History Characters / PokemonTheSeriesTeamRocketTrio

* CharacterDevelopment: While Jessie has remained the most antagonistic and aggressive of the trio, she has nonetheless become a kinder person over the years. She's now more prone to show others gratitude or support, even just slightly, instead of just focusing on herself. The most direct example of this is how early in the anime series Jessie violently threatened a Ditto that was having difficulties with using Transform, but 20+ seasons later when the same scenario with a different Ditto comes up, Jessie is wholeheartedly encouraging it instead. She remains somewhat self-centered and vain, but, it tends to be more in terms of harmless brattiness.
** Jessie tends to see herself alone against the world in tackling her problems, and has a habit if ditching her teammates if its convenient or if she fears rejection. JN095, after she misguidedly leaves James and Meowth under assumptions they'd be happier without Team Rocket and winds up in a deathtrap, marks the first time Jessie has been shown to envision her teammates coming back to save her (though the second time round it really ''is'' them).

* PetTheDog:
** Several times, but literally in "Holy Matrimony". Poor Growlie.
** It's worth noting that Weepinbell is the ''only'' Pokémon he ever caught by battling - most notably, Cacnea and Yamask (who he fed), and Carnivine (who he pulled free from a marsh) show that he's the most likely of the trio to show compassion without any desire for something in return (though Jessie and Meowth sometimes do so as well). He did somewhat trick Inkay though. He offered Inkay some food, and then threw a Pokéball at it while it was distracted. Regardless Inkay loves James as his trainer, as proven when James [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy believed he'd be happier released to a forest of his own kind.]]
** When James realizes that May has taken in Mime Jr, while James has taken the Pokemon egg. He pauses the theatrics and pleasantly meets May so they can trade the egg for Mime Jr and he does so without trying to steal the egg after receiving Mime Jr or throw a cheap shot while Mime Jr is with May.
** There is also the few occasions where he chooses to aid the very kids he is trying to steal their Pokémon from, without any ulterior motive.
** In XY, he once (covertly) helped Serena's Braixen get over having her stick broken. He was so happy about it, he congratulated her for learning Fire Blast while Team Rocket was being blasted off.
** His sweet relationship with his Chimecho. He fawns over it whenever he can and doesn't want it to get hurt. In "Lucario and the Mystery of Mew", he sets his Chimecho free before he's dissolved by the Tree's defense system.

* CallingYourAttacks: Seems to have picked this up in Unova.
--> FURY SWIPES!
** ItMakesSenseInContext. In [=EP050=], "Who Gets to Keep Togepi?", when he battles the twerps in a mini-tournament for Togepi, he acts as his own trainer, complete with ordering ''himself'' to execute attacks. This trope, as the series goes forward, is likely an extension of the idea that Meowth is technically a ''wild'' Pokémon, and does not nominally have his own trainer.

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: When he's angry and delusional enough, he's a surprisingly competent battler:
** He fainted Barry's Empoleon with a single Fury Swipes, which it should be noted, it ''resists''. However just a couple episodes later, he couldn't even break a display case with the same attack.
** His [[ThePowerOfLove "Fury Swipes Of Love"]] takes the cake in this department, where Meowth demolishes Seviper, Carnivine, Yanmega, [[LadyOfWar Togekiss]], Staraptor, and Infernape.
** In "The Grass Route" Jessie uses him in a battle tournament disguised as a Sunflora. Due to Ash's overconfidence and not expecting any of Meowth's attacks from a Sunflora, Meowth actually spends most of the fight demolishing Bulbasaur.
** He helped significantly against Team Plasma in an EnemyMine in "What Lies Beyond Truth And Ideals", even managing to [[CurbstompBattle decimate several Pokémon by himself.]]
** In general, Meowth's Fury Swipes aren't weak, just slow and clumsy, making him very easy to out stealth. Most of the rare times he's focused enough to land one, [[DeathOrGloryAttack they're very painful]], even against prominent fighters like Pikachu. He also proves to have prehensile ability with them, once even using them block a Hidden Attack against Fennekin.
** Despite his poor track record in Pokémon battles, he sometimes proves talented in Pokémon performance contests. This is especially evident in the Kalos Showcases, (which lack battle contests) where he was competent in nearly all stage themes and almost always helped Jessie reach a top place.

* CutLexLuthorACheck: He can understand Pokéspeak ''and'' speak to humans. He could be ''filthy rich'' if he tried using his skills for a job as a translator rather than a mafia goon.
** Lampshaded in "Jumping Rocket Ship" when the twerps point out one of many possible futures for a talking Meowth (becoming a TV sensation).
** In "Noodles: Romin' Off" he almost quits the team to become a skilled noodle chef due to his precise Fury Swipes.
** During the time he spends with Ash's group in BW, he acts as a "negotiator" in a couple of episodes.
** Even as a mere Pokémon, Meowth is actually a competent performer, having won contests and showcases for Jessie and even helped her coordinate rounds.

