Unpopular Opinion: Team Rocket Isn't Evil Per Se

[Bartmanhomer]

Hello everyone. Today I'm going to talk about the most iconic villain team in Pokemon anime known as Team Rocket. Yes, they are well known for attempting to catch Ash's Pikachu multiple times for so many years and they always fail to achieve their goal. In my opinion, they're not entirely evil per se. They're more chaotic than evil which is a surprise to me that I've come across this article that Team Rocket is Chaotic Neutral. https://www.thegamer.com/pokemon-villain-team-dungeons-dragons-moral-alignment/ I read the article that Team Rocket is Chaotic Neutral because they don't follow the tradition of rules and regulations of the law. They do so many random things and they are very unpredictable to catch Pikachu and the morality of good and evil is irrelevant to them. I don't know if this comes as a shock or surprise to some people but it is a surprise to me that Team Rocket is Chaotic Neutral. I just want to hear everyone's thoughts about Team Rocket not being evil.

[Peelee]

Hello everyone. Today I'm going to talk about the most iconic villain team in Pokemon anime known as Team Rocket. Yes, they are well known for attempting to catch Ash's Pikachu multiple times for so many years and they always fail to achieve their goal. In my opinion, they're not entirely evil per say. They're more chaotic than evil which is a surprise to me that I've come across this article that Team Rocket is Chaotic Neutral. https://www.thegamer.com/pokemon-villain-team-dungeons-dragons-moral-alignment/ I read the article that Team Rocket is Chaotic Neutral because they don't follow the tradition of rules and regulations of the law. They do so many random things and they are very unpredictable to catch Pikachu and the morality of good and evil is irrelevant to them. I don't know if this comes as a shock or surprise to some people but it is a surprise to me that Team Rocket is Chaotic Neutral. I just want to hear everyone's thoughts about Team Rocket not being evil.

It's "per se", not "per say". It's Latin. "By itself".

[Bartmanhomer]

It's "per se", not "per say". It's Latin. "By itself".

I edited the thread title and the post. :smile:

[KillianHawkeye]

Team Rocket as an organization is Evil. They're not above killing, stealing, kidnapping, butchering. Their base is an underground casino.

I.e., they're the Pokemon Mafia.



Now Jessie and James (and Meowth!), they're a bit more Chaotic Neutral. They don't really fit in with the hardcore criminal element of their teammates. They actually from time to time do something good, like actually helping Ash and the others. They're more like frenemies than villains.

[Mystic Muse]

Wow, those are terrible summations in the Neutral category.

Wanting to reset the planet, with tons of people as casualties? Evil.

Omnicide? Evil.

Exploitation of animals and addiction for profit? Evil.

Even Jesse and James are definitely evil early on, since their goal is ostensibly to steal pokemon from (usually) loving trainers.

Jesse, James and Meowth probably become Chaotic Neutral later on but definitely start as evil, and Team Rovket as a whole is definitively evil by the alignmemt system.

[Bartmanhomer]

Team Rocket as an organization is Evil. They're not above killing, stealing, kidnapping, butchering. Their base is an underground casino.

I.e., they're the Pokemon Mafia.



Now Jessie and James (and Meowth!), they're a bit more Chaotic Neutral. They don't really fit in with the hardcore criminal element of their teammates. They actually from time to time do something good, like actually helping Ash and the others. They're more like frenemies than villains.
Yes, I agree with you about Jesse and James. They're more of a comic relief than pure evil villainy.

[Lord Raziere]

No, Team Rocket's evil.

They basically do the cartoon version of this:
Rocket Grunt: Hey cute dog
pet owner: thanks! he's my best friend.
*rocket grunt shoots pet owner in the chest* BANG!
*dog begins barking*
Rocket Grunt: I'm taking it.
Pet Owner: *screaming loudly in agony on the ground as they bleed out*
Rocket Grunt: shut up you mutt
*Rocket Grunt kicks and beats up the the dog a bit until it stops resisting*
Dog: whine....
*Rocket Grunt then picks up the dog by the collar*
Rocket Grunt: Your a rare breed, I'mma sell you for so much money.
*pet owner dies from gunshot wound, dog is sold illegally and shipped to some random country*

like they literally are thugs who take your beloved pet by any force necessary to sell for cold hard cash without caring what happens to you or what pain it causes as long as they get their benefit. inflicting cruelty for their own benefit its evil by any definition of the word.

