• A new LGBTQ+ forum is now being trialed and there have been changes made to the Support and Advice forum. To read more about these updates, click here.
  • Hey Trainers! Be sure to check out Corsola Beach, our newest section on the forums, in partnership with our friends at Corsola Cove! At the Beach, you can discuss the competitive side of the games, post your favorite Pokemon memes, and connect with other Pokemon creators!
  • Due to the recent changes with Twitter's API, it is no longer possible for Bulbagarden forum users to login via their Twitter account. If you signed up to Bulbagarden via Twitter and do not have another way to login, please contact us here with your Twitter username so that we can get you sorted.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl General Discussion

You took Cyrus seriously?
The same way you should any aluminum-clad, powder blue-haired adult who sincerely thinks that entry-level nihilism is the ultimate truth of the world.
I know one PokéTuber who thinks Cyrus is one of the best villains in Pokémon.
 
I know one PokéTuber who thinks Cyrus is one of the best villains in Pokémon.

Which is fine; I'm pretty sure they've got company in that opinion.

I just don't find him compelling, personally. There's hints of something interesting there, I'll say that, but I think the way the story goes about it is really over-the-top and it emphasizes all the wrong things. Cyrus's philosophy just strikes me as very childish - saying that emotions are the source of pain (astonishing levels of insight there, mate), so we should do away with emotion altogether and become sterile, unfeeling drones (or, excluding himself, nonexistent altogether; it's unclear what exactly he ultimately wants the world to look like). There's no nuance there, it's just melodramatic pessimism. Maybe if they zeroed in more on his personal traumas it'd be more convincing, but even then, the goal he intends to accomplish (literally becoming God) is a huge stretch.

To me, the most intriguing thing about him has always been something that the story never picked up on or addressed - the fact that in order for him to believe that his goal is attainable, he has to have faith that the myths of Sinnoh are true and that the power of Dialga and Palkia is as universal as the stories say. Cynthia serves, or at least could serve, as a counterpoint to that, as someone who researches the myths with more of an interest in their cultural value and what they can tell us about the way people used to live. She's the one who puts forward the possibility, in Platinum, that Dialga and Palkia were maybe just overexaggerated by the people in olden times, but that that's not what's important about the stories and how we relate to them now. For Cyrus, it's kind of the opposite - he believes that the modern world has entered an untenable state of decay, and believes that the solution to this lies in the mythology of how everything began; thinking that if we could go back to that pure state, we could try again to create a more stable reality. There's a tension to be examined there, between his apparent "rationality" and cold, logic-based way of thinking, versus the intangible faith that he must necessarily have in the old legends if he is to use them to his advantage.
 
Last edited:
He's really not. I mean, his entire plot boils down to "I want to destroy the world because I'm sad."
Which is fine; I'm pretty sure they've got company in that opinion.

I just don't find him compelling, personally. There's hints of something interesting there, I'll say that, but I think the way the story goes about it is really over-the-top and it emphasizes all the wrong things. Cyrus's philosophy just strikes me as very childish - saying that emotions are the source of pain (astonishing levels of insight there, mate), so we should do away with emotion altogether and become sterile, unfeeling drones (or, excluding himself, nonexistent altogether; it's unclear what exactly he ultimately wants the world to look like). There's no nuance there, it's just melodramatic pessimism. Maybe if they zeroed in more on his personal traumas it'd be more convincing, but even then, the goal he intends to accomplish (literally becoming God) is a huge stretch.
Cyrus also has a backstory that explains his motives. As a child, he lived in the company of machines and fell in love with the way they worked: with mechanical perfection. In Pokémon Adventures, his ideology was even extended to the Team Galactic Grunts, who are in a hivemind and always act in a perfect unison while wearing an emotionless expression.
 
Cyrus also has a backstory that explains his motives. As a child, he lived in the company of machines and fell in love with the way they worked: with mechanical perfection. In Pokémon Adventures, his ideology was even extended to the Team Galactic Grunts, who are in a hivemind and always act in a perfect unison while wearing an emotionless expression.

Which is relegated to like a couple of lines from a pair of NPCs whom you meet after-the-fact (and one of them only exists in Platinum, making his presentation in DP even more flimsy). This is what I mean when I say I think they could have focused more on his trauma and his warped upbringing, and on how it led to him developing the worldview that he did. You can definitely connect the dots (I'd also mention his childhood bond with a friend he could never touch), but the arc needs a stronger spine to really give it a clear shape.

Like, even the notion of him "falling in love" with the way machines work betrays the fact that some emotions and experiences are still important to him and animate him, despite what he may say. Explore that!
 
If Ball seals are back I hope they work better than in the originals, with the odd inability to box a Pokémon with seals on.

The same way you should any aluminum-clad, powder blue-haired adult who sincerely thinks that entry-level nihilism is the ultimate truth of the world.
Plus he's so unthreatening the region Champion is okay with letting a ten year old handle him while she sits and watches.

I'm gonna be honest though; I always thought of Team Galactic was supposed to be a joke with all the meta comedy about the grunts.
 
I'm gonna be honest though; I always thought of Team Galactic was supposed to be a joke with all the meta comedy about the grunts.
I actually thought it somewhat fed into the general façade of the team and showcased Cyrus' manipulative ability much more.
 
Well, Charon was the one with the actual backstory with Rotom, so I thought they were referencing that.

There's really nothing that proves that diary was written by Charon other than it being in his lab, and I think the elaborate, careful speech is much more suggestive of Cyrus. As I understand it, most of the Japanese fandom has always taken it to have been written by Cyrus.
 
There's really nothing that proves that diary was written by Charon other than it being in his lab, and I think the elaborate, careful speech is much more suggestive of Cyrus. As I understand it, most of the Japanese fandom has always taken it to have been written by Cyrus.
Well, that reduces my opinion of Charon even further...
 
Please note: The thread is from 8 months ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
Back
Top Bottom