** This claim is kind of proven right in the straight-to-DVD movie ''Mewtwo Returns''. Both Pikachu's clone and Meowth's clone are close friends, and they're seen together most of the time.
** The episode "King and Queen for a Day", after another accidental separation, Pikachu and Meowth have to babysit their respective group's babies together (Bonsly and Mime Jr.). Aside from Pikachu accusing Meowth of stealing food (he ''was'' planning to steal it, but the grateful owner gave it to him after his helping her), there was no bad blood between them throughout the episode.
*** Inverted with [[spoiler:Meowth's brief stint as a FakeDefector]] which seemed to have sparked Pikachu's ire in particular. This didn't stop Meowth from directly helping them against both Team Plasma and the evil Malamar since then, so it would seem things are as usual.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: ''Very'' few people ever comment on the fact that Meowth can speak human, despite this being rare to the point where it's almost exclusive to Legendaries with the ability to use telepathy.
** One Johto episode had the trio try to use Meowth's ability to talk to make money at a street performance festival. Meowth gets stage fright but eventually does speak up, drawing in a crowd... only for his joke routine to fall so flat, it was enough to lose the crowd's interest.
** At times, other Pokémon thieves and hunters express interest in getting him, knowing they can get a fortune by selling him for his ability to speak.
** At times averted with newcomers such as Dawn, Clemont, and Goh; who are shocked Meowth can talk the first time they meet him.

* BreakoutCharacter: Initially introduced as just one more of the Generation II Pokémon obtained by the main cast during the Johto saga (in fact being the ''only'' new Pokémon Team Rocket obtains during this time period), mostly just to provide comic relief, Wobbuffet proved endearing and memorable enough that the writers couldn't bring themselves to get rid of him. He was added to the very end of the iconic Team Rocket Motto and stuck around during the entirety of [[Anime/PokemonTheSeriesRubyAndSapphire Hoenn]] and [[Anime/PokemonTheSeriesDiamondAndPearl Sinnoh]], with the two series even attempting to somewhat-unsuccesfully give James his own "Wobbuffet" (in the form of Chimecho and Mime Jr. respectively). When he was unceremoniously [[PutOnABus bussed]] as part of the ''[[Anime/PokemonTheSeriesBlackAndWhite Black & White]]'' series' attempt to make the [=TRio=] into "serious" villains, it received backlash from certain parts of the fandom, as by that point he had stuck long enough that it just was not the same without him. He returned by popular demand in ''[[Anime/PokemonTheSeriesXY XY]]'', and by ''[[Anime/PokemonTheSeriesSunAndMoon Sun & Moon]]'' he's portrayed as always being out of his Pokéball, pretty much acting full-time as a fourth member of the trio.

* SignatureMon: He serves as Jessie's overall Signature Mon since Arbok's departure, although Wobbuffet was already a very prominent Team Rocket Pokémon in the original series as well. Wobbuffet has traveled with Jessie and Team Rocket to almost every region, except to Unova in ''Best Wishes'' where he was left behind in the headquarters, since his goofy personality didn't fit the serious and competent trio of that era. Other Pokémon Jessie would catch in different regions serve as her main battler or Contest Pokémon, since Wobbuffet's limited movepool and passive nature makes it difficult for Jessie to use. He remains loyal to Jessie and Team Rocket and (aside from ''Best Wishes'') serves as a constant figure to the trio's identity who often switch their entire party per region except him.

** ''Sun & Moon'' completely overhauled the anime's art direction, moving it away from attempting to closely mimic the game art in favor of designs that are more conducive to a looser animation style. Jessie and James' designs were tweaked in the process: Their features actually have subtle, but noticeable differences, when previously their facial structure was virtually identical apart from Jessie having more prominent eyelashes. James has a slightly taller nose (which is more noticeable on profile view) and Jessie has slightly narrower and more strongly angled eyes. James's hair also has softer, uneven edges when before the cut was sharper.

* BerserkButton: Never try to kidnap Pikachu - that is their job and they will make you understand that (even saving Pikachu on occasions so that they can come and kidnap him ''themselves'' later).
** Also, never beat up/piss off Pikachu - Team Rocket will side with/support him instead of you.
** Never try and make Pikachu evolve; they have stolen a Thunderstone on one occasion to prevent him from evolving.
** [[{{Hypocrite}} Stealing their Pokémon]] makes them act as very effective members of the side of good, as Butch and Cassidy were the first to learn the hard way. That goes for Meowth as well.
** Don't use their rhyming introduction to mock them, it'll annoy them more than anything.

* BreakingTheFellowship: Several times, although it never lasted a single episode.
** [[spoiler:In BW, Meowth claims to have been fired and joins Ash's group for 5 episodes before doublecrossing them]].
** Ultimately happens again in [=JN145=]: [[spoiler:after their latest scheme to capture Pikachu fails again no thanks to a Latias, ultimately leading them to split up and seemingly end their careers for good]], though like earlier examples in the final episode of the series in [=JN147=] [[spoiler:it doesn't stick.]]

* BullyingADragon:
** They have a ''terrible'' history of angering or picking fights with people blatantly above their league. In Hoenn in particular, a lot of their comeuppances were a result of pressing someone's BerserkButton rather than forcing them into self defence.
** ''Aim To Be a Pokémon Master'' is perhaps the worst example of this. Despite the fact that Ash is now [[spoiler:the World Coronation Series Monarch, and thus the strongest trainer in ''[[WorldsBestWarrior the entire world]]'']], they ''still'' insist on trying to steal Pikachu despite how poorly they've handled him since they met. And with Ash only having [[TookALevelInBadass gotten even stronger since]], they're horribly outclassed in [=JN145=] when [[spoiler:Latias personally helps him wallop their latest scheme, which ultimately ends up splitting the trio up for much longer than they ever were... Before they inevitably get back together in the series finale.]]

** They return to being regulars in the Decalore Islands arc onward, complete with blasting off again. Still, they remain absent in some episodes, which almost never occurred before the Unova era. Their new pattern is to have their appearances more reasonably spaced out and frequently following their own storylines, rather than have them serve as a constant, monotonous antagonistic force.

