Executive (Trainer class)
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 with 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:S2 Rocket ExecutiveM.png | File:S2 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 |
Ariana's sprite from Gold, Silver, and Crystal |
Archer's sprite from Stadium 2 |
Ariana's sprite from Stadium 2 |
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 |
Trainer list
Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal
| Trainer name | Battle | Winnings | Pokémon | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rocket Executive | Initial battle | $5184 |  Lv.36 |
------- | ------- | ------- | ------- | ------- |
| Rocket Executive | Initial battle | $1584 |  Lv.22 |
 Lv.22 |
 Lv.24 |
------- | ------- | ------- |
| First rematch | $2160 | Lv.30 |
Lv.30 |
Lv.30 |
Lv.30 |
 Lv.32 |
Lv.30 | |
| Rocket Executive | Initial battle | $1800 |  Lv.23 |
 Lv.23 |
 Lv.25 |
------- | ------- | ------- |
| First rematch | $2304 | Lv.32 |
Lv.32 |
Lv.32 |
------- | ------- | ------- | |
| Rocket Executive | Initial battle | $2520 |  Lv.33 |
Lv.33 |
 Lv.35 |
------- | ------- | ------- |
Pokémon FireRed/LeafGreen
| Trainer name | Battle | Winnings | Pokémon | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Rocket Admin | Initial battle | $1728 |  Lv.53 |
Lv.54 |
 Lv.55 |
------- | ------- | ------- |
| Team Rocket Admin | Initial battle | $1760 | Lv.53 |
Lv.54 |
Lv.55 |
------- | ------- | ------- |
Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver
| Trainer name | Battle | Winnings | Pokémon | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Executive Proton | Initial battle | $480 | Lv.8 |
Lv.12 |
------- | ------- | ------- | ------- |
| First rematch | $1320 | Lv.28 |
Lv.33 |
------- | ------- | ------- | ------- | |
| Executive Petrel | Initial battle | $880 | Lv.22 |
Lv.22 |
Lv.24 |
------- | ------- | ------- |
| First rematch | $1200 | Lv.30 |
Lv.30 |
Lv.30 |
Lv.30 |
Lv.32 |
Lv.30 | |
| Executive Ariana | Initial battle | $2960 | Lv.25 |
Lv.25 |
Lv.27 |
------- | ------- | ------- |
| First rematch | $2560 | Lv.32 |
Lv.32 |
Lv.32 |
------- | ------- | ------- | |
| Executive Archer | Initial battle | $3040 | Lv.35 |
Lv.35 |
Lv.38 |
------- | ------- | ------- |
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
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 Team Rocket
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rocket Game Corner • Team Rocket Hideout • Viridian Gym • Team Rocket HQ • Rocket Warehouse | |||||
| Boss | Admins | ||||
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| Giovanni (Masters • Pocket Monsters) |
Archer (Masters) |
Ariana (Masters) |
Petrel (Masters) |
Proton (Masters) | |
| Other members | |||||
| Jessie (Masters) • James (Masters) • Meowth • Team Rocket Grunts (Rocket Siblings) • Scientists (Gideon) Grey (Golden Boys) • Kaede (How I Became a Pokémon Card) | |||||
See also: Pokémon the Series • Adventures • Team GO Rocket • Team Rainbow Rocket
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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. |
