• 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.

Team Rocket: Goofy Villians, or Dangerous Villians?

Lis

New Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2013
Messages
59
Reaction score
0
I've been watching the very first episodes of Pokemon lately, and i've notted quiet a difference between now and then.
I like the thirlling sensation that they give in the firsts season, since they are more challenging and even more mischevious, but
they weren't as familiar and secretely caring with eachother as we see later on- although, their actual tendency to repeat the same jokes
and to be blown out in the same way episode after episode does get a little tiring at times; because well, it's obvious that'll happen
(Just finished episode 5, they made two aparitions on the same chapter, and the battle was quiet interesting, Koffing litterally kicked Onix's "tail")

Which version do you preffer? The older ones, or the newer ones? I personally enjoy when they side-up with the trio in those special situations
when they are seriously in danger, which probably wouldn't happen if they hadn't become more "soft" But at the same time, that old rivalry and
trheatening attitude is refreshing.
 
I'd say they're a mix of both. In fact, irl they'd be dangerous as hell, they amount of machines they have. They're just unlucky they're in a TV show, they'd be master criminals irl.

I prefer the newer TR, the older got boring and the Unova repackage was a breath of fresh air. Shame they went back to their old selves at the end.
 
Somewhere in between 'twould be best, methinks
 
Last edited:
I prefer the goofy Rockets, because they were goofy in a charming way. The "serious" Rockets just don't work for me. They are still the same losers as they were before, and they have no personalities. And the fact that the whole seriousness went nowhere during the latter half of BW.
 
Last edited:
I prefer the Dangerous Villains. I haven't ever really liked the old Team Rocket, even during the first season. I like when villains in general are dangerous and very strong in how they use their Pokemon.
 
Gold middle seems like best working option in my opinion. Meaning that TR trio isn't either way too serious and cold showing more emotion to them and sides of personality insted of just blindly following orders and missions. Thus not leaving enough time and opportunity to dive more inside their characterization and what other things are going in their minds beside just being proud members loyal to Giovanni.

But also not being treated as battered punching bags which just focus on interrupting important battles going on never ending futile quest of trying to steal Pikachu ending as nothing more than overused joke of villains repeating gags and goofy momenhts over and over again with no change and diversity happening to their funny, silly mischief and dynamics.

I like Jessie arrogant, dominant personality clashing with James insecure, submissive side packed with Meowth cunning, leery personality often bringing sense into his other two commrades heads to put themselves togethert and focus on objective. Working as perfect team capable of producing lot of humor, dynamic and memorable shifting interactions.

But in moderate doses playing more than just comedy role, which is one of reasons why i appreciate their representation in light of more competent, agile and impacting on plot antagonists finding decent balance between their human, full of flaws side with added dose of being better adaptive, threatening and successful in trying to achieve their aims and clear path for Giovanni and other members of TR organization for whatever actions they wish to make.

So in nushell for me balance is best way for TR trio to go finding stable medium between their serious and goofy maneurisms remaining consistent and clear in their purpose.
 
I don't mind team rocket being dangerous, i just despised how they were handled in "Best Wishes

Being stripped of their personality was not a wise idea, and might have been the reason why they were reverted to their old selves.
 
I liked their serious selves, but they really did have much of their personality taken away at the same time. I agree with those who say in between is best. Their goofy selves just got boring and repetitive. xP
 
I don't mind seeing them get dangerous on occasion, but for the most part gimme goofy Rockets.
 
At the start of Season 1 of Pokemon Team Rocket were serious villains, including Jesse and James. However throughout the season Jesse and James started to become just goofy the more the season went on and were probably just a pest to Ash, Misty and Brock. However I think the actual Team Rocket (Giovanni and the other grunts etc.) were always a threat in the first few seasons. It was just mainly Jesse and James who became goofs.
 
I vastly prefer the goofy version. That's where most of the humor of the show is for me, watching them bumbling around with ridiculous plans, having boss fantasies, all the puns and jokes, and silly disguises. I like their role because they are just so incompetent and funny I can root for them while they are scheming, but since they are villains I don't feel bad when they fail and get blasted off. Plus I can get all emotional when they have to say goodbye to their Pokemon just like the main characters, and root for them for real when they start messing up the other evil teams or solo villains. I do want serious villains in the show, but it shouldn't be them, it should be the appropriate evil team for the region. Like how in Hoenn we had Aqua/Magma to be the real threats with TR as comic relief, or Sinnoh with Team Galactic and Hunter J.

Besides, it's possible for them to be somewhat threatening while being goofy. For example, in "Do I Hear A Ralts" they still had their jokes and stuff, but they also used every Pokemon on their team in the right way and gave Ash and friends a run for their money, forcing Max to take Ralts to the Pokemon Center on his own. It struck the perfect balance between their characters and the need for dangerous adversaries. Kalos seems to be taking that approach, they have more of their old character back but they are also using their Pokemon effectively.
 
I preferred the super spy versions. You know, the ones where their not there for comic effect nor are after Pikachu. This happened a lot during the early BW and all throughout the Meloetta story. I also like the times when Meowth travels with Ash. Honestly, having someone who could translate pokemon makes Ash seem less like an idiot. Yea, I'm still annoyed at how he treated Helioptile when first met.