* CutLexLuthorACheck: Seriously, they can pull off very amazing plans, are creative with their (informed) low budget to get by, and each have talents that would leave them financially secure if they only applied them to legal pursuits. Even Ash and his companions are aware of this. This has actually been lampshaded several times, with the group making money hand over fist with legit business, but the Rockets seem to view villainy as a calling, and refuse to permanently turn a new leaf on principle.
** Case in point, James has a variety of skills that give him plenty of options, Jessie has displayed potential to be a top-tier coordinator, and Meowth is one of the few living Pokémon that can speak human language without telepathy or being a legendary. Any one of these talents could easily become a successful, profitable career. As creator, Takeshi Shudo himself explained:
--->'''Shudo:''' They're not hopeless villains. It doesn't matter if it's not top-notch, they're able to do practically everything. Musashi (Jessie), is a beautiful woman and suffers from the hardships of being beautiful. These experiences aren't quite complete, but there is plenty of them. Well, it's not that she can't say that she easily falls in love because she can't become a world-class beauty...Kojiro (James) is fairly well-brought-up and educated. When it comes to Nyasu (Meowth), he's an intellectual and high genius who worked hard to master the human language. However, with some little causal relationship, they stepped out of line and stopped living an honest life.
** Hilariously come ''Sun & Moon'' where circumstances have forced them to largely stay in once place, they decide to open a food cart to run during their off hours. At one point during a moderately successful day they actually declare that doing honest work is ''enjoyable'' (though they immediately feel that [[{{Lampshading}} something is a little off about that statement]]).
** Taken further in ep 106 of ''Journeys'', when Giovanni recruits them to enlist more Rocket agents. They create a propaganda radio show as a solution, though when it fails to get any attention, they not only market it more broadly, but retool the scripts heavily with prizes, fan participation and other events. The revised show ends up incredibly popular....though the trio forget all about trying to acquire Team Rocket support as a result.

** It's more accurate to say that they've been relegated to 'major recurring character' status rather than mere 'extra'. This has actually worked in their favor too, since it has allowed writers to do more interesting things with the trio during their appearances, rather than the previous pattern of shoehorning them into being formulaic antagonists every single episode.

** Team Rocket's debut actually had them be fairly competent villains, with barely a trace of comedic atmosphere. They were characterized by a SmugSnake attitude that's practically unheard of with their current selves. Granted, they still lost humorously in the end, and this is where the trend began to slowly shape itself thereafter. Their self-contained ReverseCerebusSyndrome was underway, at least until ''Best Wishes'' where they were restored to some level of serious villainous competency. This didn't last however, and they were eventually reverted to their now more familiar comedic selves.

** In addition their camaraderie was incredibly downplayed in early episodes, with frequent occasions they seemed to only barely tolerate each other. Their VillainousFriendship got established as their finalised characterisations set in, though even as late as the Sinnoh seasons, they would sometimes backstab or show more extreme distain for each other, while post-''Black & White'' they are rather consistently VitriolicBestBuds.
** The very first episode is the ''only'' episode, until "[[Recap/PokemonS14E16RematchAtTheNacreneGym Rematch at the Nacrene Gym]]" (#673, in the ''Best Wishes'' arc), in which they do not appear.
** The [=TRio=] goes out of their way to interfere in the Indigo League and steal everyone's Pokémon more blatantly, rather than just hide in the background, make some extra cash, and scope out the place to see whom they can steal from. In fact, it was the only league where they bothered to outright interfere with Ash's match, whereas they would later just outright root for him while in disguise.
** In ''Anime/PokemonIChooseYou'', the trio are unimportant to the plot, in the later films, they play bigger roles in the plot.

* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** Generally speaking, while they may be Pokémon thieves, they're absolutely appalled by trainers who abuse their Pokémon. Case in point, they all have a soft spot for Chimchar after seeing how he was treated while under Paul's *cough* care. Another time, they ''wanted'' to pull off a scheme of the week, but stopped themselves, because they were touched [[spoiler:by the farewell between Ash and Gliscor in the episode]].
** Also demonstrated with them and the organization as a whole in Operation Tempest. They're horrified to hear their BrainwashedAndCrazy boss declare he desires the destruction of Unova because Team Rocket has always stood for conquest, not destruction.
** They were genuinely mortified by the sight of Mewtwo's clones fighting their originals, even going into a brief DarkReprise (of sorts, anyway) of their motto.
--->'''James''': [[DarkReprise I was prepared for trouble, but not for this!]]\\
'''Jessie''': [[DarkReprise Make it double for me!]]
** Even though they don't like Ash and his friends, the trio do end up helping them every now and then. Heck, they even ''saved'' Ash from falling out an open window at one point!
** In one episode Pikachu suffers a power nerf from being separated from Ash. When he proves helpless against Team Rocket, the trio complain there is no sport in capturing him and walk off until he regains his will to battle.
** After a failed ambush on Ash while he was walking home from school, Meowth discovers that the Stoutland that Litten was living with was on the verge of dying, and spends the rest of the episode actively expressing his concern, even advising Ash to watch over it.
** They were utterly disgusted with Faba wanting to erase Lillie's memories just to cover his own ass.
--->'''Meowth:''' We may be the bad guys, but we're not ''[[ForTheEvulz bad]]'' [[ForTheEvulz bad]]!
** They were no impressed with [[AdaptationalJerkass Team Skull's]] attitude in Sun & Moon during the Manolo Conference, where they tried to interfere with Team Rocket's food truck and trashed the reception area.
** And then there's "A Poached Ego", an entire episode built on this trope where Jessie and James find a poacher that has trapped a bunch of Ekans and Koffing. In the end, they release Arbok and Weezing so they can lead the Ekans and Koffing to safety.

