Thread: Will BW be the end of Team Rocket/Rocket-Dan?

Originally Posted by Musashi

They're considering making the radio show an hour long because it's so popular. "Rocket-Dan" is the #1 trend on Twitter in Japan during the show. (And keep in mind only those in the Kanto region can listen live, not all of Japan.)

I just can't see the TRio leaving when there's such a high demand for them.

Dawn and Piplup were popular in Japan, Cilan is very popular now...yet its quite possible they're going to have Cilan leave when BW ends.

Its also possible the radio show could continue on even after TR aren't in the show anymore...so who knows.

Originally Posted by Gliscor'd

They're not in the 15th movie. For the first time in 15 years, Team Rocket are actually going to be absent in a Pokemon movie. This is another sign, IMO. I bet they won't be in the Genosect movie either.

I'd be glad if this does mean TR will be gone next season. BW finally got rid of Takeshi. Rocket-dan is definitely next.

Originally Posted by Musashi

They're considering making the radio show an hour long because it's so popular. "Rocket-Dan" is the #1 trend on Twitter in Japan during the show. (And keep in mind only those in the Kanto region can listen live, not all of Japan.)

I just can't see the TRio leaving when there's such a high demand for them.

I didn't know it was that popular. I should really try to read up on this radio show since it sounds like it could be fun. Considering the popularity for the Team Rocket trio and how well the radio show has gone so far, it does make the idea of the three of them leaving the show not too likely.

Originally Posted by Gliscor'd

Dawn and Piplup were popular in Japan, Cilan is very popular now...yet its quite possible they're going to have Cilan leave when BW ends.

Its also possible the radio show could continue on even after TR aren't in the show anymore...so who knows.

I don't think that comparing the Team Rocket Trio to Dawn, Piplup and Cilan works. They're popular characters in Japan, but unlike Dawn, Piplup and possibly Cilan, Team Rocket has lasted beyond their specific generation/series where they first appeared and was included in the main cast until BW at least. Though, I guess it could be possible that the radio show could continue even if the trio isn't in the anime anymore, but I still think that the radio show could mean that they would stick around for the next series.

This brings back memories of late DP when we were speculating the Gen V anime:

- People thought the Contests were too important to the anime after being around for 8 years and getting a major part of the show plot. Yet...they were dropped.

- A few believed Dawn and Piplup's co-star status meant she might continue...but that didn't happen.

- Some people thought that because Brock had lasted as long as he did, that the writers would never get rid of him because, "it would have happened a long time ago." And then...Brock did indeed leave.


Prior to BW, the thought of TR actually missing an episode was unthinkable. Now they're missing a movie.

Nothing is certain in the anime and this fandom always denies a character will leave until it happens.

I wish I could back in time to 2002 when people thought Misty would never leave...LOL!

Originally Posted by Gliscor'd

This brings back memories of late DP when we were speculating the Gen V anime:

- People thought the Contests were too important to the anime after being around for 8 years and getting a major part of the show plot. Yet...they were dropped.

Only because they weren't included in the new games. If they did, they would have most likely kept Contests going.

Originally Posted by Gliscor'd

- A few believed Dawn and Piplup's co-star status meant she might continue...but that didn't happen.

I do remember people speculating on that. Seemed like a bit too much to hope for to me, but I could see where they were coming from considering how much attention she had in DP.

Originally Posted by Gliscor'd

- Some people thought that because Brock had lasted as long as he did, that the writers would never get rid of him because, "it would have happened a long time ago." And then...Brock did indeed leave.

Which also had to do with the new games basically being a fresh start and Unova being so far away from the other regions. Having Ash travel with two new characters would have given the anime that same kind of fresh start. Though, speaking as one of the people who thought that they wouldn't have gotten rid of Brock due to how long he lasted, it was never impossible due to how he was already replaced. While I don't think Team Rocket leaving is that likely to happen, it certainly isn't impossible given how they've been handled in this series and the fact that they aren't the main stars of the show.

Originally Posted by Gliscor'd

Prior to BW, the thought of TR actually missing an episode was unthinkable. Now they're missing a movie.

Nothing is certain in the anime and this fandom always denies a character will leave until it happens.

I wish I could back in time to 2002 when people thought Misty would never leave...LOL!

I don't know if the fandom, as a whole, always denies a character will leave until it happens. Most people expect characters to come and go by this point. The Misty comment seems a bit unnecessary to me, and I don't even care a bit for her character, but this is probably going a bit too off-topic for this thread.

Isn't there the possibility the radio show could make new eps after TR leave the show? Just think of how each time a main character left, they still made further appearances in either specials or cameos in regular episodes.

Just because TR may not follow Ash anymore and might be written out doesn't mean they can't still appear another way.

