Team Skull are Just the Delinquents Pokémon Needs

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When most people think “Pokémon villain” they think of Team Rocket, as Team Rocket served as the antagonists for the first two generations of Pokémon, and continue to serve as antagonists in the Pokémon anime. However, for Pokémon fans who primarily enjoy the Pokémon video games, Team Rocket haven’t held the villainous spotlight since Heart Gold and Soul Silver.Team_Flare_Scientists_XY_anime

Team Flare, the newest ensemble of Pokémon bad guys, while interesting in concept, were pretty uninteresting overall. A team lead by a brilliant and fashionable scientist driven mad by his desire to turn the world into a beautiful place should have been threatening, but due to the abysmally low difficulty level of Pokémon X and Y, and the spotty characterization of Lysandre and his goons had a distinct lack of flare. These issues, coupled with the fact doomsday lasers aren’t all that scary when manned by a bunch of dorks in goofy red suits, make
Team Flare rank pretty low on the scale of Pokémon baddies.

This issue was also present in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. While I was a huge fan of the aesthetic re-designs of Team Aqua and Team Magma, they ultimately only received a bit more characterization than their pixelated counterparts on the Game Boy Advance.

Thankfully, our drought of fearsome foes in the Pokémon universe seems to be over, with the unveiling of Team Skull, in Pokémon Sun and Moon.

Team Skull are just the gang of criminals that Alola needed, with visual similarities to eastern European thugs and Japanese street gangs, Team Skull’s aesthetic is much more grounded in reality, making them more intimidating than the technologically advanced pirates and mad scientists we battled in the past few Pokémon games.

Team Skull also has the advantage of being in a full 3D game. Sun and Moon’s graphical stylings, which are on par with games like Pokémon XD, give the artists at Game Freak many more opportunities to characterize the gang. Even in the small amount of footage we have, we can see how Guzma, the team leader, is both physically intimidating the way he stares down the muscular Kukui, and also confident in the way he squats and nonchalantly motions his Ariados to attack in battle. We can also see how expressive the team skull grunts are, they way they talk with their hands and strike a pose before battling.

It remains to be seen if Team Skull, and Pokémon Sun and Moon in general will offer up any sort of challenging gameplay, but based on the unique and charming characters and Pokémon we have seen so far, in the words of Guy Fieri “We’re riding this bus to flavortown!”

team_skull_plumeria300px-Sun_Moon_Team_Skull_Gruntteam_skull_guzma

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617 thoughts on “Team Skull are Just the Delinquents Pokémon Needs”

      • Lol I got a lot going on. Personally, I’m kind of happy with just the information for now.. I just need it All… This very second!

        Reply

    • Pretty much at this point we know that we’ll get our next batch of news before sept. 11-12, due to Corocoro saying that they would have a poster featuring Rockruff’s evo., but the wording seems to imply that their not revealing it, so it seems safe to assume that we’ll receive information about it before then.

      Reply

  3. The “leakers” this time around are shocking me. It seems they do not care about longevity in their leaks anymore. Like the latest one I read below which can be proven or disproven in no later than 8 days.
    They just want quick “fame” in their minds I guess. Though I hope the one below is true!

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          • Rhyperior is my signature Pokemon
            But Excadrill is my Main
            I want to use Rhyperior but unfortunately that low speed and Sp Def makes it just very difficult to use competitively

          • I mean seriously it’s not like I’m well off against special attackers when Scald and Giga Drain are everywhere

            Cut me some slack it’s tough being a Ground Type these days

          • I agree its no longer funny but … don’t you do that with every pokemon people like though (especially fairies) I aint here to start anything, but like, why do it yourself if you don’t like it being done to you?

          • Earthen will say it in the moment, but he’s not petty enough to bring it up again later.

            It was acceptable initially but why bring it up again now for the sake of provocation.

            Just my two cents on the matter. I though we here at PJ were better than this.

