After searching my name on Google, I have decided to answer some of your questions and opinions. I found a similar post like this a few years ago and I was inspired to explain my side.
Is Tristan jealous of Joey and Yugi's friendship?
I'm glad someone finally asked the question and the truth is yes, I am jealous. Sometimes I wonder why I stand by them at all. When I first became friends with Yugi after my disaster of asking this girl Melony on a date (LONG STORY), I really tried to be closer to them. But it feels like by the time I got there, they had already formed a tight bond and I have just been on the outside looking in ever since. I mean that's my fault; I shouldn't have been so stubborn looking back at it but I felt betrayed.
I feel a certain way when Joey says that Yugi is the first real friend he's ever had and that he never had friends before them and things like that…
But that's water under the bridge now…I know that we are all friends but I do feel jealous from time to time because I wish I had that with Joey or anyone. I mean who knows what we could have had if Yugi had not came into the picture. Nevertheless, once I commit myself to someone or something I go all in because I would want people to do that for me. I don't believe in being there every now and again, I will either give my life for you or I will watch you lose yours. So I would do any and everything to keep them safe, even if it means getting into trouble or worse.
So that's my truth…
It turns out that I am number three on the most pathetic anime characters of all time.
Apparently, just because I am not a duelist that means I could not have possibly changed my life. I chose to stop hanging around random gang members and getting into any fight that I could. I chose to stop hurting people and decided to protect the people that I care about because trust me, I have been burned enough in my life by family and friends alike, to stop caring about people altogether but I didn't. I chose to stop smoking marijuana…. (well not altogether) but at least I'm not high twenty-three out of twenty-four hours of the day in some abandoned house like I used to.
Apparently, flirting with my best friend's younger sister is a crime when Duke Devlin was doing the exact same thing, in front of Joey. Oh and I'm an idiot as well because I told Tea on the boat to Duelist Kingdom that "The sun will come up soon" when she had to go to the bathroom. Well when the sun rises, all the duelists would be just getting up and the guards will be relaxed because everyone is asleep. Thus making it easy for her to sneak in, use the bathroom and come back outside (in the freezing cold I might add) because it was either that or the ocean. As for me becoming a robot monkey and other people saying how that was an improvement for me or something like that, is racist. I'm Afro-Japanese meaning that though I was born in Japan, my grandmother is from Africa; more specifically Nigeria.
While I'm on the subject, I shouldn't have even been in that duel because Nesbit wanted to duel Serenity (the best friend's sister) so he could have an easy win. I didn't see Duke step up because he wanted to protect himself, looking back at it I should have done the same thing. But I stepped up and tried to take her place not just because I liked her because trust me, other than my sister I don't like anyone that much; but because where I'm from you are supposed to protect a woman at all costs. But anyway, I admitted that I just barley know the basics of the game but with all the craziness surrounding it, can you blame me? I did understand that if your deck master was destroyed you lose and I knowingly sacrificed him so that I could save her. But you know what I should have done…I should have minded my own business and let her die…no seriously let her burn the way that I burned that day. I should have let Joey sit in the sand on the beach feeling sorry for himself and lose his will to live. I should have let Yugi burn to death in the building, I should have never said I noticed that he was missing and minded my business. I should have let Mokuba and Bakura, well Bakura because Kaiba was coming one way or the other, rot in the dungeon forever.
In case you haven't noticed, I was being sarcastic
But if I say things like that then I'm wrong and I'm the bad person…I think it's sad that no one sees that my intentions, no matter how random or out of character are good. Joey got a second chance but for some reason nobody wants to give me one. Besides Yugi but to this day I question whether that was because I'm Joey's friend or because he genuinely wanted to know me. I don't know, but I don't feel it is my place to ask because I don't want to make things even more weird.
I'm just another Joey or a Joey clone or a sidekick
My name is Tristan Taylor and I have my own life story.
I have been friends with Joey since I was twelve years old after I lost my place on the track team to him. I was always the anchor but he was put in my place, which I hated him for but when we started winning together I got over it since the rest of the team was trash anyway. But he got kicked off for gang related charges and was not allowed to compete after that. I knew that we weren't going to win without him and in all honesty, I was interested in his life after that. You know that thug/gangster life, the real deal. As I mentioned I was a very active smoker, I knew how to cheat the drug tests they gave me and I was a good fighter but that was it. Just local kids around the way but never Hirotani's gang or anyone from Rintama for the matter because most of those people don't have anything to do except fight and hurt people. But because of my habit and overall treatment of people because of it, no one wanted anything to do with me. So I started turning my back on people as well and that's why I started to talk to Joey. He didn't mind my habit and I didn't care about his charges so we got along pretty well.
