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happy may, trainers :)

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You know, some time ago I talked about the relationships between the Explorers, and how they're pretty clearly a disconnected group of people with a lot of rifts and divides between them. In the little relationship chart I showed I specifically highlighted Spinel as distinctly isolated from everyone else who has some interpersonal connections with each other. But thinking about it more, while that still holds true, I wonder if Spinel's isolation from everyone else to the group may have more to it than I initially thought.

Looking at it, he seems to really more come off as something of a social recluse who does not interact with people well, especially face-to-face. He seems to have traits that mirror Dot: namely he stands out as someone who is tech-savvy and Internet-savvy as well, using technology and the Internet to his advantage. He's also seemingly a reclusive shut-in who stays holed up in a room with a computer and commands his Pokemon from afar so he never has to interact with people face-to-face. Which is to say, he's evidently not good at interacting with people, and not only that, he would actively prefer not to interact with others if he can manage to do so. The closest admin to him is Chalce, but even then there's some distance between them.

But on the other hand, while he doesn't really care for his fellow Explorers admins and they don't really like him either, particularly Amethio, Coral, and Sidian who also mutually dislike him in turn, he's very close with his Pokemon. Most notably his main partner is an Umbreon, who is a friendship evolution, ie evolves from Eevee by sharing a close bond with its Trainer. Spinel very clearly loves and cares about his Umbreon, and Umbreon in turn is also very loyal to him. His Umbreon also has a defensively oriented moveset with Reflect, and moves like Foul Play and Snarl to turn the opponent's power against them while hitting them. This makes Umbreon come off as a protector of Spinel, who is loyal to him and will always protect him and be by his side no matter what. If there's anyone he considers his friend, it's his Umbreon, and from the way they interact Spinel does in fact cherish it and consider it his very dear friend. He's also relatively kind to his other Pokemon like Magneton and Beheeyem, as even when they both failed him, he didn't treat them badly. I think he's someone who is capable of forming bonds with Pokemon and loving them, and that his deal is that he does not like people, but trusts Pokemon instead, and for some reason is more capable of forming close relationships with Pokemon.

When Friede and Spinel met in person for the first time, Friede calls Spinel "shy". Friede seems to notice that Spinel very distinctly comes off as a loner, to the point where he's surprised Spinel would even work with his other admins in any capacity (and Spinel admits he's just using them to keep his hands clean, admitting he is a loner).

Spinel is also very notably a complete and utter yes-man to Gibeon, completely following any order Gibeon gives, which the other four don't. There's something going on there, like he might be trying to win over approval from Gibeon because he wants his talents and skills to be recognized by someone and sees Gibeon as that person. That might also explain his hostility towards Amethio and the other admins, because he sees them as a threat to that.

Spinel is certainly interesting in this light. The other admins all have their own struggles and insecurities that contribute to the group's overall disconnect, but they keep close with certain others despite disliking the rest. Amethio and Coral both seem to want to belong somewhere, and they do have their own close connections with Amethio having two subordinates in Zirc and Onia who care about him and he cares about as well, and having a close relationship with Hamber, while Coral and Sidian are close, and they're both close with Chalce. But Spinel is a loner who doesn't get along with humans but does however get along with his Pokemon. He has no close relationships with his fellow Explorers members, but is kind to his Pokemon, with his closest partner being his Umbreon who he cares about dearly and Umbreon cares about him as well.

I do wonder what led Spinel to join this group and what he will do. He has his own motives and will likely contribute to the disconnect of the Explorers that may prove Gibeon's downfall. Amethio, Coral, and Sidian seem like they'll be good ones who might help the RVT in some way or another, but Spinel may betray Gibeon for his own self interests. But looking at all this, his character is actually quite interesting and unique.

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You ever have that one song you really like and you sorta indirectly associate with one of your favorite characters the more you listen to it because it just gives off their vibes.

Been listening to this song from IVE for quite a bit and it's just so Dawn core imo, it just really embodies her essence imo.

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Thinking about the Explorers and the relationships between different members in the group, and the characters of the individuals ones we've met so far.

There's clearly a dichotomy between them and the Rising Volt Tacklers about how the Rising Volt Tacklers are a close knit and supportive group of people who take good care of each other and that is their strength, while the Explorers...really don't.

The above image is a very basic showcase of what the closest connections seem to be, but to elaborate a bit.

I think there are a select few characters among this group who are probably the most redeemable and present the clearest foils to the kids of the RVT, namely Liko. Those being Amethio, Coral/Sango, and Sidian/Onyx.

Amethio and Coral in particular don't seem to be inherently evil per se, but in different ways they seem to have underlying insecurities and problems that show themselves a lot, especially in contrast to Liko. Especially in the recent episode where Liko and Coral had a baking showdown. Liko won because she had experience, and notably she had her friends Roy, Dot, and Murdock cheering her on. Meanwhile Coral was alone and had no support, and yet it's clear she was genuinely trying and seemed to want to be recognized as someone who can do something. Sidian doesn't seem to be a particularly bad guy either.

