Why don't Team Rocket bond with their Pokémon anymore?

[PTOldMan]

Up until Unova, Jessie and James were fairly regarded as trainers who always had a strong bond with most of their Pokémon. However, since Team Rocket left most of their Pokémon at their HQ they don't seem to have any bond with their new Pokémon. Woobat, Yamask, Frillish and Amoonguss were no more than weapons to them. Yamask was the only Pokémon which seemed to be developing a bond with James, but that was only shown during the its first episodes. The only thing we may regard as bond between JJ and their Pokémon was the fact their Pokémon always seemed happy and the fact that they were always obedient. But, aside from this small detail (which may mean nothing), TR don't seem to develop a bond with their Pokémon anymore.

Regarding their Unova Pokémon, this may have been intentional because the writers may have planned from the start to have Jessie and James give their Pokémon to Giovanni, so having them not bonding with their Pokémon would really help this. However, Team Rocket's Pokémon in Kalos don't seem to be establishing a bond with their trainers. Why do you think this is happening? Are we supposed to assume that Inkay and Pumpkaboo will also be delivered to Giovanni? During the episode "Heroes - Friends and Faux Alike" JJM contacted Giovanni and told him they captured Inkay and Pumpkaboo, which pleases Giovanni. Should this really mean that they are going to give their Pokémon to the boss and that they won't develop any kind of bond with them?

 

[CrashBash]

I'm gonna be honest, I miss the Pokemon James had where they kept trying to cuddle (Read: eat) him.

 

[Alola]

I miss all the interactions Jessie had with Dustox, Yanmega and Seviper. Along with James and his Mime Jr., Chimecho and Cacnea.
At least the writers gave us Wobbuffet...

Pumpkaboo and Inkay just feel disturbingly static, though not as bad as Frillish and Amoonguss were. At least, like their predecessors, they can decently battle and hold their own.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I really miss Team Rocket bonding with their Pokemon. It showed that despite being the villains, they still cared about their own Pokemon. It was especially nice with James since he tended to have more touching moments with his Pokemon. I could understand why that stopped with BW since they were serious for the majority of the series, but it's too bad that it hasn't returned in XY when they're back to being more comedy relief villains.

 

[Solayoh]

Yeah I really miss their bonds.

Arbok, Lickitung, Wobbufett, Seviper, Dustox, Yanmega
Weezing, Victreebel, Cacnea, Chimecho, Mime Jr

All had personalities, and you were sad to see them go.
Don't think anyone shed any tears over Frillish and Amoongus going.

 

[R!ck]

Inkay, Pumpkaboo >>> Frillish, Amoongus, Woobat, Yamask imo, I think the XY ones need a lil bit more development and they could be on par with OS-AG-DP Team Rocket's mons.

 

[u69413]

Different writers probably.

 

[Nester]

An episode where they take a break from the classic routine of Ash meeting someone with a new or interesting Person/Pokemon, Team Rocket stalking from the bushes and duping them with some hilariously transparent disguise (you can't hide a talking Meowth in plain sight) and then Pikachu blasting them away would be a welcome sight.

One where they take time to get to know Pumpkaboo and Inkay. It doesn't even have to be a deliberate "Say Inkay, what's your favorite past time, HMM?" but where Team Rocket gets themselves into a goofy situation and their Pokemon get to display some form of a personality.

 

[BlackButterfree]

An episode where they take a break from the classic routine of Ash meeting someone with a new or interesting Person/Pokemon, Team Rocket stalking from the bushes and duping them with some hilariously transparent disguise (you can't hide a talking Meowth in plain sight) and then Pikachu blasting them away would be a welcome sight.

One where they take time to get to know Pumpkaboo and Inkay. It doesn't even have to be a deliberate "Say Inkay, what's your favorite past time, HMM?" but where Team Rocket gets themselves into a goofy situation and their Pokemon get to display some form of a personality.

Yes, something like Training Daze, except in the main anime. A TRio-centric episode where they bond with Inkay and Pumpkaboo.

But I think it's because OS-DP TRio were always sympathetic villains. You always hoped that at some point, they'd stop chasing Ash and join him. At least I did. After Unova's Team Serious, we were supposed to recognize them as true blue villains, and maybe in XY we're supposed to see them as evil idiots, but evil nontheless, and therefore they don't bond with their 'mon. (I personally always look at the comic relief villains and hope they end up good guys by the end of the show.) Well, aside from Wobbuffet and Meowth. (How has no one tried to capture the talking Meowth in forever? IT'S A TALKING POKéMON and no one's tried to catch him in like 10 years...)

