For almost 20 years now,Yu-Gi-Oh!fans have always wondered what happened to the iconic Fusion monster Elemental HERO Air Neos. Despite being one of the signature cards ofYu-Gi-Oh! GXprotagonist Jaden Yuki, Air Neos hasn’t been reprinted since it was first released in 2007, and a card released in 2022 that referenced a scene from the anime with every Neos fusion was even edited to exclude Air Neos.
The sudden disappearance of Elemental HERO Air Neoshas always been a mystery withYu-Gi-Oh!fans, and at long last, there’s finally an answer. When fans started noticing Air Neos’ disappearance, the most common speculation for its disappearance became that there were some sort of legal troubles surrounding Air Neos, and surprisingly,new information surrounding Elemental HERO Air Neos has just surfaced to confirm that it was, in fact, the victim of an intense legal battle. The details of it all are nothing but surprising, and it says a lot about just how intense copyright laws can be.
Konami’s Bizarre Air Neos Lawsuit Explained
It’s been almost 20 years since Elemental HERO Air Neos first disappeared from the world ofYu-Gi-Oh!, and fans have finally discovered why. In 2008,the indie comic book company Beyond Comics sued Konamibecause Elemental HERO Air Neos’ design allegedly copied the design of Ravedactyl, a character created by Beyond Comics founder Graig Weich. The official legal documents for the court case recently surfaced on social media, and considering how closely the two characters resemble each other and how Ravedactyl was created in the 90s, it’s hard to deny that Beyond Comics at least had a case.
Konami and Kazuki Takahashi have also publicly stated that they would go to comic conventions to get inspiration for newYu-Gi-Oh!monsters, so it’s possible that someone saw Ravedactyl at a convention and used it as the basis for Air Neos.
Even if there were legal issues with Air Neos, most people assumed it had something to do with whoever Konami hired to design Air Neos, as that also prevented cards drawn by Kazuki Takahashi from being printed outside of Japan due to him not wanting his art censored. In reality, though,Yu-Gi-Oh!got rid of Elemental HERO Air Neos because of a lawsuit with a comic book company most people have probably never heard of, and with nothing even being done with Ravedactyl or Beyond Comics, as a whole, people were quick to call the entire ordeal ridiculous.
Will Elemental HERO Air Neos Ever Return To Yu-Gi-Oh!?
Can Konami Bring Back Elemental HERO Air Neos?
After the lawsuit finally came to light, Graig Weich was interviewed and not only said that he only did it to protect his character, but that he did nothing to stop Air Neos from being used, and he had no issue with Konami continuing to use it. That suggests that Konami decided to get rid of Air Neos as opposed to being forced to do so, sonothing should be stopping Konami from continuing to use Elemental HERO Air Neos inYu-Gi-Oh!if Beyond Comics’ Greg Weich is to be believed.
Konami likely stopped using Elemental HERO Air Neos because the initial lawsuit was too much of a hassle to risk repeating; at the same time, 2025 will see Konami celebratingYu-Gi-Oh! GX’s 20th anniversary in a multitude of ways, includingan HD remaster ofYu-Gi-Oh! GX, soKonami could potentially bring back Elemental HERO Air Neos as the ultimate way to cap offYu-Gi-Oh! GX’s 20th anniversary celebration in 2025. All of that is hypothetical, of course, but withYu-Gi-Oh!’s big lawsuit finally coming to light, it would be great if anything positive could come from the ordeal.
