Forget about those two-bit chumps Jesse and James from the anime. The real Team Rocket is straight up gangsta. There have been numerous villainous teams in the Pokémon series, but Team Rocket is the only team to make it into two titles. What makes them so much more hardcore than, say, Team Galactic? Well how about the fact that they murdered some Cubone's mom. They're the only people to ever kill a Pokémon in the entire series. Say what you want about later teams trying to commit eco-terrorism, but Team Aqua never made any baby Cubone an orphan. Team Rocket has a long history of abusing Pokémon, including cutting off Slowpokes tails and torturing Magikarp into evolving. It's an entire group that only pauses in killing animals to run illegal stolen goods warehouses under their casino. Giovanni, leader of Team Rocket, was actually a gym leader in the first game. That makes Giovanni the Pokémon equivalent of a prominent politician that is secretly the leader of a drug cartel and dog fighting ring. And yet, all it takes is one 10-year-old kid with a Pikachu to bring it all crashing down.

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