History Characters / PokemonBlackAndWhiteTeamPlasma

* VileVillainSaccharineShow: Unlike the rest of Team Plasma, his abusive nature is played dead seriously, and he's much nastier than any previous villainous team leader. Would you like some horrific child abuse to go with your cute monster battling? Or perhaps a dessert of an attempted [[AndIMustScream freezing alive]] of the protagonist?

** He is also this to himself as of ''Black 2 and White 2''. Unlike Ghetsis in the prequel who has longer hair, is dressed in a Sage robe and comes off as well-meaning and polite before unveiling his true colours to the player, Ghetsis in the sequel is immediately evil, has a short hair and a cane to his hand and dresses in dark clothing to cement his full transition into a black-hearted villain.

* OnlyKnownByThierNickname: He's only ever depicted as responding to the name of "N", but his full name is Natural Harmonia Gropius.

* ReoccuringBoss: He's fought a total of five times in ''Black and White'', which is more than any villainous team leader has fought the player.

* CrazyPrepared: A subtle example in ''Black and White'', but if one takes a look at his [[SignatureMon Hydreigon's]] moveset, it has a super-effective attack for ''all'' of the Pokémon used by N in his battle against the player[[note]]Dragon Pulse against either of the legendary dragons, Surf against Archeops, Focus Blast against Carracosta, Zoroark, Vanilluxe ''and'' Klinklang, the latter two of which are also weak to Fire Blast.[[/note]], a rather chilling display of the fact Ghetsis was fully prepared to take down N by force if the player character were to be defeated by him.

** They usually use Dark types (Purrloin, Scraggy, Sandile lines). Black 2 and White 2 would expand it to the Pawniard, Denio, Sneasel, and Drapion lines.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: N's decision to let Hilbert/Hilda obtain the Light/Dark Stone unopposed and the rest of Team Plasma upholding that decision ultimately leads to their initial downfall, as it allowed Hilbert/Hilda to re-awaken the other Legendary Dragon and defeat N and Ghetsis.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: InUniverse, they describe that if Ghetsis's first plan of Unova domination had succeeded, many Pokémon would've been saved and he wouldn't have to use Kyurem to freeze Unova over.

* DarkIsNotEvil: They still have their Dark Pokémon, and they're dedicated to atoning for the crimes committed under Ghetsis' leadership. They're also attempting to give abused Pokémon loving and caring trainers.
* HeelFaceTurn: Made up of the members who did this in ''Black and White''.
* {{Irony}} Team Plasma used to be about taking control away from anyone who had Pokémon and separating humans from them forever under the misguided in-universe notion that HumansAreBastards and were abusing their Pokémon regardless of the reality of the situation. Now, they're attempting to find abused Pokémon and put them into the hands of caring trainers, deepening the connection between the two even more.

* DarkIsNotEvil: They still have their Dark Pokémon, and they're dedicated to atoning for the crimes committed under Ghetsis' leadership.

* SpeaksFluentAnimal: Just like his adoptive son, N, Ghetsis can talk to Pokémon and understand them which makes his crimes ''worse'' as he knows exactly how Pokémon think and feel, but he just doesn't care.

* AmbiguouslyBi: He gets a good amount of ShipTease with the player character in ''Black and White'' regardless of gender, and claims he wants to "tell them how he feels" upon getting the chance to meet them yet again.

* BreakoutCharacter: Like Cynthia, N is one of the most beloved Pokémon Trainers in the series, and was praised as one of the highlights of the Unova games. His mainline anime appearance was much publicized, and he went on to get a generous amount of merchandise and marketing, including a Nendoroid figure.

* DeadAlternateCounterpart: Heavily implied that Rainbow Rocket Ghetis killed N in his timeline, given his stated control over Unova and Reshiram/Zekrom.

** He offers Ghetis a LastSecondChance despite the way he was [[AbusiveParents treated]] by the man.

* OneLetterName: The ''Manga/DeathNote'' jokes started popping up quite early.

* TheUnreveal: With the revelation that Ghetis is not his birth parent, there comes the question as to who N's actual parents are and what happened to them, but this goes untouched upon, and he was mainly RaisedByWolves until Ghetis came along anyway.

** When N offers him a LastSecondChance in ''Black and White 2'' after Kyruem and his team is defeated by the player, Ghetis rebukes the claim by telling N to shut up and ThatThingIsNotMySon. Fittingly, it's after this that he turns into a vegetable.

* RageBreakingPoint: He's already furious by the time of his defeat in ''Black and White 2'' but when N tries to give him a LastSecondChance, Ghetis flies off the handle so badly that it becomes his breaking point mentally.

%%* HoldTheLine: His battle with you in Nimbasa City is explicitly this for two unnamed Plasma Grunts.

* PuppetKing: Ghetsis is just using him.

* MoodSwinger: According to Word Of God.

* LackOfEmpathy: Most of the other major villains of the series (with only a few exclusions), are trying to do something revolutionary, change the world, or fix a problem they see on the horizon. N, although not a villain, genuinely believes in the morals espoused by Team Plasma. Ghetsis, on the other hand, genuinely doesn't care. He manipulates extremists to his own end of controlling the world, is more than willing to hurt anyone in his way, and is so narcissistic in his goals that he doesn't even bother justifying them. In an alternate future from ''Ultra Sun'' and ''Ultra Moon'', he succeeds in his goals, and the way he talks lacks any caring towards the damage he has done. He is one of the only villains who doesn't justify his evil acts, he ''gloats'' about it.

* TookALevelInDumbass: Subtle, but present in his Hydreigon's moveset in ''Black and White 2'':

* GoodColorsEvilColors: After being defeated in ''Black and White'', the cat's out of the bag and he now dons a black robe to show just how evil he is. N still continues to wear primarily white and gray.

