#except giovanni. could not sympathize a lot with giovanni | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sage-nebula · 6 years

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The more I think about it, the more I realize how much sense it makes that Giovanni was the one to take charge in Team Rainbow Rocket, as well as how honestly easy it would be for him to get all the others to listen to and cooperate with him (at least for the time being).

I think the reason a lot of people don’t take Team Rocket as seriously as they should is---well, there are a few reasons. The first is the TRio’s comedic presence in the anime, the second is that they’re underutilized, and the third is that people very often equate “yakuza” to “gang” which is just . . . it’s like comparing a wolf to a chihuahua. Thinking that the yakuza are an underground gang and aren’t that threatening is laughably incorrect (and I’m talking incredulous laughter here). As far as the TRio are concerned, it should be noted that they’re the exception rather than the rule as it pertains to Team Rocket in the anime. Jessie, James, and Meowth are especially incompetent for their positions. Other Team Rocket operatives (whether we’re talking Butch and Cassidy, or Domino, or even unnamed grunts) are always shown to be far more competent and capable than Jessie and James. So judging game!Rocket on the TRio is a mistake on every level. Actual Rockets are far more dangerous.

And while it’s true that Team Rocket was severely underutilized in the games in which they starred, that’s largely due to the first generation being severely limited when it comes to how much data they could contain. Both generations (particularly Gen II) had their cartridges packed to the limit as it was; considering they were already struggling to contain everything, Game Freak decided to focus more on the gameplay, graphics, music, et cetera than they did the story. Gen I barely had a story at all as a result of this, and Gen II’s story was a direct sequel to Gen I’s, meaning that it didn’t have much to work with (and therefore did the best it could). Because of this, while all of the hallmarks of Team Rocket being based on the yakuza are there (e.g. they run a Game Corner, they murder the marowak in Lavender Tower, Giovanni is directly involved in politics by being a Gym Leader, et cetera), we don’t get to fully explore what exactly that entails. Had Gen I focused on, say, Sinnoh and Galactic instead, they would have met the same exact fate. Had Kanto and Team Rocket come in a later generation, I can promise you the story would be a lot deeper (and, uh, probably way too dark for a kid’s game).

It can be very easy to equate the yakuza to a gang, but in all honesty, yakuza are far more than that. While it’s true that yakuza are known for operating within the criminal world (in things like drug trade, human trafficking, assassinations, gambling, you name it), they also have a lot of dealings with politics (both Japanese and international), as well as dealings within the private sector. For instance, one of the most famous (infamous?) yakuza, Kodama Yoshio, was known for not only aiding the rise of organized crime in Japan (and being a prominent figure for moving opiates into Japan for distribution and sale), but also assisted both the Japanese government and the United States government at different times. Specifically, during World War 2 the Japanese government contracted Kodama to smuggle supplies (including weapons) from China into Japan in order to aid with the war effort (and this was also when he began his opiates trafficking in order to line his pockets). After the war he was arrested by the United States for being a war criminal, but the United States government later secured his release so that he could assist them in rooting out communist and socialist sympathizers in Japan so that the U.S. could fight communism. In this way, Kodama (and his very large yakuza network) played a huge part in international politics and really made a mark on history.

And this isn’t isolated. There are divisions of the yakuza all over the world, to the point where they’re recognized as a transnational crime syndicate despite how they originated in Japan (and have history there dating all the way back to the Edo period). And while the yakuza might have started in the criminal “underworld”, they’re really . . . not that underground anymore. Instead, yakuza divisions are seen as somewhat legitimate organizations within Japan, to the point where the Yamaguchi-gumi were able to openly and immediately assist with disaster relief following the Kobe earthquake in 1995, responding even faster than the actual Japanese government did. (And they did the same thing after the earthquake and tsunami in 2011.) And as I said, they do work in the private sector as well, such as by operating protection rackets in which they’re hired by corporations to attend stakeholder meetings in order to pressure rival companies or employees into folding or giving in to what the person who hired the yakuza operatives want. If the yakuza were purely underground that . . . wouldn’t really happen.

