Why are so many people suddenly shipping Roy and Liko? is it seriosuly cause a couple of school girls mistok Roy wanting to tell her something as a love confession? 🫤
ooh anon, this is an interesting question actually
so firstly, I want to say, some people have shipped Roy and Liko since very early on in Horizons, the two have a close bond and a really nice friendship dynamic that's super fun to watch play out on screen, which led people to ship them! and I see where they're coming from, although royliko isn't one of my favourite horizons ships, I do like it and I totally understand where the og shippers are coming from
however... you specifically mentioned the scene from episode 91 where those girls from Liko's school assumed Roy was going to confess to Liko, so let's talk about that!
since that scene, as you said, a lot more people have suddenly started shipping Roy and Liko. I don't think this is really because they like Roy and Liko's dynamic but more because they considered this scene to be "ship bait" or a hint that it'll be canon
see, some people in the horizons fandom and the pokemon fandom as a whole, only seem to like ships if they're "canon", I've seen quite a few people on twitter say they'd like certain horizons ships like royliko but only if they were canon. some of these people also seem to have an attitute that if it's not canon, you're not allowed to ship it.
since that scene was interpreted by some people as a hint that royliko may become canon at somepoint (likely fuelled further by youtubers and fans on twitter making clickbait videos/posts about likoroy being "confirmed") it has likely made these people think Liko and Roy will be a canon couple and so it's okay for them to ship them
(side note: I believe a lot of these new shippers have created some discourse within the community. before mega voltage the horizons community didn't have ship wars but now... I have heard of quite a bit of fighting)
however, I don't think that scene was supposed to imply that at all, that scene in episode 91 was meant to be a callback to episode 4 where Liko thinks Roy is about to confess to her before he reveals he came back to see Fuecoco (mega voltage's first episodes have had a lot of arc one callbacks) and while yes, some could argue that both those scenes were ship bait, I really don't think that was the intention, especially given royliko has not been hinted at outside of these two scenes that were obviously framed as jokes for the audience
(and I say this as someone who likes the ship)
so anon, I think the reason behind the recent increase in royliko shippers is because of that scene and them thinking the ship will be confirmed or implied as canon at some point.
however if you're interested, I think the reason the original royliko shippers ship royliko is likely to do with how natural Roy and Liko's friendship is and always has been
from their first meeting in episode three the pair have always had a really good friendship and have been there for one another, they grew as people and as pokemon trainers alongside each other, have an inseperable bond of friendship and understand each other extremely well
that kind of friendship would create a really healthy and sweet relationship if they did fall for each other and I think that's what the shippers like about it! :)
thank you for this ask btw!! this was a fun topic to talk about, hope you have a nice day anon ! <3
