#conquestshipping

Introducing Mai the tiger and Valon the wolverine

Anyways, this is about Mai Valentine and Valon from Yugioh season 4 - a season where few probably made it to or even cared (or couldn't get past Mai's voice replacement which is valid). But BOY HOWDY do I have so many headcanons over these two and how they would reconcile/meetup again after the events of Yugioh and the POSITIVELY slowburn they would have together > w >

To all of maybe 3 people in the tags of the Mai and Valon pieces I've made who also love them/know them, I see you and I'm sending you sweet kisses on your foreheads 💖💖💖

Also my friend made the great call of saying Happy Valontines Day when I made the Valentines day piece and that is absolutely their ship name to me now. Valontines!! It's SO PERFECT! Evidently they are called Conquestshipping in the ship names?? Which feels so weird??? Very antithetical to BOTH of their characters but maybe that’s me?? Maybe it has to do with the arc??? Hmmm 🤔

*edit - I've looked up potentially why they are called conquestshipping and my first thought was in the vein of "Woman is prize to be won" kind of thing, since it's a very one-sided crush from Valon - but also it is explained how it is about the Orichalcos arc itself and taking over (conquesting) the world, and/or also how they have to conquest themselves/their own pasts and fears (since that's also a thematic element of that arc). This is a nerd-note to myself, don't mind me :3c

@livingherdreams sends you some nice art of Mai and Joey.

So, I have been thinking about many ships involving Mai and came to the conclusion that Varon is one of those candidates that had actual interaction with her and know her better than anyone else. It has fan service, although we really must see that 4Kids thought that it would be better to change their scenes and make Mai more repellent towards Varon in order to favor Jou/Mai.

I think that this ship deserves more love, considering that it has been hinted and Varon's feelings are clear.

It might sounds strange that I like one of the filler characters, especially one of the weakest arcs with so many plot holes, but I like Waking the Dragons and see a lot of potential in the concept and the idea behind Leviathan. It had many good attempts and they gave us more world building and situations that needed new ideas and strategies to overcome.

Less fan service, more plot, good and constant animation and the arc would have been epic.

Like I mentioned earlier, I really dislike how the majority of characters are characterized in the anime. We have so much unneeded fan service and fillers only to stretch the series and get more money out of the franchise. We have characters who act completely different than in the original manga, relationships that come off completely different due to ridiculous fan service, questionable animation that changes from episode to episode and leaves the watcher speechless because even a fan could do it better, leaving many plot holes behind, ignoring the rules of the card game and changing card effects for the sake of the plot.

I tend to criticize the anime a lot and I think that many things could have been done better, especially if they would have taken more time to create the anime. Toei Animation should have followed the manga and shouldn't have done their own thing.

Yuugiou is the best example for bad quality and plot holes in anime. Although I see so many weaknesses in it, I still like watching it, because of the amazing voice actors (Kenjiro Tsuda & Shunsuke Kazama ♥), the music (kami no ikari ♥), the opening and endings, the duels that are far more interesting with moving pictures, new strategies that fit to the characters and the whole atmosphere and world building the anime gives us that simply couldn't be added to the manga. I like that we have many characters who are also duelists and that we can feel how popular Duel Monsters is and we also get to know many new characters, some of them having background stories that deserve more than a flashback.

Varon being one of the characters I have grown to really like. Jounouchi and Varon are very much alike. Both would rather die for the person they care most for (Jou for Yuugi and Varon for Mai) and have those affect them in a positive way and rethink their actions.

Varon has no reason to live. He exists. He hates the world and he only joined Dartz, because he had nothing better to do. Varon even threatened Dartz and told him that he would have a knife at his throat if he ever makes a mistake, which shows that he is not following Dartz mindlessly but out of his own free will. Once Dartz does something he doesn't agree with, he will betray him. He clarified this on the first day he met him. He is a person who has nothing to live for, but only follows a person because he believes that there is no other choice left for him. Sounds familiar, hm?

