The Liko vs. Spinel contrast is interesting in hindsight because Liko's strength in her kindness, empathy, and capacity for connection and understanding feelings has even in her early days unintentionally set her up from Day 1 to be the biggest threat to Spinel's mindset and worldview, not just his ambitions.
Spinel's whole thing underneath his outwardly nasty actions is thinking primarily in terms of facts and logic, meticulously arranging things to go a certain way based on assessments of all variables, and being 100 steps ahead, but he doesn't account for emotion and connection and how it can flip the script against him in surprising ways.
His first plan to steal Liko's pendant was to try to bait her into an alleyway using her kindhearted nature against her, then temporarily wipe her memory, incapacitate her, and swipe the pendant and escape without leaving a trace, while using the time she spends wandering around and misdirecting Dot through fake online posts to stall the RVT while he escapes without any trace of his existence of proof that he was around. He knew the memory wipe was temporary, but in his eyes, it would buy him enough time that once she did regain her memory, it would be too late to catch up to him and he'd be back at the base with the pendant in hand. What he didn't account for was Dot, not just in her ability to use her clout as Nidothing to her advantage, but the fact that Liko for the past several episodes before that went out of her way to befriend her and try to reach out to her was something Dot was grateful for. She decided to repay that kindness by going out of her way to find her using her clout and connections to her advantage and also fighting for her out of sheer loyalty. Dot was the unknown variable because of Liko specifically, where things Liko did for her led to her getting involved out of emotional investment and successfully backing him into a corner.
His other plan to get Amethio suspended from the Explorers involved trapping him specifically with Liko together in a cave, and he deliberately chose a cave that had a small opening to above ground, and had Beheeyem spy on that spot to record footage of Amethio escaping together with Liko. He used Amethio's more honorable nature against him and knew both that Amethio was smart enough to figure out how to escape and that he would not hesitate to help someone when necessary, even if said person is an adversary. What he didn't account for was the fact that Liko would actively take the time they were in that cave together to try to connect with Amethio and understand him. So even though he successfully managed to frame Amethio, he didn't account for the fact that it led to him and Liko forming a genuine connection and bond, and even though Amethio never formally joined her, he's been willing to ally with her when necessary ever since. And it's obvious from the way he talks about them, even in the recent episodes, that the fact that Amethio and Liko have an alliance is something he feels genuinely threatened by.
She was also the big factor once again post-timeskip when Spinel doubled down to mentally crush Amethio and force him to give up, knowing that he was tough enough to stay alive but by relentlessly pursuing him and forcing him into isolation he'd resign himself and give up trying to fight. Liko was the biggest factor in not only finding him but him coming back and being ready to fight again, much more than any of Zirc, Onia, or Hamber were. Sure, the former two are unwaveringly loyal to him, and Hamber is also his surrogate parent figure, and they went out of their way for him, but they alone could only do so much. It was when Liko got involved, thanks to Zirc and Onia running into her and knowing how much Amethio respected her, and in turn asking her to help them find him, that made the big difference. Liko is very attuned to emotion and feelings, and she figured out where he was through the family photos in his mansion, which was something Zirc and Onia couldn't figure out by themselves (no disrespect to them).
So yeah, out of everyone, the biggest threat to his methods, mindset, and ambitions is basically Liko, and in a way, always has been her. For her to be the one to confront and battle Spinel directly is super fitting in that regard.
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But it also had a feel of "oh we didn't explain their backstories so we're putting all three of them here". Hamber is veeeery cool however lol. It did seem like Agate is loyal to Spinel because he promised something to her? Relating to her old school?
These are thoughts I've had for a while and that I just never really got around to write. Ep 130 gave me more to think about on the subject, and I am writing it down as future reference before the final episode of this chapter.
The main focus is Spinel, but I'll mention some other characters to get to my point. I can't talk about one character without mentioning others because everyone is connected.
Thinking about how the series establishes the importance of communication and reaching out, which we've seen multiple times through several characters, notably through mentors and students, coaches and disciples, someone who guides and the person being guided or in general, even people and Pokemon.