* LaserGuidedKarma: All of their KickTheDog moments end with this:
** Their attempt to incinerate Ash with the flames of Moltres backfires when the real Moltres emerges from the flames, fries their robot, and sends them blasting off.
** The aforementioned episode where they had their Arbok and Victreebel attack Ash directly led to Ash's Chikorita, who was locked in a cage and being ForcedToWatch, evolving into Bayleef, breaking free, and blowing them away.
** Their aerial bombardment of Ash's party backfires badly when they make the mistake of pissing off Ash's Charizard by [[LostFoodGrievance blowing up a table of food Charizard had his eye on]]. Charizard promptly attacks them and throws their own bombs back at them.
** Their ElectricTorture of Ash during his Viridian Gym battle comes back to bite them when Ash pulls off his HeroicSecondWind, revealing that James also rigged Jessie's own platform to zap her whenever ''her'' Pokémon take damage. When Jessie demands to know why he did so, James confesses that [[DidntThinkThisThrough it didn't occur to him that they might lose again, so he didn't think it would matter]].
** On the other side of the coin, most of their more benevolent acts have a far better success rate and sometimes grant a HappyEnding, especially since often GoodFeelsGood.
** Most other members of Team Rocket look down on the trio for their incompetence and use their better reputation or ranks to humiliate or bully them. Most of the time however, [[LetsSeeYouDoBetter when put into action themselves]], they end up suffering a similar fall for grace that makes them look even more buffoonish, something the three often get to observe and enjoy thoroughly. Domino, Butch and Cassidy are key victims of this.
** In comparison to their countless painful failures trying to steal Pokémon, nearly all their legitimate captures are incredibly easy, and result in succinctly loyal comrades. Inkay and Pumpkaboo, two of their most reliable Pokémon, were both caught just by idly flicking a single Pokeball at them, while the likes of Cacnea and Chimecho willingly joined the team after they asked them. Mime Jr takes the cake, he eagerly jumped into James' Pokeball without him even trying to catch him.
** In [=JN145=], Team Rocket [[spoiler:brings out all their old Pokémon from headquarters to pull off the ultimate heist to capture Pikachu once and for all, but fail in part thanks to a Latias that had been following Ash. This proved to be the last straw for the three, who blamed each other for their failings to catch Pikachu after so long and stormed off from one another.]]

** In an early ''Diamond and Pearl'' episode, they wore small green jackets over their Team Rocket uniforms. Unzipped. [[BroughtToYouByTheLetterS With the R showing]]. [[TooDumbToLive The twerps don't recognize them]].
** This trope really got more prominent in later seasons (except ''Best Wishes''). The first time they were disguised, the heroes recognized them right away. By DP, though...yeah.
** Played with in Pokémon contests. While Jessie at least attempts a more palpable disguise most of the time, the heroes are still never remotely suspicious that the outspoken, pink haired contestant has the exact same Pokémon, including a Meowth that is ''also'' capable of human sapience. In some cases they even discuss how talented they are.
** There's one time where James costume changes practically ''right in front of the protagonists'' and they ''still'' don't realize that the man they'd been talking to, 'Jeeves', was actually James, assuming instead that 'Jeeves' suddenly wandered away for some reason.
** In the first-season episode "The Electric Shock Showdown," in which they disguise themselves to perform a victory cheer for Ash's Pikachu before its fight against Lt. Surge's Raichu. This time, the kids recognized them right away. (Of course, it may have helped that Jessie and James started reciting their motto before Meowth stopped them by slapping them with a paper fan.)
--->'''Brock:''' ''[after Team Rocket finish their cheer]'' That...was really disturbing.
--->'''Misty:''' Thanks for your support! 'Bye, Team Rocket!
--->''[The retreating Team Rocket stop dead in their tracks.]''
--->'''Team Rocket:''' HUH?
--->'''Meowth:''' How'd they know it was us?
--->'''Jessie:''' Lucky guess!

* PetTheDog:
** On more than one occasion, they've been seen cheering for Ash in his Pokémon League Conference matches. The two most notable instances are his battle against Paul (thanks in no small part to his [[FanOfUnderdog usage of Infernape]]) and his battle against Alain (where they weep openly after he loses, even stating that they're no longer in the mood to steal their Pokémon).
** [[spoiler:Despite her being one of their enemies, they are shown cheering for and genuinely being supportive towards Iris during her match against Cynthia. After she loses at the end, they're left in tears and state that her loss will make her stronger.]]
** In truth, they have many of these throughout the series, far too many to list. They've helped Charizard get into the Charicific Valley because it was what he wanted, have worked together with the main heroes on more than one occasion (even if some of those times were for their own self-interest), and have even aided some Characters of the Week.
* PickOnSomeoneYourOwnSize: VagueAge aside, Jessie and James are generally implied to be fully grown adults who are somewhere in their 20's. Nonetheless, they've gotten obsessed with stalking a 10 year old boy, his Pikachu, and all of their traveling companions who are no older than their mid-teens. This obsession holds so strongly that they, along with Meowth, have persisted in this pursuit across ''seven different geographical regions and counting''.
** In fairness, come ''Sun & Moon'' it seems they're at least trying focus more of their efforts on catching other Pokémon ; they just ''happened'' to be assigned to the same region where Ash is currently staying though, so when the opportunity to ambush him presents itself they simply can't help but try their luck.

