How come the strength of Jessie and James pokemon changes in certain episodes?

[TheLegendKiller510]

Ever notice how in some episodes they'll be dominating the battle with Seviper and Cacnea or even Arbok and Weezing (During the Kanto,Johto, and Orange Island seasons), and look like a serious force? Yet in others they battle worse then a newbie trainer and lose within seconds, why is this?

 

[SSJ3_Raditz]

They're joke characters....maybe the writers of the anime want to keep us on the edge of our seats now and then.

 

[Usagi-Zakura]

Perhaps Ash and his friends just want to "play" with them sometimes. And make it LOOK like they have an advantage, and blast them of if they're in a hurry.

 

[Falconwing]

Blame the writers and the fact that the characters can't be too powerful, because their the comic relief. They need a new act. Just saying.

 

[Ranger Jack Walker]

I notice that their Pokemon are only powerful when each pokemon first episode. Their power keeps declining since then except on a couple of occasions.

 

[Usagi-Zakura]

I notice that their Pokemon are only powerful when each pokemon first episode. Their power keeps declining since then except on a couple of occasions.

So in other words their Pokèmon aren't the problem.
Being around Jessie and James must drain their power. :loopy:

 

[Hassel]

You must remember that they're pure comic relief, and usually the only conflict in the episodes. If there's no time for a battle, but there still has to be one, it can be easily shortened (like in DP117). It will be boring if the fights last for just 5 seconds every episode. Though I think that there should be really less Satoshi-tachi vs. Rocket-dan fights in the episodes, especially since the rockets are cabable of doing other stuff than just trying to steal the Pokémon of the day and being blown away by Pikachu.

Being around Jessie and James must drain their power.

Nah, their Pokémon love them as much as Pikachu loves Satoshi.

 

[Cybersai]

Very true. Some episodes had Arbok or Seviper completely knock out Pikachu, yet in others they're beaten by some 5 year old trainer who just got their first Pokemon.

TR's strength changes based on what the writers want to do for an ep.

 

[impactkhtennis_thewind]

ive been wondering the same question too!

 

[farazs03]

i think team rockets pokemon are actually quite strong, as for the episode to episode variance, one, theyre comic relief, and two they DO always work better if theyre in sync with their pokemon like the 'heroes'

 

[Yamato-san]

Very true. Some episodes had Arbok or Seviper completely knock out Pikachu, yet in others they're beaten by some 5 year old trainer who just got their first Pokemon.

TR's strength changes based on what the writers want to do for an ep.

I keep bringing this up, but if you pay attention to the ordering of episodes, I find it quite interesting that when Arbok and Matadogas first evolved, they actually weren't being taken out directly by the protagonists at first, but rather by outside forces, which could still make them seem like an actual threat to the party's undertrained Pokemon at that point. Their first appearance, a whole wall of Digda and Dugtrio sweep them away. After that, Kasumi's Koduck awakened its situational (though still deus ex) powers for the first time. Then they battled Fuuko's Ponyta, which aside from seeming like a pretty strong Pokemon itself (it was close to evolving), they were only indirectly defeated that time when Matadogas's gas was ignited.

Then for several of those episodes, MusaKoji aren't even using their Pokemon at all... sadly, everything really falls apart for them in the Eievui filler, in which the whole group gets sent flying over the horizon by a timid little boy's pet that probably wasn't used in a battle in its life. This is made even worse by the fact that, just earlier, Arbok and Matadogas were beating all three (at the time) Eievui evolutions half to death. I guess the writers proved that the Rocket Dan are only strong when they feel convenient (even within the same damn episode), and this incident established that evolved Pokemon still doesn't change that.

 

[Ampharos King]

For the sake of the plot, Team Rocket's pokemon must be weaker than the main protagonist/COTD ones. In almost everything else, especially where Team Rocket is the central focus, their pokemon usually defeat whatever opponent they face. How Dustox was able to effortlessly win against Kenny and his Empoleon (without cheating) despite having lost 5-10 other times by cheating.

 

[Our Wasted Years]

They have a Wobbuffet...they could completely wtfpwn Ash's whole group but since their not written for that it sucks.

 

[Weedle Mchairybug]

I keep bringing this up, but if you pay attention to the ordering of episodes, I find it quite interesting that when Arbok and Matadogas first evolved, they actually weren't being taken out directly by the protagonists at first, but rather by outside forces, which could still make them seem like an actual threat to the party's undertrained Pokemon at that point. Their first appearance, a whole wall of Digda and Dugtrio sweep them away. After that, Kasumi's Koduck awakened its situational (though still deus ex) powers for the first time. Then they battled Fuuko's Ponyta, which aside from seeming like a pretty strong Pokemon itself (it was close to evolving), they were only indirectly defeated that time when Matadogas's gas was ignited.

Then for several of those episodes, MusaKoji aren't even using their Pokemon at all... sadly, everything really falls apart for them in the Eievui filler, in which the whole group gets sent flying over the horizon by a timid little boy's pet that probably wasn't used in a battle in its life. This is made even worse by the fact that, just earlier, Arbok and Matadogas were beating all three (at the time) Eievui evolutions half to death. I guess the writers proved that the Rocket Dan are only strong when they feel convenient (even within the same damn episode), and this incident established that evolved Pokemon still doesn't change that.

Yeah, I know about the Eevee episode. Heck, that incident wasn't the first time where they did something like this. Remember in their first true battle episode, "Ash Catches a Pokemon", where they managed to take out Pidgeotto without breaking a sweat, and yet when Caterpie fought them, they were mummified and KOed faster than one can say "pie", and Caterpie was in an even WORSE condition to fight than Pidgeotto was at that point (not only was it severely outclassed by experience, had not fought in a trainer battle before, and arguably any battle, and was outnumbered two-to-one, but the one time it even tried to fight (IE, it's fight against Pidgeotto), it was left in critical condition [going by game stats, it would have had one HP left.].). In fact, it was BECAUSE of Team Rocket that I felt that Gym Leaders, who suffered very similar losses against rookie pokemon, should not even be considered to be strong trainers.

 

[Yamato-san]

Yeah, I know about the Eevee episode. Heck, that incident wasn't the first time where they did something like this. Remember in their first true battle episode, "Ash Catches a Pokemon", where they managed to take out Pidgeotto without breaking a sweat, and yet when Caterpie fought them, they were mummified and KOed faster than one can say "pie", and Caterpie was in an even WORSE condition to fight than Pidgeotto was at that point (not only was it severely outclassed by experience, had not fought in a trainer battle before, and arguably any battle, and was outnumbered two-to-one, but the one time it even tried to fight (IE, it's fight against Pidgeotto), it was left in critical condition [going by game stats, it would have had one HP left.].). In fact, it was BECAUSE of Team Rocket that I felt that Gym Leaders, who suffered very similar losses against rookie pokemon, should not even be considered to be strong trainers.

to be fair, they did kinda make String Shot some kind of HAX move that apparently prevents a snake from biting by tying its jaw shut (which makes sense) and.... adds too much weight to a gas balloon while turning it into an ideal soccer ball? I dunno. Far cry from the sucky "lowers speed by one level" effect, at any rate (how the hell did this become a tutor move? -_-).

 

[Godzillawolf]

About Koffing being disabled by Sting Shot, I can explain it, that thread, like real silk, if probably moist when it comes out, before it can harden, water weighs more than air while Koffing is less dense than air, so it probably did weigh him down, ether that or it clogged up his pores so he couldn't move himself.

Anyway, I think Jessie and James, the reasoning is they've lost to Ash so many times that their Pokemon probaby lose confendence against them. Fighting the Eevee, I tally it up to underestimating it.