Four Dimensional Dragons
In a world split into four dimensions, four boys exist, all with the same face. Their dragons call to each other, almost as if seeking one another.
— The phrase recited before the Japanese opening themes for the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V anime, during the Heartland City arc.
Four Dimensional Dragons | |
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Japanese |
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Anime appearances | |
Manga appearances | |
Lists |
The Four Dimensional Dragons—known as the Four Dimension Dragons[1] (
According to Leo Akaba, "Starving Venom Fusion Dragon", "Clear Wing Synchro Dragon", and "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon" are the strongest Dragons of their respective Summon mechanics. This led Z-ARC to incorporate them into his Deck (in addition to the "Odd-Eyes Dragon" he already owned) in order to satisfy his audience's selfish desire for more brutal and exciting Duels, eventually driving him mad to the point of merging himself with all of them, creating "Supreme King Z-ARC".
Contents
History[edit]
Z-ARC was the original owner of these four dragons during his life in the Original Dimension, and he used them in a violent manner to entertain the audience.
According to Ray Akaba, the four dragons were angry at mankind for forcing them to fight brutally for their entertainment. When the ARC System gave them physical bodies, they became self-aware and their anger was intensified by Z-ARC's desire for power, resulting in them attacking at least the city. One day, the dragons and their master fused together through "Astrograph Magician" to form "Supreme King Z-ARC", which continued to lay waste until Ray used the Four Nature Cards created by her father Leo to split it, herself, and the entire dimension. The dragons were sent to each of the Four Dimensions, where they became owned by each of Z-ARC's reincarnations.
"Odd-Eyes Dragon" was transformed into "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon" when Pendulum Summoning (a power born from the clash between Z-ARC and Ray, but wholly appropriated by the former as secret weapon for when they would inevitably fight again) surfaced in the Standard Dimension. Ever since then, the four dragons have been searching for each other in an attempt to become one again; eventually succeeding as their owners defeated and absorbed one another, and resulting in Z-ARC's revival. Once again threating humanity, Leo scrambled to use the ARC-V Reactor he had been building to unite again the dimensions as well as reviving the Nature Cards and Ray, feeding it with Ray's own reincarnations; but due to doing so in excessive haste, the machine failed: the dimensions were only partially linked by unstable distortions, and Ray's soul was revived without a body - trapped within the device itself. In desperation, Leo took the cards and rushed to use them against Z-ARC himself, but he was instantly defeated just before he could activate them. At this point Riley, a child adopted by Leo's family, offered his body to Ray so that she could reach the battlefield and wield the Nature Cards herself once more. She succedeed, but to avoid history repeating, Riley pushed out Ray's soul and replaced it with Z-ARC's a moment before the dimensions were pulled apart.
Following this new defeat, all four dragons were left into Yuya's possession, who was reluctant to use them besides "Odd-Eyes" out of fear that he might be overpowered by them again and reawaken Z-ARC's soul, sealed within a Riley regressed to newborn. When Yuya finally resolved to Summon all of them at once after being urged by Jack Atlas, he began hearing their minds, but instead of feeling any anger he learned that they were afraid of Ray and wanted to stop her resurrection, which kept her again confined inside the ARC-V Reactor. Yuya assured them that they shouldn't be afraid and were strong on their own without needing Z-ARC nor their "Supreme King" power. In response, the four dragons began to actively support Yuya during his current Duel, e.g. by helping him grab Action Cards.
During Yuya's subsequent third Duel against Declan, he realized that the dragons genuinely wanted to make people and other monsters smile just like Z-ARC, and only became violent because the audience back then became malicious and demanded bloodshed, and could feel their regret over it. Yuya was ultimately able to help the dragons accomplish this when Declan let out a laugh over being defeated, which in turn seemed to fully placate their anger and make Z-ARC's soul within Riley smile, as well as finally allowing the reincarnations of Ray to be freed from the reactor (which then began to unify the dimensions for good) and given back Zuzu's body.
Abilities[edit]
The Dimensional Dragons resonate when in close proximity of each other, whether they have been Summoned in Duel or not. Additionally, they can influence their owners to Summon them if the conditions for doing so are met or can be met. When facing off against each other, or one is Summoned or about to be Summoned while in the presence of another, their owners suffer an intense burning pain in their chest. In the case of the former, it may cause them to enter an 'awakened' state, Dueling ferociously until their opponent is defeated, although they are capable of returning to their senses during the Duel. The dragons also appear to be able to cause their owner to synchronize with a counterpart if they happen to be in the same dimension.