Jounouchi’s and Varon’s simalarities

Varon has no parents, no place he can call home and no one who would tell him what is right and wrong. Just like Jounouchi. Jonouchi-san (his father) is a alcoholic who couldn't care less about his son, so Jounouchi was all by himself as a child, which resulted that he joined Hirutani. Jounouchi mindlessly followed Hirutani's orders and then quiet the whole shit he was in and went to a different Highschool, because he realized that he couldn't keep going like this. He had Honda who made him realize that he had to change his life. But even in Highschool he continues to let his anger out on others, because he did not like himself. Varon mirrors exactly what Jounouchi would have become if he hadn't met Honda and Yuugi.

The only person Varon cherished was killed in a fire, taken away from him. In Jounouchi's case this would be Shizuka. He cherished her so much, that he would cry for her after seeing her video which shows that he has been thinking about her all those years. He never forgot her and hoped for her to be happy. (I think he chose out of his own free will not to have contact with her anymore, due to the shit with Hirutani. He didn't want to corrupt her, so he chose to be a loner.) Jounouchi considered himself a failure which he openly states and he probably didn't want to face her and have her see what has become out of him.

We see Varon being angry and injuring those who made him and the ones he loves suffer. Same as Jounouchi who would accept any battle to defend Yuugi's honor and even stated that he fought with others because he hated himself.

Varon was send to juvenile after that. Something that would have happened to Jounouchi if he hadn’t had Honda by his side. It was mentioned in the manga that Jounouchi was in trouble and although it’s just a little statement from Honda that is so easily overlooked, our Jounouchi was previoulsy convicted. Let that sink in for a moment.

Jounouchi and Varon are so alike that I think that there must be some reason. Maybe to show us watchers and mostly the manga readers what could have happened to Jounouchi if he hadn’t had Honda by his side and later on Yuugi.

If Jounouchi would have stayed with Hirutani and went to Rintama High instead, something like that could have happened to him. Do you think that Hirutani would ever lift a finger to protect or even help one of his henchmen? Yes, we see that Hirutani is a little (a lot, actually) obsessed with Jounouchi and he does whatever it takes to get him back, because he values his strength and considers him an important partner. But in a dangerous situation? The cops coming closer... he would leave Jounouchi behind and let him take all the blame. I just wonder what could have happened to my poor man Jounouchi and comparing Varon’s and Jounouchi’s backgroundstories and the different paths they went is very exciting to me.

Sometimes I just pause an episode and need to take a deep breath because Varon still trying to go on and looking for love and comfort is just so beautiful. How did he manage to stay this strong and have such a poweful will? It’s this willpower I find most impressive  – both on Jounouchi and Varon.

There are many similarities between Jounouchi and Varon which are made on purpose.

The difference is that Jounouchi was able to break out of this circle and found a reason to live. He had Honda helping him. He found Yuugi. He got his sister back. He has become someone who he can be proud of and he considers himself worthy being alive, when in the beginning he hated everything. But Varon couldn't break out. All there was to him was a world without hope and people who only wanted to use and hurt him, so he didn't trust anyone, until he met Mai who needed someone to save her.

It makes me angry that Varon is considered a “manipulative bastard” at best whose only intention was to hurt her, when in reality he simply did not know better. He is learning about other people during this arc and I'm sure that he'll become a whole different person. He never had friends or people who truly cared for him. He had no other interactions in his life other than with Dartz and the other DOMA members. With Mai he has a reason to live for and become a better person. Just like Jounochi who cherishes Yuugi so much.

Yes, he had Dartz, Raphael and Amelda by his side. But how was their relationship? Could they be considered his friends? Friends who want you to succeed in life and see you become a winner? Friends who would stand behind you and support you no matter what? It’s really difficult to say. I think that Amelda at least would have dropped him the minute he was in danger. All of them have different goals in their life. They’re all manipulated by Dartz, are they? Is that all to them? I don’t think this is the case with Varon.

Varon has shown that he thinks for himself. Since he didn't have anyone he truly cared for, he simply followed Dartz. He would betray him any moment once he found something better or more interesting to him, which was shown to us. It was not Varon who used the power of Orichalcos but Dartz. Moreover, the power of Orichalcos does not change the personality, but gives you the power to trap souls in order to feed Leviathan and summon monsters. Dartz was corrupted because he suffered many losses in his life and became obsessed with the idea of destroying the world in order to create a new one without evil. And that's just the short summary.

