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129: Magikarp

With Magikarp being as common as it is, you wouldn't think it would be in the last leg of the original Pokedex. Magikarp is one of Pokemon's originals with the longest lasting appeal, being widely known as Pokemon's most useless creature. A Pokemon so inept, that it's a fish that hardly even knows how to swim, and the move it's most well known for is Splash. Which, does absolutely nothing. The only other moves it gets are the extremely weak Tackle and Flail.

Even the POKEDEX has very little nice to say about Magikarp. It's just absolutely pathetic, and that's all part of this line's charm.

In design, Magikarp is about as basic a fish as it gets for the series, but still holding onto a number of unique aspects that make it stand out, like the vacant expression that puts emphasis on how out of place it is in a battle. Plus some whiskers possibly to hint toward its draconic evolution. In a lot of ways this is what I meant when I said Tauros was missing a bit of something. Just enough "oomph" to keep it from being nearly indistinguishable from a real-life animal.

THAT and its "completely and totally average fish" look is arguably the point of the design. It purposefully looks weak and unimpressive, because it only makes its evolution all the more impactful. I do kind of envy any child that managed to play RBGY completely blind and trained up a Magikarp just because they were curious, but then...

Personal Score: 7.5/10

RRRRGH. DEATH TO ALL WHO OPPOSE ME!

130: Gyarados

The Magikarp line starts a trend I'm always fond of seeing when it happens in Pokemon. Most of the Generations of Pokemon have at least one Pokemon that starts out so pathetically weak, it's nearly unusable. (Funnily enough, most of them are also Water types.) BUT. If you can tough it out and work past the wimpy start, your reward is an absolute beast. And seeing that drastic evolution happen is great. And to this day, Gyarados still feels like the most cathartic out of them all.

Gyarados is nothing short of one of Gen 1's coolest Pokemon. It's a big, badass dragon that's understandably pissed off at everyone being assholes to Magikarps everywhere. It's plenty helped that the thing, at least in casual play, is a nearly unstoppable monster. I do love how despite the drastic change, it's still held onto some of Magikarp's defining features, like big yellow fish lips, the aforementioned whiskers, and dorsal fins. And all these features tweaked just a bit to serve Gyarados' badass silhouette. My one gripe is usually with artwork, but its "neck" can look a bit stiff at times. This isn't really a problem on the newer 3D model thankfully, and I get it's supposed to suit the profile of a colossal sea serpent in that way, but still.

Gyarados and Magikarp together are based on an old Asian legend of Dragon Gate, a gate sitting atop a waterfall that serves as a destination for fish that attempt to swim up-river and up an entire waterfall. Despite all the ridicule and dismissal, a carp that is able to accomplish such a feat will be transformed into a dragon. Which is much symbolic of the uphill battle that is training a Magikarp to eventually become a Gyarados.

Gyarados, surprisingly, is not a dragon, but rather a Flying type. In terms of the game, this was done supposedly because Gamefreak thought it was unfair for there to be a Water/Dragon type and have its only weakness be fellow Dragon-types, which were a rarity back in the day. Let alone combining that with the fact that there weren't any decent Dragon moves back then. But, Gyarados is also opting to appear as a koinobori, a type of wind sock made to look like fish. I think it's a neat compromise, which lends the design to be a little deeper than on first brush.

I mean, it's a final boss's signature Pokemon for god's sake.

Mega Gyarados:

And once again, surprisingly, a Mega Evolution for Gyarados doesn't grant it a Water/Dragon typing, instead going for Water/Dark. Mega Gyarados here is one of my favorite Mega Evolutions. Heck, it WAS my favorite Mega Evolution until another one came along. Second-best is still good though. But Mega Gyarados takes after its base and builds off of it so nicely. Its color scheme is a little bolder and more defined, the front end of it is beefed up and intimidating, and the massive fins on its back give it so much menace. It really is an item of how I wish some of the less appealing Megas approached their designs, where they seeked to emphasize what's already there.