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Why Don't Team Rocket Leaving During either Advanced Generation or Best wishes?

Yeah, I know that sounds too similar to "Why don't James, Jessie, Meowth quit Team Rocket" thread but why can't The Writers Try to write off Team Rocket Trio when it comes to Advanced Generation or Best Wishes?

But according to the TV Tropes:
When the Advanced Generation was in pre-production, there was a discussion on who would get Put on a Bus, Misty or Team Rocket. Misty leaving the show was controversial enough, but one wonders how much the fandom would have flipped their lids if Team Rocket left.
Team Rocket was also going to be Put on a Bus in Best Wishes. Ironically, their intended write-off was still advertised as their Grand Finale, which was intentional since there were still plans for them to make some appearances after said write-off and only when Best Wishes ended would they be gone for good, so the promotion about their farewell was testing the waters with fans and getting a response before working on the end of the series and the start of the next series, XY. Because fan reaction was negative, Team Rocket was kept in the anime.
Why can't The Writers Try to write off Team Rocket Trio?
 

deliaketchum

Well-Known Member
If they write off, it would be difficult to write many episode stories. Stories which are generic
For ex- like a trouble created by group of people and ash tries to solve it only to find team rocket was behind it. Then they blastoff and everything goes to normal for the day until next time.

If they are removing team rocket, what would they replace them with for common episodes (called fillers by some people)
 

RafaSceptile

Well-Known Member
For AG, My guess is that it was a combination of TRio's popularity and the writers struggling to find an appropiate goal for Misty. For BW, the earthquake-tsunami incident messed-up a lot of things that it probably affected the decision to leave TRio in the series.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
If they write off, it would be difficult to write many episode stories. Stories which are generic
For ex- like a trouble created by group of people and ash tries to solve it only to find team rocket was behind it. Then they blastoff and everything goes to normal for the day until next time.

If they are removing team rocket, what would they replace them with for common episodes (called fillers by some people)
Not to mention that prior to SM, they kinda had trouble writing full stories with third acts without a bad guy involved. Even by XY tons of stories just sort of got 'cut off' by a TR hijacking, like they were their failsafe whenever they ran out of material. SM onwards tried to do full episodes around the heroes, but even then you see times they struggle or resort back to TR in their sore spots.

May as well use an iconic bad guy rather than a generic COTD antagonist (which was often the choice in their BW absences). You could argue they could use grunts of the regional teams but again it puts into question why use a similar rip off?

If they were that dependent on them so late in the series, there was NO WAY they were going around the AG era. Brock and Max were certainly not gonna hold plots on their own without a bad guy and I feel like even May would have struggled.
 
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Sceptile Leaf Blade

Nighttime Guardian
As far as recurring villains go, Team Rocket just works really well as long as they are used well. Tossing them into moral dilemmas that showcase their good sides, having a bit of humourous twists around their classic plans with pitfall traps, disguises, giant robots, or attacking from their balloon, keep the dynamic between them humourous, and give their Pokémon some funny characteristics, it allows them to shine and add a lot of charm to the show. The writers just have to be aware that they need to keep things interesting and fresh with them, and probably not show up every single episode. They can offer a lighter funny threat that more major villains like rocket elites just can't provide.
 

Shadao

Aim to be a Pokémon Master
Yeah, I know that sounds too similar to "Why don't James, Jessie, Meowth quit Team Rocket" thread but why can't The Writers Try to write off Team Rocket Trio when it comes to Advanced Generation or Best Wishes?

But according to the TV Tropes:


Why can't The Writers Try to write off Team Rocket Trio?
Team Rocket is very popular with fans for their more parental humor as well as the fact they provide easy conflict for Ash when need be. It's only in recent years have they suffer a noticeable decline in appearance and I attribute that to the fact the writers have gotten used to writing stories that don't need Team Rocket these days. Since many of the staff today grew up with Pokémon, it is very likely that as fans of Pokémon when they were kids, they could imagine stories that they knew would appease to new generations of children without relying on old reliable Team Rocket.

And I think that's why Team Rocket was kept. For the early writers who didn't grew up with Pokémon as kids (obviously), Team Rocket was their way of staying in the game without having to guess what appeases to kids and adults. Team Rocket causes some trouble and sprinkle parental humor, Ash and friends stop them. It's an easy premise for writers unfamiliar with how the Pokémon World works and their original designs means that writers like Takeshi Shudo can go a lot creative than they would with Ash. Thus, it would be unwise to get rid of them so soon.

But years went by, the writers got a hang on Ash's character, giving him a noticeable arc and more character introspective than he did in the original series. And the more familiar the writers were with Ash, the less reliant they are with Team Rocket. And not surprisingly, this was also a shift into Ash's character when he went from a standard Shonen brat boy to a legitimately powerful yet humble trainer that many look up to. He doesn't need Team Rocket for new conflicts.

