The Philosophy of Cyrus, the Evil Buddha of Team Galactic
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- Опубліковано 20 січ 2022
- Cyrus is the most philosophical of Pokémon villains. He is often called a nihilist, but I don't think that's entirely accurate. Let's take a deep dive and see what the boss of Team Galactic can teach us about ethics.
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Sources
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy articles on
Buddha: iep.utm.edu/buddha
Consequentialism: iep.utm.edu/conseque
Niccolò Machiavelli: iep.utm.edu/machiave
Nihilism: iep.utm.edu/nihilism/
Tweet from Nob Ogasawara: / 1482452701912858624
Footage
Pokémon Platinum by @DynamoJono : • Continuing Along Route...
Pokémon Ultra Moon by @GameboyLuke : • VS TEAM GALACTIC'S CYR...
Pokémon Masters by @HeroVoltsy : • Pokemon Masters Cyrus ... - Ігри
Whenever I see anything about Cyrus like this, I can’t can’t help but remember when Looker compliments his speech, saying it’s “Mesmerizing for one only 27 years old.”
DAMN
"I know I sound like a broken record, but... 27 years old?"
Actually, I'm 27 and a half.
I got you guys beat. I’m 24. I feel pretty much the same as Cyrus honestly. Maybe that’s why I love him as a character or maybe we’re all just broken
@@TeamGalactic-Cyrus Damn; same, man. And oh, how different we turned out!
Poor guy. He basically identifies his own incomplete spirit but personally denies himself the only way to complete it. I wonder if he learned his lesson after his defeat and learned to be more honest with himself. It's clear he cared and felt deeply about his dream of a new world. I think if Cyrus embraced his own emotions he would feel complete enough to not be concerned with how incomplete everything else may appear. I feel like his dissatisfaction with the world was likely just coming from him projecting his own feelings of incompleteness everywhere. I wonder what could have happened to him that was so bad that he went down this path.
I think that Cyrus grew up with a profound lack of trusted, consistent figures in his life. His parents were abusive, his friendships were short-lived because he lacked charisma, and his relatives only visited every so often and looked the other way about his abuse. He learned that connections and happiness are temporary, fragile, and unreliable respites from being in pain and on your own. He learned it was easier to live if you just ignored your emotions and tried to function in spite of them. But of course, he can't fully get rid of them, because he's human. And now he's in a place where he's highly materially successful, very charismatic, and surrounded by people who would kill to be his friends... and he's choosing to continue to try to kill his emotional needs instead of just making a basic effort to fulfill them like a normal person. Because it made sense back then. The result is a person who is too unstable and unhappy to see anything worth saving in the world.
He dead
@@Vi_-_how do you know
@@bunnybird9342 👽
Cyrus: "I don't want to live in this world so nobody else should either >:/"
He's such a nice guy
A psychological analysis of Cyrus with an actual psychologist and even the intervention of Nob.
This video was truly spectacular. Looking forward to the next analyses.
you reminded me I have to go back to my unfinished script on the simmilarities between Cyrus' plans and Neon Genesis Evangelion and Eva's connection with Nietzschean Phillosophy
So when's that video coming out?
You reached out to a psychologist and one of the gam'e writers????? This is an AWESOME video!!!
Cyrus specifically targets emotions, while being relatively fine with willpower and knowledge.
He sees all 3 as incomplete, and seeks to rid himself of them (starting with emotion). But in doing so, he rejects the chance at being “complete”.
All the knowledge and willpower in the world don’t matter if you have no motivation. And taking it a step further, other people are required to properly express emotions.
The only way to be “complete” is to accept all 3, and allow other humans to help out in areas you’re lacking.
I know this is very melodramatic, but in my defense, so is this game’s story.
... I'll consider it.
As someone who dislikes cyrus' fanon after Generations and USUM, this vid interest to me. Likening cyrus to an evil buddha is really spot on. In Gens, cyrus was distorted into villain who want futility. The closest western philosophy to cyrus' buddhist goal is stoicism rather than nihilism.
3 ways for explaining cyrus' mental issues is also interesting. I think trauma and obsessive compulsive are valid answers. As a child, cyrus had a strong bond with rotom. Even as an adult, he still used the power of emotions to lead Team Galactic, and saturn evaluate he's brilliant at this. The only difference is that his perspective on emotions has turned negative.