Within the groups Amethio is pretty close with his two grunt subordinates Zirc and Onia while Coral and Sidian are close with each other specifically. Those are the closest they have to friends in their own groups.

Hamber and Chalce (Agate) are probably the closest to being adult figures for certain members of the group. Hamber takes very special care of Amethio, while Chalce is specifically close with Sidian and Coral where she's the one giving them orders and now is posing as a teacher and working with them specifically.

That said, for whatever reason that we don't fully understand, it seems Hamber and Chalce aren't particularly good at being the proper parental figures Amethio, Coral, and Sidian seem to need. Liko, Roy, and Dot are with the RVT and have so far been looked after by a very supportive group of adults in Friede alongside his buddies Orla, Mollie, Murdock, and Ludlow, all of who care about each other and have been great parental figures to the kids throughout their time with them. Diana, Liko's grandmother, also has a good relationship with Liko, which is also a contrast since Diana and Hamber were once friends. Meanwhile Hamber and Chalce are also pretty detached from each other as are the members they care for, the Hamber+Amethio+his goons and Chalce+Coral+Sidian sub-groups don't really like each other very much for whatever reason.

Which definitely raises some interesting questions about the dichotomy and contrast that seems to be presenting itself. Hamber and Chalce are admittedly interesting in different ways as they're the closest to being like the RVT adults in that they are serving a guardian role for certain other members but evidently aren't the adult figures Amethio and Coral truly need, or the support network they seem to need.

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And yeah, Spinel is there on the right all by himself. I think it's quite obvious what his deal is. He does not care about anyone else in the group. He openly dislikes Amethio and admits to using Coral, Sidian, and Chalce for his own self-gain. He only cares about himself, and he's setting up to be the traitor and a big bad himself who's sucking up to Gibeon for the time being, but fully intends to backstab the group and try to overthrow Gibeon once they all stop being useful to him. He's the most straightforward purely evil villain character like Hunter J from DP.

A long ass ramble but some interesting notes I felt were fun to speculate about.

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The Powerhouse line of clothing, featuring various pseudo-legendaries, is live on the US Pokemon Center site!

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No amount of gifsets in the world could come close to conveying the sheer gender of anime Rika

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They did a bit of PLZA teasing in Corocoro too. I'm hoping that, as we got with Legends Arceus' marketing, we got our first news at the end of May, that it'll be the same again.

(Also, noting the Mega Salamence 👀)

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Happy 1 year to Pokemon Horizons! (I've really enjoyed it and the breath of fresh air it's been so far! Looking forward for what's to come in the future!)

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Dot's blush when Liko compliments her school uniform 🤭

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Travelling squads over the years.

As Liko, Roy, and Dot make their Terastal Debut, they are truly growing into a great squad of travelling friends of their own now, making their big debuts as Trainers on their own two feet.

Welcome to the club, you three, and do your best!

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Will, the third OP Song for Horizons

This is such a bop and catchy, I love it so so much.

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I am thinking about how Dawn has competed in all sorts of contests in various regions, including Hoenn, Unova, and Johto.

When she left after her BW guest appearance she went to Johto to compete in the Wallace Cup and supposedly competed in Contests all over there.

And when you consider she's already close with Lyra, I often wonder if those two met again and travelled together during Dawn's time in that region. Lyra and Dawn very quickly struck up a friendship during Lyra's short time as a guest character in Diamond and Pearl, and I can imagine they crossed paths again and stuck together during their time.

Dawn, Lyra, and Khoury travelling group in Johto at some point, which we never got to see, but I just know it probably happened and that it was an awesome adventure.

(Side note: I also imagine Lyra watching the Masters 8 and Ash vs Leon and seeing Dawn in the stands, being totally supportive of her being there to cheer him on in person).

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my favorite persona girlies 🏹💘💗

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With the recent reveal of Gibeon owning a Shiny (White) Zygarde, many people have been trying to use this to insinuate that Horizons may take place in a separate continuity/timeline/universe from Ash's story.

However, I disagree, and I think that not only does Liko's show still take place in the same continuity as Ash's story, but that such sentiment is frankly something that goes without saying. If they truly wanted to create a new, separate continuity, why wouldn't they just use a new version of Ash to establish that? And in such a case, I believe they would be much more liberal about using legacy characters because such characters would be new versions of them, not the ones we know: the fact that they're largely avoiding acknowledging legacy characters for the most part implies they're still out there in the world Liko and Roy are travelling. It would also needlessly complicate things like potential meetings which have immense marketing value like an Ash and Liko meeting down the line. The world Anipoke has taken place in is so large and has gone through so much worldbuilding with still more potential for even more, that Ash and Liko can viably exist in the same world without crossing paths. There's no business or storytelling benefit to making Horizons a new continuity, as Liko and Roy are fundamentally different characters with a different space in the world from Ash to begin with, and it would be a total waste if they just dropped all the worldbuilding they had done over the past 26 years. Thus, it is most certainly in the same continuity as before.

