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Team Rocket's Black uniforms

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Pattyman

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This is something that has been on my mind for awhile. What caused Team Rocket (Jessie, James and Meowth) to switch back to their white uniforms?

It was like that they got punished for something but it was not shown and told what they did wrong. In fact, too much speculation has been going around about the cause. Since it wasn't shown what they did wrong, the trio should have been given another chance since it was their first time with the promotion. Other characters in other shows (such as Dwight from the Office) got their higher-ranking positions back.
 
They are no longer working for giovanni, therefore they were not allowed to wear black. Afterwards for bw2 they worked with him.
 
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I don't think their black uniforms had anything to do with rank, as they were still technically field agents even if they did work a bit more closely with Sakaki. The black uniforms were probably only given to them at the beginning of BW to emphasize a new start and that they were to be taken more seriously, but by switching back to their white uniforms, it was a nod saying 'hey we're still the same characters'.
 
My theory is they were demoted for failing to stop Team Plasma in the two cancelled episodes.

IMO it was extremely lame that Team Rocket's black uniforms were only a temporary gimmick, especially they way they hyped up the TRio's new role in the lead up to the Best Wishes' premier.

Seeing as even after the two cancelled episodes, they didn't go back to being total comic relief goofballs like in Diamond and Pearl, I say they should have kept their black uniforms at least through to the end of Unova, that way when they switched back to white uniforms and the original motto it would actually be a big deal.
 
I'm leaning towards it being due to them not working directly under Giovanni anymore, since he was too "busy" after the two-parter to have anything to do with them for a while. I think they even changed outfits right after trying to contact him and just getting his secretary. Doesn't explain why they didn't get them back later, though. I doubt it's because they failed to take down Plasma, given that Plasma was apparently defeated or at least chased off very well in the skipped episodes.
 
I still think the changeover (which was really just a simple palette swap) wasn't planned and was something that was decided at the last minute. The motto that debuted in the Arti gym battle episode was originally animated with them in their black uniforms for the BW preview but then changed to white when the episode actually aired.

rockets_black.png


rockets_white.png

As for why? Your guess is as good as mine. I'm sure fan outcry was a part of it (those first post-Plasma episodes would have been the first ones made after the debut of BW and were therefore the first episodes that could have been changed) but the fact that they continued to remain out of character for like a year and a half after that tells me that that wasn't the only reason for the change. You could argue that the black uniforms were just for the Meteonite project, but then that doesn't explain why they had the black uniforms in those first six episodes or so before the word "Meteonite" was ever uttered.

At the end of the day, it's the BW Rocket trio. Being a confusing mess is what they excel at.
 
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