Terapagos

Terapagos
Iron Crown
1024
Pecharunt
Ability	Tera Shell (Terasral) Tera Shift (Normal) Teraform Zero (Stellar)
First game	The Pendant That Starts It All: Part Two (2023, official debut) Pokémon Scarlet and Violet (2022, game debut)
Creator	Game Freak
Voice Actor (EN)	Faye Mata

Terapagos <sup>(JPJapanese: テラパゴス

Romaji: Terapagos)</sup> is a Normal-type Legendary Pokémon in the franchise of the same name. It debuted in Part 2 of the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet DLC, The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero. It is the game mascot of The Indigo Disk. It's official debut before the games was in the second episode of Pokémon Horizons: The Series.

Terapagos has three forms: its Normal Form, its Terastal Form, and a unique Terastallized state, referred to as its Stellar Form, which is pure Stellar-type. When it enters a battle, it changes from its Normal Form into its Terastal Form through its Tera Shift Ability, and transforms from its Terastal Form into its Stellar Form upon Terastallizing.

Physiology and Behavior

Terapagos is a reptilian Pokémon that resembles a light-blue turtle. Terapagos has two light blue eyes with rouge rimming, while the rest of its head is a deeper shade of indigo. Its head is also decorated with small diamond protrusions, with two on top of its head and two more on either side. It has two small hands with three fingers each that barely poke out of its fur. Its fur is voluminous, its color varying with a gradient between a greenish yellow and sky blue. A second patch of fur also appears behind its shell, vaguely forming three separate tails.

Terapagos's shell is made out of crystal, with 18 irregular pentagons on top decorated with differently colored symbols that resemble all 18 type icons, which regularly morph back and forth to abstract shapes. On the center of its shell is a small hexagonal protrusion, with a white hexagon on top of it with triangular extensions on each corner that connects it to the edges of the protrusion, slightly resembling the icon for the Terastal Phenomenon. The sides of its shell also have three obtuse pentagons each on the rim of the shell; however, these are a solid light blue color.

Terapagos transforms into Terastal form when it is either in danger or about to battle. It can use the Terastal energy created within its body to produce crystals on its exterior, with these crystals, Terapagos clads itself in a larger, sturdier shell, thus entering its Terastal Form. In the anime, Terapagos's transformation in its Terastal Form is shown in more detail; Terapagos absorbs and crystallizes the energy around itself, causing its shell to grow and reshape itself, covering most of its body, leaving only its front feet, head and tail out, then the ring rubs on its neck and legs turn into fur that grow around its head into a mane and then around its tail into three, new, furry tails. The shell allows Terapagos to absorb energy and store it within itself. When using beam-like attacks, Terapagos pulls its hands and head into its shell, transforms its mane into a shape that resembles its 3 tails, flies up in the air, and shoots the attack from the diamond in the center of its shell. Terstal Form Terapagos’s shell has the powers of every type. When Terapagos absorbs enough Terastal energy or is Terastallized by a Tera Orb, it will transform into its Stellar Form, which has the Stellar Tera Type. In this form, it was known as The Indigo Disk due to its indigo coloration and disk-shaped shell.

Heath is the one who coined Terapagos's name and discovered it. Professor Sada/Professor Turo did research on this Pokémon while in Area Zero. The Area Zero journals and the Scarlet BookS/Violet BookV describe Terapagos, implying that this Pokémon is responsible for the Terastal Phenomenon; this is ultimately confirmed to be the case in the Pokédex. Many for a long time believed Terapagos was fake and that Heath made it up, but Briar proved its existence by writing her own book, explaining the expedition she, Carmine, Kieran and the player had, which featured Terapagos.

Terapagos is capable of temporarily bringing people from other timelines to its world as seen with a Professor Sada/Professor Turo, who was brought to Kitakami thanks to the gems in the bottom of the Crystal Pool. The Terastal energy it produces can be used to power up AI-powered robots and time machines, capable of bringing Paradox Pokémon from either the ancient past and the distant future or different timelines to the present era, it's currently unknown from where Paradox Pokémon are brought from. Terapagos can give a Tera Orb the ability to Terastallize Pokémon with no charging drawbacks. Terapagos is the source and creator of the Stellar type. Unlike other Pokémon, it always receives the full benefits of the Stellar Tera Type, even outside of Tera Raid Battles. Through the Stellar type, Terapagos can also change its defensive typing during the battle.

Normal Form

Normal Form Terapagos is a small, reptilian Pokémon that resembles a dark blue turtle. The body is light-blue with a shell shaped like a crystal with a white hexagon on top of it. The neck and legs each have a green star and ring rub. Each foot has three toes. It has a blue tail with a green star at the end. It has two light blue eyes with rouge rimming. It has a diamond shape on its forehead and two ear-like diamonds on both sides of its head. Finally, it has a green diamond ponytail with light and dark purple at the end.

