Team Rocket: Goofy Trio or Serious Criminals? What will their future bring?!

[Drohn]

When Pokémon just started to air, Team Rocket appeared to be the cold hearted criminals; only trying to steal Pikachu for selfish reasons.

But throughout the years we have been able to see that they do have a heart and the ability to care for others and even help them.

I remember them staying up all night to help Charizard achieve his goal, letting him blow up their robot so he could look good. They have made sacrifices; they released their own Pokémon, whom they loved, for the Ekans and Koffing to be safe. We saw them cheer on Chimchar, because they felt sorry for the bad way he was treated.

In the beginning of Best Wishes, they were no longer the clumsy criminals; they did not even blast off anymore.

How do you imagine the future of Jesse, James, and Meowth in the following regions? Criminals or heroes? Or anything in between?

What are your hopes and what are your expectations?

 

[MarkieHype]

RE: Team Rocket: Good or Bad?

I'd like them better when they were clowns back in the old times! Especially James with his bottle cap dramas, lol.

 

[Lex]

RE: Team Rocket: Good or Bad?

I don't know if the Team Rocket trio will ever get it's old charm back. They're all stuck in limbo.

Then again...this gen seems to be about appeasing both the old gens and the new gens. "They want the previous generation to connect to the newest generation." They may mean just the games, but with the nostalgic cameos of Mewtwo, Charizard, and Butterfree, who knows?

 

[Elite Stride]

RE: Team Rocket: Good or Bad?

We've been bouncing around some discussion about Team Rocket in other threads that I think should resume in this thread instead, since it's more appropriate.:

============================================================

First of all, thank you!Big Grin
About Team Rocket...I've liked their new "approach" in B/W but in the end they went back to their older stuff. There's no more "General" Giovanni, no more Dr. Zaeger, no more Giovanni's secretary and no more of that great TR agent, Pierce.
To this day, I still remember their debut back in Kanto and I loved them as soon as I saw them but right in the next episode I got disappointed. I choose Bulbasaur but Jessie's and James' Pokémon were the ones that made me love Poison-type, second only to Grass. I love every Pokémon of them and their gags but it gets too much and that's is why I agree when you say that they need to keep some foolishness, but I'd rather like to see that between and inside the trio than showing that when facing Ash & Co. (save for a few occasions).

About that episode, I was also shocked. For a moment it was as if Looker showed that he had enough with being a nice guy.

Yeah they should have at least made the charade continuous for the rest of the generation, but I guess that didn't happen. I really like you're thinking here: it would be better if their foolishness was more private, because even Ash thinks that they're jokes, and they're supposed to be the bad guys. We as the audience should be able to view them as such, but the sad truth is that we think they're jokes too.

IDK, I just really enjoy TR, but I feel the approach to the way their characters are portrayed in the anime could be better. There's a way to be funny and maybe even a tiny bit stupid and still maintain somewhat of a threatening presence. I feel like they get better in this regard as the years go on, but it's still...meh. If the devs introduced more realism in the series, TR could definitely achieve a more threatening persona, maybe that's really what suppresses the characters more than anything.

 

[Athena]

RE: Team Rocket: Goofy Trio or Serious Criminals? What will their future bring=

In my mind, TR are more anti-heroes than villains. It fits their personality best, especially when you compare them to other members of Team Rocket that we meet, like Butch and Cassidy, or even Giovanni himself. I haven't seen a whole lot of the show, but I have seen all of Kanto and Orange Islands, and recently I watched a bit of the beginning of Best Wishes. I was so shocked, because it was like they sucked all the personality out of Jessie and James and it just doesn't fit their character at all.

Ideally, I would love to see them split from Team Rocket and act as a sort of third-party in the various episodes, not necessarily helping Ash and Co., but not always as a stereotypical antagonist either. There are so many things that Team Rocket could accomplish from a character perspective if they were removed from the trope of being in TR and constantly trying to steal Pikachu/Pokémon.

 

[Blob55]

RE: Team Rocket: Good or Bad?

I don't know if the Team Rocket trio will ever get it's old charm back. They're all stuck in limbo.

