This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.
The Gyarados article you were waiting for.
Allow me to quote Suzanne Hader in her definition of what a Bildungsroman is, because her site came up third in my Google search for “Bildungsroman” and therefore she’s credible.
A Bildungsroman is, most generally, the story of a single individual’s growth and development within the context of a defined social order. The growth process, at its roots a quest story, has been described as both “an apprenticeship to life” and a “search for meaningful existence within society.”
In my attempts to explain Magikarp’s evolution into Gyarados, and where it fits in the Bildungsroman (and eventually, Supra-Bildungsroman) genre, I will use the most canon version of the story available, taken from the events of the game Pokemon Red (©Nintendo, 1998). I will follow the three core tenets of the Bildungsroman and explain how Gyarados’s story fits with each. Finally, I will describe its ascendance into the Supra-Bildungsroman genre, inside the Pokemon Red canon.
1. To spur the hero or heroine on to their journey, some form of loss or discontent must jar them at an early stage away from the home or family setting.
In this case, the loss of freedom is what forces Magikarp away from its home setting. Once a friendly fish in the waters near Mt. Moon, Magikarp was tricked away from its home by an Old Rod, only to be pawned off for a mere 500 PokeYen. Forced into the titular hero’s — Red’s — quest for the championship of Pokemon’s Roman-style gladiatorial battles, Magikarp is locked into a series of battles that offer two choices: fight or die.
2. The process of maturity is long, arduous, and gradual, consisting of repeated clashes between the protagonist’s needs and desires and the views and judgments enforced by an unbending social order.
To the two aforementioned choices, Magikarp chooses neither. Its “fighting style” is a mockery of the evils it is forced into abetting. The Splash attack which Magikarp uses can do no damage to its Pokemon opponents. It’s not that Magikarp is the weakest Pokemon; it just refuses to be the strongest and reflects its pacifism through its moveset.
During Red’s quest for the championship, Magikarp refuses to use any attack other than Splash, which Red takes as a challenge to his authority. Red decides to torment Magikarp by having it fight in every battle, only to withdraw it and force Magikarp to watch as its co-slaves brutally murder their opponents. But with every battle, Magikarp gains experience. And its Splash becomes more and more honed.
Soon, Magikarp evolves.
3. Eventually, the spirit and values of the social order become manifest in the protagonist, who is then accommodated into society. The novel ends with an assessment by the protagonist of himself/herself and his/her new place in that society.
In Magikarp’s evolution into Gyarados, it becomes the very embodiment of Pokemon’s bloody battles. The curses that its now-dead “opponents” yelled at the sky as they drew their last breath are manifested in Gyarados’s Dragon Rage.
The harsh reality is that in a world as sick and twisted as this, mortal enemies become one’s closest friends. Gyarados remembered each of the individuals it was forced to watch die at the hands of its “comrades”; at the hands of Red. And it vowed to never forget.
But Gyarados breaks the stale formula of the Bildungsroman after this point. In reality, Gyarados’s story is that of the Supra-Bildungsroman, whereby:
4. The protagonist, after having manifested society’s values, realizes the terrible mistake he/she has made. Through sheer determination, the protagonist breaks through the shackles of conformity and creates an entirely new society, learning from the mistakes of the old one.
With its newfound power, Gyarados decided to rebuild civilization. Turning on its master, Gyarados ripped Red in half with its powerful Bite. Red’s dismembered corpse left entrails smeared on the side of Biker Road — a sign of things to come for the society which birthed the enraged Dragon God standing in its path. Gyarados was ready to get its Splash on.
Over the course of three Pokeyears, Gyarados unleashed a rebellion that caused the rivers to run red and the mountains to tremble. Enlisting the help of its free Pokebretheren (the most notable of which were Jigglypuff, the Siren of Death; Mewtwo, the Betrayed God; and Mr. Mime, the Pedophile-Priest), Gyarados campaigned in an attempt to free its kin.
tl;dr: Retarded fucking fanfiction. People fucking die. Pokemon fucking die. All of Kanto fucking burns and then Gyarados fucking dies. There, I spoiled it for you. It was some bloody fucking shit.
~1 Month Later~
The charred remains of Kanto spread beneath Giovanni’s gaze. Everything had turned to ash in the wake of Gyarados’s rebellion — Pokemon and human alike. Was this the equality Gyarados was looking for?