The Dimensional Dragons are capable of traveling through dimensions in order to search for one another; Yugo stated that he was guided to both the Xyz Dimension's Heartland City and the Standard Dimension's Paradise City by "Clear Wing"; while Yuri complained about "Starving Venom" taking him to New Domino City.
When one of them is defeated by another, the losing owner is absorbed into one of their dimensional counterparts. In Yuto's case, despite having lost to Yugo, he was absorbed by Yuya who was closer to his position. However ownership of the Dimensional Dragons seems to be determined by the dragons themselves, as Yuto actively handed "Dark Rebellion" to Yuya saying the dragon conveyed its will for him to do so.
When all four Dimensional Dragons have been Summoned in the same location, a distortion in the sky appears and the dragons' owners all awaken. In addition, the dragons that are controlled by Yuya himself emitted an aura of darkness similar to the one he emits while awakened.
Design[edit]
Each of the Dimensional Dragons' names uses the following structure: "[Trait] + [Summoning mechanic] + Dragon". Like most protagonists' signature cards, they each have 2500 ATK (except "Starving Venom") and 2000 DEF, and their Attribute is DARK (except "Clear Wing"). In the anime, all of them share a common trait of their effects only affecting Level 5 or higher monsters and, with the exception of "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon", are related to changing ATKs. Their attack and effect names in Japanese also follow similar patterns: the effect names are two English words, while their attack names follow the same pattern as some past "-Eyes Dragon": "[Japanese word] no [Two English words]."
Members[edit]
Original[edit]
Dimension | Dragon | Reincarnation | Attack name | Effect name | ||
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Japanese | English | Japanese | English | |||
Standard/Pendulum | Odd-Eyes Dragon[Notes 1] | Yuya Sakaki | スパイラル・フレイム Supairaru Fureimu Spiral Flame |
Spiral Flame | Unknown | |
Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon | Rasen no Sutoraiku Bāsuto Spiral Strike Burst |
Spiral Flame Strike | リアクション・フォース Riakushon Fōsu Reaction Force |
Reaction Force | ||
Xyz | Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon | Yuto | Hangyaku no Raitoningu Disuobei Lightning Disobey of Rebellion |
Mauling Mandible Charge | トリーズン・ディスチャージ Torīzun Disuchāji Treason Discharge |
Treason Discharge |
Synchro | Clear Wing Synchro Dragon | Yugo | Senpū no Herudaibu Surasshā Whirlwind Hell Dive Slasher |
Spinstorm Sky Strike | ダイクロイック・ミラー Daikuroikku Mirā Dichroic Mirror |
Reverse Revenge |
Fusion | Starving Venom Fusion Dragon | Yuri | None | None |
Variants[edit]
Over the course of the anime and manga and in the OCG/TCG, the Four Dimensional Dragons received several variant forms, like upgrades, downgrades, counterparts, corruptions, and mergers.
Evolutions[edit]
The evolutions of the Four Dimensional Dragons are divided into two groups: 'normal' upgrades (often Summoned by Yuya and his counterparts when they're in an Awakened state) and merged upgrades (hybrids between "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon" and another Dimensional Dragon). There are also two combinations of all the Four Dimensional Dragons.
Like many signature cards' upgraded forms, the Four Dimensional Dragons' evolutions have 500 more ATK/DEF than their base forms (excluding "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon"'s ones, which have no DEF change).
Dimensional Dragon | Evolution | Combination | ||
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Normal | Merged | With Z-ARC | With "Odd-Eyes" | |
Odd-Eyes Dragon | Odd-Eyes Advance Dragon | N/A | Odd-Eyes Revolution Dragon | |
Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon | ||||
Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon | Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon | |||
Clear Wing Synchro Dragon | Odd-Eyes Wing Dragon | |||
Starving Venom Fusion Dragon | Greedy Venom Fusion Dragon | Odd-Eyes Venom Dragon |
Additionally, there is also an armored Effect evolution of "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon", "Odd-Eyes Lancer Dragon", and a Ritual Pendulum upgraded form: "Odd-Eyes Pendulumgraph Dragon".
"Arc" evolutions[edit]
These are upgraded forms of the Four Dimensional Dragons whose name is a reference to the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V anime.
Monster | Base Dimensional Dragon |
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Odd-Eyes Arc Pendulum Dragon | Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon |
Arc Rebellion Xyz Dragon | Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon |
Archetypical forms[edit]
These are variants of the Dimensional Dragons that belong to the signature archetypes their respective owners used in the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V anime and manga.