All of this is to say: Yakuza are not “just yakuza,” and if Team Rocket---particularly a Team Rocket that succeeded and thrived in their universe---is truly meant to be yakuza, that is a huge deal. There are yakuza divisions not only in Japan, but also in the Philippines (they’re apparently a huge source of human trafficking there), Korea, the United States, and potentially others. Since they’re semi-open, they have heavy influence in politics and businesses. They still commit heinous crimes (obviously), but they also offer protection services and the like in order to gain public favor. They’re extremely influential and extremely dangerous, even if they’re not dipping into the realm of fantasy by trying to start the apocalypse.

So, with that said? In my opinion, they’re way more terrifying than most of the villainous organizations we’ve had so far.

Team Aqua and Team Magma both wanted to start the apocalypse, yes. But they needed the legendary pokémon in order to do that, and they only managed to succeed in that through honestly contrived circumstances that occurred because the plot necessitated it. However, particularly because they were so focused on this one goal, if anything prevented them from getting at the legendary pokémon, they’d be powerless to do jack about it. Not to mention that, since Team Rocket would have plenty of political influence and power, should they need to, they could probably have Archie and Maxie arrested, tried, and convicted on charges of domestic terrorism (or at least conspiracy to commit). Yeah, Team Rocket obviously commits their fair share of crimes as well, but so do the yakuza in the real world, and yet they still manage to influence the political and criminal justice systems. Not always to their favor, depending, but when money changes hands and pressure is applied, things happen. Neither Archie nor Maxie have even a shred of political clout to fight back against that. If Giovanni, as Gym Leader, has words with whoever the Kanto Champion is at the moment (Lance, I’m assuming), and gets him to talk to Steven (who wouldn’t reasonably be able to say “nah” if there is evidence, real or contrived, that Archie and Maxie want to commit the apocalypse), then the Hoenn government might actually have to get off its ass and do something about those two eco-terrorists. That threat would be neutralized. On the other hand, if Archie and Maxie want to cooperate, then Giovanni can help ensure that they and theirs are cut deals and receive reduced sentences, if any at all. In fact, depending on the deals that are made, it’s likely even possible to convince them that if they cooperate for now, they can get their way later, particularly once they get their hands on their respective legendaries (because they never actually caught Kyogre or Groudon even if they succeeded in their respective universes, so they’d need to reawaken this universe’s Kyogre and Groudon to get what they want). Of course, joke’s on them, because Giovanni would never allow them to do that---but the idea would be there nonetheless. So, there’s Archie and Maxie.

Cyrus is in an even worse position than Cyrus and Maxie. Aqua and Magma are potential terrorists, but Galactic are actual terrorists, as seen by how they bomb the lakes as part of the game’s natural storyline. If it would be possible to lay pressure on Hoenn to prosecute Aqua and Magma for conspiracy to commit, then it would be more than possible to do the same to Sinnoh. (And even though Kanto is a different region, Kanto could reasonably pressure both Hoenn and Sinnoh to act based on the threat to the world at large, rather than just those specific organizations.) Cyrus has a god complex and so we know that he doesn’t care very much when Cynthia tries to stop him, but nonetheless, Galactic manufacture and use actual explosives even before the climax of the story, among other things. And while Rocket is no stranger to this, again, they have political clout and influence, they’re semi-public with things like their Game Corner, they have power within the law that Galactic simply does not. While Cyrus is trying to remake the entire universe, he requires legendary pokémon in order to actually do that, and if he never gets the legendary pokémon, Team Rocket actually overpowers him due to the influence they have if they’re truly meant to be yakuza. I mean, ffs, they were able to take over Saffron City and Silph Co., and the police weren’t really called on them either because the employees of Silph Co. were too terrified to call the police, or because the police in Saffron City were on the payroll and thus weren’t about to do anything about it. Galactic doesn’t have that kind of influence, because Cyrus has never tried to go after it. They’re not that kind of organization.