Friede, who is explicitly Spinel's foil as a former Exceed researcher, was lost at a point in his life. Lucca, his former school teacher, reached out and helped him and she is the reason he met Cap and pursued his passion. (The contrast between Friede and Spinel stands out even more, considering that Friede stepped away from the laboratories, while Spinel sank deeper and deeper into them.)
Hamber was the one who scouted Sango, Onyx and Agate. He felt responsible for the paths they took and reached out to them in a battle to teach them a last lesson and try to remind them of what's truly important. His actions eventually had an effect on them, as they had a change of heart and decided to go against Spinel’s orders.
Agate especially stands out, as she is the closest to Spinel. Her relationship with Hamber parallels Spinel's relationship with Gibeon. Both Agate and Spinel have been chosen for similar reasons. Gibeon acknowledged Spinel's skills as a researcher, and Hamber knew Agate was a brilliant teacher before meeting her. Spinel and Agate both became able to stand on equal grounds with the "person who chose them" as well (Spinel worked in tandem with Gibeon, while Agate could challenge Hamber in a unique way that Sango and Onyx weren't able to do).
Hamber and Gibeon were both characters willing to go to great lengths for their goals. Hamber said that the Explorers were not an organization of justice (ep 130), so he has no illusions about what he's been doing. His bond with Diana was strained during the early parts of the series, but they eventually reconciled (and she made him pay up for the damage he caused to her place). He was wandering and was lost at some point, but eventually found his way back on the path he wanted to walk (Gibeon helped him, and Diana was probably also an important presence to knock some sense into him after he joined the Explorers). Similarly, Gibeon had bonds which were important to him and reconsidered his views in Rakua thanks to Lucius, Amethio and Zygarde.
So, even Hamber and Gibeon who were in a position of "person who guides"* got to be on the receiving end of help and guidance at some point. (* Hamber as Sango/Agate/Onyx's coach, and Gibeon as Spinel's boss <- their relationship is complex, so I'm settling on this simple word to describe Gibeon's role towards Spinel, I could go on for hours otherwise.)
I think Spinel stands out even more in how alone he is, in contrast to all these characters who got reached out to and specifically in light of ep 130 which depicted Hamber feeling the need to take responsibility for Sango, Onyx and Agate.
Gibeon didn't take responsibility for Spinel (and can’t take responsibility anymore).
Spinel didn't get the luxury of being accepted or rejected. Gibeon didn't give him either. Gibeon could have taken a moment before he passed to tell Spinel to let everything go. Maybe Spinel wouldn't have listened, but it could have been something to hold onto, or words to remember. But Gibeon didn't, and Spinel was left abandoned. We don't know what Gibeon could have told him had he considered Spinel to be someone that may have needed some last words directed at him, so we are left with uncertainty regarding the matter or on what Gibeon thought of Spinel. On a personal level, I find that delicious narratively but it also fucks me up in light of the contrast to other characters who got reached out to by their respective mentors/guiding figures (Sango, Onyx, Agate, Friede). Spinel will never have anything of the sort.
(This is unrelated to Horizons, but something about Spinel's lack of closure with Gibeon reminds me of Light Yagami from hit series Death Note. (Which I want to write about, because the similarities between the two situations have been on my mind for months, so I want to remember that.)
In Death Note, Light's father eventually dies and his death leaves so many unanswered questions to Light. On his deathbed, his father looks at Light in the eyes and expresses relief when telling him "Light, I'm glad you're not Kira." His father had the Shinigami Eyes, which allowed him to see a person's real name and lifespan (if he can't see that person's name and lifespan, it means they are a Death Note holder), and he concluded that Light wasn't Kira since he could see his name. It showed that he still had doubts for years about his son's innocence after L's death and that he couldn't shake off the underlying feeling that Light may have been Kira. And the thing is, he was. He died comforted by a falsehood. He will never know the truth, and he will never accept Kira either. Which leaves so many potential questions: how would his father react if he knew his son was Kira? Would he understand? and so on. The appeal lies in these questions being unanswered forever. Light is stuck with a lack of closure, and I find that beautifully haunting. That's the one bit from the Death Note story that's made me insane for years ok.
