History Main / TeamRocketWins

[[quoteright:300:[[MegaManX http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Won.jpg]]]]

[[MegaManX http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Won.jpg]]

* On a similar subject, one episode of ''WackyRaces'' actually ends with Dick Dastardly placing in first. But unlike the Really Rottens' example, he doesn't get to keep his victory, because the announcer then shows a slow-motion replay of the race's finish that shows that the Mean Machine stretched its front forward to give the illusion that he came in first ([[WallBanger despite the fact that if you look at the actual finish, you don't see such a thing happening]]). Watch the clip [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZv8HdAS8Vk here]].

* ''InvaderZim'' has nearly succeeded in taking over the world/defeating [[HeroAntagonist Dib]] several times, only to be beaten by one DuesExMachina or another. However, there ''is'' one time he ''did'' win: in "Bad, Bad, Rubber Piggies", he uses a time machine to repeatedly cripple Dib in the past until he dies in the present. To repeat - Dib, the only person standing in the way of Zim's plans of WorldDomination, is ''dead''. Of course, then the ButterflyOfDoom kicks in, and Zim is forced to hit the ResetButton, returning Dib to normal.

* in the ''KimPossible'' [[TheMovie movie]] (and original SeriesFinale) ''So The Drama'', Dr. Drakken finally works out a way to beat Kim Possible and to overrun the world at the same time. It's only thanks to Ron's LoveConfession that she finds back her HeroicResolve.

Likewise, new characters in the show may be introduced as {{Distressed Damsel}}s being beaten by the Goldfish Poop Gang so that the heroes [[PursuedProtagonist can come to their aid.]] It also serves to show us how pathetic they are and feel to lose to ''these'' guys. Afterwards, with some confidence boosting pep talks from the heroes and combat training, they will solo their temporary tormentors and make them ATwinkleInTheSky. Similarly, a tournament setting allows most {{Quirky Miniboss Squad}}s the chance to win a few matches to remind us they didn't always suck, only to then [[TheWorfEffect go down to a bigger threat]].

** In ''The Thief That Keeps on Thieving!'' they actually managed to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQjyJY7iEVg catch the wild Pokémon]] that the character of the day was after and send it to their bos. Of course, he sends it back to them and it promptly evolves, giving Jessie a new Yanmega.

The simplest answer is that they got their act together-- ''[[{{ptitle09g6pwfjt7ot}} really together]]''-- and are now a threat. As to "why", the Author wants to shake the heroes and viewers out of their comfort zone by allowing the bad guys [[YouCantThwartStageOne to win round one]] so the heroes will be forced to get their act together and make their next encounter a truly epic fight. These third string villains undid the VillainDecay that put them at the bottom of the SortingAlgorithmOfVillainThreat by going through TrainingFromHell, using some kind of UpgradeArtifact or ArtifactOfDoom, or are under the effects of a VillainOverride. Another possibility is that they catch the heroes off guard. Maybe Team HarmlessVillain was NotSoHarmless all along, and have been [[IAmNotLeftHanded pretending to be weak]] to lull the heroes into [[{{Pride}} complacency]] (which warrants the question, [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim Why didn't they just shoot them?]])

If neither is the case, it may be that they have both traded places in the story-- if the heroes do a FaceHeelTurn and the bad guys make a HeelFaceTurn due to a MirrorMoralityMachine, they will "cosmically" get the power boost needed to make sure good comes out on top, ''they'' are the {{Boring Invincible Hero}}es now.

->''"Yes! Oh, yeah! I did it! I finally did it! I beat my old rival Mario! Yessss!"

* Team Rocket, the TropeNamer from ''{{Pokemon}}'', beat the crap out of Ash's Pokémon when they were allowed to run Viridian City's gym using Giovanni's Pokémon, at least until Ash managed to regain momentum and beat them at their own game. There have been a few other instances where Team Rocket has been successful in battle, but it was because they were [[RedemptionPromotion trying to do something good for a change]]. Their victories never lasted too long, and they were often sent flying at the end of the episode anyway.

*** James is actually a very talented and honorable trainer on his own. He's even gone so far as to attack Jessie and Meowth for trying to interfere with his actions when he wants to win without cheating. His strong friendship with Jessie and Meowth is about the only reason keeping him from doing a complete HeelFaceTurn and becoming a successful trainer.

** Interestingly, repeated encounters with Ash and friends has been like TrainingFromHell to the team, giving them superhuman damage resistance, among other things. Meowth himself commented that a powerful electric cage was nothing compared to Pikachu's electric attacks. They also learn from their mistakes, though in the process usually make new ones. An example would be Charmander's debut episode all the way back at the very start of the original series; they use rubber coated equipment to nullify Pikachu's electric attacks, but didn't bring any ''fireproof'' equipment.