          • honestly I know earthen deep down has a sweet side. However I have been here long enough and often enough to know thats not true that he won’t bring something up again if he’s angry enough about it, people usually just brush it off because he can be intense sometimes, I like that you are defending him, and it is really unnecessary to continue to bait someone, but lets be real, its a picture of some pokemon and its really not as bad as anyone seems to be making it out to be… its just a game after all its not like he made personal attacks towards earthen. I have also been here long enough to know that yes sometimes we are better than this at PJ but not always we’re much too different here to agree on everything and conflict will always arise but we are far better than some of the other sites.

          • Trust me I’ve had my spats with Earthern, and if I’m defending him then it’s only because I dislike provocative behaviour. This is how I am in real life as well, I tend to avoid these situations cos I know things can get ugly. Whatever the picture is, the intention is pretty clear, because of the conversation earlier today.

            But I don’t really wanna talk about it any further. Just trying to keep the peace 🙂

          • It’s no secret that I don’t like fairies I make that very clear, but he’s just trying to provoke me just to get a rise out of me,

          • I get that earthen but sometimes you are a little over the top in your responses and it comes off as you being a bully and like you hate everyone, so I’m just saying if this is unacceptable for you and its gone too far think about how others feel next time you act in a similar fashion, but lets be real its just a picture of a pokemon with a type advantage over another, this doesn’t need to turn into dr. phil

          • He is just fueling that negative trait of mine
            Some jerk goes out of his way to insult me or make fun of me, gets me in a frenzy, I get angry, everyone usually sides with him and in the end it’s another instance of being under heel

            And besides I found a loophole, Sunkern only kills because of EVs and Items, but if ran with no EVs or items Rhyperior would outspeed it and kill it with a Stab Rock move or Megahorn

          • Im not siding with him or anyone, and I am sorry that your feelings were hurt. But I think you’re already better for it since its sparking you to think of strategies and such. Don’t let people get to you, grow from it. Honestly I’m proud of you, you have been I have noticed in recent weeks calming down it seems quite a bit and even opening up to people and accepting things you wouldn’t normally, that shows true strength.

            Lets be real though no one is ever going to use a sunkern online, sunflora yes, but not sunkern 😛

  6. I drew a mosquito Pokémon. The first two are Bug/Water the Larva has a Lifesaver around it so it can float on the surface, the pupa has turned into a buoy and has a hook on its tail to catch food and hook itself to the bottom of water bodies. The 3rd one, I actually named, it’s Maskquito. It is a plague doctor who’s Bug/Poison and if it uses any health absorbing moves, the chemical in its test tube like poison sac turns to blood and it becomes Bug/Dark.

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  7. I have noticed in anime.. Ash’s Greninja’s Cut spear thingies look Luke they are made from water.. instead of the typical bright white for such a normal type move..
    I don’t know what this means though.. that’s not how protean works..

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  8. The “Guy Fieri “We’re riding this bus to flavortown!”” made me laugh, and he is my fav food network star :3

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  10. Yo, Earthen, I apologize for provoking you with Sunkern, just that you were bashing Green and his Ledian and I wanted to show you what it was like. I honestly could care less about what people think about Camerupt. So yeah, lets put this Sunkern thing behind us, deal?

    Reply

  11. I like to imagine the ad at the end of all these articles, “Mike and Molly will come to an immediate end…” is actually about the characters themselves spontaneously combusting, not the show’s cancellation.

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  12. I’ll repost from other article

    So what Pokemon would like me to draw a fake Evolution for? For sun & Moon (all but Komala can’t think of one)

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      • They both have fantastic designs. I’ve never had a fighting type that I genuinely cared for until now.

        Can’t wait to shiny hunt for my Stufful ^_^

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    • Teh Trajik troo storee: 1 dae(dardus), Stufl had n ichy tag. den he told a gy 2 skrach it. Den he skrachd it an acidently tochd Stufls but. Den Stufl get mad an rekts gy. Gy ded and Stufl rites “Don’t F**king Touch Me” on tag.