[Forum Explorer]

Hello everyone. Today I'm going to talk about the most iconic villain team in Pokemon anime known as Team Rocket. Yes, they are well known for attempting to catch Ash's Pikachu multiple times for so many years and they always fail to achieve their goal. In my opinion, they're not entirely evil per se. They're more chaotic than evil which is a surprise to me that I've come across this article that Team Rocket is Chaotic Neutral. https://www.thegamer.com/pokemon-villain-team-dungeons-dragons-moral-alignment/ I read the article that Team Rocket is Chaotic Neutral because they don't follow the tradition of rules and regulations of the law. They do so many random things and they are very unpredictable to catch Pikachu and the morality of good and evil is irrelevant to them. I don't know if this comes as a shock or surprise to some people but it is a surprise to me that Team Rocket is Chaotic Neutral. I just want to hear everyone's thoughts about Team Rocket not being evil.

Jesse, James, and Meowth have been seen to actually be held back by their obsession of capturing Pikachu. Without that they are pretty goofy, but are extremely loving to their own Pokemon and pretty successful as trainers/coordinators in their own right. But they have this goal of being successful Rockets which is, well, bad in so many ways. Bad for them, bad for the people around them, bad even for the Rockets!

But yeah, it's hard to consider them actually evil, more misguided instead.

Mind you, that article is ridiculous. 'trying to wipe out everyone equally is True Neutral!' has to be one of the more insane statements I've read lately. That's evil. Also Team Aqua and Team Magma have the exact same motive and methods, just with one focused on water and the other on land. Why is Aqua LN and Magma LE?


No, Team Rocket's evil.

They basically do the cartoon version of this:
Rocket Grunt: Hey cute dog
pet owner: thanks! he's my best friend.
*rocket grunt shoots pet owner in the chest* BANG!
*dog begins barking*
Rocket Grunt: I'm taking it.
Pet Owner: *screaming loudly in agony on the ground as they bleed out*
Rocket Grunt: shut up you mutt
*Rocket Grunt kicks and beats up the the dog a bit until it stops resisting*
Dog: whine....
*Rocket Grunt then picks up the dog by the collar*
Rocket Grunt: Your a rare breed, I'mma sell you for so much money.
*pet owner dies from gunshot wound, dog is sold illegally and shipped to some random country*

like they literally are thugs who take your beloved pet by any force necessary to sell for cold hard cash without caring what happens to you or what pain it causes as long as they get their benefit. inflicting cruelty for their own benefit its evil by any definition of the word.

That's Team Rocket in general. Specifically the team of James, Jessie, and Meowth is a lot less malevolent.

[Bartmanhomer]

Jesse, James, and Meowth have been seen to actually be held back by their obsession of capturing Pikachu. Without that they are pretty goofy, but are extremely loving to their own Pokemon and pretty successful as trainers/coordinators in their own right. But they have this goal of being successful Rockets which is, well, bad in so many ways. Bad for them, bad for the people around them, bad even for the Rockets!

But yeah, it's hard to consider them actually evil, more misguided instead.

Mind you, that article is ridiculous. 'trying to wipe out everyone equally is True Neutral!' has to be one of the more insane statements I've read lately. That's evil. Also Team Aqua and Team Magma have the exact same motive and methods, just with one focused on water and the other on land. Why are Aqua LN and Magma LE?
Yes. As I mentioned before Jessie, James and Meowth are less evil and a comedy relief compared to their organization. I have seen only the first season of Pokemon as a child during my childhood. I thought they were still focusing on their attempts to capture Pikachu but as you said before they kind of held back their obsession with Pikachu. As for the article, yeah I don't agree with wiping out everyone equally is True Neutral. That is more like a Neutral Evil act to do.

[Eldan]

Being bad at it doesn't make you less evil. Just because you only try to kill people but always miss doesn't mean you didn't attempt to murder someone.