** "Noodles Roamin Off!" marks the best example of this, as Meowth is given a chance to go down the straight and narrow as a noodle shop cook, and angrily storms away from his comrades when they blame him for their latest failure. Jessie decides to leave James behind so she can purse coordinating full time, and James decides to foolishly go after a shiny Metagross. It doesn't last long, as Jessie and Meowth pull James out of the fire before the shiny Metagross makes mince meat of them all.
** [=JN145=] sees them [[spoiler:bring all their old Pokémon out from Team Rocket Headquarters so they can finally steal Pikachu, but are once again thwarted thanks to Ash and co. and the unexpected assistance of a Latias that was following him. They get into a huge fight and declare their partnership over permanently. But like past times, it doesn't last long, as they ended up having the same idea on how to capture Pikachu, thus they decided to join together permanently and happily join hands as they blast off one last time in the final episode.]]

* ShooOutTheClowns:
** In ''Best Wishes'', they left all of their old comical Pokémon at HQ, mainly because they're not Unova-native, including the literal clown Mime Jr. {{Inverted}} in XY, where Jessie's Wobbuffet, easily Team Rocket's silliest Pokémon, comes back to Jessie's party, signifying the trio's return to their previous goofy personalties (if similarly in more NotSoHarmless form than before).
** The TerribleTrio ''themselves'' have started to appear less frequently in the show, although they continue to remain a cast staple. This is most likely because the target audience of the show requires that they can never be allowed to actually ''win'' against the protagonists (at least not long-term), but at this point after so many episodes, it's easier to make them conceivably more competent by showing them in fewer but more novel situations, rather than constantly recycling their old schemes ad nauseum, and it has proven an effective strategy.

** Their obsession with Ash's Pikachu serve as a franchise long one, since as ''Best Wishes'' show, they're much more effective and successful when Pikachu ''isn't'' on their list of priorities. Especially glaring in the ''Sun and Moon'' series where Pikachu is still their main focus to capture over even Ash's Meltan and Mallow's Shaymin, ''Mythical Pokémon''. (To their credit however, as said series' league would contest, Pikachu genuinely ''is'' more powerful.)
** Reaches its logical conclusion in ''Sun and Moon'' where their top priority has warped into making their unique bewear-themed honey-doughnut business profitable, rather than acting in the interests of the organization they're supposed to be employed to. Much to their horror after a harsh dismissive rebuke by headquarters on their lack regarding actual progress on that part.
* SmugSnake: This is probably the main reason they always lose - they cannot seem to ''conceive'' that their plans might fail or their inventions be destroyed, not to mention [[EvilGloating they gloat too much]]. It's evident in the [=BW049=]/[=BW050=] two-parter, where the best plan they'd built to ''date'' might have succeeded if [[spoiler:Meowth hadn't arrogantly assumed Pikachu and Axew could do nothing while caged. Otherwise, Dr Zager would probably have picked up the train carriage with none of the Poké Ball-bound Pokémon any wiser until it was too late. And if Meowth had just taken care of the Pokémon when they escaped rather than gloating to Pikachu's face and disconnecting their car from the train, Zager wouldn't have needed to even involve himself the way he did (having to pick up a car with uncontained Pokémon on it) which wouldn't have given the heroes time to catch up with them!]]
** It's even ''more'' evident in the Kami Trio two-parter, in which they showed that they hadn't learned from their past defeat and failed to capture the legendary Pokémon because their getaway vehicle still wasn't secure enough. Thankfully, they seem to be learning better as they go on.

** Subverted in ''Black & White''. First, Team Rocket remained competent villains even when they went back to dressing in white and going after Pikachu and other Pokémon. Gradually becomes Double-Subverted from the Decalore Islands arc and onward, where they revert back to the comedic, goofy selves, though they show occasional shades of their former competence and Giovanni still shows passive interest in their progress.
** Played straight at the end of Ash's tenure in the series. [[spoiler:Despite having split up two episodes prior, they get back together once again to forever pursue Ash and Pikachu.]]

* SympathyForTheHero: They were all in awe at Ash and Ash-Greninja's semifinal victory that they start believing that Ash finally has a good shot at the championship. [[spoiler:And when the League ends and Ash is NOT the victor, they were the ones with the waterworks over seeing Ash lose again.]]

-->'''All three, when Infernape activates Blaze during the Sinnoh League:''' "Infernape is up! So are we! A happier team you'll never see!"

