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The Aether Foundation Speculation

^ As do people on forums. Guzma is trying too hard, an edgelord if there ever was one.

Should also mention that the Aether Foundation would be the very first antagonistic group without the whole "team" motif. This seriously needs to happen, I really hope we all aren't just hyping ourselves up for nothing.
More importantly, they would be the very first antagonistic group with a female head. That's major.
 
For now, I am going to assume that the Aether Foundation is not a villain team unless it is proven otherwise. At least we have some allies to combat the evil team skull rather than just having the main character do all the work of his/her own.
 
For now, I am going to assume that the Aether Foundation is not a villain team unless it is proven otherwise. At least we have some allies to combat the evil team skull rather than just having the main character do all the work of his/her own.

It is incredibly suspicious for them to have male and female designs analogous to "Team Grunts" for every other evil organization. There weren't any Devon or Silph "grunts".
 
It would be very cool if Aether turned out to be bad guys, and Team Skull would be used as a distraction of sorts. It's just the fact that they seem to be set up like a villianous team (the leader, two admins, "employees" (grunts)) has me a bit curious. I also would love to have a female villianous team leader. But, I would be fine with them ending up truly having good intentions, and I find them really interesting either way.
 
I can't believe they used the word Aether in a new Pokemon game for something else than I predicted ever since: the introduction of the Aether type.

Oh well, their concept is cool and could mean we will get a very engaging plot this time. I just hope it isn't "Aether is the true evil team and Skull helps you defeat them".
 
First of all, AF's character designs are brilliant. Some of the best in the series.

It is incredibly suspicious for them to have male and female designs analogous to "Team Grunts" for every other evil organization. There weren't any Devon or Silph "grunts".

The Foundation have more story relevance than Silph or Devon. They research the Ultra Beast entities and they help protect Pokemon hurt by Team Skull's activities.

I'm not sure what to suspect. I doubt they're villainous, but...hmm. If they do turn out to be Sun/Moon's villains then we'll finally have a female villain leading and that's a great thing. Their research into the Ultra Beasts does ring as a potentially sinister activity. However...I suspect more of a supportive role for Aether. Unraveling the mysteries of the Ultra Beasts and serving as an anti-thesis to Team Skull seems somewhat fitting. Hi-tech Pokemon protectors working against miscreants and vandals.
 
They totally need fashion advice like really, really, really badly. Probably end up as the big bad, I don't know but rather not see that cause I don't like the massive big bads.
 
It is incredibly suspicious for them to have male and female designs analogous to "Team Grunts" for every other evil organization. There weren't any Devon or Silph "grunts".
to be fair, Devon and Silph's roles are practically irrelevant compared to what The Aether Foundation's role will probably be. but otherwise the explanation is fairly simple: they're intended to a mirror opposite of Team Skull. The Foundation's imagery? wealth (presumably), technology, white, order, protection, science. Team Skull's imagery? thuggish, black, chaos, disorder.

at best i think we may have a grey vs grey, but i highly doubt we're going to have a bait-and-switch-The-Real-Evil-Was-In-Front-Of-Us-The-Whole-Time storyline.
 
One interesting tidbit to note is that they apparently have branches or some sort of divisions. Most likely one for each island. I wonder how they will differ?

Also, the outfits of the higher ranking individuals appear to feature Z-Crystals... hmm. I wonder if they are the ones who created Z-Crystals? Maybe they give you Z-Crystals and introduce the mechanic to you. They may have created them as a method to make Pokemon closer to their trainers, and that may be why the President proclaims she loves every Pokemon. Because they made generally typed Z-Crystals to truly bring out the power of them all. Rather than the more choosy Mega Evolutions. (Not counting species-specific ones of course) I kind of hope that's the case, because it would lean more towards them being good rather than going down the easy (and in my opinion, boring. I'd rather have a more interesting twist than that) route of making them evil.

They could also have their own Pokemon with unique Z-Crystals. I can see the ace of Lusamine being an Alolan Raichu.
 
These guys have "secret Bigger Bads" written all over them. Lusamine's dialogue sounds very ominous and they have their own grunts. I wouldn't be surprised to end up fighting them towards the end of the game.
 
Am getting some serious Cipher Head Evis vibes here -- that was one of my favourite final boss battles of all time, so being able to relive something similar would be incredible.

I also don't think Team Skull's supposed petty crime justifies a team of protagonists. The Aether Foundation has other operations, nefarious or otherwise, going on behind the scene, I'm sure. To reduce them to Team Skull's counter would be a waste.
 
I agree that there has to be more to Aether than them just being pure good guys, but I also agree that odds are they won't do the extremely obvious bait and switch where Aether is bad and Team Skull was good all along. I feel like what might happen is just 1 or 2 Aether members are corrupt and they are the ons who did the immoral experimenting with Type:Null, ultra beasts, and whatnot.

