Why did the writers change James' style of Pokemon?

[Cybersai]

I've been rewatching a lot of old episodes lately, and when James had Weezing and Victreebel, he was generally more of a battler than he is now. While James almost always lost his battles (Team Rocket usually do when they attack Ash toward the end of an ep), James was actually his most menacing in the beginning of the series. His Pokemon also looked more menacing.

Ever since Weezing/Victreebel were released, the writers have given James "cute" or "nice" Pokemon.

Cacnea would hug James, Chimecho and Mime Jr. would be his plushies, and although Carnivine bites him, its more friendly with him than Victreebel ever was.

Why did the writers completely change James' image? He went from his two original brutes to nice, friendly Pokemon that he loves. Do you think there is a reason for this?

 

[Musashi]

and although Carnivine bites him, its more friendly with him than Victreebel ever was.

I don't know about that, it seems about the same to me.

Why did the writers completely change James' image? He went from his two original brutes to nice, friendly Pokemon that he loves. Do you think there is a reason for this?

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Completely change his image? Two original brutes? I'll give you Metadogasu, but that's it. You also seemed to forget just how much he loved Victreebel.

I think they changed it to give the Rocket-Dan more variety. It'd be boring to gave both of them poison pokemon to use.

I think mainly you're overreacting though.

 

[Evil Raichu]

I've been rewatching old episodes too.

Anyway, I see what you're saying. He has been given cutesy pokemon, and I kind of wish they'd give him something badass (even though it will never happen again probably -_-).

Oh well.

 

[The revolution]

Umm dude in the beginning James was a villain over time he became more freindly and more like comic relief.
His character just developed I mean at one point jessie and james were serious villains but found following ash around to much fun.
Jessie and james bonded and became more friendly

so his pokemon reflect that change.

His voice also was changed to (intentionaly or not) reflect this change
he went from talking like a badass to talking like a cartoon character

he just turned into a nicer person.

Edit- ROCKET GIRL what are those outfits they are wearing and in what episodes I never saw those before and they look real cool.

 

[Musashi]

His voice also was changed to (intentionaly or not) reflect this change

His Japanese voice is the same, so that doesn't count. But yeah, like you said, they bonded and became more friendly. (Not that they were all that serious in Kanto)

he went from talking like a badass to talking like a cartoon character

Kojiro still sounds badass on occasion.

Edit- ROCKET GIRL what are those outfits they are wearing and in what episodes I never saw those before and they look real cool.

From left to right: EP048, AG029, and DP131 If you look in the trivia, you'll see the later two episodes are basically celebrating the 5th and 11th anniversary of the first episode. The outfits are supposed to make them invisible. It's based on Kabuki theater.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Cacnea would hug James, Chimecho and Mime Jr. would be his plushies, and although Carnivine bites him, its more friendly with him than Victreebel ever was.

I think that the main reason why Carnivine is more friendly with James is because he knows that the biting is more as a sign of friendship. I always thought that Victreebel didn't like James since it never acted happy to be around him. Of course, that didn't stop James from loving it.

Why did the writers completely change James' image? He went from his two original brutes to nice, friendly Pokemon that he loves. Do you think there is a reason for this?

I don't think that the writers completely changed James' image. That doesn't sound right to me either. I do recall how in the earlier seasons, James was a bit happier to battle than he is now, but I don't think that James' attitude and use of his current Pokemon team is a sharp difference between when he just had Weezing and Victereebel. As you can see in the episodes where he had to release them, and in events before that as well, James loved both of them dearly.

I'm also not really sure that his original Pokemon were brutes. I could see that with Victereebel since it almost always attacked James whenever it came out, but I didn't think that Weezing was a brute.

I guess that the writers wanted to show how sensitive and nice James is with different Pokemon. I always thought that he was the nicest out of all of Team Rocket even back in the early episodes and they probably wanted his team to reflect that. Besides that, as Rocket Girl already brought up, it was to have more variety between his team and Jessie's. It was kind of dull how they both had poison types back then and they barely had any difference between their teams. Now, they have plenty of differences which makes them and their Pokemon more unique.

 

[PDL]

They wanted to develop his character more. Having all three members of Team Rocket have the same sort of personality would get very boring after a while. Hence how all their characters developed from there:

Jessie became dominating, James became sensitive, and Meowth ended up with a bit more depth to him. He probably has the most unique and detailed backstory of any of the main characters. There's also the number of times when he had to work with Pikachu and friends for a reason.

