from the Graveyard in Attack Position. Reggie then activates "Great Sword", equipping it to "Warrior Lady of the Wasteland" and increasing its ATK by 300 ("Warrior Lady of the Wasteland": 1100 → 1400 ATK). Now the equipped monster can be treated as a Double Tributer if it's Tributed for the Tribute Summon of a Warrior-Type monster.
Reggie then Tributes "Warrior Lady of the Wasteland" in order to Tribute Summon "Gilford the Legend" (2600/2000) in Attack Position. Since "Warrior Lady of the Wasteland" has been removed from the field, "Call of the Haunted" is destroyed. Since "Gilford the Legend" was Normal Summoned, its effect activates, allowing Reggie to equip "Gilford the Legend" with "Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade", "Jewel Sword", and "Great Sword" from his Graveyard ("Gilford the Legend": 2600 → 2900 → 3200 → 3500 ATK). Reggie then activates "Wicked-Breaking Flamberge - Baou", sending "Armed Samurai - Ben Kei" from his hand to the Graveyard in order to equip "Wicked-Breaking Flamberge - Baou" to "Gilford the Legend" and increase its ATK by 500 ("Gilford the Legend": 3500 → 4000 ATK). "Gilford the Legend" attacks and destroys "XYZ-Dragon Cannon" (Chazz: 4000 → 2800 LP).
Turn 4: Chazz
Chazz draws "Pot of Greed" and subsequently activates it to draw two cards ("Ojamandala" and "Ojama Delta Hurricane!!"). Chazz then activates "Ojamandala" to pay 1000 Life Points (Chazz: 2800 → 1800 LP) and Special Summon "Ojama Green", "Ojama Black" and "Ojama Yellow" (0/1000 each) from his Graveyard, all in Defense Position. Chazz then activates "Ojama Delta Hurricane!!" to destroy every card that Reggie controls. Since "Jewel Sword" was sent from the field to the Graveyard, its second effect activates, allowing Reggie to draw one card. Chazz then Sets a card ("Ojama Delta Wear").
Turn 5: Reggie
Reggie draws "Premature Burial" and subsequently activates it, paying 800 Life Points (Reggie: 1200 → 400 LP) to Special Summon "Armed Samurai - Ben Kei" from the Graveyard (500/800) in Attack Position and equip it with "Premature Burial". Reggie then activates the final effect of "Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade", removing from play "Marauding Captain" and "Warrior Lady of the Wasteland" from his Graveyard in order to to add "Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade" from his Graveyard to his hand.
Reggie then activates "Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade" and "Lightning Blade", equipping both cards to "Armed Samurai - Ben Kei" and increasing its ATK by 300 and 800 respectively ("Armed Samurai - Ben Kei": 500 → 800 → 1600 ATK). (In addition, all WATER monsters lose 500 ATK while "Lightning Blade" is equipped.) Due to the effect of "Armed Samurai - Ben Kei", it gains one additional attack for each Equip Spell Card equipped to it, in addition to a normal attack and "Ben Kei" is equipped with three Equip Spell Cards.
"Armed Samurai - Ben Kei" attacks and destroys "Ojama Yellow", "Ojama Black", and "Ojama Green". "Armed Samurai - Ben Kei" then attacks directly. Chazz is about to activate his set card, but he chooses not to, so the direct attack continues (Chazz: 1800 → 200 LP). Chazz then activates his face-down "Ojama Delta Wear" to Special Summon "Ojama Green", "Ojama Black" and "Ojama Yellow" from his Graveyard (0/1000 each) in Defense Position as they were all destroyed in battle during the current turn.
Turn 6: Chazz
Chazz draws "Polymerization" and subsequently activates it to fuse "Ojama Green", "Ojama Black" and "Ojama Yellow" together and Fusion Summon "Ojama King" (0/3000) in Attack Position. Chazz then activates "Mecha Ojama King Transformation" to Tribute "Ojama King" and Special Summon "Mecha Ojama King" (0/3000) in Attack Position. Chazz then activates the effect of "Mecha Ojama King" to Special Summon "Ojamachine Yellow" from his Deck (0/100) in Attack Position. Since "Ojamachine Yellow" was summoned, its effect activates, allowing Chazz to Special Summon three "Ojamachine Yellow Tokens" that have the same stats and effects as "Ojamachine Yellow" (0/100 each) in Attack Position.
"Ojamachine Yellow" and the three "Ojamachine Yellow Tokens" all attack "Armed Samurai - Ben Kei". "Armed Samurai - Ben Kei" destroys "Ojamachine Yellow" and the Ojamachine Yellow Tokens, but due to the effect of "Ojamachine Yellow" and the Ojamachine Yellow Tokens, Chazz takes no Battle Damage from any of the attacks. Since "Ojamachine Yellow" was destroyed, its effect activates, inflicting 300 damage to Reggie (Reggie: 400 → 100 LP). The effects of the "Ojamachine Yellow Tokens" then activate (Reggie: 100 → 0 → 0 LP).
Differences in adaptations[]
In the original, Houzan idolizes Manjoume, but is confused to why the latter is now using weak monsters such as the Ojamas. In the dub, Reggie insults Chazz for being in Slifer Red, and several flashbacks are removed that feature Reggie watching Chazz Duel when they were younger. Likewise, in the original, Manjoume was teaching Houzan a valuable lesson he learned: any card, even weak ones, can be useful. In the dub, he was teaching him rank has nothing to do with a duelist's abilities.
The dialogue between Jaden Yuki, Alexis Rhodes and Syrus Truesdale while they are en route to the Duel arena is completely changed for the dub.
Mistakes[]
- In the English dub, after Chazz declares he is discarding "Ojamagic" by the effect of "Graceful Charity", when Reginald is taken by surprise, "Gilford the Legend" can be seen in his hand in the original Japanese card layout.
- Since "Warrior Lady of the Wasteland" was Tributed and not destroyed after being Special Summoned by "Call of the Haunted", it should have remained on the field.
- The dubbed version still uses the Japanese artwork and appearances of "Armed Samurai - Ben Kei", which features arrows impaled in the samurai.
Featured cards[]
The following cards appeared in this episode. Cards in italics debuted here.