Rex Raptor
Rex Raptor, known as Dinosaur Ryuzaki in the manga and Japanese anime, is a duelist specializing in Dinosaur-type monsters. Initially introduced as a formidable competitor, his reputation takes a hit after losing to Joey Wheeler, leading to a long-standing rivalry fueled by humiliation. Alongside Weevil Underwood, he becomes a frequent source of comic relief due to his repeated failures.
Rex briefly allies with Mai Valentine when she manipulates him into helping her get revenge on Joey for defeating her. Despite his arrogance, vindictiveness, and overconfidence, Rex is notably more honorable than Weevil, as he duels fairly and adheres to the rules. His pride is evident when he wagers his most treasured card, Red-Eyes B. Dragon, against Joey’s Time Wi zard, intending to use it to turn the tables on Mai. However, after losing the duel, he reluctantly surrenders Red-Eyes B. Dragon as promised, demonstrating that he upholds the stakes of an ante match.
| Names | Rex Raptor, Dinosaur Ryuzaki(ダイナソー竜崎) |
| Gender | Male ♂ |
| Race | Human |
| Occupation | Duelist |
| Origin | Yu-Gi-Oh! Chapter 60: "Challenge!!" ！！！(March 4, 1998) (tankōbon volume) |
| Alignment | Bad |
| Age | 15[1] |
| Height | 165 cm (5ft 4in)[2] |
| Weight | 52 kg (114.6 lbs) (8.18 st)[3] |
| Created By | Kazuo Takahashi (Japanese: 高橋 一雅) |
| Personality Type | ESTP, 8w7 (Enneagram) |
| Voice Actors |  Japanese: Kin Fujii (Episodes 2-59), Yuichi Nakamura (Episode 131-onward)
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Appearance
Rex's character design was overseen by Kazuki Takahashi and features multiple layers of clothing and expressive facial animations. His signature look includes a green jacket, a red beanie cap, and tan pants. During Duelist Kingdom, he also wears a tan vest over his jacket and a black shirt, while in Battle City and beyond, he switches to a yellow shirt under his green jacket. His hair is brown with dyed purple streaks near his forehead, and his eye color is a mix of purple and blue (though his small pupils often obscure them). He wears a KaibaCorp Duel Disk on his left hand, and in the Waking the Dragons arc, he upgrades to a Chaos Duel Disk.
In the Yu-Gi-Oh! (1999) film, his design differs slightly, featuring black hair with dyed pink streaks and a purple cap.
Personality
Rex Raptor is arrogant, brash, and highly competitive, often boasting about his skills as a Dinosaur Duelist. Despite his confidence, he frequently finds himself humiliated, particularly after his defeat by Joey Wheeler, whom he subsequently views as a rival. While he shares a close association with Weevil Underwood, Rex differs in that he duels fairly and does not resort to cheating.
He has a vindictive streak, holding grudges against those who defeat him, but his overconfidence often leads to his downfall. Unlike Weevil, who relies on deception, Rex prefers direct, power-based strategies in both his dueling style and personality. He is also somewhat opportunistic, as seen when he temporarily allied with Mai Valentine in hopes of gaining an advantage.
Despite his flaws, Rex has moments of sportsmanship, such as when he willingly handed over his prized Red-Eyes Black Dragon to Joey after losing fair and square, even though he had initially planned to double-cross Mai. However, his arrogance and inability to accept defeat often lead him to make rash decisions, contributing to his repeated losses and decline in reputation.
Biography
Toei Anime & Yu-Gi-Oh! (1999 Film)
Rex makes a brief appearance in the Toei anime movie, Yu-Gi-Oh! (1999 film), where he is seen getting up after losing a duel against Seto Kaiba.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters
Duelist Kingdom
As the Western Japan Representative (though this detail is omitted in the English dub), Rex competes in the Japanese National Duel Monsters Tournament, reaching the finals against Weevil Underwood. Though Weevil emerges as the champion, Rex implies that he intentionally lost, and given Weevil’s tendency for underhanded tactics, it's likely his deck was stacked.
Due to his status as the tournament runner-up, Rex receives a personal invitation to Duelist Kingdom. Unlike most participants, he is provided with his own room aboard the tournament ship. Onboard, he and Weevil encounter Yugi and Joey. While the duo is excited to meet them, Rex, in contrast to Weevil’s polite demeanor, simply states that he’s only interested in showcasing his "Dino Demo" and crushing his opponents before walking away.
Later, Rex invites Mai Valentine to his room, where she proposes a duel. If he wins, she promises to do anything he wants (or give him a kiss in the English dub), but if she wins, she gets to claim his room. Confident in his victory, Rex accepts. However, the duel takes place using Mai’s cards, which she has sprayed with distinct perfumes to identify them. This trick allows her to predict his moves and easily defeat him, forcing Rex to surrender his room.
During the tournament, Rex grows frustrated that Mai has accumulated more Star Chips than he has. He challenges her to a rematch, but she repeatedly avoids him, claiming she has already defeated him once. However, after losing to Joey Wheeler, Mai refuses to duel him again. Instead, she agrees to face Rex—on the condition that he defeats Joey first.
Rex eagerly accepts the challenge, wagering his most prized card, Red-Eyes Black Dragon, in hopes of winning Joey’s Time Wizard (in the Japanese version, Red-Eyes Black Dragon is described as an incredibly rare card that cost him all his savings). His overconfidence proves costly, as Joey defeats him, claiming not only Rex’s Red-Eyes Black Dragon and Dragon Nails but also his Star Chips. With his elimination, Rex is sent off the island off-screen.
