• A new LGBTQ+ forum is now being trialed and there have been changes made to the Support and Advice forum. To read more about these updates, click here.
  • Hey Trainers! Be sure to check out Corsola Beach, our newest section on the forums, in partnership with our friends at Corsola Cove! At the Beach, you can discuss the competitive side of the games, post your favorite Pokemon memes, and connect with other Pokemon creators!
  • Due to the recent changes with Twitter's API, it is no longer possible for Bulbagarden forum users to login via their Twitter account. If you signed up to Bulbagarden via Twitter and do not have another way to login, please contact us here with your Twitter username so that we can get you sorted.

Worst Series for Team Rocket?

What series has the TRio at their worst?

  • Original series

    Votes: 3 5.0%
  • Ruby & Sapphire

    Votes: 2 3.3%
  • Diamond and Pearl

    Votes: 3 5.0%
  • Black & White

    Votes: 22 36.7%
  • XY

    Votes: 1 1.7%
  • Sun & Moon

    Votes: 3 5.0%
  • Journeys

    Votes: 26 43.3%

  • Total voters
    60
I'd say Journeys has handled them the worst. While the little bits they had to themselves and themselves alone really shone through, those bits are far outweighed by the mishandling and bad usage of them. Because unlike the other series, we're coming into Journeys after TRio had their best outing in SM and instead of building up with that positivity, it's pretty much neglected in favor of disconnected stuff.
 
Best Wishes.

If the writers wanted more serious villains, then that's perfectly fine. There's nothing wrong with that.

What is wrong is they didn't create new characters and instead tried to drain J&J of their personality, their character, just to force them into roles they weren't made to play.
 
BW at least made them more competent and didn't shoehorn them into every episode. It's a shame the endgame for the meteorite never got to play out. Meanwhile Journeys has made little use of them both in the ongoing plot (they have no goal beyond the standard "let's steal Pikachu and the pokemon of the day") and due to the gacha device there's not even the relationships they build with their Pokemon, which is usually reliable for some of the warm and fuzzies.
 
Sadly I think the current series is a very close contender, although there are a couple of small reasons I put BW ahead of it. First of all, there is still time and I live in hope of the series redeeming itself. But more so, at least their souls are still attached to their bodies. We've had 3 really good outings with them, and glimmers of their humanity in various other episodes.

In comparison, BW destroyed their characters. What did they need a storyline or their own Pokemon for when they were empty shells? @Panky.. mentioned how this series has them coming from an amazing showing in SM to a crap one (I agree), but just imagine how much more jarring that transition was from DP to BW. They had been in every episode, had had 7 Pokemon between them with fantastic relationships, had been so quirky/fun/annoying and deeply embedded in the storylines (Hikozaru, Contests, Ginga Dan/J) and then... nothing. I don't care what anyone argues, it took the writers mid-way through XY to remember how to write their personalities and dynamics so they felt genuine and human again. At least we've not gone back to that.
 
Journeys for presenting them in the most lifeless fashion possible (and I'm not talking about BW serious levels) and especially coming after how fun they were in Sun & Moon. They do have their moments but said moments have mostly been in their own episodes.

Outside of that, they feel really shoved in with certain episodes (the recent Sword and Shield arc for example, they could have done so much more like with previous arcs but alas the only purpose they served was to advertise G-Max Meowth and nothing else), the humour hasn't been that funny (and when it is again, it's mostly in their episodes) and don't get me started on the Gacha machine.
 
For me it's definitely Black & White. They became emotionless, overly flawless, and worst of all, boring. And their Pokémon weren't really much better, being there just to fight battles and nothing more. Need I also to bring up how Frillish and Amoonguss were caught off-screen to be nothing more than additional muscle to the team?

I think Ruby & Sapphire is the second worst for me. Here the problem is the complete opposite: they were reduced to clowns who hardly ever did anything even remotely competent. Meowth had his boss fantasies, which, while funny, were also ridiculous in how the trio almost always swallowed them whole. They tried to act tough around other villains, usually Aqua and Magma, only to be embarrassingly shoved to the side to show how much more competent the other villains were. And need I bring up Jessie's Coordinator career? She never won a single Contest during this series, often resorted to cheating, and was never a serious candidate to win. Almost all of these aspects about the TRio were improved upon in Diamond and Pearl.
 