Then again...this gen seems to be about appeasing both the old gens and the new gens. "They want the previous generation to connect to the newest generation." They may mean just the games, but with the nostalgic cameos of Mewtwo, Charizard, and Butterfree, who knows?

And by "previous gens" you mean "Generation 1". Seriously, why don't Gen 2 and 3 Pokémon get any love? I'd like to at least see some not-Charizard Gen 1 Pokémon get some use.

 

[Leaf_Ranger]

RE: Team Rocket: Good or Bad?

We've been bouncing around some discussion about Team Rocket in other threads that I think should resume in this thread instead, since it's more appropriate.:

============================================================

First of all, thank you!Big Grin
About Team Rocket...I've liked their new "approach" in B/W but in the end they went back to their older stuff. There's no more "General" Giovanni, no more Dr. Zaeger, no more Giovanni's secretary and no more of that great TR agent, Pierce.
To this day, I still remember their debut back in Kanto and I loved them as soon as I saw them but right in the next episode I got disappointed. I choose Bulbasaur but Jessie's and James' Pokémon were the ones that made me love Poison-type, second only to Grass. I love every Pokémon of them and their gags but it gets too much and that's is why I agree when you say that they need to keep some foolishness, but I'd rather like to see that between and inside the trio than showing that when facing Ash & Co. (save for a few occasions).

About that episode, I was also shocked. For a moment it was as if Looker showed that he had enough with being a nice guy.

Yeah they should have at least made the charade continuous for the rest of the generation, but I guess that didn't happen. I really like you're thinking here: it would be better if their foolishness was more private, because even Ash thinks that they're jokes, and they're supposed to be the bad guys. We as the audience should be able to view them as such, but the sad truth is that we think they're jokes too.

IDK, I just really enjoy TR, but I feel the approach to the way their characters are portrayed in the anime could be better. There's a way to be funny and maybe even a tiny bit stupid and still maintain somewhat of a threatening presence. I feel like they get better in this regard as the years go on, but it's still...meh. If the devs introduced more realism in the series, TR could definitely achieve a more threatening persona, maybe that's really what suppresses the characters more than anything.

Like Cassidy and Butch. Butch always has that name gag and Cassidy maintains a bitter rivalry with Jessie and those things help give them some funny but not to the point of being ridiculous (and their relation with Dr. Namba is funny but still professional) and adding to that is that they try to accomplish their missions no matter the cost or so it would seem, deserving to be members of Team Rocket. Why in the world does Giovanni still keeps Jessie, James and Meowth as operatives after T.R's failure to capture Meloetta and the "kami trio"? Its a waste of funds or apparently Giovanni died along with his secretary (a la Eva and Hitler) and no one knows about it.
And one more thing about the "trio's performance" this last season (I'll quote myself from a thead with a pool about B/W being or not the worst series):

I've just realised that there was no character development for Team Rocket's Pokémon. Yamask's and Woobat's "capture" were copies of those of Brock's Zubat and James' Cacnea and after that they were only slaves without getting the spotlight for even one episode. Even more shalllow it comes when thinking of Amoonguss and Frillish: mute slaves without personality.

 

[Athena]

RE: Team Rocket: Good or Bad?

Why in the world does Giovanni still keeps Jessie, James and Meowth as operatives after T.R's failure to capture Meloetta and the "kami trio"?

Hey, if you're going to question why Giovanni's kept Jessie, James, and Meowth around, why jump all the way to Unova? Why in the world did he keep them employed even after their disastrous attempts in Kanto, and all the way throughout the other regions too? Maybe Giovanni is secretly Jessie's father (we know her mother was in Team Rocket, after all).

 

[Leaf_Ranger]

RE: Team Rocket: Good or Bad?

Why in the world does Giovanni still keeps Jessie, James and Meowth as operatives after T.R's failure to capture Meloetta and the "kami trio"?

Hey, if you're going to question why Giovanni's kept Jessie, James, and Meowth around, why jump all the way to Unova? Why in the world did he keep them employed even after their disastrous attempts in Kanto, and all the way throughout the other regions too? Maybe Giovanni is secretly Jessie's father (we know her mother was in Team Rocket, after all).