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Now on to my main point, I think there is a much simpler explanation to the existence of Gibeon's Shiny Zygarde that can justify why it exists even with the existence of Squishy and Z2, and in that same world. And one that I think may raise very interesting implications for this story and where we may be headed. Also one that mirrors the games, particularly SV and its deal with Terapagos and the Paradoxes.

I believe that Gibeon's Zygarde, alongside the Black Rayquaza and the rest of the Six Heroes who were believed to be Lucius's companions, are honorary Paradox Pokemon who were magically willed into existence by the power of Terapagos.

It is easy to miss, especially if you don't stop to think about it, but Terapagos's power, aside from being the harbinger of the Terastal phenomenon, is the power to create paradoxical things. It can "create" things using its power, things that originate from human imagination to those who believe certain things about them, but when you stop to think about those things, it makes no logical sense for them to exist in the way they are explained.

This is especially evident in the actual Paradox Pokemon from the games. Sada and Turo willed them into existence using their "time machine" and believe them to be Pokemon from the ancient past and distant future, or the one we "see" in the Crystal Pool being from alternate timelines. But as their names imply, their existence is a paradox: their whole deal is that they're not supposed to actually exist, and yet somehow, they got willed into reality and given life and physical existence. The dubiousness of their existence is enforced by their drawings in the Scarlet/Violet books, created 200 years prior to the game's events by Heath and his expedition team, contradicting the fact that Sada/Turo only created the time machine 10 years prior to the game's story. The dubiousness of how they came to be is also reinforced by their only other mention being in the Occult magazines, which are questionably trustworthy at best. We know that their existence started in Area Zero, a place filled with Terastal energy thanks to Terapagos, thus the latter is the creator of them.

The paradoxical nature of Terapagos's power is also reflected in the Crystal Pool event at the end of Indigo Disk, a place where you can seemingly talk to the dead, and Terapagos summons a Sada or Turo who was alive, supposedly before they created the time machine. And you give them Briar's book in exchange for the Scarlet/Violet book. But the more you think about this event, the less it actually makes sense, and the only conclusion you can make is that if it were our own Sada/Turo, the entire game's timeline would implode upon itself.

Now on to the anime, Gibeon is now known to have been a companion of Lucius. Lucius and his friends have the stories of their adventures chronicled in books and legends. This incidentally also parallels how the Paradox Pokemon are chronicled in Scarlet and Violet the games. But when you stop to look at everything, aside from Terapagos, the nature of the Six Heroes' existence is incredibly dubious at best, to the point where it's questionable if those six ever actually existed, or if they did, how they came to be. The same would likely apply to Gibeon's Shiny Zygarde. The Black Rayquaza is the biggest example: aside from being a Rayquaza, it is always shown glowing and crystallized, likely surrounded by Terastal energy. It may have even been created by and willed into reality by Terapagos itself, literally formed by Terastal energy. This is sort of hinted at very early on, when Liko's pendant, which was Terapagos, and Roy's special Poke Ball, which unleashed the Black Rayquaza, resonated with one another, and the Black Rayquaza didn't emerge until it resonated with Terapagos, which may imply that it wasn't actually in there and Terapagos used its power to will it into existence, alongside the other five heroes. The other Heroes seem to have abnormal traits as well, such as a giant Arboliva and two of the heroes being legendaries, and they only "awakened" once the Black Rayquaza did. This may imply they weren't real, and the only one of Lucius's Pokemon who wasn't willed into existence was Terapagos itself, who used its power to "create" companions for Lucius and its friends.

The same may apply to Gibeon's White Zygarde as well, who may have been willed into existence by Terapagos. This Zygarde, along with Rayquaza, are the biggest anomalies not just in their different coloration, but that they were literally owned by someone, which in the anime world should not be possible as major legendaries like them are largely above being owned by Trainers. Them being Paradoxes willed into reality by Terapagos would explain this.

This is most certainly an interesting turning point, and may raise a lot of questions to the true tale of Lucius and his friends, and what Rakua truly is. One thing is certain though: Terapagos and its special powers surrounding Terastal energy and the creation of paradoxical things seem to be playing a major role here.

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i did a thing (finally)

pls let my girl have her fully evolved baddies and be cold with it im BEGGING

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More YukaMitsu❤️🩷

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With Koro-chan 🐕

Villain arc no further I'm back to my platonic / semi-platonic P3 senpai trio lmao 😂👌