I never really saw Weezing as a "brute". If anything, his and Arbok's personalities were very flat. Which wasn't unusual back in Kanto when very few Pokémon were characterized in the first place.

 

[The revolution]

His Japanese voice is the same, so that doesn't count. But yeah, like you said, they bonded and became more friendly. (Not that they were all that serious in Kanto)



Kojiro still sounds badass on occasion.



From left to right: EP048, AG029, and DP131 If you look in the trivia, you'll see the later two episodes are basically celebrating the 5th and 11th anniversary of the first episode. The outfits are supposed to make them invisible. It's based on Kabuki theater.

Thank you that's really cool Thank you very much.

 

[Cybersai]

I always saw Weezing as a "brute." The design is just menacing and it blows forth toxic fumes.

Compare that to what....a cute Cacnea as his main battler, and you can't see the difference?

 

[Pikachufanboy]

I enjoy the Pokemon he gets, but I just wish he could keep more of them. Even if Jessie if supposed to be the leader, she shouldn't have more than he does. I notice that just as his Pokemon get to be actually good at battling, that is when they have to leave: Garydos left as soon as it evolved (no one seems to mention it), Weezing left trying to defend the Koffing, Cacnea left when he got serious about training, and Carnivine will probably leave once he gets something else. I think he should go back and get Chimecho now, just to even out their number of Pokemon.

That teeter dance of Mime Jr's actually makes it a threat if he would utilize it more, plus it can use mimic. But James is too overly cautious with it for battle (remember when Jessie used it in a contest? how he overreacted to it mimicing flamethrower).

 

[Psyburn]

The show is getting too soft. And JJM have been more than crappy since after johto, why give them serious mons?

 

[Musashi]

But James is too overly cautious with it for battle (remember when Jessie used it in a contest? how he overreacted to it mimicing flamethrower).

One small bit of character development is that he doesn't mind Musashi using it anymore. And Manene was the first Pokemon he used against the shiny Metagross. So I think he's getting a little less protective, but he still has a ways to go.

 

[Sleet]

I don't think it's really that big of a change. It's mostly just a side-effect of villain decay.

 

[Mijzelffan]

Weezing wasn't brute, he was vey nice. It's too bad James released him. For some reason James does leave all his nice pokemon (read growlie, weezing, cacnea and chimecho) he only has mime jr left as a really nice one...

 

[ii kanji]

For some reason James does leave all his nice pokemon

Correction - he (and Musashi) leave all their pokes in the end. It's the writer's way of "refreshing" their teams and advertising newer pokemon.

The show is getting too soft. And JJM have been more than crappy since after johto, why give them serious mons?

J, Shinji and Ginga Dan are softer than Kanto and Jouto? Give me a break. And the TRio have been "crappy" and incompetent since forever. They just have more development and other aspirations nowadays.

Even if Jessie if supposed to be the leader, she shouldn't have more than he does.

It's only one more, and Sonansu is just a mascot anyway. I suppose the same can (almost) be said for Manene, but his pokemon don't get screentime as it is, if he had anymore they'd get even less! At least Musashi can use her pokes in contests.

They wanted to develop his character more. Having all three members of Team Rocket have the same sort of personality would get very boring after a while. Hence how all their characters developed from there:

Jessie became dominating, James became sensitive, and Meowth ended up with a bit more depth to him. He probably has the most unique and detailed backstory of any of the main characters. There's also the number of times when he had to work with Pikachu and friends for a reason.

This. Kojiro, in fact all of the TRio were sort of the same in early Kanto, and even by the end, there wasn't much change. But these days the difference in the characters, which has gradually come out as the writers have developed them, is hugely obvious. Over the years Kojiro has melted like butter and has barely any of the villany (not that there was much to start with anyway ;-)) that he had years ago. His team has changed to reflect his more apparent kind and caring nature.

 

[Cybersai]

His team has changed to reflect his more apparent kind and caring nature.

Yeah, this is what I thought.

As for Jessie, she's always going to have her signature snake and Wobbufett, and her third Pokemon seems to be a bug/contest battler like Dustox or Yanmega.

I find it amusing that Seviper is in more episodes than Arbok. Because there was no 4th gen snake, Seviper gets to stay for an entire extra generation whereas Cacnea got replaced by Carnivine.

It feels like Arbok/Weezing were in the show forever, but the fact that Seviper is in more episodes overall is really something. Cacnea almost lasted as long too. It makes you realize just how long this show has gone on.

 

[Reggaehype]

Weezing was easily his best and strongest Pokemon. It has a good personality and was a good battler, and it had a good relationship with James, he even said they were like brothers.