* TeamRocketWins: Being the TropeNamer, every now and then the trio prove capable of winning a match or pulling off some scheme (that at least has short term success). This is especially common when their plans [[LaserGuidedKarma have no malicious intent]]. Only a handful of episodes end with them officially the "winner" over a member of Ash's team however:
** Jessie (as Jessilina) manages to pull off her first Contest victory in Solaceon City in "Team Shocker" and to add to her victory, Dawn doesn't even make it past the appeal round and spends most of the remainder of the episode in a HeroicBSOD.
** "Dressed For Jess Success" has James (posing as Jessilina) using Meowth and Carnivine to rather handily defeat Dawn in the [[TownContestEpisode Lilypad Town Contest]]. Though Dawn is a GracefulLoser this time, James and Meowth end the episode rather happy with their victory.
** "A Dancing Debut" has Jessie win the Couriway Town showcase using Meowth, Wobuffet and Gourgeist. Again Serena is a GracefulLoser, but Jessie ends the episode ''very'' pleased with herself.
** "Holy Matrimony" acts as a rare case the twerps suffer the EndOfEpisodeSilliness in place of Team Rocket, with Ash and friends left to fend off Jessebelle while Jessie and James making a rather romantic escape ([[ArentYouForgettingSomeone albeit with Meowth left chasing]]).
** The theatre production ''Theatre/PokemonLive'' has the trio successfully bring Pikachu to Giovanni. Naturally Ash managed to get him back afterwards, but they still temporarily succeeded in their ultimate goal.
** The twelfth episode of the ''Sun and Moon'' series has Team Rocket ''finally'' legitimately win a Pokémon battle against Ash fair and square. While inevitably the circumstances prevent them from actually capturing Pikachu, the trio are appropriately shocked and thrilled with their success.
** In the thirteenth episode of the ''Journeys'' series, after a fiasco with a Gigantamax Drednaw, they get something of a consolation prize by finding a wild Chewtle that was stuck to Jessie's hair. A later episode reveals that unlike Yanma, it was deemed useful emough to be used by Team Rocket.

* ATwinkleInTheSky: The Team Rocket Trio has been well known for this trope as they refer to it as "we're blasting off again". This trio helped revolutionize the trope by becoming paperboy examples of it as they have blasted off hundreds of times over the course of the anime due to their incompetence. It was downplayed in the Best Wishes saga due to the trio taking on a more serious tone with them flying off in jetpacks instead but went back to old habits before the XY saga.

* VillainForgotToLevelGrind: As recognized in "Dues and Don'ts," the trio neglects to train and capture more Pokémon in favor of putting all their efforts into stealing Pokémon, and they owe Giovanni too much money to ask him to send them more powerful Pokémon. This results in Ash and his friends usually having full, well trained Pokémon teams and plenty of battle experience while Jessie and James usually only have one or two Pokémon each and their battle style is to just spam the same attacks over and over again. Somewhat fittingly this trope is [[StrongAsTheyNeedToBe only present when they are villains]]. In legitimate battles or performances, their Pokémon [[RedemptionPromotion show much more of their experience]] and they are actually among the most proficient at [[ChekhovsSkill taking what they've learned in the past]]. For some reason they never take this to heart in their villainous schemes, where they are one track set on destroying the twerps (despite often being able to defeat them under normal tactics).
** Downplayed in the ''Sun and Moon'' series. Though they still struggle to keep up with Ash, they do make some legitimate attempts at boosting their chances at succeeding in their villainous schemes, such as obtaining the region's Z-Move mechanic. It helps that Giovanni and Matori are keeping much more regular inspection of their progress.
** As of ''Journeys'', Giovanni ''finally'' grants them access to Team Rocket-owned Pokémon via the Rocket Gachat, a vending machine device that dispenses random Pokémon for them to use against Ash and co. Additionally, they get their very own Rotom Phone, albeit a very snarky and trolling one, for their personal use, forfeiting the need for James' outdated "Pokémon Cards". After a while however their new resources still emulate this trope anyway since, true to their luck, the Gachat stops giving them effective Pokémon most of the time.

** They believe that Pikachu is uniquely powerful and will do anything to ensure that perception, especially when Pikachu is so [[CurbstompBattle thoroughly defeated]] by an opponent that deems it weak. So they spend as much time encouraging Pikachu to get stronger as they are trying to steal Pikachu. And they succeed when Pikachu [[spoiler:defeats Leon's Charizard and thus becomes the strongest Pokémon in the World Coronation Series, making him possibly the strongest owned Pokémon in the world]]. The problem? Pikachu is now simply too powerful to be stolen at all and even worse, his trainer Ash now has arsenal of the strongest Pokémon in the world ready to rescue his partner from Team Rocket.

[-'''Series-wide:''' [[Characters.PokemonTheSeriesOriginalTrio Original Trio]] ([[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesAshKetchum Ash Ketchum]], [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesPikachu Pikachu]]) | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesTeamRocketOrganization Team Rocket Organization]] ([[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesTeamRocketTrio Team Rocket Trio]]) | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesSupportingCast Supporting Cast]]\\

[[center:[[WMG:''[[Anime/PokemonTheSeries Pokémon anime]]'' [[Characters/PokemonTheSeries characters index]]\\
[-'''Series-wide:''' [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesAshKetchum Ash Ketchum]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesPikachu Pikachu]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesSupportingCast Supporting Cast]] | '''Team Rocket Trio''' | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesTeamRocketOrganization Team Rocket Organization]]\\
[[Characters/PokemonTheOriginalSeries The Original Series]] ([[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesMistyAndBrock Misty and Brock]], [[Characters/PokemonTheOriginalSeriesMainCast Main Cast]]) | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesRubyAndSapphire Ruby and Sapphire]] ([[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesRubyAndSapphireMainCast Main Cast]]) | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesDiamondAndPearl Diamond and Pearl]] ([[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesDiamondAndPearlMainCast Main Cast]], [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesPaul Paul]]) | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesBlackAndWhite Black & White]] ([[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesBlackAndWhiteMainCast Main Cast]]) | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesXY XY]] ([[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesXYMainCast Main Cast]]) | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesSunAndMoon Sun & Moon]] ([[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesSunAndMoonMainCast Main Cast]]) | [[Characters/PokemonJourneysTheSeries Journeys]] ([[Characters/PokemonJourneysTheSeriesMainCast Main Cast]]) \\
'''Others:''' [[Characters/PokemonMovies Movie characters]]-]]]]]