Monster | Base Dimensional Dragon | Archetype |
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Hi-Speedroid Clear Wing Rider | Clear Wing Synchro Dragon | Speedroid (Hi-Speedroid) |
Starving Venom Predapower Fusion Dragon | Starving Venom Fusion Dragon | Predaplant |
Supreme King Dragon[edit]
These are "Supreme King Dragon" counterparts of the Four Dimensional Dragons, corrupted by the power of Z-ARC.
Z-ARC Magician[edit]
These are "Magician" downgraded versions of the Four Dimensional Dragons and "Supreme King Z-ARC", and are commonly referred to as Z-ARC Magicians since they can be used more easily than their Dimensional Dragon counterparts to Special Summon "Z-ARC" with "Astrograph Sorcerer". With the exception of "Performapal Celestial Magician", these monsters are named after the color scheme of their respective Dragon.
"Odd-Eyes Dragon's" elemental evolutions[edit]
These are upgrades of "Odd-Eyes Dragon", instead of "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon", as indicated by their lack of horns, "wings" and "Pendulum orbs". "Odd-Eyes Wizard Dragon" is visually based on "Pendulum Dragon", but its Summoning effect is identical to "Odd-Eyes Saber Dragon's" one, making it part of this category. Each of these cards is based on a different Attribute and Summoning mechanic, with its name and color scheme reflecting that Attribute, as well as opposite Attributes having "opposite" Summoning methods (e.g. EARTH-Ritual and WIND-Fusion).
Manga counterparts[edit]
In the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V manga, Yuya Sakaki, Yuto, Yugo and Yuri all used ace monsters that are counterparts of the Four Dimensional Dragons. Yuto still used "Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon", like his anime counterpart, although he later evolved it into his true ace monster "Dark Anthelion Dragon".
There are also two other "Odd-Eyes" monsters that Yuya used in the manga: "Odd-Eyes Mirage Dragon" and "Odd-Eyes Persona Dragon".
Trivia[edit]
- The name "Four Heavenly Dragons" may be a reference to the "Four Heavenly Kings".
- Each dragons' dominant color is taken from its Summon mechanic.
- "Odd-Eyes": Red, the color of the right Pendulum Scale on Pendulum Monsters. This is reflected by its manga counterpart's blue accents, which is the color of the left Pendulum Scale.
- "Dark Rebellion": Black, the color of Xyz Monsters.
- "Clear Wing": White, the color of Synchro Monsters.
- "Starving Venom": Purple, the color of Fusion Monsters.
- Each of the dragons' Japanese summoning chants mention a body part.
- "Odd-Eyes": Eyes
- "Dark Rebellion" and "Starving Venom:" Fangs
- "Clear Wing": Wings
- Each of the dragons have been the cover card of a booster pack whose name was changed in the TCG.
- "Odd-Eyes": The Duelist Advent → Duelist Alliance
- Dark Rebellion": Next Challengers → The New Challengers
- "Clear Wing": Crossover Souls → Crossed Souls
- "Starving Venom": Invasion of Venom → Invasion: Vengeance
- The Four Dimensional Dragons were revealed and released in reverse chronological order compared to the introduction of the respective Summon mechanics, starting with "Odd-Eyes" (Pendulum), followed by "Dark Rebellion" (Xyz), then "Clear Wing" (Synchro), and lastly "Starving Venom" (Fusion).
- The Four Dimensional Dragons were given alternate artworks in Dimension Box Limited Edition (OCG) and Legendary Dragon Decks (TCG), which appear to be based on the animation sequences used for them attacking, or using their effects, in the anime.
- Each of the Four Dimensional Dragons has one gameplay difference from the other three.
- "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon" is the only Dimensional Dragon that has appeared in the manga at least once; the others were all replaced from the beginning.
Notes[edit]
- ↑ This card was transformed into "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon" by Yuya's pendant in episode 1.
- ↑ a b c This monster is not actually the 'normal' evolution of "Odd-Eyes", as all the other Dragons' standard evolutions are of the same card type as their base form, while this card is not a Pendulum Monster, but rather a Fusion between "Odd-Eyes" and a "Performapal" monster. Despite this, it shares a common naming scheme with the others and thus it is listed here as placeholder until the real standard evolution is revealed.
References[edit]
- ↑ Weekly Shōnen Jump 2016, Issue 46 - Dimension Box Limited Edition promotion
- ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V episode An Evil Ascends" 126: "
- ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V episode A Most Brutal Duel" 136: "