For many Pokémon fans, Team Rocket will always be the original—and the most memorable—"evil team" of all. Move over Team Magma; Team Skull can do their weird hip-hop moves somewhere else! For the Pokémon Red and Blue generation, Team Rocket is the evil team to beat—quite literally. Of course, anime fans will also be very familiar with this Team's antics, thanks to the omnipresent Jessie, James, and Meowth. Will they ever succeed in stealing Pikachu? Probably not. Wi💃ll they keep trying until they're sent blasting off yet again? Absolutely.

While many Pokémon players remember Team Rocket with a kind of annoyed fondness for nostalgia reasons, even this group's biggest fans have to concede that not everything about them makes sense. The🅠y have to have some flaws, obviously—if they were hardened criminals who thought everything through and never made a slip-up the playable character would never be able to beat them! Plus, Jessie and James' constant failure to do anything right provides a lot of the anime's humor. We don't want Team Rocket to become any less inept by any means! However, sometimes their actions de🌟scend from a bit silly into the downright ridiculous. No wonder none of their schemes ever actually work...

If you've ever imagined Giovanni sat in his criminal lair, shaking his head at the utter incompetence of every other m𝓡ember of his team, we think you might be on to something. Then again, a lot of stuff about the big boss is pretty nonsensical too! Here are just some of the things about Team Rocket and their leader that will confuse the majority of Pokéfans.

25 ♛ 🙈 Their Naming System

Here's the first of the many questions we have about Team Rocket in the Pokémon games. When you join the group, do you suddenly have to denounce your actual name and be referred to by your rank? You know what I mean: every single member of this Team that you battle is either named "Grunt" or "Admin"—aside from the big boss Giovanni, of course. In fact, it's pretty much the same with every single evil team in the Pokémon franchise. They're all just nameless criminals who you have to defeat to get to their leader. It seems quite sad, actually! Nobody s꧒hould have to deny their true identity, right?

Of course, the rational explanation behind this is simple.

Pokémon's developers simply couldn't be bothered to give each and every Team Rocket Grunt a name. There are quite a few of them, after all. Still, it seems strange considering every Lass, Youngster, Bug Catcher, and Ace Trainer is named. Why did the bad guys not receive this privilege? Ultimately, this doesn't hinder gameplay too much, but it's still an amusing aspect of the games to consider. It's got to the point where Game Freak themselves have started to joke about this feature: in Sun and Moon, two Team Skull Grunts discuss the fact that labeling theꦗir clothes is really difficult because they're all named Grunt. Who doesn't love a bit of self-aware humor in a video game?

24 Jessie and James' Continued Employment 🐎

Of course, Team Rocket doesn't just feature in the video game installments of Pokémon: they're pretty prominent antagonists in the anime series too! Ever since th🌱e show's inception, Jessie, James, and their talking Meowth have been following Ash and his friends around, attempting to cause mischief and destruction wherever they go. I say "attempting" because all things considered, they're not very good at it! In fact, it's a wonder that this troublesome trio is still actual💛ly employed by Giovanni at all.

For starters, pretty much every single plan or scheme they've co🐬me up with over the years has failed. They still haven't managed to capture Ash's Pikachu—seemingly their main mission—and none of their little side-plots has come to fruition either. Jessie, James, and Meowth have constantly tried to steal Pokémon, trick people out of their money, pester Ash and bring the proওfits of their efforts back to Giovanni, but they haven't once managed it. This begs an important question: shouldn't Giovanni just fire these totally incompetent Grunts? Why is he still allowing them to tarnish the name of Team Rocket with their antics? Nobody knows. Maybe letting Jessie and James do their own thing is a good way to keep them out of Giovanni's hair. We wouldn't blame him if this was his approach.

23 Their Plan At Pokémon Tower 𓆉🐲

Going back to the Pokémon games, we have to address the fact that Team Rocket's "grand plans" in Red and Blue and pretty stupid, all things considered. Let's take their exploits at Lavender Town's Pokémon Tower, for example. The whole thing is just a total embarrassment from start to💝 finish. For one, the main point of the𝓡ir plan in the Tower isn't just evil—it's incredibly illogical.

Team Rocket's intention is to go to the Tower, end the lives of numerous Cubone, and sell their skulls for profit. However, it's never made clear why people would actually want to buy these items. Surely most people would be disgusted by Team Rocket's actions, and distance themselves from these unethical products? It seems like the only people twiste🍒d enough to buy them are Team Rocket members themselves.

