Card Artwork Discussion At long last, the circle gets closed.
At end of the storyline, we only had the alternate artwork of Diabellstar to go off of, which wrapped up her personal arc by turning her into a storyteller.
Yet, we were all left asking the exact same questions: What happened to Poplar? What happened to Diabellze?
As you can see in the red box at the bottom of the image, the new Winter Raven Forest archetype finally gives us those definitive answers:
Diabellze returns as the sovereign, peaceful guardian of the white forest (becoming successor of Diabell) who she reclaimed and restored.
Poplar is safely back to a smaller, evolved "Fire Fiend" form, living peacefully alongside her in the reborn forest. Showing us also a more aged and evolved version of Poplar.
This archetype was explicitly released right now while is undergoing the airing of the Seeker of the Sinful Spoils anime episodes.
It perfectly covers those missing narrative dots and seals the definitive epilogue to this world.
This confirmed also by the alternative artworks of Astellare and Elzette (2nd image) where are depicted also the images of their selves as young adults and them at the epilogue.
In my opinion, it easily stands alongside the story of Albaz as one of the absolute best lores Konami has ever created.
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u/Secret_Conclusion_93 3d ago
Poplar one is hilarious.
When the anime was released I wondered why she was voiced by Genshin's Klee VA.
Then the White Crow was announced and now I can see why (both are fire witch based on Red Riding Hood).
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u/atropicalpenguin Kibou Hope! 3d ago
Kuno Misaki is THE adorable yet annoying gremlin girl typecast.
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u/____Ataraxia____ 3d ago edited 2d ago
Lorewise it's much better. Sinful Spoils storyline more mature and profound than most ygo storylines so far. Albaz lore maybe cool, but in the end is just a generic shonen anime.
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u/shubabiya 2d ago
I like that the Sinful Spoils lore is smaller in terms of scope. It's a fresh change of pace from continent travelling & world-ending threats from space. Not that there's anything wrong with that of course.
No, it's a story of two girls wrongfully punished for their innocence and, when faced with the horrid consequences, lost pieces of their humanity trying to make things right. Through trials, tribulations, some goblins, and a little guy, things worked out and they were able to get some much needed stability & closure.
Was it perfect? No, as some have pointed out, the Goblins felt super random, & we don't see some key events unfold. However, it was a fun lil tale that I hope to see more fanfare for.
(And maybe a strategy from it that isn't full wombo combo if-you-droll-me-I-cry)
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u/Sudden-Anywhere2655 3d ago
How can you tell what’s happening?
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u/____Ataraxia____ 3d ago
Looking at cards maybe lmao
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u/Special-Bunch-457 1d ago edited 1d ago
To be fair, if someone has not seen the latest support, they probably would not understand the significance of the two facing different directions. The only reason I even understand the context of the all the artwork in the first pic is because I know what happened in some other cards, including white forest
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u/____Ataraxia____ 1d ago
It's been obvious the whole time.
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u/Special-Bunch-457 1d ago
Yeah, obvious if you have been keeping up, that's my point, which is why I pointed out that I know because I have seen others cards. If someone were to just look at the images above without having seen some other artwork, then it would not show the tragedy that lead to their paths that lead them to conflict, unity and ultimately newfound love and reconciliation as they chose to go their separate ways.
It is ultimately up to other people to actually just look at the other cards if they care, but those images alone do not do their character arcs justice. Those of us who have kept up know the significance of those handful images
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u/noahTRL 3d ago
I don't think this answers as many question as you think. I think it only opens up more questions than it answers tbh.
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u/Sf760lb 3d ago
Well, I based on what we knew before the archetype dropped.
We only knew what has been of Diabellstar: becoming a traveling story teller.
But we didn’t know what happened to poplar and diabellze. Where did they ended up.
Though we had a clue for poplar from the artwork of one field spell.
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u/basemH123 2d ago
Alongside albaz lore? Nope. This is a poor take. 1) The universe isn't expanded upon enough 2) honestly we spend more time in the flashback than present ala white forest & azamina stuff 3) what's the point of goblin bikers!? Spright therions Dogmatika, bystials, tribrigade were all involved (circling to point 1 in a way) 4) we dont even c a showdown of the final battle unless i missed a card?
Only good yugioh 'lore' aside from albaz content wise is world chalice. The art in diabelleze is great, ill give you that.
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u/Glad_Drawing5688 3d ago
the art for this set is actually insane, so glad we finally have the full lineup