User:Temporal88/Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series

Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series is fan parody of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime created by Martin Billany, better known by his screen name, LittleKuriboh.

Overview
The series is an attempt to shorten the original episodes and provide humor based on drawing attention to eccentricities or plot holes in the original anime. On average, each episode of the abridged series (ten minutes) covers two episodes (forty minutes) of the original series. As time went on, more and more humor was also derived from references to popular culture.

During the first two seasons, all characters in the series were voiced by Martin, with the only exception being the character Rebecca Hawkins, who was voiced by his (now) ex-wife. However, the third season saw the addition of several other amateur voice actors to voice the villains of that arc, many of whom have created their own abridged series and claim Martin's series as their inspiration.

History
The series was created by Martin after seeing a fan made summary of the plot Yugioh, which inspired him to create his own tribute of sorts to the show[1]. Originally, Martin only intended to abridge the first episode of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series. However, the reception to the first episode was positive enough to motivate him to continue with his series, and to commit to completely abridging the entirety of the cartoon.

Awards and Recognition
As the series gained popularity on Youtube, Martin began to make appearances as a guest of honor at several separate anime or comic conventions.

Additionally, the fanbase of the abridged series was large enough to secure enough votes to earn Martin's channel (CardgamesFTW) the Mashable Open Web award for 2009 Funniest Youtube Channel[2].