Not the best business model in the world, guys.

Then you have their actions surrounding Mr. Fuji, the kindly old man who tries to step in and save the Cubone. Why bother stealing him and talking him to the top of Pokémon Tower just to threaten him for a while? It's a huge waste of time. They could have just locked him in his houౠse, or simpl🌌y ignored him. Fuji is a pretty frail old guy, after all! No wonder this Team Rocket plot failed...

22 Their Less-Than-Subtle Outfits 🥀

Sometimes, you have to wonder whether Team Rocket actually WANT to get caught committing various crimes. After all, they're hardly subtle about their actions, are they? In the Pokémon games, various Team Rocket characters reveal huge secrets about the organization to the playable character, a ten-year-old kid that they've never seen before in their lives. That's hardly keeping things under wraps, is it? What's to stop that child going to the police with this easily-acquireജd information? Of course, that didn't fit the n💧arrative of the games: the playable character takes it upon themselves to defeat Team Rocket instead. But still, guys... a bit of discretion would be good for you!

Then you have the fact that every Grunt walks around in the most blatant criminal uniform of all time. They literally all wear outfits emblazoned with 𝐆Team Rocket's logo! Do they not realize just how badly this could backfire on them? If law enforcement did happen to go after Team Rocket, each member would be incredibly easy to find! Their clothes might as well just have "I'm a criminal" written all over them in huge red letters! Really, if Team Rocket wanted their plans to be a bit more successful, they should have gone for the more secretive option of wearing normal clothes. It's a lot easier to sneak around places when you're not quite literally wearing your guilt.

21 🌞 The Slowpoke Tails Debacle

Team Rocket are unique amongst Pokémon villains in the sense that they've now appeared in not one, not two, but three generations of the games! Well, that's including Team Rainbow Rocket and its members who are arguably a bit different to the regular group... But anyway. After being roundly defeated in Red and Blue, the original Team Rocket decides to come back for Round Two in Gold, Silver, and Crystal. No matter 🐲that they've been totally wrecked by a young child once within the last three years.

Time to let it happen again!

The first time we meet Team Rocket in Generation Two is just outside Azalea Town. They've formulated a plan that's actually pretty grim: they're going to chop off the tails of some poor, innocent Slowpokes and try to sell them on at an extortionate price. Just before this point, an NPC actually tries to sell the player a tail for a mere 999,999 Poké Dollars. Here is where we run into the issues with this plan. Firstly, nobody is going to pay that for an item that may or may not be as delicious as Team Rocket claims. People in the Pokémon world aren't all millionaires, guys! Really, the only people who might be interested in buying such an expensive and frankly unethical product are career criminals... So basically, Team Rocket themselves🐽. Talk about the worst business plan ever.

20 Why The Gym Leadersꦓ Don't Stopꦅ Them

Now, we've already established that pretty much every member of Team Rocket is a pretty weak Pokémon trainer who can easily be defeated by the playable character—aka, a random child. This begs an important qu🦩estion: why don't the strongest trainers in Kanto and Johto band together to take out this criminal team? For example, these regions' Gym Leaders and Elite Four members could very easily send the team packing in some very s𝓡hort battles. A level 15 Grimer wouldn't exactly fare well against Lance's Dragonite, would it?

However, instead of stepping in and bringing Team Rocket's actions to a halt, these powerful trainers usually simply sit back and let them continue with their criminal endeavors. There are some examples: Lance does come to the Lake of Rage to challenge Team Rocket in Gold and Silver and does help the player defeat the group in Goldenrod Tower. Still... Can you imagine how much harm could have been prevented if someone had stepped in sooner? Here's where the conspiracy theories come in. Have the majority of the Pokémon Gym Leaders been bribed or blackmailed by Giovanni to prevent them from intervening in his Team's work? Is there some secret Illuminati-style organization in Kanto and Johto that's willing to let 🍸chaos ensue just so they can protect themselves? So many questions...

19 ♌ Jessie And James' Intro Song 🥀

Anyone who watched the Pokémon anime as a kid will remember Team Rocket members Jessie and James' introduc🐷tory song. They sang it in pretty much every single episode, after all! It was the perfect way of reminding us all who they were and what they wanted, despite the fact that there was no way we'd have forgotten since the last episode. Is there any 90s kid out there who can't recite at least a good portion of the lyrics?

