7th Gen The Aether Foundation

And there it is, the famous insignia of the other group in the game, the Aether Foundation. Initially teased as a group that takes care of lost Pokemon and shelters them with "love", it eventually becomes clear that something is not right about them. This becomes evident when the player advances through the plot and the employees end up attacking them. Meanwhile, Lusamine keeps a collection of frozen Pokemon in her room, which is oddly suspicious.

What did you think of the Aether Foundation?

They were ok, but I really wish Game Freak didn't spoil them as The Big Bad Team during the beginning of the game. Would've gave that eventual reveal a lot more impact and feel. .___.

At least Lusamine is a pretty memorable villain, though!

I liked them! Wish they were a bit more involved in the story though, rather than mostly towards the end. The organization had a lot of potential and they really only explored it for Lusamine as well as some of the other admins (though not to the same extent). Their hideout was really neat-looking too, and I liked how it was so isolated from everything else.

By far my fav group.

They seemed kinda... vague?

They were so undeveloped as a group it was hard to really cast them as anything but a plot device without a greater purpose.

In past generations, the teams' had a impact on the world around them, whereas the aether foundation stayed relatively isolated to their island/base, while having unclear or at least obtuse motivations. They were cool conceptually, but unfortunately like most things in the game, I found that they were left incomplete and underdeveloped.

it seemed obvious that they were part of the bad guys (well sort of). but I really think the intended purpose of the Aether Foundation is really cool. have you heard the story of those frozen Pokemon in the Aether Foundation? i know there's some sort of story about them

Everything they do undermines the effectiveness of Team Skull. Making it clear Aether is villainous from the very start of the game (chasing after Lillie) only lessens Team Skull's impact. The "breath of fresh air" brought by Skull's simplistic loitering is polluted by Lusamine's absurdity and obsession with the UBs/otherworldly superpowers, and even in the more subdued aspect of them "playing god" by creating Type:Null and the RKS System for Silvally. And as Phyrrhic mentioned, Lusamine's motives are incredibly shaky, and as such weakens the overall narrative of the games.

I would have much rather preferred the games focused on Team Skull. Guzma has a bone to pick with the Trial system and their Captains, while Kukui wants to keep them intact while creating the League. Focusing on that would have led to more involvement from Team Skull, which I think would have been far more effective than trying to split the focus on Skull and Aether when all that does is weaken the story. It also could have shifted the theme of the region to further emphasize "culture" and "traditions," with Team Skull trying to tear down tradition in contrast to Kukui who wants to uphold it even as Alola moves forward. And it would have still been a more "down-to-earth" narrative, potentially without bringing world-ending legendaries into the equation the way Aether did.