We can infer this from his grandpa's quotes too. He told that due to parents' expectations make cyrus began tinkering with machines aka rotom. This implies he wasn't like that at first. His parents expected him to revive their family business cuz he was a genius, and he really did it. But in the process he would have suffered from perfectionistic obsessions.
Of course pressure of duty doesn't explain all issue with cyrus. He also has backstory like grandpa's neglect and rotom loss. The result of all these things he was trying to be blunt in the wrong way to the pain. From this point of view we can also explain how cyrus has a crobat. He's not has trouble to feel emotion, he's just suppressing it.
His past is vague. It was good to be compare analyses. Cyrus is profound and mistranslations in english made matters worse. For example, a part hinting at cyrus in the rotom journal was deleted. Even today, I still find someone saying, "Cyrus wants to kill everyone, wants everyone suffer because he was." Despite his last words were, "One day, you will wake up in a world that my creation (like nirvana, at least where he thought it was a utopia)"
Fanon Cyrus usually sucks in general. Usually he's portrayed as an uwu soft baby or an emotionless void, neither of which are true.
Somewhat unrelated but it was the most surprising thing I've ever seen. Cyrus is 27. *27!* Him and Lusamine are the epitomy of "looks can be decieving.
Back on topic, I found it so interesting that Cyrus seems to be so manipulative to the point he has every single one of the Team Galactic members down to even the commanders and his Crobat (assuming the theory of him emotionally manipulating his Golbat is to be believed). Sure you could maybe say that about other team leaders like Giovanni but Cyrus seems to hold general destain for anyone who isn't him and puts up a mask when needing to interact with them and keep them alligned to help accomplish his goals. I just love how he's a massive contradiction and doesn't really even notice sometimes and I find his (to him) incappability to feel happy emotion fascinating. Maybe that's what caused the falling out of him and his friend Rotom. He seems to lack happy emotions and Rotom's default emotion is happy.
To be clear, I'm not suggesting necessarily that Cyrus manipulated his Golbat into evolving, only that it may not constitute friendship as we usually imagine it. It could be a bond over "we are broken in the same ways" or something like that.
I wouldn't say that most other villains are manipulative. Ghetsis, yes, but most of the others are pretty upfront about their goals, including Giovanni.
@@UmbreonLibris Of course. That's why I noted it as simply a theory since we really don't have a concrete idea of the relationship of Cyrus and his Crobat other than it being sort of confusing.
You also make a good point about evil team leaders being very upfront with their intentions. I think I was thinking of how these guys just have cultivated a group of minions through the art of false promises when, in reality, they and their grunts talk about their goals extensively and all seem to be eye to eye.
@@castform7Lusamine looks very young despite being over 40 because of Nihilego's poison.
Meanwhile, if you sit down and think about the actual implication of Cyrus being 27 but looking like he's over 40…
Excellent analysis, and I love that you always bring in people more knowledgeable than you on a topic to discuss it
This was really good, can't wait to see analyses on the other Pokémon villains
This was extremely interesting. This not only makes me appreciate the games' characters more, I even learnt something beyond the scope of games. Awesome!
Sorry but I've already claimed "best Chibi Cyrus impression"
i can't believe this video isn't more popular! love the in-depth look at cyrus. i always wrote him off because i felt his speeches were vague and more conceptual than anything (as are most pkm antagonists), but this made me reconsider.
I never gave his viewpoints much thought. I always just viewed him as a generic antagonist wanting to reshape the world. But after playing Pokemon Legends Arceus I started to become more interested. You are actually a member of what the original Team Galactic was in that game. And it confused me, because I was like how did it go from this to villainous group? But then in a cutscene it basically said that the Galaxy Expedition Team was going to eventually disband, but they were going to keep records. Which insinuated that Cyllene's descendant Cyrus read these records and had a very different take on them than expected. It made me think maybe there was more depth to him than I initially gave him credit for.
