The very first impression that one might have of IV (if lucky), is that of a very humble and charming young man. Many would describe him as friendly, polite and gentle. This is the public image that IV has build for himself, that he projects to the world and to his fans and that he has become very good at holding up when he needs it to. (As Tetsuo put it prior to dueling him: „There is no duelist gentler than IV.“)
He appears to be quite glad to please his fans, to invite them to duel with him, give them his autograph, allow them advantage over him in duel, compliment their strategies and plays even or maybe especially when they put him in a corner... fanservice is his motto after all and he is not tired to make sure his fans know that.
Once the time comes for him to drop his mask though, it doesn't take long to become very clear just how much of an act it is: beneath the act, IV is loud, arrogant, prideful, dramatic and takes quite a bit of satisfaction and pleasure out of hurting and humiliating his opponents - no matter how much and maybe even especially because they might have initially looked up to him. In fact, he admits to despising his fans, because he considers every single of them to be terrible at dueling (with exception of his greatest fan of course).
He doesn't hesitate to use whatever leverage he has to corner his opponent and gain an advantage (and enjoy their suffering) - whether it is by luring them to a battle field that puts them at utter disadvantage or showing them live footage of their suffering younger sibling. That is what he calls his true fanservice after all. ("I shall offer you hope! Then snatch it back! It’s at this moment that human beings make the most beautiful faces. To let you have those expressions… that’s my fanservice!")
IV is emotional and has an easily flaring temper, he wavers a lot between laughing and sneering while in utterly critical duels or when his buttons are pushed – like Tron did during his duel with Ryoga by constantly insulting him and his ability and ultimately abandoning him to help out his opponent.
In fact, IV is very much the odd one out in his family - unlike calm and polite III or calculating, rational V, IV is disrespectful, outspoken and rather easy to irritate or anger - he is the only one of the brothers to ever question or talk back to Tron, he calls out V when the other criticizes his methods (because it really isn't like Numbers Hunting is that easy and if V has a problem with how he does it, then he can go and do it his own damn self), and generally seems to hold a lot of anger and resentment when in close proximity to the older members of the Arclight family.
Even so he ultimately has always done as he was told - whether it is to duel the younger sister of his opponent-to-be to the point of critical injury, set up said opponent to fall from grace by pretty much forcing him into looking at his deck and subsequently cheating, and then string said opponent further along into seeking revenge from him - because for all that he might question and complain, IV very much tries to please Tron, to be acknowledged by him, and tries to prove himself, hoping that one day maybe it will be enough for their father to return to his original self.
IV is painfully aware of his status as The Unfavorite in the family - neither Tron nor V ever express confidence in his abilities, and compared to III he is often left in the dark to parts of the grand plan and either only told belatedly or ends up being blind sighted by them (a little warning about Ryoga having been given Shark Drake would have been appreciated. Just saying). Even so he doesn't even think to step up for himself when Tron insults him and III within the same breath - III is The Favorite, the one who would do absolutely anything for their family and if that still isn't enough, then honestly, what chance does IV have to do anything to their father's satisfaction. Overall his relationship to III appears to be much closer - and much less hostile - than to V or Tron. Though he is just as unhappy when it's III that reprimands him and he snaps at him just as he would at V (though maybe with just a little less heat), the two of them seem to cooperate well in general and are shown to be a quite effective team during there tag match with Yuma and Kaito (it's implied that the two of them have teamed up several times before).
Despite his status and his troubles with his older brother and father, IV is ultimately utterly loyal to his family – he may question, he may complain, he may act utterly obnoxious or throw a temper fit when irked, but he cares about his brothers and their father and ultimately, all he has done – no matter how horrible – was for the sake of Tron becoming the father they once had again and he wishes nothing more than for Tron to put faith into his ability to defeat Ryoga and later Dr. Faker so he can carry out their family’s revenge and put the whole affair to rest. Needless to say that he utterly snaps when he realizes that Tron doesn’t care about what he or either of his brothers do or have done for him, that all three of them have all been pawns all along and doesn’t realize just how Tron is manipulating him as he immediately tries to prove him wrong and show that he isn’t just a pawn by utterly crushing Ryoga.