It reminds me of Spinel's situation, though in an opposite way because in his case, he wasn't "seen" by Gibeon in his final moments and he didn’t even get any words from him either, but the idea of that lack of proper closure being haunting and deliberate strikes me as similar.)
Anyway, I wonder if Gibeon will get mentioned in ep 136. I understand that sometimes, not addressing something within the narrative is also a way to address it and that can be interesting in its own right. Though, I think that Hamber and Gibeon both hold responsibility in regards to the paths the Explorers admins took. Hamber's responsibility was addressed in ep 130, but it's unclear whether they'll touch briefly on Gibeon's part in shaping the current Spinel.
Spinel wasn't made in a vacuum. Gibeon has a share of responsibility in this. He chose him because he found him promising as a researcher, and he is the one who showed him the Rakurium and tempted him. Spinel probably wouldn't have known about it otherwise. In fact, their very meeting was only made possible through the Rakurium as Gibeon used it to prolong his own life, which eventually led him to meeting Spinel. Rakurium is what brought Gibeon and Spinel together in the first place.
It's possible that Spinel already felt the way he did about connections and betrayal prior to meeting Gibeon, and meeting the latter when he was in such a desperate position didn't help things. If anything, they probably validated each other’s pre-existing mindsets instead of challenging each other on them. Gibeon not acknowledging him in the end may have been a (possibly another?) betrayal in Spinel’s eyes and proof that people can’t be trusted, and Zygarde leaving Gibeon may have been proof that Pokemon can’t be trusted either (even though Zygarde did that to convey something to Gibeon that the latter eventually understood, and it wasn’t abandonment). At the moment, Spinel witnessed multiple acts of “betrayal” which probably reinforced his belief that his mindset was correct.
I think we get an insight on Gibeon's character and mindset through Hamber and Spinel, who are the two people he chose at different points in his life and opened up to. Both of them, as well as Amethio, mirror different sides of Gibeon (Amethio represents his noble sides and his pure dream of helping people and Pokemon, Hamber shows Gibeon’s desire to guide and nurture but leans into a gray area in terms of what they are both capable of for their goals, Spinel represents Gibeon’s darker and more “obsessive” sides in a way), and what Hamber and Spinel focus on is quite telling of Gibeon's potential priorities at the time he met them.
(ep 83 / ep 89)
Gibeon's dream, focusing on people and Pokemon’s prosperity, is what left an impression on Hamber. On the other hand, Spinel focused on the Rakurium. They met the same person, but they had two different priorities.
My personal speculation is that Gibeon was probably more content with life at the time he met Hamber. After all, he reached out to the man somehow, even though Hamber had no connection to him or Exceed, unlike Spinel. Hamber has seemingly known Gibeon for a long time, and I imagine that Maria was still alive at the time because Hamber became the family butler and knew Amethio as a kid. Thus, Hamber was influenced by the “noble sides” of Gibeon’s dream.
On the other hand, Spinel met Gibeon much later. Gibeon grew older and was probably much more desperate and focused on the Rakurium. Maria was no longer alive, and I think that played a part in Gibeon's hastiness and desperation to try and give some meaning to his life for the time he had left. That mindset is probably what made him choose Spinel.
I think the circumstances Spinel was picked in were a recipe for disaster waiting to happen.
Spinel is the culmination of the miscommunication and fear of betrayal that fostered for a century. He is the accumulation of hurt, isolation and grief that Gibeon carried and passed on to him. The embodiment of Gibeon’s original sin, and the monster that was created by him and then left behind.
Gibeon and Spinel’s relationship stands out uniquely among others because of that. It is unclear whether they communicated or not, but there seems to have been misunderstandings between them that they probably weren’t aware of.