After LA, cyrus has been misunderstood as a nepo baby issue character. Some even treat him as a mutant born from cyllene's blood. They need to know the story properly. Cyllene wanted to pass on Galaxy Team to her descendants. But we can speculate that the business declined before cyrus became an adult. Cyrus' hometown is sunyshore city, not canalave or jubilife. And crucially, at stark mountain, charon refers to Team Galactic as "His own creation"
Also, cyrus' grandpa told cyrus was gifted child and abused by parents. Think about it with LA, we can know that the expectations he had to handle is revive the family business. And he really did it became perfectionist. He had a deep bond with pokemon rotom as a child like cyllene, and still suffers from rotom loss. But, he believes he must suppress emotions all because of perfectionism. This is why people only look at his persona and misunderstand him as a psychopath.
I'm not saying he's not a villain. But many people don't know fundamental problem. It's sad to see people blaming cyrus because of the Galaxy Team. Children aren't exists to fulfill the desires of adults.
I totally relate to Cyrus.
Fantastic video, congratulations to all the people who have worked on it! Can't wait to see more. Lusamine's episode should be really interesting!
Glad I ran into this video. Wasnt really a fan of Cyrus and thought he'd make more sense if he was a flawed spiritual leader, because his complaints about emotions sounded similar to desire being the root of suffering in buddhism. Nice analysis
This is awesome! A very thoughtful, insightful and enlightening video.
I would love to see more content like this!
This is an incredible video!! I salute you bro you really deserve way more subs
Great video and analysis on Cyrus! Regardless of the video it always cool to see that you bring in experts/well knowledgeable people on whatever field or topic is being discussed. Keep up the great work!!
Cyrus is me and I am Cyrus.
Such a great video - looking forward to your content this year! ☺️
Also loved your vocal performance, characterising Cyrus as angry Neo. 😁
I was going for Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk, but I'll take angry Neo.
When Cyrus says the Good Samaritan is a person from Samaria and then soon afterwards declares himself “ill intent”.
That being said, Cyrus does declare himself emotionless and driven so maybe he had his “ill intent” moment.
Very good video. (Also, I agree with Disembodied Wife Voice’s comment, Cyrus could use a massage)
Your acting is amazing, wow. I'm shocked!
Interesting. Yes, I always thought Cyrus was interesting with all his crazy ideals and at the same time lying; it's mysterious and hard to know where he really stands. The expert opinion is really interesting in trying to explain Cyrus. I maybe understand him a bit better now.
I can't take all the credit for the voice acting, I got a little assist from my friend Audio Editing Software.
@@UmbreonLibris Kudos to both of you. :p
that footage of the remakes kind of puts a dent into the rather dreary atmosphere atmosphere
I believe in “live and let live”. If you don’t cause harm upon me and others, I couldn’t care less how you live your life because that’s none of my business. But, at the same time, I suffer from a mix of depression and anxiety. So I completely understand where Cyrus is coming from. This world is filled with people who believe they can justify their own cruelty with their arrogant self-righteousness; hiding behind some religious or political belief, or that they’re “biologically and circumstantially predisposed to their actions” as if it gives them an excuse (ironically enough, the exact same thing Cyrus does). There are days when I wish someone would “Push The Button” and end the world. Wipe the slate clean so those who survive can build a better world.
But, that’s not going to happen. This world, this life, is the only one we have. And we all have to face the consequences of our actions someday. Cyrus faced his consequences by getting stuck in the Distortion Realm. He got exactly what he wanted. And it’s possible it’ll drive him mad. Those who cause harm in real life will eventually face their own consequences. Such has happened throughout history, and will continue into the future.
For what it's worth, we _can_ build a better world, and we don't even need to scrap this one in the process.
Is he even stuck there though? You and Cynthia can just walk out.
Or perhaps more specifically, is Giratina keeping him there? Because if he's kept there by anything, it's his own stubbornness.
I know this video is old but speaking of rotom i feel like the refrenced it in the manga when the finale villian was defeated by a rotom possessing a toy robot
... rotom ...
This might be your best video yet ;)
Agreed!
Agreed!