Orichalcos is based on the mysterious metal Orichalcum, a legendary metal that is supposed to be strongest and purest metal on the world that cannot be destroyed. The power of Orichalcos granted the people of Atlantis to live in prosperity and live in luxury. Their technology was even far more advanced than in modern world and the people became all the more greedy. The stone shows your true self and brings it out. In Ancient Atlantis, the people turned into monsters and became from the outside what they looked inside. This is an extremely interesting concept, even used nowadays in video games and many other media.

Mai was desperate. She was scared. She had no one to talk to. She had enough time to listen to her negative thoughts. She was alone and lonely without anyone by her side to help her get back on her feet. She tripped and fell, not being able to get up.

Her expression on the screenshot shows that she is traumatized. Mai needs help, but she can’t reach out to Yuugi-tachi because they live on different continents and almost in different worlds. She was a good duelist until those nightmares and her negative feelings started to corrupt her mind. There was a lot of going on in her life and she simply was all by herself. Varon noticed that change in her expression. Her empty eyes. Those eyes that were first filled with live and passion once a duel started and became blank and lifeless.

We could also assume that Varon at this point already had feelings for her. He admired her skills and her will to go on. Ma was an incredible good duelist and she won all the opponents she was facing, which made Varon feel so interested in her.

Mai is not the kind of person who would show her weak sides (in canon at least) and would hide them, thinking that nobody can look through her. Varon did see through her mask. He noticed something was going on with her and just watching her wasn’t enough anymore. He truly thought that inviting her to DOMA was a good choice, because he wanted her to be by his side. He did not know better. How would he? He wanted to be able to watch her. He absolutely didn’t want this noble duelist to break apart.

So, he reached out to her and wanted her to come with him. Mai accepted his offer. She was desperate enough to follow a complete stranger and she was lucky that this guy she didn’t even know had no ill intentions. Who knows what could have happened to her without Varon? It’s not really fair that people only seem to see that Varon did something horrible to her, bringing her to Dartz, since there could have been much worse happening to her.

The thoughts in her mind were all negative. Mai was questioning everything in her life. She couldn’t trust Yuugi-tachi anymore and started to blame them for her problems. Even her dreams were haunting her, making her unable to sleep through. She was restless and exhausted. During day-time she would go to tournaments and think about her strategies, checking her cards and make new combos that would startle her opponents. But then her mood would change and she would question her life. All the things she did aquire in her life. Is Duel Monsters really fun to her? If so, why do all those duels feel so empty to her? Why does no one she cares for come and see her?

Mai was in a state where she lost her path. She didn’t know what to fight for. For money? For luxury? A new car or a motorcycle? She already has a nice home and all those material objects feel empty to her and can’t hide the fact that she’s lonely and needs someone to share her passions with. If you’re constantly on your own and have no one to share your dreams, hopes and passions with, you’re bound to feel empty and sad. And at some point angry. Especially if this happens on a longer period of time.

(I can relate to her so well here; like the longer you’re on your own and have no one to talk, the more sarcastic and aggressive you become towards people who did nothing to you. Simply because your mind is in a state where you constantly try to convince you that you deserved to be lonely and people don’t care for you but only want to see you fall. Mai can’t trust people because she has already convinced herself that people absolutely don’t care for her and going on alone is the only way to not getting hurt and used again.)

Having Yami no Malik haunt her in her dreams and make her feel even more miserable made her situation even more severe. He makes her feel worthless. He strengthens her complexes and issues. What do you think would have happened to her if she continued like this? I assure you, nothing good. Varon coming to her aid was the best that could have happened. Still better than sitting in the rain and losing all self-confidence and will to live.

It was not Varon's or Dartz's fault that Mai wanted to defeat Jounouchi, because it was her own free will to do that. She was captured in her anger and her despair and she simply started blaming all her problems on Jounouchi and his friends. She was angry at and disappointed in Jounouchi even before she met Varon, but using the Orichalcos made her all the more obsessed with her idea and lead her to a course where she actually believed that she needed to defeat him. Orichalcos helped her to accept those thoughts and not only to suppress them. She got to a point where everything else became meaningless to her, due to her trauma and her fear of being alone/not being acknowledged by others.