Speaking of the lyrics of this song—has anyone else ever noticed that some of them make very little sense in the context of Jessie and James' general life outlook? Okay, so denouncing the evils of truth and love makes sense, as does extending their reach to the stars above—they want to bring havoc to the Pokémon world and beyond. However, the first portion of the song s💯eems totally out of place♊!

"To protect the world from devastation?" Really? Surely Jessie and James WANT the ༒world to be devastated—and they want to be the ones doing it? "To unite all peoples within our nation"... Now, that's a worthwhile aim for sure, but it doesn't exactly fit Team Rocket's philosophy. Unless they mean that they want to unite everyone in fear of their group🅰 and its leader, why would they want to enact this kind of peace in Kanto? Surely if things were a bit chaotic, it would make their life of crime easier? How strange...

18 🌜 Giovanni's Success

We've already established pretty convincinglyಌ that Team Rocket is mostly made up of incompetent buffoons. None of their plans ever work—in fact, the Team often ends up worse off directly because of their attempts to be criminal masterminds. They don't seem to make any money—it's not like anyone bought their Slowpoke Tails, after all—and they can't defend themselves effectively against other trainers. Basically, we can't see any way in which Team Rocket successfully make a living from their schemes and plans. However, their leader Giovanni still seems to be doing pretty well for himself.

How exactly does that work?

Think about it. Giovanni's main occupation,🎀 aside from briefly being Viridian City's Gym Leader, is being a criminal mastermind. He dresses in sharp suits, inspires fear and awe in his team members, and seems to live a life of relative luxury. How on earth does he manage all of this? Does he have another business venture that we don't know about that actually pays for all of his evil misadventures? Is he just faking all ✤of his success? It doesn't make any sense. Plus, while Giovanni does eventually resign as the leader of Team Rocket once he's defeated once and for all by the playable character, how did he even last that long in charge? Surely his leadership must have been slightly to blame for some of the Grunts' terrible plans. He's at least somewhat accountable!

17 𒐪 Their Dependence On Pokémon

Here's a question: why does a group with aims as nefarious as those of Team Rocket rely on Pokémon to do their bidding? Yes, yes, we know—the whole point of the Pokémon universe is the fact that we humans see these little creatures as friends, team members, and partners. It wouldn't make much sense if Team Rocket didn't use Pokémon at all and just beat everyone up themselves instead. Still... We know that violence isn't outside of their capabilities. Let us not forget that Team Rocket was responsible for the passing of Cubone's mother in Red and Blue. They're clearly not averse to using cruel and da💮ngerous methods.

Why don't they do it more often?

Hear us out, here—we're not saying that Pokémon should suddenly turn into a crime/ thriller game or a shooter in which you have to take out Team Rocket. That's not the franchise's vibe, and we know that. It just seems a bit weird that a group that's basically the Mafia of the Pokémon world would be so tame in its methods. They didn't even have to show anything questionable in the game o🌺r anime—just allude to it. Yet, we're expected to believe that Team Rocket and Giovanni are happy to use nothing but sub-par Pokémon and the occasional threat🍒 to make sure their plans work. It doesn't make much sense, really.

16 How Jessie𝔍 and James Get All That Tech

Here's another confusing aspect fo Jessie and James' antics in the Pokémon anime. How do they acquire all of the often complex technology that they♑ use in their criminal endeavors? Does Giovanni send it all to them without question, and if so, why? We've already established that these two should have been fired by Team Rocket years ago! Why would the big boss waste his money on gadgets and contraptions to help his most incompetent recruits as they fail in their various missions once again? He wouldn't, is the answer. J꧃essie and James must get their hot air balloons, helicopters, net contraptions, massive cages and other tools of the trade from somewhere else.

But where? As we've seen, Jessie, James, and Meowth travel fairly light as they follow Ash and his friends around the Pokémon world. To carry all of their Pikachu-catching kits around with them, they'd need a massive truck or two—but they don't have even a tiny car. Does their gear just magically appear when they need it the most, like a Pokémon equivalent of the Harry Potter universe's Room of Requirement? Or do they simply happen upon nets, cables, and cages wherever they go and steal them fo🃏r their own criminal use? We need answers!