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SwSh Villain Team Speculation

Plot twist: The evil team won't be Team Brexit, it will be Team UN. Team UN will attempt to persuade the Galar region not to go ahead with their plan, and when that fails, they'll use force to coerce them into doing so.
 
Personally I'm hoping for two warring teams that leave devastation in their wake, and then another villain orchestrating the whole thing to profit from the fallout. Sort of like a cross between Magma/Aqua and Ghetsis.

They could take the ideas of industrial progress and respect for nature to the extreme, continuing the ideas we've seen since Gen I.
 
There has to be a detective figure in the region either as an antagonist or a recurring helper. And no, I'm not talking about Looker.

The great detective Terloc Jolnes!
 
Plot twist: The evil team won't be Team Brexit, it will be Team UN. Team UN will attempt to persuade the Galar region not to go ahead with their plan, and when that fails, they'll use force to coerce them into doing so.

I actually wouldn't mind something like that. To make it more interesting, though, I would have it make it look like the "Team Brexit" is the evil team at first, leaving only cryptic clues that "Team UN" might actually be the villains. Heck, maybe even show some good people being on "Team UN" and some not so great people being on "Team Brexit" since in real life, there are good and bad people on each side of the political spectrum. Maybe even have the good people on "Team UN" defect when "Team UN" goes too far decides to start using force to try to keep Galar as part of the Union/Pokémon League when talks fall apart.
 
Yeah... GF certainly are not about to include yet alone potentially demonize the U.N. It would instantly bring up bad blood about Japan's past regarding the League of Nations to boot, and would only stir the pot and hurt their own possible sales in Britain regarding Brexit.

That recent leak talking about angry Mages is probably what's most realistically going to happen. Team Slytherin certainly sounds leagues better than some boring Thieves Guild at the very least, and lets GF avoid politics on the whole. (for us muggles anyways) I can also see them tying into the Luddite movement being speculated before, as perhaps they would be ancient druids that prefer the old ways & traditions as opposed to industrialization & technology.
 
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I'd like for there to be higher-ups again, like Johto's Team Rocket and Team Galactic both had. Fighting grunts over and over lately has become dull, in comparison to dealing with Admins and the like.
What are you talking about? No game since the first one doesn't have admins or something similar.
 
What are you talking about? No game since the first one doesn't have admins or something similar.
Again, I would like to see a series of Commanders like Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and Charon or Executives like Petrel, Ariana, Archer, and Proton-a series of higher-ups that you battle multiple times over the story as well as interact somewhat substantially with.

We haven't had much of that lately, with recent games focusing on one Admin or Lancer to the Leader and a lot of Grunts to fight instead.
 
We haven't had much of that lately, with recent games focusing on one Admin or Lancer to the Leader and a lot of Grunts to fight instead.
but.....Flare had four scientists in the main story and a fifth for the post-game. while Aether and Skull did only have one Admin, it was a byproduct of having the Evil Team Duty split in two.
 
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but.....Flare had four scientists in the main story and a fifth for the post-game. while Aether and Skull did only have one Admin, it was a byproduct having the Evil Team Duty split in two.

Yeah, and even in Skull's case, I'd argue that Gladion counts as the functional equivalent of an admin, even if he lacks the title.
 
No one remembers the Flare scientists. And Gladion worked undercover and wasn't even shy about it in front of the player.
 
but.....Flare had four scientists in the main story and a fifth for the post-game. while Aether and Skull did only have one Admin, it was a byproduct of having the Evil Team Duty split in two.
I knew someone would bring them up. Personally, I don't count them because:
  • Barring Xerosic, they're extremely forgettable, lack personality, barely interact with the PC, and have few lines. Their characterization is extremely shallow.
  • Their parties are as large and diverse as their grunts, with only a slight difference in level being what separates them. While they do have "signature Pokemon," none of them stand out like Mar's Purugly, Jupiter's Saturn, or Archer's Houndoom did.
  • First and foremost, they're scientists. While they do rank higher than the grunts, I never saw them in the same capacity as their predecessors. They don't even solely lead missions like the prior Admins/Executives/etc. did (barring Mable in the Frost Cavern, if you consider that a mission), as they're always accompanied with a nameless Admin themselves.
Even if you decide to consider them, it still doesn't change the fact that most villainous teams have fewer higher-ups than many.
 