After a while we started to trust each other more and more because I started telling him some things, invited him to my home and things like that. While he took me to some of his hang out spots, namely with Hirotani's and his gang. I was scared but because Joey knew me I could hang around, plus I had good weed that I would supply. But before I could really hang out with them I had to prove my worth by fighting each and every one of them. The catch was it was at different times so I was basically getting jumped until I have fought each of them. I defeated all of them except for Joey and Hirotani himself, which impressed him enough to teach me how to brawl with them. Joey just got his role as Hirotani's second in command so he was going to teach him as well so we learned together. After about a year, I was very close to actually being initiated when I saw the last thing I needed to do, which was the torture chamber. I had to be there when they tortured someone for a reason I was not allowed to know and then I was asked to participate. I knew I had a decision to make, I had my own family problems. Dad fighting my mother, mother complaining I'm not good enough, etc. but either way I knew my sister loved me and I didn't want her to see me in prison or worse; not after everything she's done for me. I didn't have the guts to do it, I think that's why I looked up to Joey; because he did.
So I decided to leave…
But of course they would not make it that easy and the last thing I remember, I was in the hospital with my sister by my side and Joey outside my room; I'm guessing he felt guilty. Ever since then we still hung out but I would try to convince him to get away from those guys and you all know Joey so he didn't listen. But I still stood by him whenever he got into a fight, whether he wanted me there or not because as I have mentioned, if I am nothing else I am loyal. I guess that stuck after a while because he left them, he never specifically told me why but I can assume that he didn't want to be in that life anymore either. But we never really talked about that as he had his secrets and I had a few of my own as well.
Moral to the story…I am not his sidekick; I am a friend that has stood by him when no one wanted to be around him or myself at the time. Looking back at this, I was much more loyal to him than he ever was to me. But normally when that gang feels betrayed or wants you dead, that's all there was to it but yet I'm still here. I'm almost certain that he had something to do with that but again we never talked about it. More like an unspoken acknowledgement that only the two of us understood. So we have a certain type of bond that I can't explain but I know will always be there, even if it is often overshadowed by Yugi and Tea.
Tristan is only friends with Yugi and Tea because of Joey.
In some ways that is true but mostly misinformed…you guys didn't think I knew big words like that. I'm actually really smart, I used to get high marks on my exams but after everything that happened with my family, the day my father snapped; I stopped caring. But back to this statement, I met those two through Joey but I formed my own bond with each of them. Think about it, Tea and I don't duel so it is normally just the two of us on the sidelines and though she is normally annoyed with me, we do have good conversations. It was when I was paired with her during a class project was when I really started to get to know her. She didn't like me and vice versa but we both agreed that since we were stuck together we may as well get a passing grade. We had to meet almost every day after school to get it done and when she saw that I was pulling my weight and not leaving her with all the work, she started to talk to me. Asking me questions as to why I picked on Yugi, my history with Joey and things like that. I asked her questions in return like where she had to go directly after our study session and why would she be randomly dancing in the halls when she thought no one was watching. She thought I didn't notice but after a while she told me that she wanted to go to dance school in New York and had a job to pay for it. She made it very clear that if I told anyone she would kill me, so to appease her I told her about my drug use just to let her know she could trust me. She had a shocked expression on her face and asked if I was on steroids because of my strength. I laughed and explained that it was weed and that I still smoked most of the time. It was my turn to have a shocked look because she asked if I had any because she wanted to take a hit because she had never tried it before and that her dance friends use it to stay relaxed. Tea, the perfect goody goody, wanted a hit from me. I smiled and I gave her just that and I could not remember the last time I laughed that hard when she started coughing and complaining about how the smoke tasted. After that, we started talking more and more and now I feel we are pretty close.
As for Yugi, after I started hanging out with him I saw that people were still giving him a hard time and I decided to defend him; to repay him for helping me that day. Yugi was of course against it but I did it anyway because when I saw kids younger than us picking on him, I couldn't take it anymore. He invited me to come around more often and at first I refused because I didn't need to see him taking my only friend away from me in person. But he was insistent and I figured that I didn't have anything left to lose at that point, things at home were getting worse and I was on cloud nine more often. He just said that I couldn't smoke in or around the house which was understandable. So I went and after the initial awkwardness we became a tight little group.
So yes…Joey was my introduction to them, but I befriended each of them on my own.
There are full pages devoted to myself and how much I am hated and useless and every other horrible thing that I can think of. But I was once told, you are not ready for success if you ain't ready for people to talk about you.
So keep talking….
I'll still be here, standing by friends if you have any more questions or responses.
Tristan Taylor
The one you love to hate.