As far as their true feelings for each other I think back to the first manga where it showed a pregnant Jessie in what appeared to be a family photo with James.

image.jpg
 
Last edited:
Them being intimidating worked in the very beginning because it fit (Ash just met them and even though he didn't really show it he could have been stressed out by them, especially because he was just starting his journey and had very few Pokemon) but as it went on and they kept failing, them becoming goofier was the only way to go. Then they got backstories and development which pushed them even further from their initial personalities.

Honestly I liked them best in Kanto/Orange but so far they've been great in XY. Hopefully this MegaMegaMeowth plot will be as good as I hope!
 
The TRio, for me, needs to be goofy. The rest of Team Rocket? Anything as long as it's done well.

See, the problem I had with BW Team Rocket, aside from being boring and having "competent" plans that weren't much better than their old ones, was that they'd been established as silly for years before suddenly turning around and becoming scowling threats. Not only was it out of character, but it actually broke my suspension of disbelief. They weren't JJM anymore, they just had the same names (and slightly redesigned faces). Even now, when they're "back to normal", something's still not quite the way it was. I think it's the way their faces are animated, but I digress.

I kind of compare it to how people in the Danny Phantom fandom like to treat the Guys in White, if anyone is familiar. You can write all the horror laboratory fanfics you want, but at the end of the day they're still a silly Men in Black parody. Likewise, the TRio is still a ragtag bunch of goofballs. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

People liked Hunter J, after all. I'd love to see some more recurring villains to take up that "serious" role while keeping the quirky main villains, and they can still use Team Rocket for that. Like how Butch and Cassidy were serious in their first appearance, maybe we can get some characters like them.
 
Honestly, I love them both, and I think somewhere in between would be the best for them but I don't think they've acheived that optimal portrayal yet.

Pre-meteonite Rockets were great, and they were unintrusive to the plot and we could actually believe that they were competent villains despite their previous portrayals being anything but that. But of course the cancellation of the culmination of that plot massively fucked the plans for them up and they were sent into that strange limbo of semi-serious and semi-competent, but it wasn't very satisfying and I completely agree with people who said they were boring. When they went back into full ridiculous mode in Da!, I loved it! After so long of only seeing small hints of their goofiness it was a huge breath of fresh air.

I know a lot of people reckon it's contradictory for them to have both aspects fully fleshed out, but I think that the right balance could be struck with the right writing and good focus on them both.
 
SwifTer said:
At the start of Season 1 of Pokemon Team Rocket were serious villains, including Jesse and James.

Correction: They were serious villains for all of one episode, if that. In their second appearance they were defeated by a newly caught Caterpie using String Shot. In their third appearance they were walking around in a "tank" made out of cardboard boxes.

PiccoloX83 said:
As far as their true feelings for each other I think back to the first manga

Dengeki Pikachu was not the first Pocket Monsters manga.

jda95 said:
Pre-meteonite Rockets were great, and they were unintrusive to the plot and we could actually believe that they were competent villains despite their previous portrayals being anything but that. But of course the cancellation of the culmination of that plot massively fucked the plans for them up

No it didn't. That "strange limbo of semi-serious and semi-competent" would have still taken place even if the two-parter had aired as originally scheduled.
 
Japan prefers funny Team Rocket TRio as opposed to serious TRio. The fact that they returned to being fnny saying enough for themselves.

It's nothing normal that main charcters are missing for period of 3 months without a single appearance.

Starting in episode N, the maximum abscene is two consecutive episodes recently. And for X/Y they are missing in Gym matches and another heavy-character episodes like next week.

Team Rocket TRio should remain goofy although being a bit of competence that in XY series hey apppear to have.
 
And for X/Y they are missing in Gym matches and another heavy-character episodes like next week.

Good. That's how it should've been the whole damn time.

Also, I don't think I'd mind them being goofy so much if we heard from other, better TR members enough to spice things up, like in the OS. Heck, one of things I hated most about them in DP was that the producers treated whole damn organization was just one big joke :mad:

One thing they could've done in BW to make things better was have the HGSS Executives be the ones to draw out & battle Team Plasma & go after Legendaries with the TRio as their determined-but-inept henchmen. Certainly would've made a lot more sense. At the very least they should've used Proton or Archer instead of Pierce
 
Last edited:
Dangerous TR would've been fine if they weren't such a snoozefest. At least when they bring comic relief when they're goofy. Robot TR was just there for no reason. They brought nothing interesting to the table, which is completely the writers' fault because they clearly don't know how to write TR as serious characters. I also felt they changed their personalities way too abruptly. Their goofy selves are a lot better because it was weird/out-of-character to see TR taking themselves so seriously.

I do like the fact that they aren't in every episode now, though. XY seems to be striking a good balance with their personalities thus far.
 
I think a good number of you know how I feel about them :dodgy:. Although it should be easy to see that they really aren't a threat most of the time so I think they're more goofy. But I don't really see how having goofy villains in the show is really necessary. But whatever.
 
Last edited:
Please note: The thread is from 10 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