Ryoga is ultimately a person that IV has a lot to settle with – both of the Kamishiro twins are. He has hurt Rio (though he had no idea that the card he was given by Tron to use against her would set the place aflame and carried her out of the burning building, receiving the his scars in his face in process), he has lured Ryoga from trap to trap – first causing him to be excluded from the National Circuit, then luring further into the World Duel Carnival – and (rather unintentionally) set him up to become the assassin that Tron desired, he does at all points acknowledge his own fault in all of it (“I have no plans to run away! I will settle things with you here and now!”) and is revealed to be remorseful upon losing to Ryoga. In fact, he asks Ryoga to hate him for all that has happened instead of Tron and to save him instead – which is an extremely great admission of faith and respect coming from IV.
Ultimately, Tron is later defeated by Yuma, finds back to his original personality and the last seen of the Arclight family in the first series is all four of them watching the first half of Yuma’s duel with Kaito and then leaving presumably to rebuild their rather dysfunctional relationships to each other and to prepare to the upcoming assault from the Barian World.
When IV reappears in the second series, he is still loud and boastful as ever and still dishes out his fanservice when he finds a proper opponent (even if that opponent is a jellyfish bastard who really needed a handicap anyways – and whether that’s really a proper opponent is up to debate), but he is much, much more emotional stable than before and far less prone to violent mood swings. He hasn’t lost any respect and faith he has in Ryoga - even if encouragement is laced with insults (“I see now! So you’re not even a man! You’re a useless older brother that can’t even save his freakin’ lil’ sister! Stand up, Ryoga!”) – he understands Ryoga’s determination to protect Rio and sincerely wants to help him with it, partly to repay Ryoga and Yuma for their role in Tron’s return to sanity, but also because of his own role in Rio’s previous injuries (“Seeing your sister suffering and unconscious again like this leaves a bad taste in my mouth… That’s why… I’ll use my fanservice to beat the hell outa this guy in an instant!”).
He’s also shown to have become quite capable of being as serious as the situation needs him to be, pointing out that the fake numbers Mr. Heartland spread around on Vector’s say are bad news and telling Yuma’s group of friends to remove any they might have picked up from their person.
In the end IV is not that different from most teenagers (loaded as his family may be) – depending on the situation he can be polite and pleasant, rather serious, or a tease to the point of being obnoxious, and though his temper has calmed some, he still can – and will – throw a fit, if he feels like it. Can’t make things too easy for V, can he?
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IV - Thomas Arclight | Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal | Reserved
The very first impression that one might have of IV (if lucky), is that of a very humble and charming young man. Many would describe him as friendly, polite and gentle. This is the public image that IV has build for himself, that he projects to the world and to his fans and that he has become very good at holding up when he needs it to. (As Tetsuo put it prior to dueling him: „There is no duelist gentler than IV.“)
He appears to be quite glad to please his fans, to invite them to duel with him, give them his autograph, allow them advantage over him in duel, compliment their strategies and plays even or maybe especially when they put him in a corner... fanservice is his motto after all and he is not tired to make sure his fans know that.
Once the time comes for him to drop his mask though, it doesn't take long to become very clear just how much of an act it is: beneath the act, IV is loud, arrogant, prideful, dramatic and takes quite a bit of satisfaction and pleasure out of hurting and humiliating his opponents - no matter how much and maybe even especially because they might have initially looked up to him. In fact, he admits to despising his fans, because he considers every single of them to be terrible at dueling (with exception of his greatest fan of course).
He doesn't hesitate to use whatever leverage he has to corner his opponent and gain an advantage (and enjoy their suffering) - whether it is by luring them to a battle field that puts them at utter disadvantage or showing them live footage of their suffering younger sibling. That is what he calls his true fanservice after all. ("I shall offer you hope! Then snatch it back! It’s at this moment that human beings make the most beautiful faces. To let you have those expressions… that’s my fanservice!")
IV is emotional and has an easily flaring temper, he wavers a lot between laughing and sneering while in utterly critical duels or when his buttons are pushed – like Tron did during his duel with Ryoga by constantly insulting him and his ability and ultimately abandoning him to help out his opponent.
In fact, IV is very much the odd one out in his family - unlike calm and polite III or calculating, rational V, IV is disrespectful, outspoken and rather easy to irritate or anger - he is the only one of the brothers to ever question or talk back to Tron, he calls out V when the other criticizes his methods (because it really isn't like Numbers Hunting is that easy and if V has a problem with how he does it, then he can go and do it his own damn self), and generally seems to hold a lot of anger and resentment when in close proximity to the older members of the Arclight family.