There was much potential in the Kanto region; it could be rebuilt. Silph Co. already had investors lined up. But Giovanni had seen the problems that powerful, rare Pokemon in the hands of children could create. He knew the only way to save Kanto from its fate would be to bear their responsibility himself. But Giovanni was only one man.
“Daddy, I want to go to the Pokemoon. I heard there are Clefairy there!” Red laughed, as he got ready to launch the bottle rocket.
“Oh, Red, you’re going to be such a faggot when you grow up,” responded Giovanni, ruffling his son’s hair.
The rocket he and Red had launched together was firmly set in his mind. Giovanni wanted to cry, but tears would do no good. He was just one man, true. But if he were part of an organization…
Related:
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/377178
http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/99
lolwut?
..
..
Uh, lots of life lessons to be learned here?
This is what I like to call “Dark_Sage remembers mythology class from high school and has nothing to do at the airport.”
I got what I wanted.
This is magical.
10/10
Sequel?
Probably not. :(
how about Abra post?
No.
how about a bra post?
What about the red Gyarados?!
That’s in like Pokemon Silver or something. This article is based Pokemon Red.
But it’s a tragic story!
LOL
this is so hillarious!
Poor Kanto. Eletric-type Pokémon had gone extinct in the whole region, so a water/flying-type Pokémon like Gyarados could roam around freely burning the place to the ground. :(
Btw, this should get an anime adaptation.
You forgot that Magikarp learns Tackle before it evolves into Gyrados. It’s the middle step, where he’s started to realize that he can’t fight against societies evils forever and has started to make certain allowances to his awful situation, but can’t bring himself to accept it fully yet, resulting in a half-assed attempt to fit in. Eventually he realizes that this wishy-washy behavior is the worst way to be of all, and that’s when he unleashes his rage as Gyrados.
Line 347 – Liberal/Logic/Nuance (recurring) x 5: “The Splash attack which Magikarp uses can do no damage to its Pokemon opponents.” / The name should’ve been translated as “KingKarp” with an accompanying TL note: “Japanese idiom, ‘Carp on a cutting board’ means ‘a hopeless situation,’ and even the king of carps would still be hopeless.”
In addition, “Splash” can technically be hopping in context, but since it is an attack name, it implies that KingCarp + TL Note {abbreviated} is always in a puddle, which is not true when summoned on a dry land (logic error).
Furthermore, “Splash” also implies that water can be splashed onto a Fire-Element Pokémon and damage them. It should’ve been translated simply as “Hop” or “Wriggle”. This translation has a horrible nuance, and I can only imagine an amateur-tier translator worked on this game.
*This is a waste of my time. Current total x2.
Major: ~10
Minor: Many
Accuracy: D+
Nuance: F+
Flow: C-
Overall: D+
NintendoUSASubs messed this one… bad. There were scriptwriting in the previous episode as well, such as “Kamonegi” translated as “Farfetch’d” (wtf???), when the obvious choices were “GoldenEggoose” or “SillyGoose”.
I already told you these $10/hour slave translators cannot be trusted. They don’t do justice to the greatest children’s RPG game ever made. If you’re impatient and buys the first translated release you can find, then you’ll be missing a lot of fine details of this game. Avoid and wait for QUALITY fansub release instead.
As a result of this mistranslation by NintendoUSASubs, Western viewers often fail to see that Gyarados is actually a KingCarp + TL Note {abbreviated} that reached Nirvana and become a God from the highest mortal status, king. Its name sounds like a made-up Greek God for a reason.
well… according to my own reasonable research and theorem, gyarados is an abbreviation of the Greek gyaros and the Spanish dos…
gyaros was/is an greek island whose extreme desolation and loneliness was legendary in the ancient world among both greek and and roman authors.
it also served as an place of exile for political dissents in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century if I remember correctly.
dos really just means two in spanish…
either that or it is a reference to the obscure holy Mayan archaeology site ‘dos pilas’
so, the name gyarados… ‘second island of desolation’?
which would pretty much explain his ravaging of the whole region until it was nothing more than a ‘desolated’ wasteland
Heh. Win. <3
I want to see a Pikachu fuck the shit out of a Gyarados.
Pretty funny, gotta give it to you.