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Team Rocket's Goal in the Gen 1 games

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What was their goal?
Team Aqua/Magma wanted to expand the land/sea
Team Galactic wanted to recreated the universe
Team Plasma wanted to "liberate" Pokemon (really take over the world)
Team Flare wanted to eliminate everyone that is not them
Teams Skull and Yell wanted to cause trouble (though Team Yell had good intentions).

Team Rocket on the other hand...
They didn't really have a goal. Like, why did Giovanni want the Master Ball? Why did they want to steal fossils?
Where they making money just for the sake of having money?

Also, has anyone noticed that the evil teams have been becoming less and less evil? Gens' 7 and 8, the teams are more troublemakers than anything.
 
This was revealed in LGPE and isn't surprising:

JESSIE: You’re the old geezer they call Mr. Fuji, right?
You’re going to be repeating your Pokémon research for the glory of Team Rocket!

GIOVANNI: Now, now, Mr. President. I hope you’re not thinking of lying to me.
The Master Ball... You successfully created one, didn’t you!
PRESIDENT: Do you think it’s that easy to make?
And now that I know who you really are, there is no way I want to make a thing like that... Not for someone like you!
GIOVANNI: How dare you?!
PRESIDENT: And give up any thought of forcing us to create lots of powerful Pokémon for you!
Using stolen research to create Pokémon... That’s not something Silph should ever do.
GIOVANNI: We had a deal! You agreed to this!
...You’re a smart man. I’m sure you can imagine what will happen to your people if you say no to me now.

It's pretty clear that Team Rocket found Fuji's documents regarding Mewtwo and wanted Silph Co. to reproduce his experiment somehow, maybe for all sorts of Pokemon. But the president wanted none of that, and Red saved the day before things got out of hand.

Money? You need it for power. Fossils? They could have been sold for a lot of money, or maybe if Fuji or Silph had cooperated, Kabutops/Omastar would have been enhanced a la Mewtwo.
 
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They just existed and wanted some money and had that little "make another mewtwo and a get a master ball" plot that is so little that no one remebers it's existence since it only exists in LGPE because RBY and FRLG didn't let you hear the dialogue between him amd Silph. Co's president, though anything else about them don't make much sense, like how were they hiding in the gym? How the hell is no one doing anything when they were everywhere in Saffron? How does wearing obvious uniforms help them hide? Why is Giovanni trying to make a deal with the silph. Co President *in person* instead of expecting someone who wants his corporation to live helping you with your evil schemes (recreating mewtwo AND the only way for you to controll it)?
From a worldbuilding standpoint they don't make much sense.
Also I realized that gen 8 doesn't an outright evil persom, Team Yell are just crazy fans, which aside from the ones that murder people when a war ignites in the stadium, are fine irl, plus Rose and arguably Oleana, are antagonists but are still not EVIL.
 
I always assumed they wanted to catch Mewtwo after it escaped from Cinnabar Island.
Mt Moon they were after the fossil Pokemon to sell off to try and raise funds for the operation, or just for more strong Pokemon.
Lavender Town they are looking for Ghost Pokemon as the only Pokemon at the time (ignoring the glitch) that are strong against Psychic types like Mewtwo.
Silph invasion they are after the Master Ball to catch Mewtwo that way.

Then in the Sevii Islands the branch could be completely separate from the Kanto branch and just after the Ruby and Sapphire to sell. Or it could be to try and bring in other strong Pokemon from Hoenn, or something to do with Groudon and Kyogre to fight Mewtwo.

Also I realized that gen 8 doesn't an outright evil persom, Team Yell are just crazy fans, which aside from the ones that murder people when a war ignites in the stadium, are fine irl, plus Rose and arguably Oleana, are antagonists but are still not EVIL.

Despite making a big deal up until now about no truly evil Pokemon, even Darkrai. Actually Eternatus does seem to just be pure evil out for destruction, with no redeeming quality or motivation.
 
Then in the Sevii Islands the branch could be completely separate from the Kanto branch and just after the Ruby and Sapphire to sell. Or it could be to try and bring in other strong Pokemon from Hoenn, or something to do with Groudon and Kyogre to fight Mewtwo.
Actually, the Sevii Island branch is pretty likely to be the same Rockets as the ones in GSC, considering you can find a computer that says something about forced evolution and fight the then-unnamed Archer and Ariana.
 
Actually, the Sevii Island branch is pretty likely to be the same Rockets as the ones in GSC, considering you can find a computer that says something about forced evolution and fight the then-unnamed Archer and Ariana.

Yeah it definitely is the same branch. Theoretically they could have 2 projects on the go at the same time.
 
It's pretty clear that Team Rocket found Fuji's documents regarding Mewtwo and wanted Silph Co. to reproduce his experiment somehow, maybe for all sorts of Pokemon. But the president wanted none of that, and Red saved the day before things got out of hand.

Money? You need it for power. Fossils? They could have been sold for a lot of money, or maybe if Fuji or Silph had cooperated, Kabutops/Omastar would have been enhanced a la Mewtwo.
Yeah. That makes sense. I mean, isn't Team Rocket based on like, the mafia?
 
This is why I hate Kanto's plot and think Team Rocket is overrated. Their motivations are too vague and unconnected, they just act like random bad guys being evil for the sake of being evil. I liked the whole "rule the multiverse" angle they went for with Team Rainbow Rocket in USUM, but aside from that they really haven't done all that much in the grand scheme of things.
 
I'm not keen on this whole "piece together the story for yourself" where you have to really go out of your way and explore to find out what happened thing that Gen 1 had going on either tbh. But it's ironic that when Zelda do it for BotW, most people (not me) loved it.
 