I don't recall if when traveling through Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh if they used T.Rocket's and Giovanni's funds or were on their own...If so, Giovanni had good reasons not ot fire them: he just didn't care. But you do have a point.
You may be right and perhaps it was Giovanni that had her eliminated because only the two of them knew the truth.

 

[Drohn]

Now that Giovanni is confirmed to appear in Kalos do you think Team Rocket (Jessie, James, and Meowth) will have a more serious role again in the beginning of the show?

I am hoping to see a balance between them being serious and goofy. I like both sides of them and I can't decide which is better, so a combination is my ideal solution!

I'm really glad Wobbuffet is returning; I missed that guy! I hope Jessie will learn to battle with it properly. I would love to see them beat Ash once in a while (although I don't want his Pokémon to be stolen). They can beat him in other battles where they don't try to take his Pokémon!

 

[zappy800]

RE: Team Rocket: Good or Bad?

I don't know if the Team Rocket trio will ever get it's old charm back. They're all stuck in limbo.

Then again...this gen seems to be about appeasing both the old gens and the new gens. "They want the previous generation to connect to the newest generation." They may mean just the games, but with the nostalgic cameos of Mewtwo, Charizard, and Butterfree, who knows?

And by "previous gens" you mean "Generation 1". Seriously, why don't Gen 2 and 3 Pokémon get any love? I'd like to at least see some not-Charizard Gen 1 Pokémon get some use.

You forgot there is an episode where Dunsparce is focused on. Also Clair is in another episode. Neither have been released in the U.S. yet though.

 

[Vulpix's Tales]

I would be glad if they decided to change own lives. In the two, first seasons they were fine but later they became very repetitive and had nothing special to do. The anime would have been fine without them. Jessie and James are adults so they should stop follow this little kid with Pikachu and start own, individual career. James loves grass-type pokemon and he proved that he can be a good trainer. He should start his own journey and who knows? Maybe he would be even better than Ash? Jessie isn't the best but she likes fashion and wanted to be a nurse. Maybe she should follow that dream? She is not a bad person, but she is very lost. Meowth is the only non-legendary pokemon who talks. He would be popular, if he wanted. The Rocket Group is not for them. They are not good Rocket members and never will be. They should finally understand that and do something what will bring them a real happiness. It would be good, if they left TR and appear from time to time in the anime as normal trainers. Their current actions do not make people laugh anymore. They are just small, annoying parts of anime.

 

[The-Kaiser]

speaking of Team Rocket did those Team Rocket vs Team Plasma Eps ever get shown in Japan or not?

As for Jessie, James, Meowth be nice if they did other things instead of just stalking Ash-tachi (old term for Ash and crew)

or maybe we see some romance between them and they resign from TR and go doing crimes for their selves

 

[Leaf_Ranger]

Now that Giovanni is confirmed to appear in Kalos do you think Team Rocket (Jessie, James, and Meowth) will have a more serious role again in the beginning of the show?

I am hoping to see a balance between them being serious and goofy. I like both sides of them and I can't decide which is better, so a combination is my ideal solution!

I'm really glad Wobbuffet is returning; I missed that guy! I hope Jessie will learn to battle with it properly. I would love to see them beat Ash once in a while (although I don't want his Pokémon to be stolen). They can beat him in other battles where they don't try to take his Pokémon!

They seems more capable when coming up with plans but...seeing Meowth driving that column of Rhyhorn while unprotected was just dummy and it was open to an attack. In the end they were stopped thanks to Bunnelby but even so. I really liked when (I can't recall in which episode was it) Jessie and James introducted themselves with a really sinister look on their faces but (there's always a "but" when it comes to T.R.) it looks like they're there just to be the occasional bad guys. So far Inkay is just another Yamask without a personality to call its own and T.R. doesn't seem that eager to conquer Kalos in the name of T.R. like they were in Hoenn with the plan for constructing a secret base... At last we don't see them starving all the time
I don't think that Giovanni has that much importance since it seems that he has no plans regarding Kalos (or he's just hiding them very well or still thinking what to do exactly) and T.Rocket seems very loose and focused on Pikachu.
I think we should wait a little longer to judge T.R., at least until Ash has another badge and Team Flare is introducted (also to see if Giovanni has some reaction to Flare).