Which Villain Team is #1?!

[Dragon]

Yup, with all the pokemon games, we have our traditional bad guys:



With that, I wanted this thread to be a poll that compares all of the villains from the 1-6 gens of pokemon, for you guys to vote for the best! So, again, which villains from the gen series did you like the most? Here they are:


Gen 1&2: Team Rocket

Team Rocket is an evil group who basically wants all the pokemon they can find, in order to get money, and world domination, all led by Giovanni. What they've done in Gen I, is take over the Pokemon Tower in Lavender, killed a mother Marowak, as well as take over the Silph Company, and occupy the Viridian City Gym. It was by then that they've finally disbanded.

In Gen II, they've returned with new executives, as they tried to take over the radio tower to contact their boss, and they've also used radio waves to force pokemon to evolve, resulting in a Red Gyarados.


Gen 3: Team Aqua & Team Magma

Basically polar opposites, Team Aqua and Magma are the villans from Gen III. Team Magma wants to use the power of Groudon to make Hoenn more of a landscape, resulting in less water. Team Aqua wants to use the power of Kyogre to make Hoenn to flood, resulting in less land. Respectively, Magma is led by Maxie, and Aqua is led by Archie.


Gen 4: Team Galactic

team Galactic here are the evil guys from the Gen 4 games; at first, they've captured and stolen pokemon to use their energy, as well as use them for their own purposes. They've then captured the lake trio pokemon, in order to create the red chain, so that they can summon Dialga and Palkia, in order to rule time and space themselves. o: Ruled by Cyrus!


Gen 5: Team Plasma

Team Plasma and Neo Team Plasma are the bad guys in the Gen V games. The original Team Plasma (guys in white) wanted trainers to release their pokemon so that pokemon will experience their true potential; or they can be free, at least according to N, their leader. N became a chosen hero, and obtained Reshiram/Zekrom (depend son what game you've played) to beat the champion. That was until his father, Ghetsis revealed the true purpose of Team Plasma: to rule the world.

This became more prominent in Pokemon Black 2 and White 2, where Neo Team Plasma (the guys in black) arose led by Ghetsis, where they've they've captured Kyreum in order to gain more power for the world's take over.


Gen 6: Team Flare

Team Flare had an interesting style. xD They're goal was to create a 'beautiful world'.. while making money. They did a variety of things like take over the pokeball factory, held their hideout in a cafe, and most of all, they're most interested in rock formations. They're led by Lysandre.


So! From all this, which evil team from these 6 generations was the best, or which one was generally your favourite? Which one of these teams did you think you enjoyed battling against the most? Which team had the better plot, do you think? Share your thoughts! :3

 

[HairyLoco]

I do feel like you've done Team Flare short here.

Team Flare's aim was literally to commit mass homicide, by using the ultimate weapon to pretty much murder anyone who is not with Team Flare (if I remember correctly).

X/Y was really dark, and I think Team Flare and Team Rocket both stand out in terms of malice.
Death has always been a part of Pokémon, yet never as prevalent as during the Pokémon Tower part of Team Rocket, and basically the entire history in X/Y.

So, my vote goes to Team Flare.

 

[Galmar]

Team Rocket, since they are the classical main villain team and have appeared in more games than the others.

Teams ranked ranked in order:
Team Rocket-->Team Galactic-->Team Magma/Aqua-->Team Flare--> Team Plasma

 

[KostK2Boss]

I do feel like you've done Team Flare short here.

Team Flare's aim was literally to commit mass homicide, by using the ultimate weapon to pretty much murder anyone who is not with Team Flare (if I remember correctly).

X/Y was really dark, and I think Team Flare and Team Rocket both stand out in terms of malice.
Death has always been a part of Pokémon, yet never as prevalent as during the Pokémon Tower part of Team Rocket, and basically the entire history in X/Y.

So, my vote goes to Team Flare.

Attempted genocide does not an interesting Team make. Don't forget, Team Galactic wanted to erase the entire universe, which meant killing everything, including those poor Deoxyses living in space. They just got a lot more comfortable (ab)using the "die" word in the newer games. Now, Cyrus' crazy plans make some kind of sense, as he believes that a world with emotion is a flawed one (having experienced only negative emotions in his life, no wonder he would think that) and in his view he's doing the universe a favour.
Lysandre, on the other hand complains about real-world problems that don't actually exist in the Pokemon world, like war and poverty (when their last big war happened 3000 years ago, I think they're good).
I like Neo Team Plasma, because of their straight-forward, no-BS, world domination plot and Team Rocket, because they just enjoy being the local crime syndicate that everyone fears and don't even plan on taking over the world. Aqua and Magma are the most sympathetic Teams in my opinion, because their leaders are genuinely selfless and well-intentioned in their goals, but they also have no idea what they're doing and end up messing it up.