And that said, you might be thinking, “But if Cyrus also succeeded, then he should have the legendary already, and thus he’s more powerful than Giovanni, since Team Rocket never cared about legendaries!” I see that point, but I raise you the same secondary point posed to Archie and Maxie, at least to a similar degree. Giovanni, as yakuza, is very, very open to making deals. Cyrus, as a purely logical man who detests emotion, is open to rationale and hearing others out. It’s entirely possible (probable, even) that when Giovanni approached him, he offered to cut him a deal in some way, shape, or form that Cyrus felt would benefit him until he can carry out his plans. Perhaps Giovanni offered to allow Cyrus and his Galactic grunts to make use of a portion of Team Rocket’s resources (money, weapons, pokémon) in order to further his plans in exchange for Cyrus’ cooperation. Cyrus would be getting free weapons and ammunition out of this (well, seemingly free), while Giovanni would have Cyrus’ ensured cooperation for the time being. Again, not permanent---but whereas Cyrus just has a world full of emotionless zombies, Giovanni is filthy rich and has all of the resources of his world at his disposal. Those are resources Cyrus could use if he wants to spread his ideals to another universe. Therefore, it’s entirely possible he would be willing to make a deal, thinking that it’s only temporary until he gets what he wants. He thinks he’s using Giovanni, but he doesn’t realize that Giovanni sees it as the other way around.

As for Plasma, I’m going to be blunt: Ghetsis is a punk-ass bitch who has no problems playing the long game and pretended to be the most devoted advisor to a young boy until he got to say “you thought you were king, but it was I, Ghetsis!” at the end of the game. Ghetsis would have absolutely no problem whatsoever “taking orders” from Giovanni if he thought it would get him what he wanted. Particularly since Plasma likes to pretend that they’re a bunch of pokémon rights’ activists (at least until the second game), it would be very natural for him to pretend to serve and assist Giovanni, acting as though he’s perfectly content to be the one whispering secrets into his boss’s ear, while at the same time scheming and manipulating behind the scenes to wrest power away later once he finds a way to (you guessed it) get a legendary pokémon on his side. Joke’s on him because Giovanni is part-politician and can scheme with the best of them, but again, it’d be even easier to make a deal with Ghetsis than it would with Cyrus.

Lysandre is literally coming from a world where the vast majority of humans and pokémon are dead. He did this in the name of “saving resources” and “preserving beauty,” but considering that humans and pokémon are needed to actually create things, his thought of “I know, genocide is clearly the best solution!” was one of the most poorly conceived plans in existence, the point being that he, in particular, has nothing aside from whatever wealth he accumulated while building Team Flare (which tbh is a lot, considering each grunt had to pony up five million bucks in cash to join). Even if he, for whatever reason, wants to unleash this Hell on another universe, he’s going to have to go through a lot to do that. The ultimate weapon is still all the way in Kalos, while he’s in Alola. He is rich, unless he wasted all that money, but aside from that he really doesn’t have very much. He especially doesn’t have very much in comparison to Team Rocket, all of whom are not dead, have transnational influence in the world where they succeeded, and have plenty of pokémon and actual, portable weaponry at their disposal. So considering that, yeah, once again, we’re seeing a power skew here. But Giovanni would be willing to make a deal, and Lysandre---a businessman himself---would see the value in that kind of deal. He forms a partnership between Fleur-De-Lis Laboratories and Team Rocket, and Team Rocket will provide him with the resources he needs to restart Team Flare in this new universe. Both Lysandre and Giovanni are (once again) no doubt thinking of double-crossing each other at some undetermined point in time, but nonetheless, provided Lysandre upholds whatever part of the bargain he agreed to, they have cooperation for the time being.

The Aether Foundation had terrifying potential, but they’re not actually villainous in canon. It’s tragic, but true. They were “evil” for all of about five minutes, and it’s implied (though truthfully not outright stated) that this was because of neurotoxins. Most of their efforts are pokémon conservation, and they seem to be largely non-profit. They’re nothing in the eyes of the yakuza. If anything, it’d be more likely that Giovanni and Lusamine would become involved in a business sense, in that Team Rocket would traffic pokémon from other parts of the world into the Aether Foundation in order to boost the Aether Foundation’s reputation as a charitable organization dedicated to pokémon conservation. In that way they would become corrupt, but they would be able to actually become a profitable organization and spread their influence to regions other than just Alola. All the while, no one knows that they’re actually cooperating with a crime syndicate. So there you have it: Lusamine is on board. (And if not Lusamine, then Faba, who would love to have Giovanni give him even more power and prestige than he already is, given what a pretentious little fuck he is.)

