Favorite iteration of Team Rocket

[Dragalge]

Title says it all! I don’t expect a bunch of paragraphs but put a little thought in your response if you can!

OS remains my favorite to this day due to their Pokémon and some of the episodes that focused on them (Victreebel and Arbok being some favorites) but I’ll give BW credit for Operation Tempest and them being more competent despite the series giving up their personalities as a result.

Overall for me it’s OS -> BW => SM -> AG = DP -> XY

 

[DatsRight]

Probably OS Team Rocket. While there are elements of other series I enjoy (eg. DP's contest arc, BW's genuinely fearsome role, SM's personality), the OS was where they felt most relevant and developed. Shudo himself practically made the series with them in mind, making them as much the protagonists as the twerps, with focus on their backstories and pathos. Not only that but they felt more relevant as antagonists, sure they were bumbling, but their schemes were entertaining and their chemistry with the twerps was funny.

Later series, I dunno, they get it right SOMETIMES, but a spark is lost, they feel completely disconnected from the big picture, while Kanto was as much their story as Ash's, in every region after they feel like irrelevant trespassers who are butting into something far above their league. Also them being bumbling seems less to make them funny and more just to make their face-offs very easy to shoehorn in as plot devices. Their chemistry with the twerps dwindled and became bland and their schemes and fights, even when they put up an effort, are anti climatic and Road Runner-level doomed to always have the twerps win with the exact same zero effort each time, making them repetitive and pointless. They are less there to be amusing foils who flavour otherwise lacking stories but more a cheap writing cop out and 'stock losers who make the blander protagonists look good without proper development'. They need to get that when their characters need a complete lame wad next to them 24/7 to look good you usually just have two half baked characters.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

Eh cauliflower is ok I guess.

OS team rocket is probably the best imo, particularly in the 4kids dub. They're awful in the TPCI dub especially Jessie.

 

[Ignition]

OS & AG. TRio felt like actual cast members that added something to the show besides being just the annoying pests they are now. Their dynamic with the protagonists felt natural and more than the typical "good vs evil": they were always snarky to each other and even showed compassion with temporary truces (this especially shows in the leagues). Plus their humor peaked back then. I think they stopped being funny in BW onwards.

 

[DatsRight]

OS & AG. TRio felt like actual cast members that added something to the show besides being just the annoying pests they are now. Their dynamic with the protagonists felt natural and more than the typical "good vs evil": they were always snarky to each other and even showed compassion with temporary truces (this especially shows in the leagues). Plus their humor peaked back then. I think they stopped being funny in BW onwards.

I remember late-BW having moments of trying to bring back the old dynamic, even if TR's usual pathos seemed rather diluted. The plans were still a bit more formidable and creative (compared to most final seasons of each series where TR were usually outclassed completely) and since both sides were kinda bumbling they sometimes bounced off each other instead of Trio acting like goofy but generic baddies and the twerps just stonewalling them.

After that they slowly made 'Twerps vs Team Rocket' little more than a mechanical plot device whenever they ran out of material (though XY ran out of it A LOT). Even in SM where both the heroes AND the villains are equally colourful and they've actually bothered to set up some proper rivalries and even have TR level grind more than most of the twerps, they seldom get any funny or eventful face-offs besides sporadic attempts like the baseball episode. You can tell the writers only don't want to ditch this formula entirely because it's so easy to write.

 

[keepitsimple]

- OS, that's pretty much a no brainer lol.
- Cauliflower is fine, I'm not picky.
- Agreed, Buznut for president 2020

 

[DatsRight]

I'm all for Buznut's campaign, but where's this cauliflower reference?

 

[Dragalge]

I'm all for Buznut's campaign, but where's this cauliflower reference?

Do you just like cauliflower, dude! That's all!

 

[DatsRight]

Do you just like cauliflower, dude! That's all!

Can eat it, but not exceptional.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

I'm all for Buznut's campaign, but where's this cauliflower reference?

Watch Dragon Ball Super

 

[PorcelainVulpix]

OS was the last time I found team rocket to be humorous. Some of their best episodes are from OS (Holy Matrimony and Go West Young Meowth,) honestly some of the best episodes in the anime. But towards the end of OS, I started to tire of them and have been tired of them since.

 

[AznKei]

I just LOLed at XY TRio being the least liked. They must went too far with the repeated schticks. And OS to me, when the were original at the time.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

I just LOLed at XY TRio being the least liked. They must went too far with the repeated schticks. And OS to me, when the were original at the time.

They were like DP Team Rocket, but worse (especially in the dub). It doesn't help that both appeared in almost every single episode to do annoying things.

Anyways I also voted for BW and SM Team Rocket since they don't appear in every single episode like they have in the other series. It's best to keep them from appearing as long as possible imo

 

[DatsRight]

I just LOLed at XY TRio being the least liked. They must went too far with the repeated schticks. And OS to me, when the were original at the time.

They started off okay enough, being a decent mix of funny/likeable while still fearsome in places, but afterwards that whittled badly, with XYZ arguably being their lowest point. It was the clear point where TR were seen as little more than a writers short cut.

