Poor Magikarp. Over the past decade and a half, the flopping fish has been verbally walloped not just by Pokémon players, but by the creators who made him so pathetic in the first place.
Granted, it's true: Magikarp is generally considered the weakest Pokémon, and his abilities totally suck. But his flopping is kind of cute, and he evolves into a sweetass dragon.
And come on, do we really need to be so cruel to the little guy? I mean, just look at how he's described in Pokémon X/Y (via TinyCartridge):
Holy crap! How can you not feel bad for this thing?
Granted, that description might be old news to hardcore Pokémon fans: after all, that "virtually worthless" text is just copy/pasted from FireRed. In fact, Magikarp has been getting crap from the people who make Pokémon for over a decade now, despite the fact that you can actually solo the Elite Four with him.
Here's what they say about the poor fish in Pokémon Diamond:
They're especially harsh in Pokémon Ruby:
Jeez. Is all this really necessary?
Just look at this compilation of Magikarp descriptions (via Reddit):
Hey Pokémon Company, have you considered that maybe, just maybe, Magikarp might get stronger if he had some more confidence, which he'll never develop because you guys call him weak and pathetic every chance you get?
Bullies.