I knew someone would bring them up. Personally, I don't count them because:
well huh. i agree that most villainous teams have fewer higher-ups, but i'd rather have good and interesting higher-ups rather than Team We Have Eight Admins, whose only goal seems to be to show everyone that they have eight admins.
 
Barring Xerosic, they're extremely forgettable, lack personality, barely interact with the PC, and have few lines. Their characterization is extremely shallow.

The Galactic Commanders don't strike me as much better... they're all just clueless subordinates who don't know the real plan. They're no better than the grunts. What do any of them have to gain by following Cyrus other than "muh vague new world"? Neo Plasma in B2W2 only had two real admins, but they both had clear, explicable motives. (Actually, that in mind, ORAS's versions of Team Aqua and Team Magma both had only two admins each, and they both had way more personality than Galactic or Flare's admins, so the notion of "more" being better here is looking pretty questionable to me... I think Faba, Gladion, and even Plumeria all had more personality too...) And while Team Flare's Scientists are trash, the whole team at least has a, overarching classist philosophy that gives them an implicit motive (killing off what they see as the bottom-feeders of society). Team Galactic is defined by the fact that its followers are all dumb, directionless sheep who are just doing what they're told. And like... looking over the Commanders' dialogue, they just come off as generic bad people to me. I don't see how they're not just as "extremely shallow" as the Scientists...

As for interacting with the player, if we're going by Diamond & Pearl, again, it's not like the Commanders boast that much more over the Scientists. Mars and Jupiter appear three times during the main story, and Saturn twice, and that third appearance for Mars and Jupiter is just because they throw in that Double Battle against them at Spear Pillar, but that's hardly some watershed moment of character illustration. They're just acting as bouncers. In Team Flare's case, you get essentially the same thing, but for whatever reason, Game Freak decided to use the white-suited administrator class in this role when you approach the ultimate weapon core, instead of the Scientists themselves.

Platinum adds the post-game follow-up with Mars and Jupiter at Stark Mountain, which is nice I guess, but of course a third version is going to touch things like that up, and even then, it's just a, "Well what do we do now? Um... guess we'll just go back to doing whatever!" send-off after a battle.

Also, why does Charon even exist

Their parties are as large and diverse as their grunts, with only a slight difference in level being what separates them. While they do have "signature Pokemon," none of them stand out like Mar's Purugly, Jupiter's Saturn, or Archer's Houndoom did.

Purugly and Skuntank only stand out because they're really strong for that early point in the game. I suppose that's a matter of structure - all of the early Team Flare appearances in XY don't involve the admins. My guess is that GF wanted a more gradual escalation, but who knows. Obviously if Aliana came along at the Glittering Cave with a Lv17 Druddigon, she'd be more memorable.

Archer's Houndoom is hilariously crap. Oh no, it's packing Bite. (And Mable literally uses a Houndoom herself!)

They don't even solely lead missions like the prior Admins/Executives/etc. did (barring Mable in the Frost Cavern, if you consider that a mission), as they're always accompanied with a nameless Admin themselves.

The white-suit admins are just glorified grunts. An oddity, sure - I don't know why GF decided to add that as a separate class of Team Flare member, but they're ultimately indistinguishable and I don't think they're really meant to suggest anything about the competence of the Scientists. That's just how Team Flare happens to be structured.

I don't know why one would arbitrarily disqualify the Power Plant/Poké Ball Factory/Frost Cavern missions from not being "missions"; they all contribute directly toward Team Flare's intention, while also riffing on either XY's theme about give and take or their theme about hidden potential.
 
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