The reason semi competent TR worked in bits of OS and BW was because the writers put the effort into their dynamic with the twerps. There's no point making a villain that offers funny chemistry or challenging face-offs if the heroes don't bounce off of any of that, and it was obvious by XY that the twerps weren't gonna any more. The twerps, while varying as protagonists, are actually pretty lame as heroes, they don't have depthful dynamics with their villains and most of the times they get a threatening one, they fail to put up a good counter strategy and win by plot armour. They don't make use of developed antagonists, they make use of jobbers and plot devices to hide their blander qualities and fill in stories they can't drive on their own. By the end of XY the writers didn't even bother on TR's end of things and made nearly all their schemes and interruptions as generic and repetitive as possible.

The same is true in SM for the most part, just most of the twerps are colourful enough as protagonists that they don't rely on Team Rocket's straw loser role nearly as much. (I feel like the Ultra Guardian episodes are a 'baby steps' recovery towards trying to make them funny and crafty as heroes again, though rarely do those involve Team Rocket.)

I will admit to loving Inkay and Gourgeist however. Battle active Wobbuffet was also nice while it lasted. Basically XY TR were okay as characters but eventually became monotonous as antagonists.

 

[mehmeh1]

OS>BW post-league>SM>Early XY=>pre-league BW>AG>DP>late XY

 

[AznKei]

They were like DP Team Rocket, but worse (especially in the dub). It doesn't help that both appeared in almost every single episode to do annoying things.

Anyways I also voted for BW and SM Team Rocket since they don't appear in every single episode like they have in the other series. It's best to keep them from appearing as long as possible imo

Yeah, I would like to them not to appear constantly, in exchange to add more rivals, or putting more depth into existing rivals. I also thought the XY rivals were too friendly too. Whatever happened with serious jerk rivals who taunts the heroes for their failures? It's a trend for the mainstream games too, LGPE Gary will be written in much more friendly way, giving advices, than his RBY counterpart.

 

[DatsRight]

I feel like SM really should have got the right balance, they're funny and bumbling, and so are the heroes, but they have decent resources like Mimikyu and have even bulked up by gaining access to Z Moves. They also don't appear as much either, giving reason to space out their face-offs to make them more worthwhile like in BW. However, right now, while they're great as characters, as villains, they're still only slightly better than how they were in XYZ.

Their extra power hasn't remotely altered their dynamic as padding villains, rarely does having the likes of Mimikyu and a Z Ring change things up from the same repetitive one sided beating as usual (which is saying something considering most of the SM companions are even more stagnant and not even battlers), and their schemes while quirkier are still kind of generic, usually a mech or a net, both very easy to destroy. We rarely see their current team in action and they still often have stock banter against the twerps, with the gags ironically ending most of the time they're together. The same stance continues that it's pointless making TR grow as villains if the writers don't want to make the twerps grow as heroes. (Granted if even TR's elite force is mere padding in the Necrozma arc, Jessie and James didn't stand a chance).

We've had SOME recovery since the series started, this season has had some funny Ash vs TR moments so far and while they seldom use the Z Ring, they're still used it more creatively than Lana. Their solo limelight is also in top form, just again, good characters, bleh villains.

 

[Genaller]

They were like DP Team Rocket, but worse (especially in the dub). It doesn't help that both appeared in almost every single episode to do annoying things.

Anyways I also voted for BW and SM Team Rocket since they don't appear in every single episode like they have in the other series. It's best to keep them from appearing as long as possible imo

As far as I’m concerned every version after OS TRio were garbage though I will give XY TRio some credit in that they knew when to back off and not unnecessarily hog episode screen time. Let me elaborate; when I was rewatching the DP and XY gym battles (in order to compare the respective iterations of Ash), for DP in literally every single gym battle they would cut away to TRio doing stuff MULTIPlE TIMES over which quite frankly was incredibly jarring. For XY on the other hand they practically never cut away from a gym battle with the only debatable exception being Ash vs Korrina where TRio tried to sneak into the gym arena only to be quickly dispatched by Froakie and Ash’s friends though even that case was nowhere near as jarring as the DP instances with regards to breaking the flow of the battle.

 

[shoz999]

I'm gonna say XY's take on the Team Rocket Trio as well. Haven't seen enough of Best Wishes to judge that Team Rocket but it's actually pretty good so far. As for XY, I have to say that they are simply the funnest iteration of the Team Rocket Trio compared to previous seasons. A huge problem with Team Rocket in nearly all it's seasons, except for Best Wishes so far, is how boring they are in filler episodes and this is especially pretty bad for filler-heavy seasons. Also I do agree they hog too much of the main stories time, like Gym Leaders, not really contributing anything to the plot. It's especially far worst in most, if not all the movies. Which is why the XY series was much more refreshing. Almost every filler episode is watchable but it's also straightforward, not straying away from the main story.

Speaking of Team Rocket, I'm watching the episode where they hilariously do the unofficial Team Rocket motto while nearly dead in the Litwick episode.

 

[Genaller]

For the 2nd question yeah in general I like gobi, but it usually depends on what kind we’re talking about.