Battle City
Rex makes a brief appearance in the Battle City arc, where he is defeated by Espa Roba. Roba uses his brothers’ psychic ruse to cheat, allowing Jinzo to crush Rex’s Serpent Night Dragon. Following his loss, Rex warns Joey about Roba’s strength before leaving the tournament.
Later, he is seen among the spectators watching the semifinal duel between Yugi and Kaiba in Domino City, alongside other duelists.
Waking the Dragons
In the Waking the Dragons arc, Rex and Weevil are loitering around Domino City when they are ambushed by Gurimo. He steals their souls using The Seal of Orichalcos, though they are later freed after Yugi Muto defeats him.
Determined to stay close to the action, the duo follows Yugi and his friends until Rafael defeats Yugi and takes his soul. Desperate, Rex and Weevil plead with Rafael and Alister to let them board their helicopter. The duo is taken to Dartz, who offers them power—on the condition that they pass a test. Each is given a piece of the Orichalcos Stone and must successfully grasp it. Both succeed, proving their willingness to embrace Dartz’s influence.
With access to Dartz’s vast card collection, Rex and Weevil strengthen their decks. Rex then challenges Joey to a rematch, but his confidence is shattered when Joey uses his own Red-Eyes Black Dragon against him. During the duel, it is revealed that when Rex and Weevil were regional champions, they were treated like celebrities. Duelists admired them and asked for autographs, but they would rudely demand rare cards as payment. However, after their humiliating losses in Duelist Kingdom, their popularity declined, and they eventually became aimless wanderers. All the rare cards they had taken from others were later returned to their rightful owners.
Blaming Yugi and Joey for his downfall, Rex lashes out, but Joey reminds him that they brought this upon themselves with their own behavior. Despite using The Seal of Orichalcos, Rex is ultimately defeated when Joey's Gearfried the Swordmaster destroys him, causing his soul to be taken by Dartz once again. He is later revived after Dartz’s defeat. Upon waking up in a hospital, Rex and Weevil immediately flee the scene.
In this arc, Sebastian Arcelus replaces Sam Riegel as Rex’s voice actor, resulting in a higher-pitched voice compared to earlier seasons.
Grand Championship
Rex and Weevil’s next scheme is to enter the KaibaCorp Grand Championship under the disguise of the duelist Fortune Salim. However, their deception is quickly uncovered when they are soundly defeated by Zigfried von Schroeder. KaibaCorp subsequently deports them back to Japan. (In the English dub, their fate after the duel is unclear, though they are later seen watching Yugi's duel against Leon von Schroeder, possibly in Domino City, looking on in disgust—suggesting they were sent back.)
Dawn of the Duel
Rex and Weevil make one final attempt at revenge by breaking into Yugi’s house to steal his Egyptian God Cards. However, they mistakenly take a bag containing all of Yugi’s Millennium Items instead. Yugi chases after them but is unable to catch up. While examining their stolen prize, they are ambushed by Yami Bakura, who sends them to the Shadow Realm and reclaims the Millennium Ring for himself.
As Zorc rampages through Ancient Egypt, the effects of his destruction are felt in the modern world. During this chaos, Rex is seen clinging to a pole to avoid being blown away by the wind. He later appears again after Zorc’s defeat.
In the final episode of the Japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Rex is seen dueling Weevil following yet another argument (this scene was cut from the dub).
The Dark Side of Dimensions
He appeared among the crowd at Kaiba Land, during the Duel Disk exhibition Duel. He, along with the rest of the crowd, disappeared thanks to a distorted Aigami, but returned along with everyone else when Aigami was reverted to normal.
Powers and Statistics
Tier: 10-B
Dimensionality: 3D
Powers and Abilities: Illusion Creation (Can create holograms of monsters and cards with his Duel Disk), Skilled Strategist, Soul Manipulation and Sealing via the Seal of Orichalcos.
Attack Potency: Human level
Speed: Average Human
Lifting Strength: Unknown
Striking Strength: Human level
Durability: Human level
Stamina: At least Average
Range: Standard Melee Range, Several meters with Illusion Creation
Standard Equipment: Deck, Duel Disk
Rex Raptor primarily utilizes a Dinosaur Power Deck that combines aggressive Beatdown tactics with a mix of low-level Dinosaur-Type monsters and high-level Dragon-Type monsters. His strategy revolves around overwhelming his opponent with powerful Dinosaur monsters, aiming to deplete their Life Points as quickly as possible. To further enhance his offensive approach, he incorporates Dinosaur-support Spell and Trap Cards that amplify the raw strength of his creatures on the field.
Although his deck is centered around Dinosaurs, his strongest monsters are often Dragon-Types, such as Red-Eyes Black Dragon, Serpent Night Dragon, and Tyrant Dragon. This may be due to the limited availability of powerful Dinosaur-Type monsters at the time.
Intelligence: Average ( Nearly defeated Joey in duels.)
Weaknesses: None notable
Trivia
- In Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s, a parody of Rex named Dinosaur Hakozaki is listed among the duelists defeated by Hunter Pace.
- In the original Japanese anime, Rex speaks with a Kansai accent. In the Dutch dub, he has a Flemish accent.
- "Dinosaur" serves as a nickname, while "Ryuzaki" is his given name. In the English dub, his name is a reference to Tyrannosaurus Rex and Velociraptor, two iconic dinosaur species, reflecting his affinity for prehistoric creatures.
