ThePokémonfranchise has some of the most recognizable and iconic names in gaming and pop culture as a whole. Ash and his loyal Pikachu could be shown to almost anyone in the world and be recognized, but the duo and their friends wouldn’t be the icons they are without charismatic and fun villains. Although they have since retired with Ash, the trio of Jessie, James, and Meowth and the organization they work for, Team Rocket, are almost as recognizable as Pikachu, and while they got their fame from the anime series, they got their start in the games.
Despite how charming the Team Rocket trio is, it’s quite different from how the organization as a whole feels in the games. Team Rocket started the trend of having children face off against crime organizations, andwith Giovanni in charge, the gang has an almost mafia-like reputation, stealing strong Pokémon to sell illegally. This is despite their sometimes funky uniforms, and while Giovanni and his Persian are at the top of the Team Rocket food chain, this hasn’t always been the case. At one point, someone else was in charge when the big boss went missing.
Giovanni Is The Most Famous Team Rocket Leader, But He’s Not The Only One
Team Rocket Has A Distinct Hierarchy
While he’s not as popular as his trio of underlings, anyone who has played aPokémongame probably knows about Giovanni and how he runs Team Rocket. He appeared as the Viridian City’s Gym Leader, handing out the Earth Badge to those who bested him, and while he was legitimate in this role, it hid his greater intentions from the outside world. Giovanni is all about strong and rare Pokémon, hoping to collect all types while selling plenty to make a mean profit. This usually involves stealing them from children, which seems like a petty way to go about business.
Still, Giovanni himself seems to have Persian as his go-to Pokémon, and there has been some discourse over whether this Persian is shiny, although this isn’t the wildest theory floating around about Team Rocket’s leader. There’s one that proposes that Giovanni is Ash’s father, which is ridiculous, but nonetheless,Giovanni’s status asPokémon’s most recognizable crime boss has seen him feature in all sorts of games. From Generation 1 and its remakes, toGiovanni’s appearances inPokémon GO, he is always in charge of some kind of gang, although it isn’t always Team Rocket.
Giovanni is called Sakaki in Japanese, and Silver is his son.
He makes areturn inPokémon Ultra SunandUltra Moonas the boss of Team Rainbow Rocket (he’s apparently creative with names), after disbanding the original Team Rocket and abandoning his role as Viridian City’s Gym Leader. Blue, Red’s rival in Generation 1, takes over this role and becomes Champion of the Indigo Plateau. During this time, however,Team Rocket’s leadership fell to someone else. Once a nameless executive and admin, Archer finds his way to the top of Team Rocket’s Hierarchy, although very few remember his name.
Archer Took Over From Giovanni In HeartGold & SoulSilver
He Began As A Nameless Criminal
Archer was Giovanni’s replacement after he left, acting as the interim leader of Team Rocket, although many don’t remember himsince he got his design and name in theHeartGoldandSoulSilverremakes. That design was then carried forward (and chronologically backward) toLet’s Go, Pikachu!andLet’s Go, Eevee!,where he featured in a regular Team Rocket uniform while keeping his pose and blue hair. In the originalGoldandSilvertitles, Archer was a nameless Team Rocket Executive who looked like a poor man’s Giovanni.
HeartGoldandSoulSilverare remakes of the Gen 2 games, but are paired with Gen 4, released a year beforeBlackandWhite.
While Giovanni is a cat person with his Persian,Archer seems staunchly in the dog-lover category, with Houndoom as his loyal partner. He does have great respect for Giovanni, continuing his work even after Team Rocket was disbanded in theLet’s Gotitles and accusing the player of spreading false rumors. He vowed to bring Team Rocket back stronger than ever and served as their leader when the gang was in the Johto region during Generation 2. Unfortunately, another lone ten-year-old managed to foil Team Rocket’s plans, and the organization found itself disbanding once again under Archer’s leadership.
While Archer didn’t have much of an impact compared to Giovanni, being somewhat stifled by being given a design and name retroactively in a remake, he has made a few appearances throughout severalPokémongenerations. Outside theLet’s Gotitles and the Gen 2 remakes,Archer appeared inPokémon Stadium 2, although still as an executive without his blue hair, and inPokémon Masters EXalongside his Houndoom. He didn’t make a return as part of Team Rainbow Rocket inUltra SunandUltra Moon, despite being so upset when Team Rocket disbanded the first time.
He Could Be Up To His Old Tricks
It isn’t known what Archer has been doing since Team Rocket disbandedafterHeartGoldandSoulSilver, althoughhim not appearing in Team Rainbow Rocket’s ranks alongside Giovanni means that he’s likely striking out on his own. This could mean he is hard at work forming a new criminal gang, something that might be seen in future titles, since he has shown competency at running one and is young enough to give it a go (not that time and age mean much inPokémon). Ash has been a child longer than Gen Z has been alive, after all.
There is a chance that Archer, entirely defeated by Team Rocket’s disbanding twice over, has decided to call it quits when it comes to crime, hence why he hasn’t shown up in manyPokémontitles.He could have changed his ways, opened a dog café with Houndoom, and become happily married with a child, or he could be homeless somewhere, still in a pit of despair after his failings. I hope the former, and it would be cool to see a villain be reformed in aPokémongame, especially someone like Archer, who hasn’t had much to work with.
Still,Archer’s status as a lesser-knownPokémonvillain will likely see him remain largely unknownand forced to play second fiddle to Giovanni for the remainder of his existence. There isn’t much of a reason to use Archer again, since many crime bosses don’t get a second chance at villainy in thePokémongames unless it’s Giovanni or the Team Rocket trio getting repeated runs at Ash and Pikachu. Nonetheless, it would be interesting to see if GameFreak will do anything with Archer, considering how underutilized he is and how manyPokémongames are going back to older regions.