 

[TPrower]

There's also something to be said about the fact that Jessie's Pumpkaboo knows Frustration, a move powered by a Pokemon's negative feelings toward its Trainer. That, to me, feels like proof that these Pokemon are more like tools of villainy rather than companions.

 

[Gabo2oo]

I don't think them giving their Pokémon to Giovanni has anything to do with their bond. They can easily still give them to him and have a more emotional farewell.

The reason they weren't shown having a bond with their Unova Pokémon is that they were in their serious, distant phase (yes, even when they got Frillish and Amoonguss). The reason they aren't shown bonding in Kalos is because the writers aren't caring about Team Rocket at all. They're back as comedy relief, but are almost only plot-convenience characters now. They're usually only shown to steal Pokémon or to cause problems in general, but never to show James collecting bottlecaps, Jessie participating in the Summer Camp, or them doing anything that isn't related to Ash and his friends in this series.

 

[Gotapennaame]

An episode where they take a break from the classic routine of Ash meeting someone with a new or interesting Person/Pokemon, Team Rocket stalking from the bushes and duping them with some hilariously transparent disguise (you can't hide a talking Meowth in plain sight) and then Pikachu blasting them away would be a welcome sight.

One where they take time to get to know Pumpkaboo and Inkay. It doesn't even have to be a deliberate "Say Inkay, what's your favorite past time, HMM?" but where Team Rocket gets themselves into a goofy situation and their Pokemon get to display some form of a personality.

Yes, something like Training Daze, except in the main anime. A TRio-centric episode where they bond with Inkay and Pumpkaboo.

But I think it's because OS-DP TRio were always sympathetic villains. You always hoped that at some point, they'd stop chasing Ash and join him. At least I did. After Unova's Team Serious, we were supposed to recognize them as true blue villains, and maybe in XY we're supposed to see them as evil idiots, but evil nontheless, and therefore they don't bond with their 'mon. (I personally always look at the comic relief villains and hope they end up good guys by the end of the show.) Well, aside from Wobbuffet and Meowth. (How has no one tried to capture the talking Meowth in forever? IT'S A TALKING POKéMON and no one's tried to catch him in like 10 years...)

I belive you are right this is reason they no longer bond with there Pokémon.Team Rocket may have gotten back there original comedic side from the OS-DP times but they are still suppose to have the completely unsympathetic they had for most of B&W. In B&W since most people were sick of the comedic sympathetic Trio that was in OS-DP they made them non-comedic and non-sympathetic with varing shades of success. They decided in X&Y they decided to bring back the comedic part but not the sympathetic part. Since most people prefer them as unsympathetic villain they will probably keep them that way. When anime ends they probably end in jail or dead in comedic fashion .(which is one the reasons I don't want the anime to end in my lifetime and it probably won't .)

While I do miss the versions of TRio that bonded with there Pokémon that version them is figuratively dead and gone. I can do be content that they do have there comedic parts and try to think much about the unfortunate end of there story. That I won't be alive for any way.

 

[BlackButterfree]

An episode where they take a break from the classic routine of Ash meeting someone with a new or interesting Person/Pokemon, Team Rocket stalking from the bushes and duping them with some hilariously transparent disguise (you can't hide a talking Meowth in plain sight) and then Pikachu blasting them away would be a welcome sight.

One where they take time to get to know Pumpkaboo and Inkay. It doesn't even have to be a deliberate "Say Inkay, what's your favorite past time, HMM?" but where Team Rocket gets themselves into a goofy situation and their Pokemon get to display some form of a personality.

Yes, something like Training Daze, except in the main anime. A TRio-centric episode where they bond with Inkay and Pumpkaboo.

But I think it's because OS-DP TRio were always sympathetic villains. You always hoped that at some point, they'd stop chasing Ash and join him. At least I did. After Unova's Team Serious, we were supposed to recognize them as true blue villains, and maybe in XY we're supposed to see them as evil idiots, but evil nontheless, and therefore they don't bond with their 'mon. (I personally always look at the comic relief villains and hope they end up good guys by the end of the show.) Well, aside from Wobbuffet and Meowth. (How has no one tried to capture the talking Meowth in forever? IT'S A TALKING POKéMON and no one's tried to catch him in like 10 years...)