Look…it's definitely up there, but I have a feeling you're a little biased.
cyrus is one of those villains where i very much get where he's coming from on a personal level because of my own experiences, i've felt like i want to erase my own emotions plenty of times but can you maybe chill a little bit dude? seek therapy or another method that doesn't involve erasing the universe perhaps? good grief... but overall his motivations (to me) are pretty understandable
Tldr: Cyrus is not okay
I am not okay,
@@TeamGalactic-Cyrus HE ADMITS IT, GUYS IT’S HAPPENING HE SAID IT
@@xinsomniacaddictx1218 OMG HE'S NO LONGER IN HIS PERFECTION DENIAL
@@luckyinky7849 THIS IS HUUUUUUGE
Where’s Mars, Cyrus?
I’m like 99% certain that Charon discovered rotom and not Cyrus considering the diary entry in rotom’s room ends with “Ch…” and not “Cy…”
(OOC: Charon may have been the first to document it, but maybe Cyrus met rotom first.)
I did my own analysis video of Cyrus a few months ago and I'd love it if you took a look! It's in my Pokémon playlist. I did do it in one take so there's a few times I misspeak, but I had a lot to say, haha (it's over an hour long!). The promised follow up where I look at Ultra and Masters will come after Masters fully finishes their villain arc.
Where does the idea that he's autistic come from? I'm autistic and I just plain don't see it in him. The only Pokévillain I think is is Lawrence from the second movie.
Also the Rotom stuff always seemed like a massive retcon to me. In Platinum they seemed to indicate it was either Charon that was the kid (we know he was involved in the research on it anyway) or that Charon stole it from someone in the Old Chateau. Heck, in Ultra, Cyrus even tells Rotom "if I had met you sooner, would things have been different for me?" Which seems to establish that he couldn't have been Rotom Kid. And a few years ago there was an official video that *showed* Rotom Kid and he was a little redhead with big glasses--very clearly not Cyrus. But now they seem to want to retcon that despite it not fitting Cyrus's preestablished backstory at all.
If you want a really good take on Cyrus, check out the Diamond and Pearl Adventure! manga by Shigekatsu Ihara (not to be confused with Pokémon Adventures: Diamond, Pearl, Platinum). There's one scene that shows off what happens when Cyrus feels happy, and it's honestly wild. He realizes that he's enjoying himself, battling with the main character, relaxed to the point where he even smiles...and when he realizes this, he *utterly snaps* and tries to kill his opponent! To Cyrus, this kid is too dangerous to be left alive, if he can divert Cyrus away from his goal for even a moment! So not only do we see that Cyrus is capable of feeling happy, we also see that he rejects it *so violently* that it drives him into a frenzy! Though to be fair in this series he never claims to be emotionless, only saying "emotions only cause pain".
I don't get how anybody ever believes that he's emotionless. Even in the original DP he sure used a lot of exclamation marks in his dialogue. And of course the fact that a truly emotionless person wouldn't have such a strong desire to change the world. But to this day I find people who are convinced that his emotions were taken by Mesprit and it's like...why? Where do people pull that from? So wild.
Anyway that was an interesting video for an absolutely fascinating character~
His difficulty with emotions and socializing is what hints at potentially being on the spectrum of autism disorders. But it could also be more like antisocial personality disorder, which seems more fitting, and that's why I focus on that one.
@@UmbreonLibris He seems to just have difficulty with his own emotions. He can understand what others are feeling and connect them to the stimuli that would inspire them just fine. Dismissing it as illogical and irrational doesn't mean he doesn't understand them. It's his lack of insight into his own emotions and why he feels so bitter towards the world, probably not connecting it to his own history, that he stumbles on. Though granted he also thinks that the emotions of others are delusions, lies people tell themselves.
Does he have difficulty socializing? The ferocious loyalty he inspires from his followers would indicate he's doing *something* right. Heck, look at the latest Masters event. He calls them tools to their faces and they still want to go along with him.
