Executive (Trainer class)

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The Rocket Executives as seen in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver

An Executive (Japanese: ロケットだんかんぶ Team Rocket Executive), known as a Team Rocket Admin (Japanese: ロケットだんかんぶ Team Rocket Executive) in Generation III, and as a Team Rocket Executive (Japanese: ロケットだんいんのかんぶ Team Rocket executive member) in Generation II, is a type of Pokémon Trainer that first debuted in the Generation II games. They are the highest ranked members of Team Rocket after Giovanni,and are the heads of Team Rocket after he abandons the organization. They tend to use a combination of Template:Type2 and Template:Type2 Pokémon.

There are four of them: three men and one woman. They were unnamed in Generation II, but they all got individual names and sprites in Generation IV. Archer disbands Team Rocket after he is defeated.

Differences between Generations

Generation I

There aren't any distinct Rocket Executives in Generation I; however, both Jessie and James appear in Pokémon Yellow ranked higher than grunts, guarding the room where Giovanni waits in the Rocket Hideout and Silph Co. However, they are unnamed in this game, being referred to simply as "ROCKET", since Trainers were not given names until Generation II.

Generation II

In Generation II, this class technically didn't exist as all the characters who would eventually carry the title retained the same class as other members of Team Rocket. Thus, their Trainer class was Rocket (Japanese: ロケットだんいん Team Rocket member) and each had the name Executive (Japanese: のかんぶ Executive), only having the sprites only differ between genders. They battle the player at Team Rocket HQ and Goldenrod Radio Tower.

Generation III

In Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, two higher-ranking members of Team Rocket appear in command of the Rocket Warehouse. They seem to be two of the same members who would head the Team in Johto three years later. Here, their Trainer class was changed to Team Rocket (Japanese: ロケットだん Team Rocket) in order to remain identical the Grunts', whose sprites they also shared. However, they are both given the name Admin (Japanese: かんぶ Executive).

In the Rocket Warehouse, the female Team Rocket Admin is battled before going into the male administrator's room. She objects that Team Rocket is not disbanded, but after a battle, admits that it probably is and as a final act, turns off the floor so that the player can go back and heal. After defeating the male Team Rocket Admin, he sees the player's Earth Badge Badge and realizes that the Viridian City-based Team Rocket has disbanded; he then tells the player that he will find Giovanni and revive Team Rocket.

The Team Rocket Admins are the same people as the Rocket executives in Generations II and IV, as hinted by the similarity in their teams and the male administrator's determination to revive Team Rocket after he is defeated, as well as the information given on the computer screen which the Rocket administrator was working on ("The influence of magnetic waves on Pokémon evolution"). This is linked to what happened in Generations II and IV, when Team Rocket used radio waves to evolve the Magikarp at Lake of Rage.

Generation IV

Their Trainer classes are finally dissociated from those of the Grunts when they make a return in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, where they are each known as an Executive. However, the Japanese Trainer classes remain unchanged from Generation III, but they are still given names. They are all adapted from the Executives from Pokémon Gold and Silver but given individual names and identities. Their names, Proton, Petrel, Ariana, and Archer, refer to real-life rockets or missiles in all languages, much like Team Galactic's Commanders, who were named after celestial bodies. These characters were all adapted into characters in the Pokémon Adventures manga, retaining their unique identities.

Appearance

File:GSC Rocket ExecutiveM.png

File:GSC Rocket ExecutiveF.png File:FL RocketGruntM.png File:FL RocketGruntF.png File:ProtonHGSS.png File:PetrelHGSS.png File:ArianaHGSS.png File:ArcherHGSS.png
Proton, Petrel, and Archer's sprite from
Gold, Silver, and Crystal
Arianna's sprite from
Gold, Silver, and Crystal
Archer's sprite from
FireRed and LeafGreen
Ariana's sprite from
FireRed and LeafGreen
Proton's sprite from
HeartGold and SoulSilver
Petrel's sprite from
HeartGold and SoulSilver
Ariana's sprite from
HeartGold and SoulSilver
Archer's sprite from
HeartGold and SoulSilver

Artwork

File:S2 Rocket ExecutiveM.png File:S2 Rocket ExecutiveF.png
Archer's sprite from
Stadium 2
Ariana's sprite from
Stadium 2

Trainer list

Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal


Pokémon FireRed/LeafGreen


Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver


In the anime

It is unknown whether or not there are executives as present in the games and manga, as Giovanni is still in control of the organization. Instead, the anime tends to focus much more on higher-ranking Team Rocket members such as Domino and the Iron-Masked Marauder, who are field agents rather than administrators. Annie and Oakley were also inclusive to the ranks of Team Rocket, working as hired spies hunting Latios and Latias, but this was only in the English dub.

In the manga

Pokémon Adventures

Red, Green, & Blue arc

Lt. Surge, Koga, and Sabrina are Team Rocket executives. Blaine, previously an executive, left the organization because of problems with Mewtwo. In the Yellow chapter, the executives were recalled by Giovanni after he saw a battle between Lance and Yellow and realized he still had much to learn.

Gold, Silver, & Crystal arc

Executives are replaced by two sub-leaders, Sham and Carl, while the real Leader is the Masked Man. The characters of male and female Executive from Generation II were adapted as Carl and Sham, respectively; their game counterparts are Archer and Ariana.

Pokémon Gold & Silver: The Golden Boys

Grey from the Pokémon Gold & Silver: The Golden Boys manga is based on the male Executive design. His role within the team is based on Archer's.

Trivia

  • Though Rocket Executives are members of Team Rocket, like Rocket Grunts, the background theme played when fighting them is the normal Trainer battle theme in Gold, Silver, and Crystal Versions. This was rectified in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, where all members of Team Rocket-related Trainer classes play the Rocket battle theme.
  • Ariana and Archer appear to be counterparts of Jessie and James, respectively. Ariana owns an Arbok, Archer owns a Koffing, and they have the same distinctive hair colors as in the anime.

In other languages

Language Title
France Flag.png European French Commandant
Germany Flag.png German Vorstand
Italy Flag.png Italian Generale Rocket
Spain Flag.png European Spanish Ejecutivo



Template:Gen II trainers
Template:Gen III trainers

Project CharacterDex logo.png This Trainer Class article is part of Project CharacterDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each character found in the Pokémon games.