So, I guess from most-favourite to least-favourite my order right now would be:
1. Team Rocket
2. Neo Team Plasma
3. Team Aqua/Magma
4. Original Team Plasma
5. Team Flare
6. Team Galactic

 

[Hiatus]

There are a lot of organizations out there, but of them all, one that stands out to me most would likely have to be Team Rocket.

They're already quite established thanks to their heavy-duty role outside of games, but when it comes to inside, they're also pretty important; they have been the antagonist in two generation of games in a row, first and foremost, which would be one and two. Next, their goals and missions weren't too over-top, either, at least in my eyes; to me, they were rather realistic and straightforward.

Other than Team Rocket, I also like Magma and Aqua (equally). In general, I love Hoenn, so my pick might be slightly biased here, but in their own, special right, they're unique. Personally, I prefer the version from original Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald games, as their appearance were more simplistic.

 

[KorpiklaaniVodka]

Team Plasma, as their role was crucial in BW1 and I liked Ghetsis.

 

[blue]

Team Galactic.

I just love the whole theme they have with the commanders, their goals, the Pokémon they use and their outfits are on point. Team Aqua & Magma come a close second, but because they're two separate teams, it's kinda difficult to choose one between the two.

 

[Nah]

I think that Team Plasma was the best villain team so far, mainly because of Ghetsis and N. Team Plasma was the first team to give us a slightly more mature storyline, even though it was a bit obvious what Ghetsis's real plans were in Black/White.

Team Rocket is just your stereotypical bad guys, and the Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald version of Team Magma/Aqua was a bunch of undeveloped fools. Though it seems that a lot of people like a more simple villain team.

Team Flare is the weakest team imo. While the whole genocide thing and Lysandre was an interesting base concept, Game Freak completely wasted whatever potential that could've had by never developing the major characters of the story/the story itself. Then there's the grunts. The grunts of Team Flare seriously have no idea of what they're doing or why, and they don't even seem to care. At least the grunts of all the other teams were on board with their team's goals (even though they were tricked in Gens 4 and 5) and had an interest in what they were doing.

Here be a list:
1) Team Plasma
2) Team Aqua/Magma (ORAS version)
3) Team Galactic
4) Team Rocket
5) Team Aqua/Magma (Ruby/Sapphire version)
6) Team Flare

The reason why I make a distinction between the ORAS Aqua/Magma and the R/S/E Aqua/Magma is because ORAS fleshed out the 2 teams, turning the admins into actual characters with their own personalities instead of being just slightly stronger grunts with names, and Archie/Maxie and their goals are more developed too.

 

[Guardian]

Team Rocket

Others are cool too, but they complicate unnecessarily. "Steal this to make this happen so we can make this happen, but not this."

Team Rocket: "Steal EVERYTHING and RUN!"

It's simple and effective, usually, lol.

I wish I could have joined TR on that bridge so I can be a spy and double agent.

 

[Timbjerr]

I do enjoy that Team Plasma was created to force players to think critically about the ethics of the principles core to the Pokémon games...even if it was only short-lived and players quickly saw them as hypocritical and just as abusive as previous villain teams (the Munna incident in the Dreamyard).

Perhaps Team Plasma's biggest draw is the dynamic between N and Ghetsis. When we're told that N, a completely sympathetic...if a bit odd character, was the leader of Team Plasma, we're forced to second-guess ourselves again. However, as you get closer to the climax, you start to feel like Ghetsis is the real force behind the team...a feeling that ends up being the truth.

Speaking of Ghetsis, he is the only Pokémon villain that really gets a, "god, what an evil bastard" reaction from me (something I usually only give to certain Fire Emblem villains and the various incarnations of the Joker). His implied psychological abuse of N is simply terrifying when you really think about it, and the duplicitous nature that goes along with misstating Team Plasma's goals throughout the entire story makes him come off as a very cunning and cold creature. It's no exaggeration when I say that Ghetsis is my all-time favorite Pokémon villain ever.

 

[Sydian]

Team Flare could have been so much better. I like the concept and I mean, they left a damn HOLE IN A TOWN that just stayed there. Nothing is gonna be done about that, right? Seems that way. But they're whole execution was just done horribly in my eyes. If you're going to make a dark storyline and have a team that wants to do all these horrible things like mass genocide, then do it. I dislike the sugar coating of making them absolutely silly. Do they need to be super serious? Well no, it's still a game aimed at children, but it just makes it seem like GameFreak didn't know how they wanted to present them and that's what keeps them from being my favorite team. But they had the potential, definitely.