[-'''Series-wide:''' [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesAshKetchum Ash Ketchum]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesPikachu Pikachu]] | '''Team Rocket Trio''' | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesTeamRocketOrganization Team Rocket Organization]]\\

** They believe that Pikachu is uniquely powerful and will do anything to ensure that perception, especially when Pikachu is so [[CurbstompBattle thoroughly defeated]] by an opponent that deems it weak. So they spend as much time encouraging Pikachu to get stronger as they are trying to steal Pikachu. And they succeed when Pikachu [[spoiler:defeats Leon's Charizard and thus becomes the strongest Pokémon in the World Coronation Series, making him partially strongest own Pokémon in the world]]. The problem? Pikachu is now simply too powerful to be stolen at all and even worse, his trainer Ash now has arsenal of the strongest Pokémon in the world ready to rescue his partner from Team Rocket.

* StatusQuoIsGod:
** Subverted in B/W. First, Team Rocket remained competent villains even when they went back to dressing in white and going after Pikachu and other Pokémon. Double subverted when [[spoiler:Meowth was "fired from TR" and joined forces with Ash's group for a few episodes....only to reveal that he was still with Team Rocket and was merely tricking Ash and co.]] Played more straight from the Decalore Islands arc and onward, though they show occasional shades of their former competence and Giovanni still shows passive interest in their progress.

* GoneHorriblyRight: They believe that Pikachu is uniquely powerful and will do anything to ensure that perception, especially when Pikachu is so [[CurbstompBattle thoroughly defeated]] by an opponent that deems it weak. From cheerleading to stealthy support, Team Rocket believes by keeping Pikachu strong as Pikachu, they would vindicate all the hardship and failures they endured trying to steal Pikachu since the beginning. And they succeeded when Pikachu becomes [[spoiler:the strongest Pokémon of the World Coronation Series by defeating Leon's Charizard]]. The problem? Now Pikachu is simply too powerful to be stolen at all and even worse, his trainer Ash now has arsenal of the strongest Pokémon in the world ready to rescue Pikachu.

* BewareTheSillyOnes: Team Rocket are for the large part incompetent clowns, though a lot of times pull off successful heists or attacks that are only thwarted due to Ash and his friends being around. Sometimes even they are failing against the trio until [[DeusExMachina a powerful Pokémon or random twist of luck intervenes]]. This is especially evident since ''XY'', where the trio are as comical as ever, but retain some shades of their dangerous and cold blooded qualities from ''Best Wishes''.

** In addition their camaraderie was incredibly downplayed in early episodes, with frequent occasions they seemed to only barely tolerate each other. Their VillainousFriendship got established as their finalised characterisations set in, though even as late as the Sinnoh seasons, they would sometimes backstab or show more extreme distain for each other, while post-''Best Wishes'' they are rather consistently VitriolicBestBuds.

* EliteMook: In ''Best Wishes'' they got promoted into Giovanni's top ranks and became much more competent. They slowly lost this stance as the series went on, though have remained on Giovanni's good side for the time being. Judging by ''Sun and Moon'' they are also the first members of the organisation to master Z-Moves.

* GoldfishPoopGang: Over the course of the series, Team Rocket have devolved into this. ''Best Wishes'' gave them a 180 flip, making them extremely competent and formidable. In the Decalore Islands arc and on, however, Team Rocket is back to always losing in the end, though they now put up a consistently good fight.

** In the ''Sun and Moon'' Series, they build a small headquarters in the trunk above Bewear's den as a base of operations for their time in Alola. This due to the Bewear refusing to let them get away for too long, but they do enjoy the food and hospitality she provides them.

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[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:The Trio in General]]

!!!The Team Rocket trio exhibits the following tropes:

See [[Characters/PokemonTheOriginalSeriesAshsPokemon here]] for more about the Team Rocket trio's Pokémon from the original series.

[[Characters/PokemonTheOriginalSeries The Original Series]] ([[Characters.PokemonTheOriginalSeriesMistyAndBrock Misty and Brock]], [[Characters/PokemonTheOriginalSeriesMainCast Main Cast]]) | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesRubyAndSapphire Ruby and Sapphire]] ([[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesRubyAndSapphireMainCast Main Cast]]) | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesDiamondAndPearl Diamond and Pearl]] ([[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesDiamondAndPearlMainCast Main Cast]], [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesPaul Paul]]) | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesBlackAndWhite Black & White]] ([[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesBlackAndWhiteMainCast Main Cast]]) | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesXY XY]] ([[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesXYMainCast Main Cast]]) | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesSunAndMoon Sun & Moon]] ([[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesSunAndMoonMainCast Main Cast]]) | [[Characters/PokemonJourneysTheSeries Journeys]] ([[Characters/PokemonJourneysTheSeriesMainCast Main Cast]]) \\

See [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesTeamRocketTriosPokemon here]].
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!!Alternate Versions of Team Rocket
[[folder:Mirror Team Rocket]]
A version of Team Rocket from the Mirror Dimension, who are apparently the world's greatest heroes.
----
* AdaptationalHeroism: This Team Rocket are hailed as heroes and legends in their home dimension, instead of being petty thieves.
* BigGood: They're described as this, fighting against evildoers across the world.