      Reply

  16. Hi I’m new here, I’m Jack, 23 from Liverpool. I’m a poster on serebii forums but I check poke jungle for info cause I like the coverage and all of the speculation threads, helps increase the hype pre-game 🙂

    I like the look of team skull but looking forward to seeing more of them to see if they have a bit more dimension to their characters. I think a lot of their anger seems to be around failure (trial captain etc… Pokemon trainers?) which is always a good plot point but I’m interested to see if they can make for an intriguing part of the story as I felt that X and Y fell short in that department.

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  17. So I have a crazy idea what would happen if you challenged Ash to a fight with his current Team with a team of your own choosing?
    How would it play and match up to your Pokemon

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    • Obviously I choose my Earthen Warriors minus sadly my Rhyperior the battle doesn’t hone well with my idea
      It would open with Hawlucha vs Seismitoad and Hawlucha’s attacks would go unnoticed by Sei’s thick dopey person and let’s it get in close for a scald to the face, burning it letting it be finished off by Sludge Bomb
      Then it is swiftly taken out by Talonflame who is up against Nidoking who’s impressive speed and Thinderbolt prove quite powerful but still outsped into a well placed Brave Bird knocking Nidoking out
      Next on the defensive I switch to Hippowdon with Sandstorm up shreds Talonflame but still managed to attack but Hipoow endures every attack and retaliates with Rock Tomb killing it off
      Next into Noivern who I switch for Excadrill Excadrill’s Sand Rush allows it to zip across the field with Aerial Ace and then attacks from above with Rock Slide KOing it
      Goodra enters the field and cancels the sandstorm with Rain Dance but manages to keep Excadrill at bay with long ranged Ice Beams and finally a Dragon Pulse ends him…
      With anger i call for Mamoswine who unleashes a flurry of stone edges and as I ready a Ice Shard Goodra begins to use bide which I call out to Mamoswine to stop, the order it to sit… Everyone dumbfounded realize Bide will be useless on a opponent not attacking, then out of the blue I call for SCARY FACE completely disabling Bide into a close ranged Ice Shard
      Then comes Pikachu where it’s speed is too great and KOs it with Iron Tail
      Down to two each I call forth Garchomp to snuff out the yellow rat with Dual Chop but manages to keep bay but with no let up Dual Chop causes major damage causing the KO

      Lastly Greninja comes to bring it home but I recall Garchomp and bring out Hippowdon who brings Sand Storm back to the field but is KO’d by Water Shuriken.

      One each I call for Garchomp to show I mean business pull out my Ursaring Claw necklace with a Keystone and activate Mega Evolution, emerging from the sands Mega Garchomp!!!! Doing the same Ash synchronizes and Ash-Greninja emerges

      The two duke it out Cut/Aerial Ace to Dual Chop each blocking each but I call for Iron Head which was boosted by Sand Force causing decent damage, I tell Garchomp to go underground and attack but Greninja still manages to evade so wanting to both end it I call out the fury of Sand Force Earthquake which sends sand, rocks and the shockwaves hitting everything in site while the ultra Shuriken cuts through everything

      And both are KO’d the end

      Reply

  19. I shall post all my homemade Alolan forms, new Pokemon, and Evos. Including the rejected Johto starters when I’m done give me an hour at max.

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  20. hey guys I got an idea,maybe if we can make some ideas of Our Own,maybe we can send them to Game Freak so they can put them in Sun and Moon!

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      • well the only way is to rely on luck,I’m going to get started right away and I’ll post it and show my progress and see how you like it.

        Reply

    • Game freak do not use any outside sources material they just send it back to you, or throw it away, if they used ideas outside of their own team they would pretty much have to pay you and if they did it wrong the run the risk of getting sued, so I’m sorry to say it but don’t bother

      Reply

  24. So I decided to buy PBRT
    And I boiled it down to three Pokemon
    Charmander
    Cubone
    Machop

    Charmander because fire is power
    Cubone learns Bone Club and Headbutt very early
    And Machop because Fighting is my natural second choice

    Reply

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