Generation-I: Team Rocket
Ideology: "Steal Pokemon for profit! Exploit Pokemon for profit! All Pokemon exist for the glory of Team Rocket!"
Modus Operandi:
- steal strong/rare Pokemon from unsuspecting trainers
- steal valuable Pokemon-related technology
- exploit Pokemon for profit
Not bad. Not bad at all. You've got a criminal organization that is success-oriented, financially-driven, and, above all else, cruel. Everything you need for good antagonists.
Granted, in Generation-II, you really weakened them intellectually by having them perform some punk-level nonsense, but in the end, they were still driven towards that former glory.
Generation-III: Team Aqua/Team Magma
Ideology: "All glory for the sea/land! We must awaken Kyogre/Groudon and capture it!"
Modus Operandi:
- use a meteorite to influence a volcano towards land/sea expansion
- steal a submarine to locate Kyogre/Groudon
Well...this is different. So, it's two criminal organizations focused...on terraforming? Granted, if they're a little cult-like, that would work, but since Nintendo is so adamant about censoring anything remotely religious when their stuff gets translated into English, they lose so much potential.
Generation-IV: Team Galactic
Ideology: "The universe is terrible and we want to rebuild it from the ground up!"
Modus Operandi:
- harass Pokemon researchers for their work
- siphon energy from neighboring sources of public energy
- summon creation-mythos Pokemon to destroy the universe
Wa--what WOAH! That was a pretty big jump there! How about we slow our roll for a second? Yeah, okay, you want to destroy the universe and rebuild it. That's super. Does anybody else find that to be really boring? I mean...there's a LOT at risk here if your supposed plan doesn't pan out. Let's say you successfully destroy the universe. What guarantee do you have that it's going to come back? And if it does, what chance do you really think there is of you actually being better off than you were prior to thing Poke-pocalypse? I just think that this was kind of a cop-out.
Generation-V: Team Plasma
(as per Black/White)
(as per Black 2/White 2)
Ideology: "Separate worlds for Pokemon and people!"
Modus Operandi:
- "liberate" Pokemon from their trainers
- steal artifacts from museums
- spread anti-Pokemon training propaganda
This is really a weak premise, especially because of the hypocrisy rampant in the concept. We shouldn't be training Pokemon. Alright, how are you going to stop us? By getting into Pokemon battles with us? Plasma calling the kettle black. And there was a really great correlation between Team Plasma and radical animal rights activists that could have been really great to flush out...but in the end, y'all just took the easy way out and said "Oh, but the Pokemon LOVE to battle! Can't you see?"
Here's my question, and try not to crucify me here:
Why are there still teams? Can't we accomplish the same vibe of an antagonist presence with something different?
Maybe the Silph Co. starts going under because of the Devon Corp. success and resorts to creating unethical devices that sell really well but are terrible for Pokemon...like Pokemon steroids or something. Not vitamins like Protein or Carbos, but like stat-boosting and level-increasing drugs that make your Pokemon super-strong for a short time but makes their lifespans much shorter.
What if there was a radical union of laborers or something like that whose main message was that you could create so many more jobs if we got rid of the Pokemon involved in our day-to-day work? No more Voltorb-reliant energy, or no more Bellossoms fertilizing our crop fields; get rid of the Pokemon and increase human employment. There could be a whole thing about how Pokemon training is actually terrible for the economy--
Can we just stop for a minute to realistically think about what our lives would be like if our economy worked the way it does in the Pokemon world? We'd be poverty-stricken! Dear lord, the entire economy functions on gambling and creating tools for gamblers to gamble more!
The point is we don't need a "team" per se, especially since we can't really ever relate to them on a personal or ideological level, but what if we could create an antagonist entity that actual made valid points? What if there was an enemy would could theoretically understand, possibly even sympathize with, and force us to rethink our core values? That would be a really effective use of your creativity...figure out a bad guy that is only bad because of the player's viewpoint. I mean, I understand this is a children's game, but come on, you don't need to hit them on the head with the simplicity of the Team trope. "We don't like Pokemon!" "YOU ARE THE BAD GUYS! BOOOOO!" If Disney can make jokes that the children in the audience can get, as well as jokes meant to go over the children's heads and entertain the parents who had to drag their kids to the movies, you can come up with a villainous organization that is unique and can appeal to your older demographic.
I'm of your older demographic. Do you want more ideas on how to appeal to me?
Hire me, Sugimori!
