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Have the writers run out of things for James and Meowth to do?

Do you think James/Meowth are getting ignored in recent years?

  • Yes, they're not getting as much development as they used to

    Votes: 16 37.2%

  • It's about the same

    Votes: 19 44.2%

  • No, they're getting more development than they used to

    Votes: 8 18.6%
  • Total voters
    43
C

Cybersai

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There was a time when Team Rocket used to be treated as equals. Now in DP, Jessie gets all the screentime and development while James and Meowth get treated similar to the way Brock does.

What happened to all the screentime/development James and Meowth used to get as characters? It now seems like the writers are too focused on Jessie's coordinator career while the others get left on the sidelines to cheer for her.

Is anyone else noticing that TR is no longer getting equal development like they used to, and now it feels like Jessie is the lead with James/Meowth as her cheerleaders?
 
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James still has a Backstory, with the family thing and how all his pokemon came to be. Meowth is getting nothing.
 
Well, Meowth has his fantasies and schemes and stuff, which I guess is his job. and James has had several episodes where he gets the center of attention. Like the cacnea drain punch episode and the upcoming growlie episode.

Granted, TR really hasn't done much of anything since... well, since never.

Plus Jessie was always Team Leader.
 
The difference is they all used to get an equal amount of development eps each saga, with Meowth slightly less. Now its all Jessie on her contests, and James had like...3 episodes in DP that focused on him.
 
Well, TR has been declining in development and pretty much everything else for years. All they do is the same old shtick every episode... and it gets old. So, I don't think it's the writers ran out of things to do, the writers just don't care about them anymore.
 
It's the same. There's nothing to do for those two, and I can't think of anything new and interesting. Maybe if Contests had tag battles, Kojiro could do them with Musashi (they'd make an awesome Contest duo) or something. About Nyasu... he's just a mascot. :/
 
I think all you guys are way off. The Rockets are finally getting character development for the first time ever really, and that includes Kojiro and Nyasu.

We started off DP with those two still not caring for Musashi's Contest career. That then changed as Musashi finally started winning ribbons. Now they're both excited and actually want to help her! (Nyasu wanting to win her third ribbon, Kojiro finally wanting Musashi to use her Pokemon.) They both finally believe she can win as well.

And then there's DP117. Kojiro seems to think the only thing that keeps them together is the hope that they'll all be successful someday. (And look at DP055, he seems surprised his friends cared for him that much to steal Pokemon for him) He actually uses Manene to battle Metagross, (something he never would have done before) and is now more pro Rocket-Dan than ever before. Just look at how he's taking charge a bit more often during Rocket schemes, and his endless repetition of how they're a team and can do anything if they're together blah blah.

Then there's the treasure chest episode which gave us more Kojiro backstory, and Sabonea's release which showed how he thinks he fails as a trainer.

So yes, Kojiro and Nyasu are getting more character development. (Kojiro more than Nyasu, but that makes sense since he's just a mascot like Meron said.) Go back and watch some early DP episodes and see for yourselves.
 
Zorua said:
Meowth has a backstory too.
Click to expand...

The problem is that we already explained James and Meowth's childhoods in great depths back in the first season- we (and the writers!) didn't know Pokemon would be the big hit it was, and only a single season was planned. They dedicated a full episode to each of their pasts, unaware they would have so many chances in the future to keep fleshing them out... so although they can keep adding on, there aren't any real foreshadowed mysteries (like "How does Meowth speak human language?) left from the start.
 
To me, it seams pretty much the same. Jessie always seemed like the one who did most of the talking, while James and Meowth were more of supporters. If anything, Meowth was ignored alot more in the first season than he is now. I don't really watch the new episodes that much, so I may not be 100% accurate.
 
Ryuutakesh! said:
Well, TR has been declining in development and pretty much everything else for years. All they do is the same old shtick every episode... and it gets old. So, I don't think it's the writers ran out of things to do, the writers just don't care about them anymore.
Click to expand...

They may be still trying to catch Pikachu, but still, DP provided a lot of character development for them. This is the first time Jessie ever won contests, and James got another back story episode. If the writer's didn't care about them, they wouldn't be getting so much character development.

It's true that Jessie is getting more than James and Meowth, but they're not being completely ignored.

Meron said:
Maybe if Contests had tag battles, Kojiro could do them with Musashi (they'd make an awesome Contest duo) or something. About Nyasu... he's just a mascot. :/
Click to expand...

That would be so awesome!
 