Inuko's Pokemon show continued on even though the anime was taking a break due to the Porygon incident. If the TRio does leave, I could definitely see the radio show staying. Just rework the plot a bit to fit however their exit would be.

Originally Posted by Gliscor'd

- Some people thought that because Brock had lasted as long as he did, that the writers would never get rid of him because, "it would have happened a long time ago." And then...Brock did indeed leave.

It wasn't that I thought they could never replace him, just that I had no faith in them to come up with a replacement. And though they did, the fact that it took them four regions, Tracey, Max (still like the kid, but I know the fandom still hates his guts), and the fact that Cilan is one of the few things they got right this saga, does not inspire a lot of confidence from me.

Actually that tells me that they were able create Cilan because they had a long, long, long time to think about it. D:

Prior to BW, the thought of TR actually missing an episode was unthinkable. Now they're missing a movie.

Nothing is certain in the anime and this fandom always denies a character will leave until it happens.

I know, TR was always different. But if the writers are tired of writing them, then they are tired of writing them. And honestly, if given the choice I would rather they had left last saga than go the character destruction that they have in BW. As it is, to me they've already left, because the people we see now ain't TR. :/

Originally Posted by Hidden Mew

Only because they weren't included in the new games. If they did, they would have most likely kept Contests going.

But they had seemed to run out of creativity when it came to writing them, DP always did feel lacking when it came to the Contests. Heck I thought some of the old one-shot Coordinators were more entertaining than Dawn's rivals. You know, the very rivals we supposed to see a lot more so they could be more developed... than the COTD's? :/

Not to mention if they had kept Contests, who would have done them? Dawn was gone by virtue of the swap the girls for advertising thing they love to do, and do you think they could have come up with a reasonable plot to do them for a third time and it still be interesting?

Even if the Contests had continued in the games I not sure we would have continued to see them in the anime as they had existed before then.

@Yoshi-kun; discuss the show and not users. That's a general warning for all of the Anime forum.

I really hope this is the end of TR. They should have been canned after Battle Frontier.

Myself, I don't hope so.

If they'll leave in BW? That really depends. They are and have always been the most popular characters in the anime. With their radio, I don't think so.

I'll see what happens next week, but I don't think they'll leave. Maybe if the show reboots or something...

Plus, Meowth has somewhat of a mascot status so I don't think so.

well team rocket does look like they are going the way of the edsal. but i hope that they still are around because meowth is my most favoiret of all of team rocket and would hate to see a character that has been around since ep 2 go away

Originally Posted by The Fighting Misty

I wish I could back in time to 2002 when people thought Misty would never leave...LOL!

As I recall...that kind of thing actually wasn't really all that big then. Though back then, we also didn't see leaving as necessarily implying gone forever, since we had the example of Brock leaving and coming back to look at. That it happened did surprise a lot of people, but no one tried to claim a character would never leave. Hell, there was even speculation that they might replace Ash after Johto. I vaguely recall that before we saw pictures of Ash in his new outfit, some people were thinking the "Advanced Generation" title implied that we'd be seeing a time-skip, and that the main characters would be the next generation of characters.

Originally Posted by Archaic

Originally Posted by The Fighting Misty

I wish I could back in time to 2002 when people thought Misty would never leave...LOL!

As I recall...that kind of thing actually wasn't really all that big then. Though back then, we also didn't see leaving as necessarily implying gone forever, since we had the example of Brock leaving and coming back to look at. That it happened did surprise a lot of people, but no one tried to claim a character would never leave. Hell, there was even speculation that they might replace Ash after Johto. I vaguely recall that before we saw pictures of Ash in his new outfit, some people were thinking the "Advanced Generation" title implied that we'd be seeing a time-skip, and that the main characters would be the next generation of characters.

True, but then again people think Ash could be written off at the end of every gen, since there's always the possibility the writers will want to start off fresh. Remember when AG was ending and some thought Ash would become a Frontier Brain and stay in Kanto, and that this new, "Hikari" character would take over as the new lead? LOL, little did we know at the time that Hikari was just going to be another coordinator and Ash would stick around.

Anyway, now that Brock is finally gone, I do think Team Rocket are going to be written out. If you noticed, TR only appeared in roughly half of BW's 100 episodes so far, and when they do appear they only get 1-2 minute scenes in most episodes. Before Best Wishes, TR even missing an episode was unthinkable.

With them being written out of Unova for the time being, its only further proof the writers are gearing up for a series without them entirely. I strongly believe during whatever arc comes after the Unova league but before Gen 6, will result in TR's true finale...with Giovanni either dying or being arrested, and Jessie/James/Meowth leaving the organization.

I don't think BW will be the end, but they're probably going to get them out during Gen 6 when not many of the kids really remember them/ would actually feel sad that they're gone. On the other hand, they could randomly "A Poached Ego" us...