It feels like Spinel was left to his own devices without much guidance from Gibeon. For example, Gibeon seemingly didn’t know about Spinel’s personal research on the Rakurium. When Amethio told him about the “Rakurium Sphere” in ep 87, Gibeon just retorted that Spinel took initiative towards drawing out the Rakurium’s power, and that it wasn’t wrong to do so. It’s unclear whether Gibeon knew what Spinel was doing in his lab, and Spinel probably would have wanted to hide it anyway?
On the other hand, Spinel probably thought that he “understood” Gibeon’s vision and that he was the closest one to, but his current actions don’t match Gibeon’s ideals at all. (Though as of now, he may be pursuing his own agenda unrelated to what Gibeon would have wanted.) Again, it’s unclear whether Gibeon properly expressed his vision to Spinel the way he did with Hamber. On Spinel’s side, there was probably a refusal to share and communicate, and on Gibeon’s side, he may have considered that his intentions were obvious? I find that really compelling. They may have thought that the other “understood” them, but did they really? (Which is just like Lucius and Gibeon all over again.)
Anyway, I’m not ascribing any moral value to all of this, I’m just lovingly sighing at this thematically resonant and completely disastrous mess that is Gibeon/Spinel <3 I’ve never seen such a unique relationship before, where two characters make each other spiral even more in a way that doesn’t feel intentionally malicious, but completely accidental yet tragic all the same.
Just two characters who are a bit too similar for their own good, in the “best” and “worst” ways. They share traits and hold similar values (they are intellectually curious and compatible and the only ones who saw eye to eye with each other on the Rakurium), and they have the exact same (very human) fears (betrayal). They may have been drawn to each other even more because of these fears (this is speculation on my part), and ended up enhancing them even more and feeding into each other’s worst impulses. Maybe they felt validated and were comforted by each other’s presence because of their similarities (the comfort can be in many ways btw, physical or else).
Spinel being similar to Gibeon is no coincidence, he is like another possibility of what Gibeon could have been without bonds. Spinel is what you get as a result of the century long tragedy mixed in with the lack of connections, and an enhanced attachment to something out of this world. Yet, despite all of this, they share a striking similarity, in that they both have had Pokemon by their side, through everything. Gibeon considered Zygarde to be the only one who remained by his side for 100 years and believed in him as his partner. Spinel’s Blacky is a steady, loyal presence for Spinel (and has tried to save him after seeing him be engulfed by the Rakurium) and they will seemingly highlight their interactions in the next episode. Zygarde and Blacky are quite similar in the way that they are more levelheaded than their Trainers who can be reckless and too focused on their goals. Zygarde managed to get his feelings across to Gibeon in the end. We’ll see about Blacky. I intend to watch over them until the end.
Anyway, I wrote this out of my love for Spinel and Gibeon’s characters and the way their relationship makes me go “damn, isn’t it kinda fucked up that Spinel’s isolation shines through so clearly compared to (gestures) literally everyone else and contrasts with the story’s themes of reaching out and taking the first step, and the ways lack of communication and connection are so poisonous and destructive in his and Gibeon’s case?”
Either way, it’s so sad. I’m eating it up nomnom. Love wins or whatever.
Yeah, the Strong Sphere's deal is almost exactly what I figured it would be. Spinel's whole thing revolves around laziness and shortcuts to the top, and the Strong Sphere is exactly that, from what I can tell.
The whole promise that makes it appealing to the masses is that it's a tangible "tool" that allows anyone and everyone to become a "strong Trainer", but it's a shortcut that refuses the long, honest process of forging bonds with Pokémon and becoming stronger through honest training and forging a deep relationship between Pokémon and Trainer.
It basically encourages the Paul mindset (as in Paul from DP), only in some ways even worse. From what was shown of the masses using it, it basically leads to a shortcut mindset, where in battles, when both sides are using the Strong Sphere, the battles are not only quick, but the Trainers' mindset not only rejects forging honest bonds but also encourages complicity with strength or lack thereof, with statements like "I don't need to train anymore" if they win or the idea that the Pokémon itself is fundamentally not good enough and they need to switch to a naturally better Pokémon if they lose. It's a really sad and isolating way to be a Trainer.
