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Team Rocket: is it possible their value to the show has "expired"?

I think that Team Rocket aka the TRio fill a role of an opposing force that isn't like a rival

As you do at times need to remind the characters or the viewers that bad stuff and people are still out there

And have to give certain type of episodes that bad guy or person/group to root against

And for the characters of Jessie James and Meowth
I think they kinda know what to do for them in general
Jessie where whenever there's elements related to performing, etc she's good at that role
Meowth fills the necessary translator for the Pokemon and gives the Pokemon a foil
James is similar to Jesse and Meowth where he can fill certain roles usually more on the sympathetic/empathetic side

Now have they stayed too long
kinda
As we seen with Butch and Cassidy recently they could retire and follow their non-Pokemon stealing passions as we know they all have them
But they also have been there so long that it'll be weird for someone to fill their shoes
Like if after OS we had a similar duo/trio with Team Aqua and Magma fill their role in AG then it'll make more sense as we would be rotating them out like how we rotate companions and rivals

I think Journeys format doesn't benefit them as one it would be weird if they happen to go from Kanto to Galar to Hoenn as Ash and Goh do
But I know there were plenty of fillers where their presence could have been there even needed in some cases
And I think it's harder to catch JN Ash and Goh off guard in this format too for some reason

So I think as someone who has been seeing them do the same thing over and over again for year's I'm kinda tired of them
But I know their role has a use and I understand why there here

As I think after OS the best amount of them was SM imo where they weren't there every episode but not as vacant as JN

So their value isn't expired just need to be smarter on when and how to use them
 
The show not knowing what to do with the Rocket trio in this series is more a condemnation of the show's production staff than the characters themselves. The characters have plenty of steam left. Gou and his quest to go after Mew is right there and yet nobody's thought to bring up Musashi's mom? Or the whole "Sakaki had Mewtwo created from an eyelash of Mew" thing!? And you're telling me it wouldn't be comedy gold to have Kojirou's fiancee chasing him around from region to region? Etc. etc.

It's just that Pocket Monsters (2019) absolutely excels at squandering all the potential that's been dropped into its lap, the Rocket trio included.

The thing is, a lot of the show's staff is more or less the same now as it was during Sun & Moon where, outside of their pitifully low appearance rate, they were argurably the best they ever were. And a lot of the show's staff still really seems to love them. Their voice actors are still fired up about the characters, the voice director has expressed his love for them on multiple occasions, and animators left and right (Iwane, Ichiishi) rave about them from time to time. So the staff, in general, still really likes them. I think what's probably happening is that there's some higher-up somewhere who just doesn't care for them for whatever reason and is perfectly fine with not having them appear for months at a time. And everyone else just has to...play along.
 
Even if TR still appeared often I don't think any of those things would have happened. They would never bring up Jessie's mother at this point of the anime because they didn't ever after the first season, and Jessiebell was only a 2 episode character. Only difference is they'd probably have their own pokemon captures but they probably would have just been used for fillers in the same way.

TR really don't need to appear for any of the PWC episodes and they were in some raid battles like the Zapdos one. But overall their roles in any Project Mew ep wouldn't be much and distract from what they're doing with Go.

We even saw them in their usual routine in the recent Erika episode but even then most of that episode would have played out the same whether they appeared or not. It was just a less than 5 minute TR battle while most of the ep was about Pinsir/Heracross and Erika. So that was done like an old style filler for example.
 
I'm honestly surprised about how they were able to stretch out team rockets throughout 8 regions and still make them somewhat tolerable, I love them in some series, and I honestly find them just annoying in others, but overall, I still hold them, dear, to my heart. I have always thought about them being a bit overdue in their stay, but I honestly can't imagine a pokemon series without them.
 
Unless the next series changes something, I'd have to personally agree. At the moment I consider them and their vending machine antics to be one of the most tiresome aspects of Journeys. They may as well be Butch and Cassidy at this stage, that's how little I'm invested in the TRio as characters now.

Suffice to say this series represents the least I've cared about them since BW.
 
Unless the next series changes something, I'd have to personally agree. At the moment I consider them and their vending machine antics to be one of the most tiresome aspects of Journeys. They may as well be Butch and Cassidy at this stage, that's how little I'm invested in the TRio as characters now.

Suffice to say this series represents the least I've cared about them since BW.
Agreed. I couldn't care less about the TRio right now.
 
Yeah, I don't get it, one of the main characters goal is to find Mew, and yet no connection to one of the biggest mysteries in the anime? I know using fanart to show what we could've gotten in this series could be seen as controversial, but please hear me out.

miyamoto-2_jpg.png

Art by goldfish078

The image to the left shows the episode could have humor showing Miyamoto was very similar to her daughter in present day, and some cute moments with Mew trying to trick her in a playful manner while she searches for it, this can also be the same Mew Goh sees later chronology in JN001, and is even the same Mew from the first movie Mewtwo Strikes Back; it all connects! The image to the right shows a younger Jessie living life without a mother sad crying, missing her mom, and that give a some heavy emotional moments, makes you feel bad for the protagonist of the episode. If we had an episode about Mallow and her mother you know they could easily do this with a character that's been around for 25 years.
 
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