What is the Team Rocket organization really up to?

[Bacl]

I've been wondering about Team Rocket lately, not Jessie James & Meowth, but the actual full gang/organization of Team Rocket run by Giovanni.

I've seen it said in various posts that Jessie and James were never given "orders" to capture Pikachu. They are just convinced that if they do the boss will reward them. In reality Giovanni has no clue what those three numbskulls are up to (and I doubt he cares).

So what is the real Team Rocket up to? Are they Pokemon thieves? For what purpose? I think Giovanni has bigger goals then being a Pokemon master, but somehow I don't think he's bent on world domination.

I know the anime is seperate from the video games, but the two inspire eachother and some blank spots in one can be filled in by another sometimes. In the video games I don't believe Team Rocket ever tried to "steal" pokemon. They just used Pokemon for evil, like robberies and other nasty things. They ran a croocked casino, and fueled it by using Pokemon as prizes. After they were officially disbanded a splinter group funded itself by cutting the tails off of Slowpoke and selling them, and then later tried to invent a signal that forced evolutions in Pokemon. Some of this was mirrored in the anime.

I get the impression Team Rocket is almost a pyramid-scam-gang. Jessie & James seem to work independent of the organization, as do Butch and Cassidy and the Masked Marrader guy from Pokemon 4ever. It seems Team Rocket signs you up, gives you access to high tech equipment (which you have to buy out of your own pocket) and then sends you off to do whatever you feel is in the Team's interests. If you do well, you are rewarded. Maybe all Giovanni wants is money and power...

[BenRG]

I've always been convinced that Team Rocket's ultimate goal is 'regime change' on a global scale. As Bacl says, there are differences between the games and animé. However, when you face Giovanni in the Celadon City Casino in yellow-version, he tells you that he has reasons for his actions that "a child like you cannot understand." This implies to me that the Organisation has an overall political motive for its' actions.

All the non-Jessie, James & Meowth major TR operations appear directed towards gathering power, either by getting rich or gaining large-scale control over Pokémon. It is possible that, for whatever reason, TR intends to use Pokémon as weapons with which it intends to usher in a 'new world order' more to its' leaders' liking. :o

There are indications that this has been the organisation's overall motive for much longer than Giovanni's leadership. In the radio drama, his mother sends Jessie's mother to her death in pursuit of Mew. What possible reason could there be for that except to gain the power that would result from controlling the First One? It is for this reason that I suspect that TR was the financial backer and technical brains behind Jirudian's attempt to capture the four of the five Legendary Birds.

[Hanada Tattsu]

Bacl and Ben hinted towards this, but they never actually mentioned it, so that's my job.

I think Team Rocket's job after Kanto and Johto, well at least in the anime, is world domination. They now have two major rivals, Team Magma and Team Aqua, who are rivals in Hoenn. I wouldn't be surprised if Giovanni sent out more troops to Hoenn later on in the anime, he knows that two Team Rocket grunts will never succeed.

[BenRG]

Originally posted by Hanada Tattsu
They now have two major rivals, Team Magma and Team Aqua, who are rivals in Hoenn. Actually, I don't think that TM and TA are direct rivals to the Rockets. The more I learn about them, the more I am convinced that they are pseudo-religious groups with very limited and conflicting goals. They will be so busy with their vicious infighting, that they would probably never notice Giovanni taking over Houen until the time comes when he feels sufficiently secure in the new region to eliminate them. 8)

[Legends-Kuja]

Why do I think that Archie's possessed by Kyogre and Maxie Groudon?

And TR is defeniely bent on WHAT ELSE but World Domination.

[Hanada Tattsu]

Originally posted by Legends-Kuja
Why do I think that Archie's possessed by Kyogre and Maxie Groudon?

And TR is defeniely bent on WHAT ELSE but World Domination.

You see, I think when Team Rocket dominates the world, will they only make their plans. Team Aqua and Team Magma made their plans too early, Team Rocket haven't yet, but most likely when they will make their plan is when at last they have taken over the world.

[BenRG]

Originally posted by Hanada Tattsu
You see, I think when Team Rocket dominates the world, will they only make their plans. Team Aqua and Team Magma made their plans too early, Team Rocket haven't yet, but most likely when they will make their plan is when at last they have taken over the world. On the contrary, I think that all three Teams have essentially the same amount of plans in place. Mostly they are just pursuing their objectives and implimenting plans as and when needed.

The important difference is that Team Magma and Team Aqua have very limited objectives (dry out or flood the planet). While Team Rocket has a much broader and more all-embracing objective. I think that the two newer groups (to us, at least, the origins of the cults might go back millennia) are going to be too focussed on their feud to notice Team Rocket overtaking on the inside straight. :wave:

On a semi-related note, anyone seen the Kevin Costner film 'Waterworld'? Could this be a possible future where Team Aqua has triumphed?

[Light_Togetic]

Lol, Waterworld eh? Maybe that's where TA get their inspiration from.

There's no doubt that Gio gets some kind of 'high' off of power and money, but, yeah, he probably wants to rule the world or something... I like Ben's phrase, 'regime change'...

Well, whatever the major plan is, they better actually do something! It's dissapointing when bad guys that are built up like TR just kinda mellow out over time. I think that perhaps hinting toward what TR's grand scheme is would be nice though, because I don't even think Jessie and James are clear on it. J/k;)

[Hanada Tattsu]

No, LT, you're right.

I don't think Jessie, James, and Meowth have any idea what Giovanni is planning. He disregards them, he doesn't care about them anymore, he trusts Butch and Cassidy much more than them.

[AKA Pokemon Fan]

Originally posted by Bacl
I've been wondering about Team Rocket lately, not Jessie James & Meowth, but the actual full gang/organization of Team Rocket run by Giovanni.

So what is the real Team Rocket up to? Are they Pokemon thieves? For what purpose? I think Giovanni has bigger goals then being a Pokemon master, but somehow I don't think he's bent on world domination.

Giovanni wants money and power or course, but his and the team's ultimate goals were stated very clearly in Mewtwo Strikes Back and Mewtwo Returns. In both Giovanni stated his desire to eventually control the planet using Pokemon. Just look at these quotes:

Mewtwo Strikes Back:

Professor: "All he wants is to control the most powerful Pokemon the world has ever known."

Giovanni: "Together with your psychic powers and my resources, we could control the world."

Mewtwo Returns:

Giovanni: "At last my dream of creating the world's most powerful Pokemon army will be realized."

I would agree that Team Aqua and Magma appear to be just fanatical cult groups but at the same time they clearly possess enough power and resources for Giovanni to be cautious of them. After all, Jessie and James appear to be the only agents he's willing to risk going to Hoenn.

[Hanada Tattsu]

I agree, but it still ties in with the theory that Team Rocket wants to conquer many regions.