in the name of the pharaoh | by ravegrl

[YGO: TAS] Episode 86 – Joey vs The Volcano

Little Kuriboh dropped a new episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged today. Episode 86, “Joey vs The Volcano,” brings a fiery hot duel between Joey Wheeler and Zigfried von Schroeder to the KC Grand Prix. Unfortunately, the tournament becomes the victim of a hacking, which causes it to suck even more than it already did (in part because Maxx “C” is legal there). #beckysweep

Erika Harlacher-Stone returns this episode as Rebecca Hawkins. Scott “KaiserNeko” Frerichs lands a guest spot as Gozaburo Kaiba, taking over for Anthony “Antfish” Sardinha, who played the role in Season 3.

YGOTAS episode 86 clocks in at a hefty 18 minutes, but it was actually supposed to be a tiny bit longer. During a livestream today on Twitch, LK explained that he had to remove about 10 seconds of footage because YouTube’s Content ID system was flagging a segment of it, believing it to be the actual Yu-Gi-Oh! episode. The footage was of Rebecca on the ferris wheel with Roland introducing her and her opponent. It wasn’t a significant loss though because it wasn’t that funny of a moment and was an unnecessary explanation anyway, LK added. Ultimately, he had to re-render the video six times to deal with the copyright issues.

During a livestream last Friday, LK explained that he has watched the Grand Championship arc maybe only once, if even that much, and, prior to abridging these episodes, remembered very little about them. He said that he was “delighted” when he saw the Hair Guy come back one last time because he thought he was “done with him.”

LK actually hasn’t been streaming very frequently at all during the past two months. LK explained in last Friday’s stream that he has had to take some much-needed time off from streaming because he wanted to “redouble my efforts to commit to regular therapy and get myself out of a massive depression, which I’d unfortunately fallen into again.”

During today’s livestream, he expanded on that, discussing his feelings about releasing this episode.

This episode coming out is kind of significant. I was just talking to my therapist about it yesterday. This is the first episode I’ve released since August. And August, when that episode came out last year, a lot of really crazy stuff happened. I’m not gonna go into detail, but as a result, I’ve kind of had an attachment. I’ve kind of associated a lot of my stress and a lot of my issues that I’ve been dealing with recently. And I’ve not gone into a lot of detail ’cause it’s upsetting. But a lot of that has been connected to that. So getting this episode out was kind of a big way for me to take a step past that.

I had a lot of trepidation. I had a lot of concern that I was gonna release it and then all hell was gonna break loose. But I didn’t want that to impede me. I didn’t want that to stop me from putting content out that a lot of people have been waiting for. And ultimately, I still want to make it. I just can’t help but worry.

In spite of these challenges, during episode 86’s development LK said that he still has a good time making Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged and was pleased with how the episode was progressing.

“It’s coming along very well in my opinion,” said LK during a January 23, 2024, Twitch stream (no longer available to view). “I’m actually finding myself chuckling quite a bit, which is rare for my own stuff. I don’t laugh at my own stuff so much, but when I do, I feel confident in it. So it’s nice to feel confident in this one.”

I’d say LK has a lot to be confident and proud about.

LK hopes to hold a watch-along stream tomorrow where he will discuss the episode in more detail. Be sure to follow LittleKuribohVS on Twitch so you are alerted when he goes live.

LittleKuriboh at OMG!Con 2024

LittleKuriboh will be attending a convention for the first time in nearly five years. LK and his partner, Marin Miller, have been invited as guests to OMG!Con in Owensboro, Kentucky, which will take place from June 14 to 16. Both LK and Marin have guested at OMG!Con separately in the past, but this will be the first time they participate together.

LK frequented numerous cons during the 2010s, but stopped after 2019 because the hardships of the convention circuit took a severe toll on his health. Nowadays, LK doesn’t attend cons any more — not as a guest, a vendor, or for fun as an attendee — so this upcoming OMG!Con appearance is quite the rarity and the surprise.

If you’ve ever wanted to meet the creator of Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series in person and get his autograph, this might be one of your only chances to do so. Don’t miss it!