Varon did not manipulate her, but he actually tried to console her. He told her that she needed to win against Jounouchi in order to go on with her life.

She reached a point in her life where she did not see any reason to continue. She was sitting in the rain, feeling depressed and looking for help, but no one came. She wanted Jounouchi to travel the ocean, find and save her. Well, we can discuss how stupid and unrealistic this idea is, but the issue is here that Mai was scared and did not have anyone to help her. She was alone. Completely by herself and even winning tournaments and defeating Pegasus meant nothing to her, because she was filled with fear. Jounouchi not coming to her aid made her trust issues all the stronger.

When Varon shows up, she has a reason to get back on her feet, because he wanted to help her. He said that he was watching her which means that he was amazed by her skills and started to feel more interest in her as a person. Neither Dartz or anyone else of the DOMA organistation were looking for new members, thus Raphael and Amelda don't want her to join, while Dartz thinks that she can be useful. Varon didn't lure her to Dartz in order to hurt her. He was in a very similar situation. Just like Mai, he had lost reason to continue.

Seeing Mai devastated and lonely, made him think that Dartz could help her as well. It was not his prior mission to find new members but to gather souls. Varon however was interested in Mai. So, we can assume that Varon had a crush on her and went out of his way to see her – finding her in the rain without the strength to go on. He did not know what the reason for her despair was, so he could only listen to her. And here we go with subtext that is ignored.

Mai and Varon talked with each other outside plot.

They have spent time together outside plot. He helped her regain her confidence. He truly wanted to help her. Since he didn't know about Dartz's actual intentions and how corrupted his master was, he trusted him and believed that he would help her. If he had known what kind of person Dart truly was, he would never have brought Mai there. Varon, too, was a victim of Dartz without knowing it. So, saying that Varon only wanted to “abuse” her is BS.

But what comes next is what I criticize about Mai's development. Mai making a giant back-step, becoming the person she used to be in the first season of the anime. A person who considers herself a lone wolf. Someone who does not need help and refuses to accept help from others. She is desperate to prove her worth. And it was not Varon's fault that she became like that, it was Jounouchi – or rather his missing presence – that made her lose trust in people. It was her own weakness and her fears that made her realize that it was better to be alone before people could hurt her. She lost faith in people, because her expectations towards Jounouchi were too high and she wanted him to come save her, when he wasn't even near her. This alone makes sense, however...

We already had this in Battle City; Mai getting angry at Jounouchi and refusing to listen to him and the others. This is exactly like before. It's a back-step. We already had something similar happen in order for her character development to happen – well, sadly ignored in this arc. But let's not talk about how stupid characterization is in the anime. ๑ΘдΘ๑

Varon knew that all of this was an act, so he tried all the more to make her realize that she could count on him. He didn't mind her being egoistic and felt attracted to her arrogance just as much to her weak sides. And I'd like to mention again: they have spend time outside the plot, so much even, that they would know basic things about the other and would openly talk about their goals. We see them sit down and talk about their goals and exchange their thoughts. This is interaction that I wish to see – especially regarding to shipping. (I will explain my thoughts on the fanservice on Yuugiou and why it ruined this anime to me in another musing.)

Varon did not know what kind of person Jounouchi was. He only knew him through Mai and he could only assume what kind of relationship they had. My guess is, that he actually blamed Jou for not seeing her feelings and he was angry at him for not helping her. His resentment towards Jou makes sense, simply because we already know that he likes Mai and wishes her to be happy. If beating Jounouchi makes her happy, it makes him happy, too. He tagged along with her. It was not like he used some weird magic trick on her to hate Jounouchi and fight him, she already had those negative feelings within her.

Those were feelings she suppressed which got all the stronger when she touched the Orichalcos – or rather when Dartz gave her the right to use Orichalcos. And that is what Orichalcos does:

it brings out your suppressed feelings.