Team Rocket on the other hand...
They didn't really have a goal. Like, why did Giovanni want the Master Ball? Why did they want to steal fossils?
Where they making money just for the sake of having money?

Basically, yeah. Same as real mobsters. They want to amass power and influence in society, and they use criminal means to do it. Simple as that.

Rare fossils are moneymakers, and the Master Ball could be used on a rare Pokémon.

Also, has anyone noticed that the evil teams have been becoming less and less evil? Gens' 7 and 8, the teams are more troublemakers than anything.

There's always been a degree of altruism to every team since Aqua and Magma, however meager in comparison to the practical impact of their objective. But I think it's more that since Gen 5, they've been trying to make their villains more complex and dimensional. In Gens 7 and 8, they pushed this further by having the overtly "bad" capital-T Team recede into a smaller, more mischievous, antiestablishment role while a billion-dollar institution became the new central antagonist, and even that was due to the particular pathologies and obsessions of those institutions' leaders. The idea that these plentiful resources are being hijacked and exploited by individuals with very specific motives, rather than cults of like-minded extremists all marching in unison.
 
like how were they hiding in the gym?
It was just Giovanni, and if we go by LGPE, he hadn't been hiding there for very long when the player showed up:

Blue said:
Viridian City’s Gym Leader is never at the Gym? Huh, that’s odd... Maybe I’ll go take a look myself...

I'll grant you that wearing his usual attire in the gym wasn't smart, but he probably didn't believe anyone could defeat him. He was a cocky bastard.

How the hell is no one doing anything when they were everywhere in Saffron?
LGPE did throw Trace and Blue into the mix, and the latter was on his way to alert the Elite Four although they weren't needed. Origins illustrated how people were genuinely scared to get inside, or didn't care enough in that Blue's case.

How does wearing obvious uniforms help them hide?
Just because they had hideouts doesn't mean that they were afraid of being recognized outside. You could ask that about any team, but none of them claimed to be secretive (Aether and Macro Cosmos weren't teams).

Why is Giovanni trying to make a deal with the silph. Co President *in person* instead of expecting someone who wants his corporation to live helping you with your evil schemes (recreating mewtwo AND the only way for you to controll it)?
I am not sure what you mean, but a lot of the Silph scientists wanted to join Team Rocket. If it hadn't been for the player, the president would have most likely given up or been forced to leave. In fact, there is unused text (in the original games) about Silph Chief (the guy who actually had Blaine's sprite, as Blaine had his anime design except with military clothes) fleeing to the Safari Zone. That's a whole other story because that guy was most likely not good (as expected from a battling scientist), but that may be what you're getting at? Same here, but the final story still makes sense.

From a worldbuilding standpoint they don't make much sense.
Eh. They aren't great villains and there is definitely untapped potential, but I can't help but feel that you're being overly critical, which is easy to do about any Pokemon story. If they'd added a climax in Cerulean Cave, it would have been quite similar to the standard set by RS.
 
This is why I hate Kanto's plot and think Team Rocket is overrated. Their motivations are too vague and unconnected, they just act like random bad guys being evil for the sake of being evil. I liked the whole "rule the multiverse" angle they went for with Team Rainbow Rocket in USUM, but aside from that they really haven't done all that much in the grand scheme of things.
Well, here's how I see Team Rocket's motivations:

Gen I: Let's make some money!

Gen II: Notice us, Sakaki-senpai!

Still better than Aqua/Magma, in my opinion.
 
Also there's a hint from the rainbow rocket episode, as the team leaders there were all from alternate universes where they had succeeded in their goal, and Giovanni has a Mewtwo.
 
Also there's a hint from the rainbow rocket episode, as the team leaders there were all from alternate universes where they had succeeded in their goal, and Giovanni has a Mewtwo.
I wonder if that was a change to include something from the anime, considering that Game!Mewtwo was unrelated to Team Rocket until USUM.

EDIT: And the different mangas.
 
The fact that Team Rocket were after Mr. Fuji always implied some connection to Mewtwo, or at least along with the first movie (that Dr. Fuji died and never became Mr. Fuji, but they didn't randomly pick the same last name for both characters). The extra FRLG references made it obvious, and while Team Rocket didn't fund Fuji's research, it seemed likely that they were aware of it.
 
The fact that Team Rocket were after Mr. Fuji always implied some connection to Mewtwo, or at least along with the first movie (that Dr. Fuji died and never became Mr. Fuji, but they didn't randomly pick the same last name). The extra FRLG references made it obvious.
I don't think TR was after Fuji in the original games; the Rockets in the tower claim he came to them to complain about them harming Pokémon and Fuji himself tells you he went there of his own will.
 
You're right, and I'm glad they changed that in LGPE. Still, between the Master Ball and the movie, it was a very popular theory that Giovanni was after Mewtwo.
 
I don't think TR was after Fuji in the original games; the Rockets in the tower claim he came to them to complain about them harming Pokémon and Fuji himself tells you he went there of his own will.
That's exactly how it went.

Team Rocket Grunt said:
This old guy marched right up to our hideout. Then, he starts ranting about how Team Rocket's abusing Pokémon. So, we're just talking it over as adults.

Mr. Fuji said:
Heh? You came to save me? Thank you. But, I came here of my own free will. I came to calm the soul of Cubone's mother. I think Marowak's spirit has gone to the afterlife. I must thank you for your kind concern! Follow me to my home, Pokémon House at the foot of this tower.

In fact, the earliest I can think were they linked Mr. Fuji and Mewtwo was in Gen III (Blaine's portrait and the Faraway Island message).
 
Please note: The thread is from 4 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
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