Following on from that, note that Wicke is only 1 letter off from Wicked, and she is the assistant branch manager and thus might harbor resentment/jealousy towards Kaba, who is the branch manager and very proud of that fact apparently. Also it just makes sense that the one who looks the most sweet and innocent would be the evil one. That's just basic genre savviness right there. I also refuse to believe that a character with as many waifu-quality traits as Lusamine could possibly be evil
 
Personally, I think that the dynamic between the Aether Foundation and Team Skull is going to be a Grey and Grey Morality situation. Basically, I think that the Aether Foundation will try to create a paradise at the cost of Alola's traditions, spirituality, and individuality from other reasons. Meanwhile Team Skull, while still salty and having members who failed to become Trial Captains, are trying to defend the old Alola traditions at the cost of people being happy and feeling safe. Basically, I think the conflict between Team Skull and the Aether Foundation will be a battle of tradition/sacrifice vs paradise/innovation.

I think this conflict will eventually become so harmful to Alola as a whole that the box legendary and Zygarde have to get themselves involved!
 
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I'm not sure what to suspect. I doubt they're villainous, but...hmm. If they do turn out to be Sun/Moon's villains then we'll finally have a female villain leading and that's a great thing. Their research into the Ultra Beasts does ring as a potentially sinister activity. However...I suspect more of a supportive role for Aether. Unraveling the mysteries of the Ultra Beasts and serving as an anti-thesis to Team Skull seems somewhat fitting. Hi-tech Pokemon protectors working against miscreants and vandals.

I'm so torn. On the one hand, "Aether's actually evil, Skull's actually good!" is, in my opinion, just a bit too obvious of a twist. I would like it to be something more in-between... however, a female lead villain... this could finally be it!

Personally, I think that the dynamic between the Aether Foundation and Team Skull is going to be a Grey and Grey Morality situation. Basically, I think that the Aether Foundation will try to create a paradise at the cost of Alola's traditions, spirituality, and individuality from other reasons. Meanwhile, while still salty and having members who failed to become Trial Captains, are trying to defend the old Alola traditions at the cost of people being happy and feeling safe. Basically, I think the conflict between Team Skull and the Aether Foundation will be a battle of tradition/sacrifice vs paradise/innovation.

I think this conflict will eventually become so harmful to Alola as a whole that the box legendary and Zygarde have to get themselves involved!

I was thinking along similar lines, although I don't really expect Team Skull to be particularly altruistic. They still engage in Pokémon trafficking and are said to go around trashing Trial Grounds, which don't sound like the actions of people who care about Alola's traditions.

I could see it being such that the Aether Foundation are encroaching on Alola's environment/culture (their modern institution is a stark contrast to the very naturalistic Alola region) inadvertently in their efforts to protect the Pokémon of the region from Team Skull, who themselves are trying to destabilize Alola's environment and traditions out of petty revenge. That way, the culture of the region is being torn at from both sides, giving both groups a antagonistic edge, even though the Aether Foundation have noble intentions.
 
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They totally need fashion advice like really, really, really badly. Probably end up as the big bad, I don't know but rather not see that cause I don't like the massive big bads.

Their fashion doesn't seem too bad to me, or at least compared to the tacky orange suits, hair and glasses that Team Flare were wearing in X/Y. Seriously, those outfits were awful and one reason why I couldn't really take them seriously for a good chuck of the games.
 
I thought Team Flare looked pretty sharp, to be honest. Yes, the color was garish (intentionally; Masuda said that he wanted them to be less serious than Team Plasma - hence why their only serious character, Lysandre, dresses in more sensible tones (and oh so stylishly!)), but I liked the general look of their clean, formal suits, and just the idea of an antagonist team in such a uniform. For my part, it was the Flare Scientists whose fashion I found myself squinting at.

The Aether Foundation characters look really great though, I think. Especially Lusamine.
 
In medicinal alchemy, quintessence (aether) was thought as a pure and heavenly quality that, when consumed, could cure any impurities. It's a fair bet that the Aether Foundation's goal is to come up with a cure to what they consider to be Pokemon's ailment.

But what does a cure entail? The Ultra Beasts give me the idea that the Aether Foundation's goal is to revert all Pokemon to a glass-like substance. Perhaps that way Pokemon wouldn't be hurt by people? Or rather, Pokemon and people would be indistinguishable.
 
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Should also mention that the Aether Foundation would be the very first antagonistic group without the whole "team" motif; even including sidegame spinoffs like Colosseum. This seriously needs to happen, I really hope we all aren't just hyping ourselves up for nothing.

Cipher says hello.
 
Cipher says hello.

Meh, well "officially" anyways. Its nice to see a possible non standard team for a change in the main games.

At least we can all finally agree on the Alchemy theme for this region, as there should be little doubt after the trailer.
 
I think that the Aether Foundation is a covert villainous team while Team Skull is the overt villainous team.

My first guess is that the Aether Foundation will be on the PC's side at first but eventually become the true villains while turning Team Skull into either a anti-hero or anti-villainous team by being the 'well intentioned group' while maintaining some form of 'straw man has a point,' making Sun and Moon probably being the darkest of the mainstream Pokémon games with a dash of grey and grey morality.

My second guess is that the Aether Foundation is the first villainous team that is somehow operate within the law of Alola while doing unethical experiments behind closed doors and out of sight of the Alola's law enforcement and government while Team Skull goals aren't related to Aether Foundation but both groups somehow come into conflict, most likely on accident, at least on Team Skulls part.
 
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