im autistic too & i see a Lot of signs in cyrus (but that may be just bc i like projecting). i think his “not interacting with humans/pokemon & only interacting with machines” thing is a sign. it couldve been a special interest of some sort for him (just like space). also his facial expressions & how he doesn’t socialize with others might also be a sign. the “not living up to his parents’ expectations” thing is smth lots of autistic people (including me) can relate to & his sensitivity/leading up to bottling up his emotions (kinda like autistic masking) reminds me of myself and lots of other autistic ppl’s experiences also. autistic ppl also tend to have a big sense of justice, like how he is very passionate about his ideals and how “they are his justice”. also i think his conversation in the distortion world could be an example of sensory overload/a meltdown in this context. he is either a really low-empathy autistic or a high-empathy autistic & probably has alexithymia. but again, this is all probably me projecting. basically, i never felt like he had antisocial personality disorder, more that he was autistic, and these are Some of my explanations
edit: he also had lots of trouble socializing as a child, whether or not he ‘outgrew’ that growing up. maybe he just learned to mask it or learned, from observing others, how to ‘properly’ socialize. also! some autistic people struggle with black and white thinking, which is basically thinking smth could only be good or bad. in this case, cyrus thinks emotions can only be bad, never good. just another thought i had
@@josefujosta He also seems to be able to read people extremely well. We don't know that he had trouble socializing, just that he didn't like to do so.
@@BJGvideos i mean, not all autistic people necessarily share the exact same signs so he could still be an autistic who can read people well. just my two cents (also not liking to socialize is still sort of an autistic thing. at least for most autistics ive met)
That’s because you and Cyrus are one in the same. He sent you to the Hisui region, a time where seemingly no one has any spirit until you show them how helpful Pokémon could be.
Honestly I relate to Cyrus and his outlook on life. I never understood people and how they think and Vice versa. I’m almost thirty and none of it makes sense to me still.
i always found myself agreeing with him
Why did you give Cyrus the voice of Filthy Frank?
this voice acting!!
My good friend Adobe Audition gave me a hand with that one.
I can absolutely identify with Cyrus
He is an absolute icon
This is crazy but why he got the dogs out tho?? 😳
Perhaps I may be too late in commenting but hopefully the majority of viewers see this
When having children
and it's touched on at the end of the video
if you have had clinically diagnosed depression, or, have reached a point where you believe you need therapy, first of, please seek therapy, please please please, don't do it because I am asking, do it so that you can be pushed into a less negative life path, now, if one of these two things is the case, then chances are your children will develop depression as well
if you have children or plan on having children, make sure that you raise them in a location you know you will live there for a very long time, the more people move as children, the harder it is to create lasting valued relationships in the future and can create a plethora of behavioral problems in the future because they're early life was so unstable, ESPECIALLY around the ages right before puberty, it is world shattering to have all those hormones rampant and then not have anyone you know around you when something like that is happening, the movie Inside Out, the girl was going to move places and well, Disney went a real Disney way about it to portray the anxiety created with having to leave friends behind
talk to babies a lot, the more you communicate with children the more words they learn the more neural paths are created, the bonding experience, you're they're parent anyway, you have to talk to them, this is where bed time stories come in
those are just some quick tips, you can search some of this stuff up, researchers have done a great job documenting depression that is basically generational, the effects of moving, the effects on communication
News flash: parenting is not easy, shocker, it's up to you as a parent to provide them with the life tools so that they can live a fulfilling life, and that hard work will be returned when they care for you in old age
Going Off topic
Why does cyrus sound like filthy frank?
Dude! I knew it! Cyrus does have some form of autism! I emailed a friend back in 2010 and this guy was part of the discussion! 😟
IMO literally most of the Pokémon characters are autistic
Cyrus was going to end suffering, and prevent it from ever returning. By stopping him, all the blood of every instance of suffering in all of space for the rest of time falls on the protagonist's hands.
"We did, Mesprit! We saved the world!"
Cyrus' world would have been one where we were all asocial, emotionless machines that existed only to work. Every instance of joy, friendship, creativity, and compassion is just as much the fault of the protagonist as instances of suffering. I think that's more than a fair trade.
>he is le evil
Imagine being a 36 years old that watches a baby cartoon and says "le antagonist is le evil because its le evil antagonist". Mindless.
Cyrus did nothing wrong
Insert soyjack here. Grow up.
@James Furey the person that's white-knighting for a manchild obsessed with video games is telling me that I give off "soy vibes". That's huge.
You're in no position to call anyone soy if this who you stick up for.
What's going on here?
@@luckyinky7849 quite obvious. The clown that responded to me deleted his comment out of shame.
@@samthefalconii9631are yo uh saying that the man with beard is a childish for discussing about pokemon?