I felt you should have also mentioned the ORAS Team Aqua and Magma because now it's not just LAND VS SEA ARRR!!!! It actually has more merit and they fleshed out the leaders more and even their admins. While again, it's nothing super serious, I can definitely take them more seriously than in the original games. The redesigns are also really nice and I can boogie to that. I love Team Magma's new design and presentation.

Anyway, my favorite villainous team is not listed here, but I guess that's because you wanted to keep it main games only, which is fine. But my favorite is Cipher. As far as this poll goes though, my vote is going to Team Plasma, specifically Neo Team Plasma. They should be split, but I like both Plasmas regardless. Team Plasma was the first team that, in my opinion, had a cause that made me actually think about what I was doing. Was it right for me to have been battling my Pokemon all these years? N was also an interesting character and it's nice to see them flesh out a character as much as they did with him and that continues into the sequels, Black 2 and White 2. I like that the team splits into the old and the new (or neo I guess). I think Neo Team Plasma are legitimately badass and that whole thing with Hugh's sister's Pokemon really gets to me when he finally finds it again. It's kind of heartbreaking to find someone or something you once cared for and now it's turned against you. I also find Ghetsis to be a pretty scary dude. He can be completely poised on minute, then go off like a mad man the next. I love it.

Oh, I should mention that the most difficult team was Team Galactic. I had trouble with the commanders and Cyrus numerous times and believe it or not, I used to play the HELL out of DP. So yeah, haha. The easiest was Team Rocket...I don't recall ever having a problem in fighting them, even when I was a kid. Unless you count the fact it took me years to defeat them in Gym Leader Castle in Pokemon Stadium 2.

 

[Volcarona1996]

After playing ORAS, my favourite team has to be Aqua, followed closely by Magma. Both teams were so fleshed out in these games and character development was so good in ORAS in general, especially with Magma and Aqua. Their conflicting goals and interests are also clearer (humanity vs pokemon, future vs past as opposed to just land vs sea in RSE). But Team Aqua wins just slightly due to cooler designs (why I picked AS over OR).

Team Flare has to be my least favourite. While I understand that Kalos has the theme of beauty and TF want to make a beautiful world, mass genocide doesn't fit into this. If you want a dark storyline, make a Pokemon game directed at an older audience, otherwise it just doesn't work! Not keen on Neo Team Plasma either, their 'take over the world' goals are just so clichéd. Old Team Plasma was much better.

My list is as follows:
1: Team Aqua
2: Team Magma
3: Team Plasma
4: Team Galactic
5: Team Rocket
6: Neo Team Plasma
7: Team Flare

 

[Vinny Vidi Vici]

Team Plasma was absolutely the most interesting villain team for many reasons that others have already gone in depth with, so I'll defer to their posts instead of repeating everything. With ORAS release I have a new appreciation for Team Magma, Maxie is freaking hilarious in that game as is Tabitha in fact, and while I've yet to see much of Alpha Sapphire, I can only imagine that Team Aqua's characterisation has also improved a good amount. I also enjoy Team Galactic's general bumblingness, but I can also see how other people see that as a negative. Overcoming Team Galactic doesn't feel as impressive, but it does feel like something a ten year old kid could reasonably do, so it gets points from me for that. I enjoyed elements of Team Flare, but I found a lot of things fairly inconsistent with them too. Lysandre's theme was really cool though. Team Rocket is team Rocket, I don't have much to say about them really. I thought they were a bit boring in Gold and Silver, but they redeemed that in HG/SS. I always thought it was a nice touch in that in Kanto they owned the Game's Corner. It really gave them a mafioso flavour.

If I had to rank the teams, it would be something like this:

1. Plasma
2. Magma
3. Galactic
4. Rocket
5. Flare
6. Aqua

Worth noting that I'm yet to play or see much of Alpha Sapphire, so I'm judging Team Aqua from the original Sapphire and Emerald where I wasn't overly enamored with them.

 

[eviljelly]

Attempted genocide does not an interesting Team make. Don't forget, Team Galactic wanted to erase the entire universe, which meant killing everything, including those poor Deoxyses living in space. They just got a lot more comfortable (ab)using the "die" word in the newer games. Now, Cyrus' crazy plans make some kind of sense, as he believes that a world with emotion is a flawed one (having experienced only negative emotions in his life, no wonder he would think that) and in his view he's doing the universe a favour.
Lysandre, on the other hand complains about real-world problems that don't actually exist in the Pokemon world, like war and poverty (when their last big war happened 3000 years ago, I think they're good).