Guess it depends on your point of view. I've actually been pleased with how D/P has been handling James recently, because he really is coming off nowadays as the most competent member of the trio what with his mad rocket ship skillz in the Togepi episode, getting to crossdress again and winning a Contest on his first try (and apparently being more well-received by the audience than Jessie?), Jessiebelle returning and fleshing out more of James' past with her, and actually coming up with a clever plan to thwart the twerps just the other week ago.

The joke being that James is way too passive to truly be the leader of the team and is forever doomed to be Jessie's doormat, hence the epic failures 99.9% of the time. Irony's fun like that.

Jessie has been faring much better Contest-wise in this series whereas she was a complete joke in AG. She also was the center focus on what I personally think is the best episode that involves a released Pokemon (aside from maybe the Tag Battle arc). For an episode that essentially copied Bye-Bye Butterfree! to a tee, it was an excellent alternative that I personally think trumped the episode it was based off from. Knowing she's pretty much set for the GF now really makes me much more eager to see the GF, even if it's a sure bet that she'll lose. I'm glad they're making her at least seem like a legitimate threat this time around.

And Meowth? ... I'll admit he hasn't been much substance other than showing us all just how whacked-out his imagination can be (Giovanni running through the desert in a speedo covered with honey with Pokemon humping him whut), though at least he's still serving his purpose as a translator in certain episodes. Not sure what else they can really do with him; the Ever Grande Conference is the last time it feels like he was actually relevant in anything (besides his involvement in the Contest where James won, that is). Then again, there was the episode after the Tag Battle arc where Meowth had a heart-to-heart with Chimchar that I found to be really sweet.

Of course, there've been a number of episodes where TR doesn't even bother confronting the twerps or getting blasted off, but I thought that too was a nice change of pace since those instances were during episodes that had some serious plot/character development and therefore would have been out-of-place and inappropriate for the story. I still find it pretty funny when most of the time they're portrayed as saints compared to people like Paul or Team Galactic, myself. XD

So yeah, I think there's still some amount of mileage in all of them.
 
I think the problem here lies mostly with perception.

Musashi is getting a shitload of development, granted, but that makes anything that happens to Kojiro and Nyasu practically pale into insignificance.

That's not to say, however, that nothing has happened to them! (Admittedly, I'll agree that nothing much has been happening with Nyasu, but this has been the case since before the original series ended, unfortunately). Kojiro on the other hand is doing more than ever before! It's just that what Musashi's doing makes it look not very big.

The other perception problem is to do with Kanto. People 1. Have the misconception that the TRio got more focus back then and 2. Think that by referencing the past, the major implication is that region. If anyone paid any attention to the Rockets in AG (which I doubt - I stuggled myself) they'd have noticed that they did absolutely zilch. Which is nothing like how much they do these days.

So do I think they're getting less focus than they used to? Hell no!
 
Yeah, they're actually getting more as a trio then they used too. Giovanni and Mewtwo were always the main focus, with the occasional raid by Butch and Cassidy. In the original series aside from the SS Anne/James and Meowth backstory episodes, they were pretty much just there for comic relief. Team Rocket as a whole has left the spotlight but the main three are getting more than before.
 
I'd say yes about Meowth.
Though there are some sweet moments he does in the show every now and than.
I do like where there taking Jessie's character though.
 
Well, I'm one of those people who thinks that Team Rocket's development as a whole was handled better back in the earlier seasons of Pokemon. I mean, yeah, James and Meowth have their moments every now and then, but it feels like it's all about Jessie now, with James and Meowth mostly shoved in the background. I feel like except for a few episodes here and there, James and Meowth don't have half the development they used to, and I think that's pretty disappointing.
 
I never really noticed that fact.

I've seen Jessie get more focus in the show nowadays. As for James and Meowth? I didn't really know about that fact.
 
Insana Dana said:
Well, I'm one of those people who thinks that Team Rocket's development as a whole was handled better back in the earlier seasons of Pokemon. I mean, yeah, James and Meowth have their moments every now and then, but it feels like it's all about Jessie now, with James and Meowth mostly shoved in the background. I feel like except for a few episodes here and there, James and Meowth don't have half the development they used to, and I think that's pretty disappointing.
Click to expand...

How was it handled better back in the earlier seasons? DP117 was one of the best shows for them and showed massive character development for each of them, and a team as whole.

Yeah, they got some back story in the earlier seasons, but they didn't do anything except try to steal pikachu. Now Jessie is winning contests, and Meowth and James are excited about it too. Not only does James let Jessie use his pokemon, but he wants her to use them! And they're not cheating either. I think they've come a long way since Kanto.
 
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