Even so he ultimately has always done as he was told - whether it is to duel the younger sister of his opponent-to-be to the point of critical injury, set up said opponent to fall from grace by pretty much forcing him into looking at his deck and subsequently cheating, and then string said opponent further along into seeking revenge from him - because for all that he might question and complain, IV very much tries to please Tron, to be acknowledged by him, and tries to prove himself, hoping that one day maybe it will be enough for their father to return to his original self.
IV is painfully aware of his status as The Unfavorite in the family - neither Tron nor V ever express confidence in his abilities, and compared to III he is often left in the dark to parts of the grand plan and either only told belatedly or ends up being blind sighted by them (a little warning about Ryoga having been given Shark Drake would have been appreciated. Just saying). Even so he doesn't even think to step up for himself when Tron insults him and III within the same breath - III is The Favorite, the one who would do absolutely anything for their family and if that still isn't enough, then honestly, what chance does IV have to do anything to their father's satisfaction. Overall his relationship to III appears to be much closer - and much less hostile - than to V or Tron. Though he is just as unhappy when it's III that reprimands him and he snaps at him just as he would at V (though maybe with just a little less heat), the two of them seem to cooperate well in general and are shown to be a quite effective team during there tag match with Yuma and Kaito (it's implied that the two of them have teamed up several times before).
Despite his status and his troubles with his older brother and father, IV is ultimately utterly loyal to his family – he may question, he may complain, he may act utterly obnoxious or throw a temper fit when irked, but he cares about his brothers and their father and ultimately, all he has done – no matter how horrible – was for the sake of Tron becoming the father they once had again and he wishes nothing more than for Tron to put faith into his ability to defeat Ryoga and later Dr. Faker so he can carry out their family’s revenge and put the whole affair to rest. Needless to say that he utterly snaps when he realizes that Tron doesn’t care about what he or either of his brothers do or have done for him, that all three of them have all been pawns all along and doesn’t realize just how Tron is manipulating him as he immediately tries to prove him wrong and show that he isn’t just a pawn by utterly crushing Ryoga.
Ryoga is ultimately a person that IV has a lot to settle with – both of the Kamishiro twins are. He has hurt Rio (though he had no idea that the card he was given by Tron to use against her would set the place aflame and carried her out of the burning building, receiving the his scars in his face in process), he has lured Ryoga from trap to trap – first causing him to be excluded from the National Circuit, then luring further into the World Duel Carnival – and (rather unintentionally) set him up to become the assassin that Tron desired, he does at all points acknowledge his own fault in all of it (“I have no plans to run away! I will settle things with you here and now!”) and is revealed to be remorseful upon losing to Ryoga. In fact, he asks Ryoga to hate him for all that has happened instead of Tron and to save him instead – which is an extremely great admission of faith and respect coming from IV.
Ultimately, Tron is later defeated by Yuma, finds back to his original personality and the last seen of the Arclight family in the first series is all four of them watching the first half of Yuma’s duel with Kaito and then leaving presumably to rebuild their rather dysfunctional relationships to each other and to prepare to the upcoming assault from the Barian World.
When IV reappears in the second series, he is still loud and boastful as ever and still dishes out his fanservice when he finds a proper opponent (even if that opponent is a jellyfish bastard who really needed a handicap anyways – and whether that’s really a proper opponent is up to debate), but he is much, much more emotional stable than before and far less prone to violent mood swings. He hasn’t lost any respect and faith he has in Ryoga - even if encouragement is laced with insults (“I see now! So you’re not even a man! You’re a useless older brother that can’t even save his freakin’ lil’ sister! Stand up, Ryoga!”) – he understands Ryoga’s determination to protect Rio and sincerely wants to help him with it, partly to repay Ryoga and Yuma for their role in Tron’s return to sanity, but also because of his own role in Rio’s previous injuries (“Seeing your sister suffering and unconscious again like this leaves a bad taste in my mouth… That’s why… I’ll use my fanservice to beat the hell outa this guy in an instant!”).
He’s also shown to have become quite capable of being as serious as the situation needs him to be, pointing out that the fake numbers Mr. Heartland spread around on Vector’s say are bad news and telling Yuma’s group of friends to remove any they might have picked up from their person.
In the end IV is not that different from most teenagers (loaded as his family may be) – depending on the situation he can be polite and pleasant, rather serious, or a tease to the point of being obnoxious, and though his temper has calmed some, he still can – and will – throw a fit, if he feels like it. Can’t make things too easy for V, can he?