And as for Skull? Skull are chinpira. Chinpira are (usually underaged) street gangs in Japan that are sometimes called “baby yakuza” or “yakuza in training.” Particularly considering that all Guzma does is yell at and abuse his underage grunts, it would be too easy for them to be swept over to Rocket instead. Team Skull already has literally nothing, and Guzma already has no power (hence why he’s so easily used and discarded by Lusamine). He is of absolutely no threat or concern to someone like Giovanni. There’s no benefit in even trying to bother with him. He’s like a fly easily batted aside. He’s all bark, no teeth.

So all things considered, it makes perfect sense that Giovanni would be in charge. Yes, Game Freak wanted to make things more and more interesting by saying “OMG APOCALYPSE!!1!!” in future plots, but aside from Flare (who were not treated seriously by the narrative, which is disgusting considering Lysandre’s plan was genocide), none of the teams really had realistically frightening potential. Galactic’s smaller acts of terrorism were more frightening than Cyrus’ overall goal, because his overall goal is not something that really translates to the real world. But the yakuza does. The yakuza has transnational influence, and they’re semi-public in their dealings, affecting both public and private sectors and, at some times, gaining some measure of public favor (such as with their disaster relief efforts). Much like how Umbridge is more terrifying than Voldemort because of her realism, Giovanni is arguably the most realistic of the Pokémon villains (with the other realistic one being Guzma, but again, he has absolutely no teeth; he’s a thirty-year-old man who never grew out of his chinpira stage, he’s pathetic). Part of what the yakuza does is cut deals, and so it makes perfect sense to me that he would be able to have conversations with the other bosses that makes them think they’re going to get what they want (and that he’s going to assist them in getting what they want with the vast resources he has), when in all actuality he’s planning on playing them from the start, because yakuza don’t do things that don’t benefit them (and Team Rocket certainly doesn’t).

So yeah, it makes perfect sense to me that Giovanni is the one in charge. It makes perfect sense to me that he has decided to spread the political, financial, and criminal influence he already has to another universe, and that he has struck up contracts with the others in order to further expand his enterprise. I can easily see it playing out, particularly if the other bosses have a “we’re cooperating for now, but once we get what we want you’re screwed” attitude, while Giovanni has a, “it’s so cute you think you’re going to get what you want, so I’m going to just let you keep thinking that” attitude in turn. If Team Rocket is truly the PokéWorld’s yakuza (and they truly seem to be), then yeah, it makes perfect sense.

#me @ everyone once again: stop playin' and get on the winning team #ofc these are kids games and the player is supposed to win #so Team Rocket was ''defeated by a child''#but if they were ACTUAL yakuza?#just like if Galactic were ACTUAL terrorists and Flare were ACTUAL Nazis?#no child would be able to stand a chance #ofc if Flare were actual Nazis they'd be more terrifying than Rocket obviously #but Game Freak created them to be ''comedic relief'' which is just---#I'm still appalled at that I really am #i have 99 problems with the Kalos games and 95 of them are Team Flare related #but that's a tangent #the point is: the yakuza are a big deal #they are very widespread and very powerful and very frightening #just because you don't hear about them every day doesn't mean they're not influential #because they are. very much so.#and different divisions do different things #some don't deal in drugs AT ALL and have division laws against it #while others are heavy in the drug trade #some don't do human trafficking while others do etc etc #but nonetheless they're very influential and powerful and frightening #and if Team Rocket is the same way? buddy #there's a reason they've been the fandom's go-to for seriously terrifying villains in fanfic for the past 20 years #and it's not JUST because their uniforms are goddamn good looking #(though they are. goddamn they are.)#pokemon #team rocket #team rainbow rocket #giovanni #archie #maxie

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