That was basically Paul's mindset for most of DP, since he would catch Pokémon, check their moves, and release them if he deemed them not good enough, and keep them if they were. The difference in his case is that he wasn't lazy, but he was extremely harsh in his training and would drop a Pokémon quickly if it didn't live up to his expectations and give him results. He eventually came to understand the power of bonds between Pokémon and Trainer, just in his own way, since he's not super kind like Ash is, and still isn't, but he came to acknowledge the genuine loyalty his strongest Pokémon have to him (because, despite everything, the Pokémon who performed best under him did genuinely love him). Ash did his damndest throughout Sinnoh to try to show him the error of his ways, even if it took him a long, long time to do so.
Only the Strong Sphere makes that mindset the common one and rejects the honest mentality of forging true, deep bonds of friendship with Pokémon through the long, honest way. It's harder, longer, and slower, but it's much more profound in the end, which Ash proved way back in DP during his Sinnoh journey, because even though it took him a long time to claim a victory against Paul, he did eventually come out on top, and with the Pokemon who was under both of them and experienced both of their training philosophies.
The Strong Sphere basically creates a false equality that's artificial. Yes, everyone "can" become a "strong Trainer", but in a very lonely and isolating way. Not to mention as a power-up it's being distributed as a consumer product to the masses, unlike Mega Evolution and Terastal, which have to be earned and are a passed-down battling art. Same with Z-Moves and Dynamax which were also shown in Sun and Moon and Journeys, both of which Ash had to earn in a way.
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I wonder if Coral is someone who gets along better with Pokémon and understands them and their language better than she does with people. I can't judge too much from her appearance of what she looked like in the past, but it seems like she's someone who gets along really well with Pokémon and is on the same wavelength with them, but has a lot of difficulty interacting with people. She likely comes from a kind of background where she lived more in nature and in the wild than in civilized society, based on her outfit. I mean, she had a bag stylized after a Haunter. She actually really loves Pokémon! For all her weirdness and wildness, she has a genuinely good relationship with both of her Pokémon and genuinely loves them and understands them at an incredibly deep level. She and Glalie love each other deeply, and they know each other so well and are on the same wavelength as each other. The episode in which she caught Scream Tail also showed that they were both on the same wavelength in terms of how loud they were but also how much Scream Tail wanted approval. I honestly think Coral is someone who is sort of on her own wavelength and speaks her own language, something that Pokémon get but people don't, which is why she gets in trouble with people a lot.
Sidian is a lot harder to gauge, but what little was shown thus far suggests he's someone who is really hard to read and isn't easy to understand from others' perspectives. He seems to come from more civilized society, possibly the inner city, unlike Coral, but he never really fit in or interacted well with anyone. He seems to have been someone who largely kept to himself because he didn't feel comfortable getting close to others, but at the same time, genuinely wanted someone he could be close with. He shows his strength when he fights on others' behalf, surprisingly, from what was shown in the past, like when he willingly sacrificed his Garganacl to protect Tulip's Espathra because he in his eyes, he couldn't afford to let his ally be hurt just so he could win. He and Coral ended up proving to be a great team over the course of the series, and Sidian shows in subtle ways that he's come to care about her a lot and does his best to look after her. I'm speculating he started out as a loner who looked out for and observed others from the outside but struggled to truly get close with people.
I'm definitely curious about them (and Chalce too). But I can see why they ended up making such a compatible duo. Outwardly, it's a loud, bratty girl with a calm, stoic guy, on the other hand from what little I can see thus far it's also a gal who connects with and gets along with Pokémon incredibly well and understands them better than people, paired with a dude who wants to look out for others and also has a good bond with his Pokemon (like his Garganacl) but struggles to really connect with people. They complement each other quite well. I think Hamber probably felt the same way about them, too, which is why he recruited both of them and always has them paired up for missions.
Hah, that's...certainly like another duo of characters...maybe?
