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It's HERO Time: The Best Looking HERO Cards in Yu-Gi-Oh

Elemental HEROs

Elemental HEROs were the first series of HERO cards to be introduced. They were introduced in 2004 when the tv show Yu-Gi-Oh GX came out. Jayden Yuki, the main character of the show, wielded the HERO in his duels across the multiple seasons of the shows. It was aways fun to watch him duel, because it seems like every episode he would unleash a new HERO from the extra deck.

The original 5 HERO monsters were Avian, Burstinitrix, Clayman, Sparkman, and Bubbleman. They designs were made by the creator of the game himself Kazuki Takahashi, and they were made to resemble elemental versions of American Superheros. Avian was a wind version of Hawk-guy from DC. Burstinitrix was based off of the Human Torch. Clayman was based off of the Thing. Sparkman is believed to be based off of Iron Man. Bubbleman was based off of Batman suprisingly enough. When they came out they also had a bevy of extra deck monsters that shared the same prefix.

The HERO strategy was originally based off of fusion summoning. To do this you needed two specific monsters in hand and a copy of the card polymerization. You would then fuse the two monsters into the corresponding fusion monster from the extra deck. For example if you had Avian + Burstinitrix you could make Elemental HERO Flare WIngman. As time went on however having these normal HERO monster in the deck became detrimental to the deck. A new wave of Elemental HEROs came out that made it easier to summon these monster by either taking their name or their attribute. Additionally the Omni HEROs, which are heavily featured on this list, made it so that you could use any Elemental HERO instead of a specific one. They also came with much stroger effects compared to their specific counterparts.

Later in their life cycle the Elemental HEROs moved away from their super hero inspiration and just became super cool looking monsters. Many of them are featured on this list so enjoy the art.

Contents of this tag:

Elemental HERO The Shining is technically a member of two different HERO archetypes: Elemental HERO and Omni HERO. The Omni HEROs are an unofficial archetype of Elemental HERO fusion monsters that require more general material than other Elemental HEROs. The material for The Shining is one Elemental HERO and one Light monster. This allows for the card to be teched into non-HERO decks that play light monster and one main deck Elemental HERO. The Shining is particularly cool looking due to the halo behind him, the simplicity of the armor, and the simplicity of the color scheme.
Elemental HERO Honest Neos is a strange card. It is never summoned to the field, and is only used for his effect to enable OTKs. So a few of the other cards on this list are known as beaters. Honest Neos is not a beater, but it makes every other HERO you control a potential beater. Basically you can discard Honest Neos from your hand to increase one of your other HERO's attack by 2500. This allows you to defeat almost any monster in battle which helps you perform OTKs. Other than that Honest Neos has no purpose. His design is very cool however. He is based off of another Elemental HERO named Elemental HERO Neos. Neos had a cool design already with red and blue stripes on his all white body, but then they added angel wings with a gold trim and allowed him to fly. I don't believe any further explanation is necessary.
Elemental HEROs are the original archetype that launched the rest of the HERO sub-archetypes. Elemental HERO Stratos however was not a part of the original line of monsters, and was released later on, Elemental HERO Stratos is known as a searcher which means he is used to search for cards in your deck and add them to your hand. Stratos is considered the best main deck HERO due to his ability to add any HERO to your hand from the deck. Stratos is the card that allows the modern HERO deck to perform well because it allows you to play all of the sub-archetypes together. Stratos looks good to me primarily due to his pose. It really feels like he is flight and the metal wings give a sense of speed and power. Additionally the card is a wind attribute, which is usually associated with green, but Stratos is primarily blue which makes him stand out.
Elemental HERO Absolute Zero is the best Elemental HERO fusion monster in the game. He is part of a non official sub-archetype of HEROs called Omni HEROs. Omni HEROs allow for a lot more play in decks that are not entirely made of HEROs. Absolute Zero is the best of the Omni HEROs because it is the most general of the Omni HEROs. This is because his requirements are one HERO and one water monster. The other Omni HEROs all require one Elemental HERO and one monster of the required attribute. Absolute Zero can use any monster from any of the HERO archetypes which makes it more versatile. Additionally when it leaves the field in any way it destroys all monsters that the opponent controls. This is a great effect because you can use it as the material for any of the other Omni HEROs since they all require a n Elemental HERO. Absolute Zero looks very cool as well. As per his name he is made of ice, which means that he should be very icy. His design reflects this with a lot of white and icy blue. He also has a lot of very sharp edges that could be seen as icicles or glaciers.
Elemental HERO Blazeman used to be one of the best monsters to play in a HERO deck. He sends a HERO to the grave to take its name and attribute. This is good when trying to fuse which is exactly what the deck wants to do. Unfortunately Vision HERO Vyon, another card on this list, now does the same thing without the restriction of only being able to summon fusion monsters. So unfortunately Blazeman see's almost zero play in modern Yugioh. With that being said he is still a great looking card. He has a cool balance of orange and white on his armor. Some very nice fire effects on his head. Then my favorite part are the little fireballs on strings that float behind him just have a very cool look to them.
Elemental HERO Bubbleman is one of the original 5 Elemental HEROs that were introduced when the cards came out. The original 5 were all based around different attributes, and different American Superheros. Bubbleman was the water attribute HERO and he was actually based off of Batman and similar cowled superheros. This inspiration is also where the name of the archetype came from, they were literally superheros that were given an element. Bubbleman was given the only effect out the first five , and that effect was to special summon himself from your hand if you control no cards. If you do this then you got to draw two cards. This made it an early staple in the deck since it was the best card to just keep in hand. Bubbleman's design is very cool. He has water tanks on his back and bubble cannon on his arm. He features a lot of large round features to his armor which makes it appear to look like bubbles.
Elemental HERO Captain Gold is one of the original Elemental HEROs that were released. Captain Gold is a very strange card. It is known as a searcher which means it adds a card from deck to hand. Captain gold can only add the HERO's field spell called "Skyscraper" so he is not very useful already. Additionally, if he is face up on the field and Skyscraper is not on the field he destroys himself. However, he is still one of the best looking HEROs ever made. His helmet has horns on it which resembles a Norse aesthetic. Additionally he has a very simple color scheme that blends together very well to create a great looking useless monster.
Elemental HERO Great Tornado is a member of the unofficial sub-archetype called Omni HEROs. Omni HEROs opened the HERO archetype up to play in other decks since his requirements are only one Elemental HERO and one wind attribute monster. He also has a really great effect for breaking boards. When he is summoned you cut all of the attack's of your opponent's monsters. This basically means that he will be able to attack and defeat any monster because of his high attack. Great Tornado's design is really cool as well. To start he has a really cool cape that makes him look like a wandering hero in the wild west. Then he has the large arm guard and braces. To go with the green and yellow color scheme really bring the design home.
Elemental Solid Soldier came out at around the same time as Xtra HERO Dread Decimator and Xtra HERO Wonder Driver. He is a main deck monster that has two abilities. The first allows you to special summon another HERO from your hand when he is normal summoned. The second allows him to special summon a HERO from the graveyard if he is sent from the field to the grave by a spell effect. Luckily all of the HERO fusion monster must be made by using a spell card, and most of them require 2 monster. So Solid Soldier can make a fusion monster by himself basically, and then he replaces himself with another monster. The best part of Solid Soldiers design are the diamond picks on his hands. They are a weird icy blue and that color is not used often which is why he looks so striking to me.

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Elemental HERO Stratos Elemental HEROs are the original archetype that launched the rest of the HERO sub-archetypes. Elemental HERO Stratos however was not a part of the original line of monsters, and was released later on, Elemental HERO Stratos is known as a searcher which means he is used to search for cards in your deck and add them to your hand. Stratos is considered the best main deck HERO due to his ability to add any HERO to your hand from the deck. Stratos is the card that allows the modern HERO deck to perform well because it allows you to play all of the sub-archetypes together. Stratos looks good to me primarily due to his pose. It really feels like he is flight and the metal wings give a sense of speed and power. Additionally the card is a wind attribute, which is usually associated with green, but Stratos is primarily blue which makes him stand out.