Team Rocket

Members

Team Rocket trio

Jessie (ムサシ, Musashi), James (コジロウ, Kojirō), and Meowth (ニャース, Nyāsu, Nyarth) A recurring trio of bumbling thieves who constantly follow Ash Ketchum around in order to capture his Pikachu, which they consider exceptionally strong. While they are usually antagonistic towards Ash and his friends, they have shown that they are good-hearted at times and willing to put their differences aside when it is beneficial and then fail at an attempt to steal Pikachu. After failing, they are often sent "blasting off" by an explosion or a Pokémon's attack (Pikachu's Thunderbolt usually). They are constantly out to appease their boss, Giovanni, though he finds the group to be incompetent. The trio also breaks the fourth wall on a regular basis.

The trio were the primary source of comic relief in the original series, the Advanced Generation series, and the Diamond and Pearl series. In the Best Wishes series, they took on a more serious role and served absolutely no comic relief for most of the series, however returned to their famous role as comic relief when Ash, Iris, and Cilan left for the Decolore Islands toward the end of the series. They retained this role in the XY and Sun and Moon series.

Jessie is the most impulsive and aggressive of the three. She grew up in a poor foster family in the snowy mountains (see Tohoku), while her mother focused on Team Rocket. Before she joined Team Rocket, she aspired to be a nurse; however, the school that she wanted to attend wouldn't accept her application. There, she befriended a Chansey (now Blissey) who seemed to be the only Pokémon in the school willing to be her friend. Jessie ended up failing to become a Pokémon nurse. From there, she moved on to Pokémon Tech, a private school. There, she met her future Team Rocket partner, James. She flunked out of school before joining a biking gang, then Team Rocket.

She released her Arbok (along with James' Weezing) to run away and protect some Koffing and Ekans from a poacher in the Hoenn region. Jessie caught Seviper after beating him for "eating" her hair. Jessie captured Dustox as a Wurmple under the belief that it would evolve into a Beautifly. Jessie later released it to go with a shiny Dustox to make a happy family. Jessie owns a Wobbuffet, which she accidentally got in a trade of her Lickitung. Wobbuffet participates in numerous Team Rocket schemes, almost to the point of being a fourth member. Wobbuffet is the source of a running gag in which it pops out of its Ball and yells its name, only for Jessie to withdraw it. Wobbuffet was left at Team Rocket HQ at the end of the Diamond and Pearl series when the trio went to Unova, due to not being native to Unova. Because it is native to Kalos, Jessie was able to bring Wobbuffet with the trio to Kalos when they encountered it by mistake on the way out of HQ to find out where Ash was going next. She currently owns a Mimikkyu that despises Pikachu.

James is portrayed as whiny, submissive and effeminate. James is usually portrayed holding a rose, which he seems able to pull from anywhere. He grew up on a vast estate, to an extremely wealthy family, but ran away from home to escape the first-class life and rather live where there is third-class freedom when his parents arranged for him to marry Jessiebelle, a girl that looks just like Jessie who is considerably more aggressive and obsessed with etiquette. He also loves to collect rare bottle caps as part of his hobbies. In some episodes however, James is also swindled by the Magikarp salesman and always being scammed by him a few times such as receiving a Magikarp just evolved into an enraged Gyarados. He sadly released his Weezing (along with Jessie's Arbok) to run away and protect some Koffing and Ekans from a poacher in the Hoenn region.

Despite his weak personality, James is shown at being skilled at many things, having been taught by several tutors. He is also shown as very intelligent, usually functioning as the trio's equivalent to a Pokédex. He has a Growlithe nicknamed Growlie, which Jessiebelle hates. Growlie who is extremely loyal to him whom he loves and cares dearly but James was also emotional when he leaves one of his Pokemon behind such as Chimecho who is currently in care of his grandparents, then Mime Jr. takes its place. He also cares his unpleasant Grass Pokemon such as Victreebel, Cacnea and Carnivine who have an affection to him which he had a tendency to correct them in annoyance. However, in an episode of Pokémon: Master Quest, James trades the Victreebel for a Weepinbell. Coincidentally, it also evolves into a Victreebel, which attempts to eat Jessie. She kicks it away, where it bumps into James's old Victreebel and they run off together into the forest, deeply in love. James leaves his Cacnea in private training. He currently owns a Hidoide that loves him though its poisonous.

Meowth originally lived in the city called Hollywood, and tried to impress a female Meowth named Meowzie by learning to walk on two legs and speak human language. Instead of being impressed, she regarded him as a freak, so Meowth joined Team Rocket. Meowth usually concocts the overlarge machines and spends their non-existent money on these schemes, all to end up on the boss' lap. He holds jealously against his own self-evolution - Persian. Meowth is voiced by Inuko Inuyama in the Japanese version, Nathan Price for the first thirty episodes of the English anime, Maddie Blaustein until the end of the eighth season, and James Carter Cathcart from the ninth season onwards.

Jessie and James' English names are taken from Jesse James, an American outlaw. James's Japanese name, Kojiro, is taken from Sasaki Kojirō (佐々木小次郎?), a prominent Japanese swordsman most famous for being killed by his rival, Miyamoto Musashi (宮本武蔵?), the namesake of Jessie. They are based the villainous trio in the Time Bokan series; Jessie is based on Majo, the leader of the group who believes she is the prettiest woman in the world, while James is based on Grocky, the whiny brains of the trio. Meowth is based on Warusa, the clumsy but stronger person of the trio.

The trio, since the Diamond and Pearl dub, has rhymed their dialogue. This was not present in the 4Kids dub, but was added in the TPCi (The Pokémon Company International) dub.

Motto

The trio has a tendency to introduce themselves by stating a motto. The most commonly used one is the "classic one" from the original series (the Kanto, Johto and Hoenn arcs, and used again from the second half of Best Wishes and moving forward):

In some variations, Jessie's Wobbuffet also appears at the end, proudly stating its name. Sometimes or rarely, Jessie and/or James' Pokémon also can say their names at the end of the motto.

Other Team Rocket members such as Cassidy and Butch also recites the motto which that they have a different way of reciting it.