Yet the irony is that by the time the writers got a hang of Ash, it was too late to just get rid of Team Rocket. They were grandfathered by virtue of identity and nostalgia. They can't leave because they were too ingrained into the anime's identity but they can no longer regain the glory days as writers became less reliant on them.
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
Other than the most obvious answer [the Rocket-dan's popularity], I think the writers are practical enough to realize that they can use the Rocket-dan as crutches whenever they need to add conflict to an episode. So keeping them for the sake of plot convenience is probably a small factor in why they're still around.
 

SerGoldenhandtheJust

Deluded Dreamer
Because they are insanely popular. Here is Former Head Writer Atsuhiro Tomioka talking about the Rocket TRio back in 2015.

Okay damn I want that TR featured movie, I wonder what the script was about
Honestly it seems their progression in the ranks has been ignored after BW, the only indicator of anything that has changed is matori and Jessie having a rivalry.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
Okay damn I want that TR featured movie, I wonder what the script was about
Honestly it seems their progression in the ranks has been ignored after BW, the only indicator of anything that has changed is matori and Jessie having a rivalry.

Well they seem to still be on relatively better terms with Giovanni. The Gacha resource where they get to use the organisation's Pokemon feels more like something an elite member like Butch and Cassidy would have gloated to them about in earlier series.
 

Dynamic_Fusion

HIKARI HYPE
Well they seem to still be on relatively better terms with Giovanni. The Gacha resource where they get to use the organisation's Pokemon feels more like something an elite member like Butch and Cassidy would have gloated to them about in earlier series.
Their Rotom Phone is still low budget though.
 

Sceptile Leaf Blade

Nighttime Guardian
Well they seem to still be on relatively better terms with Giovanni. The Gacha resource where they get to use the organisation's Pokemon feels more like something an elite member like Butch and Cassidy would have gloated to them about in earlier series.
Doubt that the gacha machine means anything, aside from an outlier or two in the earlier episodes all the stuff they get from it is forgettable and weak. If they actually got pokémon that could pose even a slight threat you might have a point, but the vast majority of it is less effective than Arbok and Weezing were. At least Arbok and Weezing occasionally landed hits and Weezing's Smokescreen was often very effective in aiding their escape. Gacha machine is the worst thing Journeys did to Team Rocket, especially after how good Mimikyu and Mareanie were.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
Doubt that the gacha machine means anything, aside from an outlier or two in the earlier episodes all the stuff they get from it is forgettable and weak. If they actually got pokémon that could pose even a slight threat you might have a point, but the vast majority of it is less effective than Arbok and Weezing were. At least Arbok and Weezing occasionally landed hits and Weezing's Smokescreen was often very effective in aiding their escape. Gacha machine is the worst thing Journeys did to Team Rocket, especially after how good Mimikyu and Mareanie were.
It's a very minimal factor, but the point is that Giovanni is at least supplying them in SOME way and most of his interactions with them AREN'T seeping with open contempt for them. It was pretty much a running gag that they were complete flunks within the organisation in the earlier series and pretty much every other TR member hated their guts for making their syndicate look like a laughing stock. In newer series, they're still butt monkeys, but as TR members they seem to be tolerated by everyone but Matori, and even she is usually indifferent towards them.

In fairness though, Mimikyu was ONLY good against Pikachu, and Mareanie was the usual TR jobber who got in the odd not so harmless offence (she beat Rowlet in her first episode, but every TR Pokemon usually gets a decent first battle). It sticks out especially since most of the twerps in SM weren't even battle competent for most of the series, but even Mallow and Lillie still usually beat them without a hair out of place.

I do agree that the format of TR having their own Pokemon was more compelling and, like most gimmicks hinting to TR being more of a threat, the gacha isn't used that well, but I wouldn't call it WORSE than they have been for a long time as battlers. It's hardly like every battle in OS or AG was 'Do I Hear A Ralts' level, or even half or a quarter of them for that matter. Part of the reason TR got so stale was because they did the exact same one sided beating every stinking episode, with them not even changing up HOW they could fail miserably like most comically bad villains do.
 
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TheWanderingMist

Paladin of the Snow Queen
Well, there's also the fact their VAs wanted to keep them around for obvious reasons. And BW would've been a terrible place to send TRio in particular off. The organization itself had a good farewell in BW, but not TRio. They weren't themselves.
 

AznKei

Dawn & Chloe by ddangbi
Because of 3 syllables.

Pi
ka
chu
Pikachu: Gimme a break! There's Pokemons more powerful than me in this world. Go catch them instead! :(

Also, TRio outfits are iconic as well. I can't count how many fanarts I've seen with Pokegirls wearing them, they are simple and effective not as ridiculous than the other evil teams outfits.
 
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