I think that’s the point about Jessie’s skill as a performer. When she’s being herself and not resorting to cheating she can genuinely be good, even if her style can be rather outre. The reason she kept failing in Hoenn and Kanto was because she always cheated or simply didn’t put any work in (the epic fail where she read attacks from a book expecting Seviper to do them and one of the attacks being Sacred Fire is a huge example).
 
I think that’s the point about Jessie’s skill as a performer. When she’s being herself and not resorting to cheating she can genuinely be good, even if her style can be rather outre. The reason she kept failing in Hoenn and Kanto was because she always cheated or simply didn’t put any work in (the epic fail where she read attacks from a book expecting Seviper to do them and one of the attacks being Sacred Fire is a huge example).
I completely agree with this and it made for a fantastic character arc over the 8 years spanning her first fiasco to her GF semi-final ranking. Doesn’t stop AG from being a horrible watch though.
 
I'm going to go with BW. Turning them into bland serious villains who outside of arguably Meowth rarely showed signs of their personalities was a terrible idea. Making the trio more competent wasn't a bad idea in itself, but it really didn't mean much when they were boring and lacked any charm they originally had. I've warmed up more to BW upon rewatching it awhile ago. It's still my least favorite series, but it was more enjoyable than I expected and some issues didn't bother me as much. That doesn't apply to BW Team Rocket since they were just so boring. Not to mention it was pretty jarring to go from the end of DP to BW with their personalities effectively removed. Plus, their Pokemon were boring, unmemorable and they didn't get much, if any, interactions with them.

I can understand people being upset with Journeys since they have such limited screentime and don't have their own Pokemon beyond Wobbuffet. But they've still had some really good moments and episodes. As frustrating as the gatcha machine is, some moments where they react to what Pokemon they've gotten have been pretty funny. Plus, there is still time to potentially give them more to do and more screentime, so it might be too early to rank it as their worse series.
 
Journeys. In Black and White, Team Rocket actually did something (And if it wasn't for that skipped 2 parter, they would have done even more) and had an own team, rather than that shitty gatcha thingy, that gives them weak mons anyways (So whats the difference with giving them own mons anyways, rather than laziness).
 
You know Black and White Team Rocket was awful. Specially in DA where they trying to be themselves again and they failed. But it still had some moments.

- We don't know what would have happended if TR vs TP ever happended (Let's be fair, everyone was hyped for that.)
- The Ghost train and Meloetta episodes were really cool.
-The Meowth arc.
-Giovanni getting involved.
-At least you know this had an expiration date.

Now we are stuck with nothing, the gatcha machine kills one of my favourite parts of Team Rocket: his Pokémon.When a new generation begins I always ask to myself: I wonder what Pokémon are Team Rocket going to get this season? And then I love them or I hate them but in the end all Rocket Pokémon grow in me. Now we have none of that.

And what about the rate off appearences? There is no quantity like in Sun and Moon but there is not quality unlike Sun and Moon,

Also they have no purpose, in DP we had the contests, In BW we had his conquest mission, In XY we had the performacnes and the Flare feud in Sun and Moon we had the building a hideout that advanced troughout the series. What do we have now? Nothing.We have a Morpeko that we don't even know how the hell got there. Does anybody now how Morpeko came from Galar to Kanto?

And what is worse of all. In BW I knew that a new generation would come and we could begin again and get a better Team Rocket (Slightly better in the end).Now? I'm starting to get worried that even if there is a new generation we may get stuck with Journeys.

I do not know anyone who says..The gatcha is an awesome ideas. Watch reaction videos of the new Pokémon opening. Watch their reactions when the gatcha appears.

There is still time, Kill the gatcha, And make Team Rocket catch new mons or better GRAB THE POKÉMON THEY HAVE IN THE HEADQUARTERS THEY ARE NOT IN ANOTHER REGION THEY CAN DO THAT NOW.