*** This occurs even in early episodes-- in "The Punchy Pokémon", various trainers are participating in a Fighting-type only tournament. Though Ash beats them in the end, the trio very successfully steals a Hitmonlee and thrashes their competition with it through a combination of regular battling and standard cheating. This is pretty notable, since they beat a Hitmonchan raised by a trainer who LEFT HIS FAMILY to train it.
** In ''The Thief That Keeps on Thieving!'' they actually managed to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQjyJY7iEVg catch the wild Pokémon]] that the character of the day was after and send it to their boss. Of course, he sends it back to them and it promptly evolves, giving Jessie a new Yanmega.
** In the ''Best Wishes!'' series, [[spoiler: they got new uniforms because of a PROMOTION]].

**** [[spoiler:It's possible they'll be competent all through the ''Best Wishes!'' series, because they're supposed to be the spark for Team Plasma's appearance.]]
**** [[spoiler:So far this season Giovanni has given them one mission. The goal of said mission was to collect dream energy from an abandoned research facility in order to help with Team Rocket's plans to conquer the world. While they failed to capture the Pokémon of the day, the episode where they put this plan into action basically ended with Giovanni congratulating them on succeeding and telling them that he had people looking at the energy to see what they can do with it. That's right, Team Rocket just successfully completed the first step in a plan for world domination.]]
**** [[spoiler:And now they've managed to break into a top-secret research facility and steal data on a meteorite that gives off some kind of ultra-powerful energy that can be used for WorldDomination.]]

* Team Rocket, the TropeNamer from ''{{Pokemon}}'', beat the crap out of Ash's Pokemon when they were allowed to run Viridian City's gym using Giovanni's Pokémon, at least until Ash managed to regain momentum and beat them at their own game. There have been a few other instances where Team Rocket has been successful in battle, but it was because they were [[RedemptionPromotion trying to do something good for a change]]. Their victories never lasted too long, and they were often sent flying at the end of the episode anyway.

*** This occurs even in early episodes-- in "The Punchy Pokemon", various trainers are participating in a Fighting-type only tournament. Though Ash beats them in the end, the trio very successfully steals a Hitmonlee and thrashes their competition with it through a combination of regular battling and standard cheating. This is pretty notable, since they beat a Hitmonchan raised by a trainer who LEFT HIS FAMILY to train it.

* The second season's arc of ''FanFic/LaSerieDeKen'' is kicked precisely because of this, Team Rocket manages to steal all but one of Ken's Pokemon and he has to start anew with a new set to try to recover them, it also marks the start of the villains as NotSoHarmless and the series' CerebusSyndrome.

* This trope becomes a lot more serious in the Pokemon fanfic "The Sun Soul". In their first appearance, Jesse and James are just as campy and obnoxious as ever (though maintaining a saintly facade). However, as soon as they're alone, Jesse is revealed to be a viciously AxCrazy murderer, and James is disturbingly devoid of emotion and a calculating villain. James also experiences role reversal when he's clearly made the leader of the duo in an unnerving moment where Jesse stops her rant and watches James nervously ''just because he opened his eyes''.