Surge served in a war, unless he is 3000 you are completely wrong, its also a stretch to believe poverty just because we didn`t see it on screen, there not gonna show a guy starving to death in a kids game.

Not to mention the fact unova would have most definitely went to war if team plasma had taken it over.

I nominate Aqua there goals in the remakes make so much more sense, team aqua wants to give earth back to the pokemon, flooding would make it harder for humans to psyduck up the planet(although irl we are killing the sea,although if you do think about it we killed a bigger portion of the land, then we did the sea)

Magma on the other wants to advance humanity, expanding the land means we could more settle more of the earth, but thats kind of a dumb plan instead they should have just researched medicine or something.

 

[KostK2Boss]

Surge served in a war, unless he is 3000 you are completely wrong, its also a stretch to believe poverty just because we didn`t see it on screen, there not gonna show a guy starving to death in a kids game.

Not to mention the fact unova would have most definitely went to war if team plasma had taken it over.

Sure, I don't expect to see pictures of starving children in a Pokemon game, I'm just saying that Lysandre's motivations would have made a little more sense if there was even a subtle indication in X & Y that the seemingly bright and cheerful world of Pokemon is as corrupt as he claims it is and he's not just making stuff up.

The only actual examples provided in the games are a War we don't even know that much about (other than the stuff involving AZ) and the fact that we and our Rival had to fight over which one got the Mega Ring, which Lysandre claims is an example of how humans will eventually fight one another when the world's resources start running out. Also, the latter example is invalidated just a little by the fact that our Rival does eventually get a Mega Ring of their own. (and also the fact that by the time of ORAS everyone and their mother have a Mega Ring)

 

[Nah]

if there was even a subtle indication in X & Y that the seemingly bright and cheerful world of Pokemon is as corrupt as he claims it is and he's not just making stuff up.

Idk, I'd say that the Pokemon world is a little messed up when there's a criminal organization in every single region and it's left up to one person between the ages of 11 and 16 to stop them {XD}

 

[Malters Machuchu]

You didn't mention in the opening thread that with the remakes, Team Magma and Aqua's true goals are to cleanse the planet of the continued pollution caused by humans, returning it to a clean state. Anyway, it's a tie between Team Galactic and Team Plasma for me since I can actually understand and slightly relate to their intentions, albeit understand that they're too extreme. Team Plasma is somewhat justified in what they tried to do, and they recognised that even if what they did would hurt good Trainers it was for a greater good. The fact that they split into two polar opposite factions with one based on pure morals and the other not made them very interesting to me. I like Team Galactic just because of how cosmically ambitious they were, and they were said to have actually killed one Trainer's entire team. Yikes.

I don't really find Team Rocket at all interesting since all they do is based on shallow greed because evil for the sake of evil. Just generic thugs who fall into the idea that people can be born evil and nothing made them the way they are. They're street thugs. I don't care much for Teams Magma and Aqua, but the new stuff about fixing environmental damage was a big improvement. I don't care at all for Team Flair, just their leader. The team itself seem so far removed from their leader, who is a man clearly filled with absolute rage and a tiny bit crazy.

 

[Warspirit]

Team Rocket will always be my favorite, for partial nostalgia reasons and because they were the only ones that made sense and had reasonable goals. The other groups were a bit nutty or didn't really stand out to me. Or they were forgettable like Team Galactic (seriously I forgot they existed until I saw their names in the thread).
Team Flare's style was very funny to me and even though I did enjoy their dialogue they were the most morbid ones. I didn't really enjoy X/Y's story and it just didn't "fit" with a Pokemon game if that makes sense. There were a lot of "wtf" moments for me.
I can not comment on Team Magma/Aqua as I am finally beating AS (I never finished Emerald) but I can understand their ideas so far and it makes sense.

 

[Charlie Brown]

Obviously Team Rocket. I agree with a lot of what Warspirit has said. I love TR partially for nostalgia but also because they're hands down the best evil team anyway. Their goals were believable yet still destructive and evil. They had cool background music and a good cast of admins as well, and great designs. I was also a massive fan of TR in the anime which makes me love TR even more. I'm the sort of person who would've said yes to joining Team Rocket after clearing the Nugget Bridge ;P

 

[Megan]

It's difficult. If we're talking about a simple, but effective team, then it's Team Rocket. If we're talking about plot relevance, both Team Plasma versions are my favorites; but in terms of character depth it's gen 6 Team Aqua/Magma.