[[folder:Alternate Team Rocket]]
A version of Team Rocket from the AlternateUniverse where they hatch the deadliest scheme of all: force Dialga and Palkia to fight each other, use their energies to reduce everyone's Pokémon into eggs, then steal them all!
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* AdaptationalBadass: Considering they nearly pull off a massive heist involving two major Legendaries, they make even the Unova Era Team Rocket look like idiots by comparison.
* AlternateUniverseReedRichardsIsAwesome: Unlike the main Team Rocket, they have cool-looking armor that protects them from the effects of space-time, their Meowth can use Dark Pulse, and they actually tricked OlympusMons into fighting each others so they can pull off the heist of the century.
* DiabolicalMastermind: They came up with a plan to get Dialga and Palkia to fight each other, then trap them in the Red Chain. That way, while they fought, their energies would deage all Pokémon into eggs, allowing Team Rocket to steal them all and raise them as their own, then capture the two legendaries when they wore themselves down.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: Being smarter than the main Team Rocket aside, they grossly underestimated how Dialga and Palkia could act when aggravated enough. Instead of wearing them down like they hoped, the duo wind up shorting all of the armor that's supposed to protect against the space-time effects, forcing Arceus to intervene to get them to stop.
* FountainOfYouth: When their armor shorts out, the space-time effects turn the [=TRio=] into teenagers.
* LaserGuidedKarma: After getting two legendaries to battle each other so they can reduce the entire world's Pokémon population into eggs for them to steal, Ash, Goh, Chloe, and Dawn, plus their alternate counterparts, smash their plans and blast them back to headquarters while they get deaged into teenagers.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Their armor can be shorted out by plain water.
* TheWorfEffect: Upon introducing themselves, they make short work of Ash's Lucario and Goh's Inteleon, both of whom had just taken out their main counterparts in seconds.

[-'''Series-wide:''' [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesAshKetchum Ash Ketchum]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesPikachu Pikachu]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesTeamRocketTrio Team Rocket Trio]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesTeamRocketOrganization Team Rocket Organization]]\\

[-'''Series-wide:''' [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesAshKetchum Ash Ketchum]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesPikachu Pikachu]] | '''Team Rocket Trio''' | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesTeamRocketTriosPokemon Team Rocket Trio's Pokemon]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesTeamRocketOrganization Team Rocket Organization]]\\
'''Major Characters:''' [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesMisty Misty]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesBrock Brock]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesMay May]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesDawn Dawn]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesPaul Paul]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesIris Iris]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesSerena Serena]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesLillie Lillie]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesGoh Goh]] \\
'''Original Series:''' [[Characters/PokemonTheOriginalSeriesAshsPokemon Ash's Pokémon (Kanto, Orange Islands, Johto)]]\\
[[Characters/PokemonTheOriginalSeriesCast Supporting Cast]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheOriginalSeriesGymLeaders Gym Leaders]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheOriginalSeriesOneShotCharacters One-shot Characters]]\\
'''Advanced Generation:''' [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesRubyAndSapphireAshsPokemon Ash's Pokémon (Hoenn)]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesRubyAndSapphireCast Supporting Cast]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesRubyAndSapphireGymLeadersAndFrontierBrains Gym Leaders and Frontier Brains]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesRubyAndSapphireVillains Villains]]\\
'''Diamond and Pearl:''' [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesDiamondAndPearlAshsPokemon Ash's Pokémon (Sinnoh)]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesDiamondAndPearlCast Supporting Cast]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesDiamondAndPearlGymLeaders Gym Leaders]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesDiamondAndPearlVillains Villains]]\\
'''Black and White:''' [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesBlackAndWhiteAshsPokemon Ash's Pokémon (Unova)]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesBlackAndWhiteCast Supporting Cast]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesBlackAndWhiteRivals Rivals]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesBlackAndWhiteGymLeaders Gym Leaders]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesBlackAndWhiteVillains Villains]]\\
'''XY:''' [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesXYAshsPokemon Ash's Pokémon (Kalos)]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesXYCast Supporting Cast]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesXYRivals Rivals]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesXYGymLeaders Gym Leaders]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesXYMegaEvolutionSpecials Mega Evolution Special]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesXYVillains Villains]]\\
'''Sun and Moon:''' [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesSunAndMoonAshsPokemon Ash's Pokémon (Alola)]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesSunAndMoonCast Supporting Cast]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesSunAndMoonKahunasAndGuardianDeities Kahunas and Guardian Deities]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesSunAndMoonAetherFoundation Aether Foundation]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesSunAndMoonVillains Villains]]\\
'''Journeys:''' [[Characters/PokemonJourneysTheSeriesAshsPokemon Ash's Pokémon (Journeys)]] | [[Characters/PokemonJourneysTheSeriesCast Supporting Cast]] | [[Characters/PokemonJourneysTheSeriesGalar Galar]] | [[Characters/PokemonJourneysTheSeriesOneShotCharacters One-shot Characters]]\\
'''Horizons:''' [[Characters/PokemonHorizonsTheSeriesLeadCharacters Lead Characters]] | [[Characters/PokemonHorizonsTheSeriesPokemon Pokémon]] | [[Characters/PokemonHorizonsTheSeriesAntagonists Antagonists]] | [[Characters/PokemonHorizonsTheSeriesSupportingCast Supporting Cast]]\\
'''Movies:''' [[Characters/PokemonMovies Movies 1 to 19]] | [[Characters/PokemonIChooseYou I Choose You!]] | [[Characters/PokemonThePowerOfUs The Power of Us]] | [[Characters/PokemonSecretsOfTheJungle Secrets of the Jungle]]-]]]]]