And another thing: WHY HANDICAP YOURSELF WITH A MACHINE THAT ONLY ALLOWS YOU TO USE TWO POKÉMONS?¿?¿?? ULTIMATE INVENTION MY ASS.
 
Last edited:
-The Meowth arc.
Which ended with Meowth feeling absolutely no regret for his actions, nor this event ever being referenced again. That again displays their lack of emotions. Real Team Rocket isn't that cold-blooded. In the words of a great Pokémon reviewer, the trio was "replaced by three robots in trenchcoats" for this series. And I hated that. I hate overly flawless and emotionless villains.
 
I completely agree with this and it made for a fantastic character arc over the 8 years spanning her first fiasco to her GF semi-final ranking. Doesn’t stop AG from being a horrible watch though.

AG is a good watch, and I find May more engaging than Misty because she had the coordinator goal whereas Misty was there because she didn’t have any better reason to part ways from Ash. It also gave May her own cast of rivals, even if that’s the region Ash didn’t have any long term rivals (Morrison was introduced not long before the Hoenn League). While it needed a lot of work AG at least tried to build up the Team Aqua and Magma storyline over the series. A Team Rocket aspect explored at least during the League was their skill as salespeople, and in other areas they were shown to be genuinely competent such as James in Pokeringer and Orienteering (that episode had a funny scene where Jessie and Meowth are doing the “Team Rocket’s blasting off again!” thing in the background and goes “huh, I thought we trademarked that”).
 
Which ended with Meowth feeling absolutely no regret for his actions, nor this event ever being referenced again. That again displays their lack of emotions. Real Team Rocket isn't that cold-blooded.
Oh yeah, that part ticked me off. I know Meowth has a heart, so displaying no regret definitely felt wrong. I remember Pikachu being so angry at Meowth's betrayal and I really couldn't blame him. If BW048 were written like any other series Meowth would've felt at least some form of guilt. I remember the Sableye episode in AG where he felt bad for tricking the latter, and that's just one example off the top of my head. What's worse for me personally is I actually enjoyed the time Meowth spent with Ash and his friends, so Meowth being so cold made it sting even more.

On a side note, Journeys and BW are the two highest voted. Can't honestly say I'm too surprised.
 
Last edited:
AG is a good watch, and I find May more engaging than Misty because she had the coordinator goal whereas Misty was there because she didn’t have any better reason to part ways from Ash. It also gave May her own cast of rivals, even if that’s the region Ash didn’t have any long term rivals (Morrison was introduced not long before the Hoenn League). While it needed a lot of work AG at least tried to build up the Team Aqua and Magma storyline over the series. A Team Rocket aspect explored at least during the League was their skill as salespeople, and in other areas they were shown to be genuinely competent such as James in Pokeringer and Orienteering (that episode had a funny scene where Jessie and Meowth are doing the “Team Rocket’s blasting off again!” thing in the background and goes “huh, I thought we trademarked that”).
Maybe I should have been clearer but I meant that AG was a horrible watch for the TRio. For the kiddies it's a great series! Even for my babies it's not all bad, they had some fun stuff to do occasionally and a fantastic group of Pokemon, and Musashi's involvement in Haruka's contest arc was innovative but it just makes for painful television if you are a fan of theirs.

The main thing that made AG a difficult watch for TRio fans is their really terrible relationship with each other during that period. They were in an awkward place I think where the writers didn't quite know what to do with them and so some of their negative OS traits (Musashi's selfishness, Kojiro's wimpiness, Nyasu being a little shit) got majorly flanderised and the Oohashi school of thought - that Kojiro is a little angel trapped with two evil demons - took root. The worst example is the Godawful Chirean episode in which Kojiro is a bit of a prick at the beginning of the episode, and then Musashi and Nyasu go on to be downright, unjustifiably horrible to him. There's nothing like friendship or team spirit in that, and plenty of other episodes during this saga suffered similarly though the degree to which it is noticeable may be much less. It took till half-way through DP to iron this out.

So yeah, I don't think AG is their worst series by any means (see: BW... and then PM) but of the decent ones it's my least favourite.
 
Please note: The thread is from 3 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.
Back
Top Bottom