Heya people of the Pokemon amino. This will be my second post and a continuation of the series where is ask and speculate about what would happen in the real world if a Pokemon was introduced to it. Before I begin, I’d like to direct you to my first post which I did on Onix and in the introduction I set down a few basic ground rules about this alteration which I recommend you read before you read the rest of this post.

http://aminoapps.com/p/qrjk13

I must credit TierZoo for pioneering the way I will be talking about this. Please go watch his videos or you may find the way I talk about it weird.

In my last post I had two people request to see one of these one Gyarados so I thought I would do that. If you requested another Pokemon, I will get round to it but this was requested most so I thought I would begin with it.

Gyarados

Gyardos has really good stats across the board. But it’s power is what truly shines through. This comes from its immense size and serpentine figure which allows it to use moves like Bind and Thrash along with its massive gaping jaw with immense biting power to be able to use moves like Crunch particularly well. This pure power means it can take down many Pokemon and animals in just one or two attacks and with its gaping mouth it can easily feed on lower levelled players like sardines. Additionally, if Gyarados is attacked from the side, its serpentine figure allows it to bend around and counter attack the attacker.

Art by ekronic

Furthermore, Gyarados can deal with stealth type attacks because they have the defence and health to take a hit from a stealth type attacker which often have lower stats so could immediately be taken down by a Gyarados. It’s health and defence are nothing to scoff at. It’s scales give it good protection against quite a lot of attacks and its size gives it this amazing health stat. Gyarados can take quite a bit before going down or having to retreat.

On the subject of retreat, Gyarados’ have pretty high mobility stats within the water so running away from a loosing battle or even chasing after prey isn’t necessarily hard for these massive beasts. Sure, the fastest prey can get away but with its power it can push itself forward fast to get great bursts of speed to take down opponents.

Gyarados’ massive size also gives it a sizeable intimidation buff. It is so high in fact that it even scares off the current top tier players, Humans. I can see very few Pokemon or animals even attempting to attack this Pokemon purely on that alone. And he only current threat I can see to a Gyarados is a pod of Orca’s. It is possible that one could beat a Gyarados but a pod would be much more affective.

The only problem with Gyarados’ build is its sub-par Intelligence. The current ocean meta relies on outwitting opponents. Like how seals and dolphins coral fish into an area to pick them off one by one. Or how Orca’s can generate waves with their power to attack those who would escape them on land like seals or sea lions. With Gyarados’ Intelligence I can only see some of the older, more experienced Gyarados trying a tactic like this. Gyarados have high enough stats for this not to be too much of a problem but I can definitely see Pokemon and other animals being a little more daring around them if they are smart enough to get away or fight said Gyarados.

Art by Drak

The last thing to mention is this species’ notable temper. Gyarados are known for going on rampages and being extremely violent. While this does give them an amazing intimidation buff it can cloud their judgement and it intensely lowers stealth, although with their tactics this isn’t really needed.

Art by HamsterToyBox

Based on all this I can see them trying to catch prey simply by catching up to them and engulfing them in their gaping mouths. However, this would be a last resort as their temper would lead them into a lot of fights with larger marine animals such as whales or something even a little smaller like a seal. These facts are all well and good, but we can’t talk about the idea of Gyarados being in the real world without its predecessor.

Magikarp

Magikarps stats are simply horrible. It is a fish which is such a weak swimmer that it can sometimes be moved by slow currents. Magikarp have next to no way of catching food for themselves due to all of this and the current ocean meta depending quite highly on being able to catch your food which often has high mobility. Additionally, Magikarp can jump in the air. While this seems good when you first hear about it, it also makes them vulnerable to birds.

So, as established. Magikarp are horrible. So, for a way for a Gyarados to be properly integrated into the world we are going to have to think about Gyarados in a different way. As good parents. In the current Meta, children and adolescents are often extremely vulnerable until adulthood and have to be protected by their parents. I see something similar happening in the real world with Gyarados and Magikarp. But, due to Magikarp’s swim speed, the way I can see it working is all the children of a Gyarados/Magikarp pod swim together in the middle and the Gyarados of the pod circle them, swimming around, fending off any potential attackers.

I would also suggest that, to give them food it would be a lot like how bird parents give their children food. So a Gyarados would go off and find prey, store it in them and regurgitate it for the Magikarp. This would go on as the way things go for Magikarp and Gyarados. And you sort of have to link the temper of the Gyarados to a sort of motherly anger. Like, “If you hurt my kids I will drop a nuke on you”.

Art by Hippocampus

Also, just to clarify, due to the Gyarados’ size I speculate that they would be ocean creatures as they would sort of take up a river. They would have evolved to live in saline conditions as I can see it being better for them in a “survival of the fittest” kind of way. In terms of how I believe they would effect the ecosystem of the ocean I don’t think the change would be too dramatic because they have a decent way to raise their young so they aren’t picked off by predators that much and are easy food. But, they also aren’t the top predators of the server so they can be taken down.

Art by Dotswap

Due to the way that the Gyarados/Magikarp pod would move, I think they would generally follow oceanic flows of circulation, but try and keep away from arctic seas where Orca’s commonly live and they aren’t suited to live as well. So, as their pod moves around I think it will have a small impact on the ecosystem of that area, lowering the population of the area a bit since Gyardos’ size gives it a high good cost. But I don’t see the pods being too large because of this to avoid infighting.

But, because they are constantly moving, being pushed by the currents, they would move away from that marine ecosystem and any damage down would regenerate soon and they could go on to feed in other sections of the ocean. I believe their numbers would fluctuate because of their weakness as a Magikarp. But, if a Magikarp makes it into adulthood it’s protection over the other Magikarp mean that their numbers will rise and so on.

Art by FlippingChicken

Now, in terms of how they would interact with the current leaders of the game, Humans, I think they would actually be quite aggressive towards them and boats and stuff in their territory. Magikarp and Gyarados have quite good immune systems so can live with human pollution unlike lost do other animals so that wouldn’t scare them away and as said before, if Humans encroach in them, the Gyarados have the temper and the might to overturn a few ships.

Art by Ice wolf elemental

Due to this, I think the humans would, not wanting to disrupt the Meta too much due to human politics, try to avoid Gyarados pods by monitoring where they are by looking at the oceanic currents. I think boats would have measures to deal with Gyarados but Humans would generally try to avoid them. Sure, they could lower Gyarados numbers but I also reckon when Gyarados attack ships Human numbers would lower as well.

Art by The dragon of doom

Now after some consideration I would like to see a Gyarados like this introduced into the current Meta by the devs. Some animals would have to slightly change their play style but it wouldn’t be an entire overhaul of the current Meta. They could put a dent in the human meta right now where that species is insanely OP and doesn’t force other players to quit because they are being nice. But even when they are trying to be nice, players still quit because they are just too powerful. Some Gyarados would be a nice addition to take a few humans down off their pedestals but not so much that humans decide to eradicate Gyarados.

Art by The dragon of doom

In conclusion, I’m going to rate the Gyarados/Magikarp build as A Tier. Gyarados is really powerful and can take a hit but there are definitely defeatable due to their sub-par intelligence. On top of this, their weak adolescent state means that they aren’t as necessarily viable as it takes a while for them to real their higher tier level and during this time they are easy to kill. If you intend on playing this class you must make sure you have friends who can protect you until you can protect yourself.

Please, tell me if you liked it and what you would like to see next. From the last post I’ve still got to do Unown, Houndoom and Greninja. So I will get to that shortly.

#CuratorReview

#RealWorldExperience