** They also contrast Team Rocket from ''Red and Blue''. Both are criminal organizations who want to capture rare Pokémon for profit and at some extent experiment on them (in one instance killing a Marowak), but while Team Rocket failed to capture a legendary Pokémon to further their goals, the New Team Plasma with Ghetsis and Zinzolin's help manage to capture Kyurem, a legendary Pokémon, and nearly successfully freeze Opelucid City.

** New Team Plasma and its leader Ghetsis embody this trope fully in the sequel, with Grunts wearing black-coloured outfits resembling paramilitary organizations. Ghetsis also ditched his Sage outfit and wears black-coloured clothing with a BlackCloak. Like all else, they're more [[CardCarryingVillain open in their villainy]] and are blatant terrorists desiring to conquer Unova, after their true intentions were outed in the previous game.

** New Team Plasma and its leader Ghetsis embody this trope fully in the sequel, with Grunts wearing black-coloured outfits resembling paramilitary organizations and with Ghetsis ditching his Sage outfit and wears black-coloured clothing with a BlackCloak. Like all else, they're more [[CardCarryingVillain open in their villainy]] and are blatant terrorists desiring to conquer Unova.

** New Team Plasma and its leader Ghetsis embody this trope fully in the sequel, with Grunts wearing black-coloured outfits resembling paramilitary organizations and with Ghetsis ditching his Sage outfit and wears black-coloured clothing with a BlackCloak. Like all else, they're more [[CardCarryingVillain open in their villainy]].

** They're even more contrasted in the sequel ''Black 2 and White 2'', being the first evil team organization in the series to be explicitly under EnemyCivilWar between the Old Team Plasma loyal to N and New Team Plasma loyal to Ghetsis, unlike previous evil teams who are still in one piece and are still unified.[[note]]Archer and Charon, the interim leaders of Team Rocket and Galactic, respectively, only take the leadership role ''after'' their boss was stopped by the player for good and they're mostly remnants and not splinter factions.[[/note]]
* DarkIsEvil: They usually use Dark types (Purrloin, Scraggy, Sandile lines). Black 2 and White 2 would expand it to the Pawniard, Denio, Sneasel, and Drapion lines.

** Previous evil teams like Team Aqua, Team Magma and Team Galactic tend to have their goals having far-reaching consequences to humanity. Team Plasma (the Old Team Plasma, that is), on the other hand, is the opposite. They are slightly farther off from their predecessors' omnicidal goals, being that they are an AnimalWrongsGroup wanting to "liberate" Pokémon from human control, [[{{Hypocrite}} despite the hypocrisy their behaviours show otherwise]], up until the tail end of the story [[spoiler:where Ghetsis reveals his true intentions to be anything but.]]
** They're even more contrasted in the sequel ''Black 2 and White 2'', being the first evil team organization in the series to be explicitly under EnemyCivilWar between the Old Team Plasma loyal to N and New Team Plasma loyal to Ghetsis, unlike previous evil teams who are still in one piece and are still unified.

* ChurchMilitant: Modeled on this to an extent, as a result. At least the original Team Plasma. New Team Plasma, on the other hand, subvert this trope completely in favour of a more pirate aesthetic.

** Previous evil teams like Team Aqua, Team Magma and Team Galactic tend to have their goals having far-reaching consequences to humanity. Team Plasma (the Old Team Plasma, that is), on the other hand, is the opposite. They are slightly farther off from their predecessors' omnicidal goals, being that they are an AnimalWrongsGroup wanting to "liberate" Pokémon from human control, [[{{Hypocrite}} despite the hypocrisy their behaviours show otherwise]] until the tail end of the story [[spoiler:where Ghetsis reveals his true intentions to be anything but.]]
** They're even more contrasted in the sequel ''Black 2 and White 2'', being the first evil team organization in the series to be explicitly under EnemyCivilWar between the Old Team Plasma loyal to N and New Team Plasma loyal to Ghetsis, unlike previous evil teams who are still at one piece and are still unified.

* ChurchMilitant: Modeled on this to an extent, as a result.

** In Victory Road in ''Black 2 and White 2'', one of the female Backpackers, Mae, is revealed to be a former member of Team Plasma, even reminding Nate/Rosa of her battle with Hilbert/Hilda two years prior.

** To Giovanni. Both are [[AbusiveParents abusive fathers]] to their son who are known for their uncaring and selfish parenting, who pursue goals of world domination, as well as being driven insane after being defeated by the player character. But while Giovanni is AffablyEvil crime lord who is affable to the player and even congratulates the player for his victory against him, Ghetsis is FauxAffablyEvil who is brutally antagonistic to the player and even attempted to ''kill'' him/her with his Kyurem inside Giant Chasm. There's also the matter of how they reacted to their defeats. In Giovanni's case, he recovers from his loss at the hands of Ethan/Lyra during ''HGSS'', as shown in ''[=B2W2=]'', and is seen to be in a mentally functioning state. Ghetsis, on the other hand, flies into a rage and he later goes into a violent mental breakdown after being defeated by Nate/Rosa, causing the Shadow Triad to take him away after being broken into a vegetable.

* {{Foil}}: To the scientific-minded Colress, as they are both Ghetsis' CoDragons. Zinzolin is a heavyset man who is TheBrute while Colress is a LeanAndMean man who is an EvilGenius. Their Pokémon types also contrast. Zinzolin uses Ice-type Pokémon who heavily leans to physical attack and defense, while Colress uses Steel-type Pokémon (except Beheeyem), which are weak against Ice-type, with Colress leaning more heavily to special attack and defense.