Normal Form Terapagos is said to have a splendid aura. It is a small and weak Pokémon, but when necessary, it can crystallize the energy in its body to form a greenish protective shield around itself. It is also capable of assuming a dormant state when it needs to slumber or when its life is in danger, pulling its head, limbs, and tail into its shell and shrinking in size, which makes itself look like an ordinary jewel. This species appears to be capable of living for millions of years while slumbering within its crystal shell. Terapagos can take on multiple distinct appearances, between them, its Normal, Terastal and Stellar forms. Terapagos inhabited the Paldea region in a bygone era. It was thought that this species went extinct, having been caught up in seismic shifts that occurred about two million years ago. However, it seems that one Terapagos protected itself by changing the energy in its body into hard crystals and going into hibernation deep underground.​ Terapagos laid dormant in deep caverns in Area Zero, currently known as Area Zero Underdepths. Terapagos assumes Normal Form when not battling and moving around.

Stellar Form

When exposed to a Tera Orb, Terapagos will be Terastallized and turn Stellar-type, thus transforming into its Stellar Form.

Stellar Form Terapagos emanates an energy field in the shape of a dome beneath itself, surrounded by crystals bearing each of the type icons with their respective colors. The rest of its body takes on a rainbow-like hue, and its central crystal grows into a crown-like structure covered in jewels corresponding to the type icons, topped with a miniature version of its Normal Form and the icon for the Terastal Phenomenon floating above it.

This form was achvied when Terastal Form is exposed to a Tear Orb. Stellar Form Terapagos is said to be at its full power. Heath was the one who discovered this form. This form is said to resemble the world as ancient humans saw it. In his journal, Heath described it as looking like a planet floating in space. There was a rumor that is resembled a picture in the Scarlet Book/Violet Book, under the chapter titled “A ■isk P■é■n?”​. Terapagos has taken this form at least 3 times through history: in ancient times, 200 years ago, and at the present time. This form of Terapagos has an amount of Terastal energy amplified to the highest it can get. Terapagos appears to completly lose control in its Stellar Form in some cases seemingly due to energy overload, becoming enraged and attacking everything around it, due to having so much power in this form, it risks also causing havoc to Paldea's ecosystem. It's so powerful in this form that when Terapagos transforms into it, it cracks the ground around it, which creates a risk that the Area Zero Underdepths might collapse. In this form, Terapagos has been shown to resist going back into a powerful Poké Ball like the Master Ball, destroying it, being the only Pokémon known to be capable of doing that.

Stellar Form Terapagos is capable of creating multiple Tera Raid Barriers by absorbing Terastal energy from other Terastallized Pokémon, causing their Terastallized state to be broken in the process, but it can only do so three times in a battle. It can also change its type temporarily. It's shown to be also capable to shooting huge beams of Terastal energy at its foes, although Koraidon/Miraidon managed to take it without taking much damage. When using beam-like attacks, Terapagos will use all of its Type icon crystals to form a symbol and shoot the attack from it. In this form, it was known as The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero due to its status as the secret treasure that was sought by the Paldean empire. In this form, it was also known as A Disk Pokémon in the Scarlet Book/Violet Book.

Appearances

Main Pokémon games

Terapagos played a major role in the Indigo Disk DLC. It is a male Terapagos and the only known specimen to be still alive after a seismic shift doomed its species, it slumbered for millions of years in Area Zero Underdepths in the form of a crystal.

Other Pokémon games

Terapagos appeared as a Spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in Terastal form.

In the anime

Terapagos in Pokémon Horizons: The Series

Terapagos has a central role in Pokémon Horizons: The Series, alongside Shiny Rayquaza. Normal Form Terapagos debuted in The Pendant That Starts It All: Part Two, where it was revealed that Liko's pendant is actually its dormant form. It briefly awakened again in The Future I Choose!. In HZ023, it awakened permanently and is currently travelling with the Rising Volt Tacklers. It first transformed into its Terastal Form in HZ033. In HZ075, it was officially caught by Liko, where she adopted the nickname Pagogo from Rystal. In the same episode, Terapagos's Stellar Form appeared in a flashback.

Origin & Inspiration

Terapagos may be based on a sea turtle, specifically the Galápagos green turtle, a population of green sea turtles found around the Galápagos Islands. It may also be based on the Galápagos tortoise, in particular, it may be inspired by Lonesome George, the last Pinta Island Tortoise (a subspecies of Galápagos tortoise), as Terapagos is said to be extinct aside from a lone male survivor. Its hairy appearance may be a reference to Japanese legends of the minogame, a turtle which lived for 10,000 years and grew a tail made of seaweed.

Terapagos, especially its Stellar Form, may also reference the World Turtle, a mythical turtle found in various mythologies that was said to carry the world upon its back. This connection is furthered by the Stellar Form's Pokédex entries, which state that it resembles "the world as the ancients saw it" and "a planet floating in space". By extension, Terapagos's Stellar Form may be a reference to the expression "turtles all the way down", as it has a crystal in the shape of its Normal Form above its shell, and it floats on top of a larger dome shaped like a turtle shell. The expression "turtles all the way down" refers to the idea that the World Turtle rests on the back of a larger turtle, and that turtle rests on the back of an even larger turtle, and so on.

