The Dramatic Crossroads Meme Came From Yu-Gi-Oh GX

You’ve probably come across the meme featuring a boy standing at a fork in the road. One path leads to a bright, beautiful castle in daylight, while the other takes you to a dark, ominous castle under stormy skies. This meme is known as Dramatic Crossroads and perfectly captures the struggle of making a tough choice.

Below, you can see the meme template:

This image became a meme thanks to a tweet in 2012, which inspired countless edits until it achieved meme status. But where does this image come from? The answer might surprise you because most people would never guess it originated from Yu-Gi-Oh.

The Dramatic Crossroads Meme Came From Yu-Gi-Oh GX

Dramatic Crossroads is actually a card that appeared in episode 47 of the anime Yu-Gi-Oh GX. You can even check out the scene where it appears:

This card is one of many created specifically for the anime and was never officially released in the Yu-Gi-Oh trading card game (at least as far as I could research).

It’s incredible to think this is a Yu-Gi-Oh card, right? I had seen this meme many times, but it was only last year that I discovered it originated from the anime. We’ve even talked before about manga panels that became memes, so feel free to check that out as well.

Dramatic Crossroads is a trap card with the following effect: It is activated when you take damage from an attack. The attacking opponent then has to make a choice:

• They can discard a random card from their hand, or
• Allow you to view their hand and select a card for them to discard.

At least, that’s how the anime explains it. The text on the card illustration shown above is a bit confusing.

It’s fascinating how this card, created solely for the anime, became the foundation for such a widely recognized meme.

via Você Sabia Anime