History Main / TeamRocketWins

*** Even wilder, [[spoiler:they became competent and so far have ''stayed'' that way. They almost capture Pikachu and Iris's Axew. Key and operative word: almost. We're six episodes in and they've yet to blast off ''once''. They generally stay away from Ash and company, however, because of their new mission.]]

** they seem fairly competent whenever they are not dealing with ash and co, remember that they had wanted posters with there first appearance, and many of there plans worked until ash got involved

That's right. Somehow, the GoldfishPoopGang won.

How did this happen? ''Why'' did this happen?

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 TournamentArc 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]].

[[AC:{{Anime}}]]
* Team Rocket, the TropeNamer from ''[[{{Anime/Ptitlei015gc004kw4}} Pokémon]]'', 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.

** 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.

[[AC: ComicBooks]]
* Anytime The Shocker does anything right, it counts as this. But what stands out in particular was his appearance in the Ultimate Spider-Man book, where after countless, effortless losses to Spidey (who slammed the point home by cracking jokes), he managed to knock him unconscious. He then tied him up with chains, ranting and torturing him, and likely would have killed him if not for Kitty Pride and the NYPD finding his location.

[[AC: FanFiction]]
* ''Magical Troubleshoting Fighting Federation'', a tournament with a crossover cast of various anime series, actually has Team Rocket win at least once, much to their own shock.

[[AC: {{Film}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* Presuming that the condition for villain victory is "kill the slayer", ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' has numerous examples: Spike legitimately out-fights and kills two Slayers, Drusilla effortlessly takes out Kendra the Vampire Slayer, The Master kills Buffy on two occasions (one time she is revived and the other in an alternate universe), and a random vampire nearly kills Buffy in "Fool for Love", and it's Riley that ultimately puts him down.

[[AC:VideoGames]]

* In FinalFantasyVI, [[spoiler: Kefka's triumph in Thamasa is a complete surprise to the player. After all, almost every other encounter has consisted of Kefka casting a weak spell and then running away, and when Kefka seems to finally be serious in Narshe, he is still quite beatable. So when he comes into Thamasa imploding Espers left and right, there is really no precedent.]]

[[AC: WebComics]]
* The page picture comes from ''Plague's Misadventures'', one of the hosted comics in ''BobAndGeorge.'' Sigma, who in this series is pretty much a nuisance HarmlessVillain, actually succeeds in bringing down the space colony and bringing about the end of the world when the heroes shoot it down with the giant canon.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* One episode of ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' (originally a comic book) has Harley Quinn manage to use one of the Joker's plots to capture Batman and have him dead to rights. This being [[MadLove Harley Quinn,]] Batman manages to play on her insecurities and call Joker. [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou That goes down as well as you'd expect.]]

** A bumper on ''The Road Runner Show'' (CBS, 1966-68; ABC, 1971-72) had the coyote diverting the Road Runner's attention by drawing a portrait of the two, the coyote in the drawing with a rifle in hand. The coyote grabs the Road Runner's neck only to have the coyote drawing blast him in the ass with the rifle.

** Which really wasn't a win; Dib only died for a split second, and once he came back he was actually a greater threat than ever, almost killing ''Zim'' before he quickly hit the ResetButton. Neither Zim nor Dib ever gets a complete win, of course, but Zim does better than Dib fairly often.

[[AC:RealLife]]

<<|NarrativeDevices|>>

* On January 5, 1971 in Martin, Tennessee the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Generals Washington Generals]] defeated the Harlem Globetrotters 100-99 ending a 2,495-game winning streak and earning Harlem its only loss between 1962 and 1995. The Globetrotters got so involved with their comedy antics they neglected to notice how much they were trailing by in the normally pseudo-competitive game against their long time comic foils. A legitimate attempt to rally back came for naught when Meadowlark Lemon missed a last second shot. The crowd in attendance was stunned with several children breaking out in tears.

** China- I mean Hong Meiling is usually the ButtMonkey of the Scarlet Devil CastHerd, but playing as her in ''Unthinkable Natural Law'' and actually winning makes her declare to her friends that [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass she was holding herself back and playing the fool all along, waiting for a truly dire situation to reveal herself]]... [[UnreliableNarrator not that you can necessarily trust that statement]].

** Wait, it's been a while since I've seen the show, but aren't the weird features of the cars the reason the races are Wacky in the first place. [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption Shouldn't that be legal anyway]]?
** Should be, since in another episode, Rufus Ruffcut extended his neck to cross the finish line first and was awarded the win. But since Dastardly is the token villain (in spite of the fact that most of the other drivers are prone to a little chicanery), he [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption has to be declared a pathological loser.]]
*** Dastardly actually won two races outright in the comic books: "The Scavenger Scramble" (Gold Key #7) and "Trek To Tazmania" (Archie Comics #1). There were catches to the victories, however. Hanna-Barbera Fun-In (Gold Key #5) had a one-pager of Dastardly pushing the Mean Machine across the finish line after Muttley bails on him, and he uses the trophy, filled with hot water, to soak his feet.

The shortest and simplest answer is that they got their act together-- ''[[LetsGetDangerous 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 [[TheBadGuyWins the bad guys to win]] [[YouCantThwartStageOne 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, why didn't they [[JustShootHim just shoot them]]?]])

* In the [[Series/MegaMan Ruby-Spears Megaman cartoon]], while his primary goal wasn't achieved, Wily made off with the money from robbing the citizens in "Crime of the Century" and the money from selling a shrunken Washington D.C. in "The Incredible Shrinking Megaman".

** Which really wasn't a win; Dib only died for a split second, and once he came back he was actually a greater threat than ever, almost killing ''Zim'' before he quickly hit the ResetButton. Neither Zim or Dib ever gets a complete win, of course, but Zim does better than Dib fairly often.

* The ''Series/SuperMarioWorld'' episode has Bowser actually make off with the money he made selling his mutant food to the cavepeople (or at least two bags of it), with Mario and Peach making no effort to stop him ([[VillainExitStageLeft not that they ever tried before, though]]). Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that his restaurant actually was a legal business, even though he was using it to turn the cavepeople into his {{Mook}}s.

The shortest and simplest answer is that they got their act together-- ''[[LetsGetDangerous 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 [[TheBadGuyWins the bad guys to win]] [[YouCantThwartStageOne 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?]])

-->--'''Bowser''', ''PaperMario''

*** [[spoiler:However, Giovanni once stated that with the three out in the field, it should draw out Unova's gang, Team Plasma. This means that Jessie, James, and Meowth might only be bait so that Team Plasma would be active, and with Ash following the trio, Plasma would be eliminated, meaning Team Rocket would be one step closer to power.]]

** 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.
*** In ''Off the Unbeaten Path'', James won a contest that involved teamwork with one's own Pokémon. 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 the "Team Rocket can win if they act like good guys" rule.

*** 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''. They generally stay away from Ash and company, however, because of their new mission.]]

*** [[spoiler:However, Giovanni once stated that with the three out in the field, it should draw out Unova's gang, meaning that Jessie, James, and Meowth might only be bait so that Unova's gang would be active and with Ash out there, they would be eliminated, meaning Team Rocket would be one step closer to power.]]

The shortest and simplest answer is that they got their act together-- ''[[LetsGetDangerous 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?]])

** A second had her future self come back and bust them, causing a bad future where Dr. Doofenshmirtz rules. [[ResetButton Of course, it gets fixed.]]