Orichalcos makes you accept those thoughts. You become from the outside what you look inside and if you have those negative feelings inside you you will be able to accept them and stop trying to concinve you that you’re not allowed to feel that way.

Varon cared more for her than for anyone else and was willing to risk his own life only to protect Mai's honor as a duelist. He would accept any kind of injury in order to make sure that she was okay. He was okay losing his soul as long as Mai would be saved. It's outstanding that neither Jounouchi nor Varon showed fear when facing their end, because both of them believed that everything would be fine. Varon wished for Mai to lose her fears. He wanted to protect her. Even in the end – or rather when he thought he had to die – he was thinking about her and her happiness, which shows how much he has changed in those weeks since he met her. He never really cared for anyone. But after meeting Mai, he started caring for others, more precisely for her.

And those interactions with her will have a positive effect on him even after DOMA. I'm sure he will become a more open person. A person who will look at people and start to realize how amazing being alive is. Looking for a purpose and begin a new life. Not as a criminal, but as someone who people can look at with pride.

Mai values the Harpy. Her whole deck is based on the Harpy card and her strategy involves this monster. It's her main monster. This card means so much to her and instead of seeing Jounouchi off, she simply leaves without a word. She does not have the strength to face Jounouchi or the others, because she has realized that her actions and her behavior was immature. She came to the conclusion that she needed to overcome her fears and become someone worthy meeting Jounouchi and Varon again, because at this point, she didn't consider herself good enough to do so. Like mentioned before, it wasn't Orichalcos that made her feel the way she did. She knew that she had those feelings inside her and I think she will work hard to become a better person.

But what really is interesting to me, is that Mai gave Varon her most cherished card – when she wouldn't even see off Jounouchi and the others. This is the closure for this ship. It's left open whether they see each other again.

It is very likely for Varon to go see her again in order to give her the card back considering that he really cared for her and it would make sense for him to follow her. The anime has already shown that he wants to be together with Mai and would do anything for her in order to assure her happiness. So I see him travel the world in order to find Mai. Joining Duel Monsters tournaments only to see her again and challenge her as a duelist. It would be something I can imagine him do.

It's similar to Jounouchi and Atem. Jounouchi needed to defeat Atem in a duel in order to become a true duelist before he could get his most favorite card back and it is the same for Mai. Once she has the strength to defeat Varon, she gets her card back and this is something I would like to see/read regarding this ship. After defeating Varon, she can consider herself a true duelist and someone who is able to face the future without fear. This ship has a lot of potential and I have so many ideas I would like to write down. It deserves far more recognition.

VaMai is hinted throughout the entire DOMA arc, I think that the interaction between Varon and Mai should not be ignored, because this ship has a good foundation. It has a basis that can be worked with. It's not a groundless ship. It's one of the few ships with Mai that make sense and would work out and I would love to see more fanwork for it.

I really believe that Conquestshipping is the straight counterpart of the anime for Wishshipping, cause OMG, do you see how similar these ships are? We know that Mai’s feelings for Jounouchi are only one-sided, while Jounouchi’s feelings for Yuugi are just too obvious to ignore (he cares so much for him) and I really like to compare my two favorite ships. If it wouldn’t be for Varon, I simply would hate the anime for what they did to Jounouchi and most to the characters.

Hello, I am very sorry to disturb the flow of the ship tags. I’m looking to rp, but I don’t know where to go for that. I don’t have any YGO rp partner, and I don’t really like tumblr blogs-based rp. So this post will work as a request, to rp directly on Discord. IM me if you are interested! We will talk about it together. Thank you! More infos underneath. I will likely post this same post twice for it to go in all the ship tags. Apologies if you see doubles or more!! ^^’

I can play two characters: Ryou, or Valon (you know, goggles dude from Orichalcos arc?).

For Ryou, I would like to rp either with Yami Bakura, Thief King Bakura, Yuugi Mutou or Malik Ishtar. Not Yami Marik, tho, I can't say this ship is really appealing to me.

For Valon, I'm looking for Jounouchi, or Mai. I absolutely LOVE the polyship with the three of them - if you're down for some conflictshipping, I can play both Valon and Mai, that's a-okay.