I belive you are right this is reason they no longer bond with there Pokémon.Team Rocket may have gotten back there original comedic side from the OS-DP times but they are still suppose to have the completely unsympathetic they had for most of B&W. In B&W since most people were sick of the comedic sympathetic Trio that was in OS-DP they made them non-comedic and non-sympathetic with varing shades of success. They decided in X&Y they decided to bring back the comedic part but not the sympathetic part. Since most people prefer them as unsympathetic villain they will probably keep them that way. When anime ends they probably end in jail or dead in comedic fashion .(which is one the reasons I don't want the anime to end in my lifetime and it probably won't .)

While I do miss the versions of TRio that bonded with there Pokémon that version them is figuratively dead and gone. I can do be content that they do have there comedic parts and try to think much about the unfortunate end of there story. That I won't be alive for any way.

The anime wouldn't end with them dead. Maybe incapacitated, like frozen in amber for a few millennia or something. They definitely aren't the same sympathetic people we knew and loved, and I guess that could be taken as character development. They've turned from bumbling, lovable idiots into determined, evil idiots.

 

[Gotapennaame]

Yeah I don't think it's likely they will die at very end of anime but it is still way more likely them getting reformed and living happily ever after. I know we should no longer care about that since they are no longer character were suppose to. But it hard to let go of that. Also the fact that Ash& Pikachu are the only consistently appearing in the show that will getting happy ending is kind of sad(not they don't deserve one or anything). It's just only 2/5 of a shows long term Characters getting happy end is mathematically sad statistic.

But in the end I try not worry about that because what's the use in worrying about something you will dead for and most people are going to enjoy.

I will just enjoy my rerun OS-DP and the fact they do still have there comedic side (at least for now).

Although I still think they would be nice to develop Inkay and Pumpkaboo a bit. Even if The TRio is too unredeemable evil too bond with them it does not mean the viewer should not. I would like to see what there like when they not battling .

 

[Aurorus]

Well, aside from Wobbuffet and Meowth. (How has no one tried to capture the talking Meowth in forever? IT'S A TALKING POKéMON and no one's tried to catch him in like 10 years...)

Didn't Iris try to capture him in B&W though? And I seem to remember a Don George thinking he would be a good capture, too.

 

[BlackButterfree]

Well, aside from Wobbuffet and Meowth. (How has no one tried to capture the talking Meowth in forever? IT'S A TALKING POKéMON and no one's tried to catch him in like 10 years...)

Didn't Iris try to capture him in B&W though? And I seem to remember a Don George thinking he would be a good capture, too.

Fair enough. But it doesn't happen nearly as much as it should. I mean, even if he's pretty much useless (he can only use Fury Swipes and will never learn Pay Day) he can talk. I feel like these characters aren't giving him enough credit for it nor giving him his proper monetary value.

 

[Gotapennaame]

Well, aside from Wobbuffet and Meowth. (How has no one tried to capture the talking Meowth in forever? IT'S A TALKING POKéMON and no one's tried to catch him in like 10 years...)

Didn't Iris try to capture him in B&W though? And I seem to remember a Don George thinking he would be a good capture, too.

Fair enough. But it doesn't happen nearly as much as it should. I mean, even if he's pretty much useless (he can only use Fury Swipes and will never learn Pay Day) he can talk. I feel like these characters aren't giving him enough credit for it nor giving him his proper monetary value.

You right I think Poke verse just kind of under values Meowth. I personally think Meowth from Team Rocket is the rarest most valuable Pokémon in the anime Pokémon universe. I don't get why no one on the other side of that tv screen for the most part does not see it.

 

[BlackButterfree]

Well, aside from Wobbuffet and Meowth. (How has no one tried to capture the talking Meowth in forever? IT'S A TALKING POKéMON and no one's tried to catch him in like 10 years...)

Didn't Iris try to capture him in B&W though? And I seem to remember a Don George thinking he would be a good capture, too.

Fair enough. But it doesn't happen nearly as much as it should. I mean, even if he's pretty much useless (he can only use Fury Swipes and will never learn Pay Day) he can talk. I feel like these characters aren't giving him enough credit for it nor giving him his proper monetary value.

You right I think Poke verse just kind of under values Meowth. I personally think Meowth from Team Rocket is the rarest most valuable Pokémon in the anime Pokémon universe. I don't get why no one on the other side of that tv screen for the most part does not see it.

Because apparently talking Pokémon aren't impressive, since humans and Pokémon used to be one species. -.- But whatever, their loss and Jessie and James' gain.

 

[Necrozma]

Because they're not Team Rocket anymore. They've lost their personalities.

Now they're simply villains who appear to create conflict for the sake of the episode. Bad villains at that.