[Forum Explorer]

Being bad at it doesn't make you less evil. Just because you only try to kill people but always miss doesn't mean you didn't attempt to murder someone.

It does when you being bad at it is more self sabotage than incompetence. Like if you are trying to kill someone, but instead of using a gun, you instead use easily escaped death traps and also the only person you ever target is Batman. At some point you go from being criminal needing to be stopped to person who needs a healthcare professional.

[Lord Raziere]

It does when you being bad at it is more self sabotage than incompetence. Like if you are trying to kill someone, but instead of using a gun, you instead use easily escaped death traps and also the only person you ever target is Batman. At some point you go from being criminal needing to be stopped to person who needs a healthcare professional.

I mean they don't just target Pikachu. Team Rocket deciding to steal someone else's pokemon for an episode is common as dirt, and their methods vary from the low budget to the expensive to the deceptive and its a hole or a scam Ash will fall for it every time, Pikachu is just the default target. Ash is kind of the one that needs some help if he keeps falling for Team Rocket in bad disguises trying to sell them a scam service for the literal hundredth time.

[GloatingSwine]

Now Jessie and James (and Meowth!), they're a bit more Chaotic Neutral. They don't really fit in with the hardcore criminal element of their teammates. They actually from time to time do something good, like actually helping Ash and the others. They're more like frenemies than villains.

Also they're really consistently quite skilled at everything except kidnapping that one Pikachu (which, to be fair, can successfully use electric moves on a rock/ground type so it must be worth something). So their incompetence is pretty highly specific.

[False God]

No. Team Rocket is pretty solidly evil, even if the occasional member isn't totally black-heartedly evil, or Jessie and James are sympathetically incompetent in their evil (towards the MC and crew at least). Mind you Jessie and James are still evil, though in more of a criminal or thuggish evil, rather than a villainously malevolent evil. Team Rocket's goals on the whole are pretty solidly death, destruction and conquest with no real fudge room of "gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet" logic, just yeah that's what they want. It's all pretty evil for the sake of evil.

[Bartmanhomer]

No. Team Rocket is pretty solidly evil, even if the occasional member isn't black-heartedly evil, or Jessie and James are sympathetically incompetent in their evil (towards the MC and crew at least). Mind you Jessie and James are still evil, though in more of a criminal or thuggish evil, rather than a villainously malevolent evil. Team Rocket's goals on the whole are pretty solidly death, destruction, and conquest with no real fudge room of "gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet" logic, just yeah that's what they want. It's all pretty evil for the sake of evil.

What's the difference between thuggish evil and villainously malevolent evil? :confused:

[Mystic Muse]

What's the difference between thuggish evil and villainously malevolent evil? :confused:

Scale mainly. The scale of the latter is much more widespread than the former.

[Bartmanhomer]

Scale mainly. The scale of the latter is much more widespread than the former.

Ok. That makes perfect sense. Thank you, Mystic. :smile:

[TaiLiu]

I just want to hear everyone's thoughts about Team Rocket not being evil.
Assuming you mean the Jesse-James-Meowth-Wobbuffet quartet, I think that's right, though their characterization shifts a lot. People sure don't treat them like nasty evil villains. It almost feels like a game that they're playing, and everyone's in on it.


It's "per se", not "per say". It's Latin. "By itself".
That's right, though I think "per se" doesn't make sense in this context. "Unpopular Opinion: Team Rocket Isn't Evil" is sufficient.

[Bartmanhomer]

Assuming you mean the Jesse-James-Meowth-Wobbuffet quartet, I think that's right, though their characterization shifts a lot. People sure don't treat them like nasty evil villains. It almost feels like a game that they're playing, and everyone's in on it.
Yes, the quartet is right. The rest of the organization is pure evil.

[TaiLiu]

Yes, the quartet is right. The rest of the organization is pure evil.
Yeah. Though I think there are at least two ex-Team Rocket members, so I'm sure there are others who wanna quit, too.

[Bartmanhomer]

Yeah. Though I think there are at least two ex-Team Rocket members, so I'm sure there are others who wanna quit, too.

Maybe. Only time will tell.