* Team Rocket, the TropeNamer from ''{{Pokemon}}'', beat the crap out of Ash's Pokemon when they were allowed to run Viridian city's gym using Giovanni's Pokemon, at least until Ash managed to regain momentum and beat them at their own game. There have been a few other instances where Team Rocket has been successful in battle, but it was because they were [[RedemptionPromotion trying to do something good for a change]] or something like that. Their victories never lasted too long, and they were often sent flying at the end of the episode anyway. Individually, Jessie, James, and Meowth all show much higher levels of competence without the other two bogging them down.
** Jessie (while under her Jessilina alias) has actually become competent enough to win Pokemon Coordinator contests all on her own without cheating (though she has considered it at times.) She lost out on winning her 5 ribbon needed to get into the Grand Festival, but Dawn (or rather, a Dawn lookalike, long story) gave her the 6th ribbon she has just won. Jessie gratefully accepted it and made her way to the semi-finals against Dawn in the Grand Festival.
*** James is actually a very talented and honorable trainer on his own. He's even gone so far as to attack Jessie and Meowth for trying to interfere with his actions whenever is own Pokemon are in trouble or when he wants to win without cheating. His strong friendship with Jessie and Meowth is about the only reason keeping him from doing a complete HeelFaceTurn and becoming a successful trainer.
*** In one story, James won a contest that involved teamwork with one's own Pokemon. He used Mime Jr. and was steadfast in playing by the rules despite Jessie's repeated attempts to encourage him to cheat. So this goes with "Team Rocket can win if they act like good guys" rule.
*** ''Nearly'' happened when James turned out to be an expert at a sport that used flying Pokemon. Once again he refused to cheat, and he lost by only the tiniest margin.
** Interestingly, repeated encounters with Ash and friends has been like TrainingFromHell to the team, giving them superhuman damage resistance, among other things. Meowth himself commented that a powerful electric cage was nothing compared to Pikachu's electric attacks. They also learn from their mistakes, though in the process usually make all new ones. An example would be Charmander's debut episode all the way back at the very start of the series; they use rubber coated equipment to nullify Pikachu's electric attacks, but didn't bring any ''fireproof'' equipment.
*** Heck, in some later episodes, Team Rocket actually does some heavy damage to other trainers. In general, Team Rocket manages to win when the plot requires it-Jessie fighting her way to the end of the Princess Festival tournament, Jessie and James defeating the Eevee Brothers, etc.
*** This occurs even in early episodes-- in "The Punchy Pokemon", various trainers are participating in a fighting type only tournament. Though Ash beats them in the end, they very successfully steal a Hitmonlee and thrash their competition with it through a combination of regular battling and standard cheating. This is pretty notable, since they beat a Hitmonchan raised by a trainer who LEFT HIS FAMILY to train it.
** In ''A Thief That Keeps on Thieving'' they actually managed to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQjyJY7iEVg catch the wild Pokemon]] that the character of the day was after and send it to their boss. Of course, he sends it back to them and it promptly evolves, giving Jessie a new Yanmega.
** In the Black and White/Best Wishes episodes, [[spoiler: they got new uniforms because of a PROMOTION]].
*** Even wilder, [[spoiler:they became competent and so far have ''stayed'' that way. They almost capture Pikachu and Iris's Kibago. Key and operative word: almost. We're six episodes in and they've yet to blast off ''once''.]]
**** [[spoiler:It's quite possible they'll be competent all through the season, because they're supposed to be the spark for Team Plasma's appearance.]]
**** [[spoiler:So far this season Giovanni has given them one mission. The goal of said mission was to collect dream energy from an abandoned reasearch facility in order to help with Team Rockets plans to conquer the world. While they failed to capture the Pokemon of the day, the episode where they put this plan into action basically ended with Giovanni congratulating them on succeeding and telling them that he had people looking at the energy to see what they can do with it. That's right, Team Rocket just successfully completed the first step in a plan for world domination.]]

** Don't forget the episode where Mojo aqcuired the Girls' abilities and defeated them, only to launch into a [[ContemplateOurNavels navel-gazing session]] so severe that he didn't notice the Girls recover and turn him back to normal.

* Team Rocket, the TropeNamer from ''{{Pokemon}}'', beat the crap out of Ash's Pokemon when they were allowed to run Viridian city's gym using Giovanni's Pokemon, at least until Ash managed to regain momentum and beat them at their own game. There have been a few other instances where Team Rocket has been successful in battle, but it was because they were [[EvilIsDumb trying to do something good for a change]] or something like that. Their victories never lasted too long, and they were often sent flying at the end of the episode anyway. Individually, Jessie, James, and Meowth all show much higher levels of competence without the other two bogging them down.

*** James is actually a very talented and honorable trainer on his own. He's even gone so far as to attack Jessie and Meowth for trying to interfere with his actions whenever is own pokemon are in trouble or when he wants to win without cheating. His friendship with Jessie and Meowth is about the only reason keeping him from doing a complete HeelFaceTurn and becoming a successful trainer.

**** [[spoiler:It's quite possible they'll be competent all through the season, because they're supposed to be the spark for Team Plasma's appearance. And a quite obvious one: Their new motto involves abusing Pokémon, and N despises this view.]]
**** [[spoiler:So far this season Giovanni has given them one mission. The goal of said mission was to collect dream energy from an abandoned reasearch facility in order to help with Team Rockets plans to conquer the world. While they failed to capture the pokemon of the day, the episode where they put this plan into action basically ended with Giovanni congragulating them on succeeding and telling them that he had people looking at the energy to see what they can do with it. That's right, Team Rocket just successfuly completed the first step in a plan for world domination.]]

->''"Did he say what I thought he said? I '''win?!?'''"''

* In the Dreamcast/PS2 ''WackyRaces'' game, the final unlock is the ability to play as Dick Dastardly. It's worth going through all the trouble to do so just to win a race as him and hear the announcer's bewildered or disgusted reaction.

*** Even wilder, [[spoiler:they became competent and so far have ''stayed'' that way. They almost capture Pikachu and Iris's Kibago. Key and operative word: almost. We're four episodes in and they've yet to blast off ''once''.]]