The tessellation on Terapagos's shell contains type icons and could be based on the unique pattern on the back of the diamondback terrapin. Terapagos's crystalline composition may also take inspiration from chitons, marine mollusks with flat disk-shaped bodies and eye-like peripherals composed of rock.

Terapagos may be a combination of Terastal, terrapin, and galápagos (Spanish for turtles; also the name of an archipelago known as Galápagos Islands).

In-game Information

Pokédex Entries

Title	Entry
Ninth Pokémon generation
Pokémon Scarlet	Upon sensing danger, it prepares itself for battle by creating a sturdy shell of crystallized Terastal energy.
Pokémon Violet	The shell is made of crystallized Terastal energy. When struck by a move, this shell absorbs the move’s energy and transfers it to Terapagos.

Normal

Title	Entry
Ninth Pokémon generation
Pokémon Scarlet	Terapagos protects itself using its power to transform energy into hard crystals. This Pokémon is the source of the Terastal phenomenon.
Pokémon Violet	It’s thought that this Pokémon lived in ancient Paldea until it got caught in seismic shifts and went extinct.

Stellar

Title	Entry
Ninth Pokémon generation
Pokémon Scarlet	In this form, Terapagos resembles the world as the ancients saw it, and its Terastal energy is abnormally amplified.
Pokémon Violet	An old expedition journal describes the sight of this Pokémon buried in the depths of the earth as resembling a planet floating in space.

Game Locations

Title	Location(s)
Ninth Pokémon generation
Pokémon Scarlet	Area Zero Underdepths
Pokémon Violet	Area Zero Underdepths

Base Stats

Base Stats
HP	95
Attack	95
Defense	110
Sp. Attack	105
Sp. Defense	110
Speed	85
Total	600

Normal

Base Stats
HP	90
Attack	65
Defense	85
Sp. Attack	65
Sp. Defense	85
Speed	60
Total	450

Stellar

Base Stats
HP	160
Attack	105
Defense	110
Sp. Attack	130
Sp. Defense	110
Speed	85
Total	700

Form change

Terapagos	Tera Shift	Terapagos Terestal Form

Terapagos	Terastal Phenomenon	Terapagos Stellar Form

Gallery

Main article: Terapagos/gallery

Renders

Renders
Scarlet Violet File:PKMNSV1024-S.png

Renders
Scarlet Violet File:PKMNSV1024-N-S.png

Renders
Scarlet Violet File:PKMNSV1024-Stellar-S.png

Trivia

• Before the official reveal of Terapagos, a sketch of a Pokémon similar to it appeared in the Scarlet Book and Violet Book in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
• In the closed captions of the initial TV Tokyo broadcast of HZ023, Terapagos was mistakenly referred to as コダイカメ Kodaikame (literally "ancient turtle").
  • In the files for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, Terapagos is internally referred to as "kodaikame", which, coupled with the anime's mistake, implies that this may have been its prototype name.
• Terapagos is the only Pokémon with an EV yield total of more than three, with its Terastal Form having a total of four.
  • Terapagos is also the only Pokémon with a different EV yield total between each of its forms, with Normal having one, Terastal having four, and Stellar having three.
• While Terapagos as a species has a 50-50 gender ratio, the only Terapagos encounter is set to always be male. Because of this, a female Terapagos cannot currently be legitimately obtained.
• Terapagos has several similarities to Eternatus. Both are Legendary Pokémon that are responsible for the special type of transformation (Dynamax/Gigantamax and Terastal Phenomenon) found within their respective origin regions (Galar and Paldea). They also both have transformations exclusive to them related to these phenomena increasing their stats (Eternatus's Eternamax form and Terapagos's Stellar Form, though the former is unobtainable) and can absorb the energy needed to use these transformations from other Pokémon, thereby rendering them unavailable.
• Terapagos is the only Pokémon in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet that is able to learn moves through TMs, but cannot learn Tera Blast (despite the move using Terastal energy, which Terapagos is responsible for creating).
• Terapagos's cry is almost identical to the noise that is made when a Pokémon Terastalizes.
• Normal Form Terapagos is tied with Azurill and Shroodle for the shortest Normal-type Pokémon.
• Terapagos is the only Pokémon to have three signature Abilities.
• While in game, Terapagos is categorized as the Tera Pokémon, in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's official website, it is categorized as the Terastal Pokémon.
• When using specific beam-like moves (such as Meteor Beam) Stellar Form Terapagos will use the 18 hexagonal gems orbiting its dome to form a symbol and shoot the attack from it. This symbol is the very same one featured in The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero expansion's logo.
• If Terapagos uses auto-battle to defeat a Pokémon, it'll transform into its Terastal Form before defeating the wild Pokémon, and then switch back to its Normal Form.
• Despite being the source of the Terastal phenomenon, which contains the power of every type, Terapagos cannot learn any Ghost- or Flying-type moves.
• Terapagos cannot have its Tera Type be changed under normal circumstances in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. If the game is modified to force Terapagos to have a different Tera Type, the game will lag significantly while Terastallizing; however, unlike with Ogerpon, the game will not softlock. Illusion will also not work if either Terapagos or the Pokémon with said Ability Terastallize.