| Executive ロケットだんかんぶ Team Rocket Executive | |
 Art from HeartGold and SoulSilver | |
| Other names | Rocket Executive (ロケットだんいんの かんぶ Team Rocket Executive Member) (Generation II) Team Rocket Admin (ロケットだんの かんぶ Team Rocket Executive) (Generation III) Executive (Generation IV) |
|---|---|
| Introduced in | Generation II |
| Appears in | Gold, Silver, and Crystal FireRed and LeafGreen HeartGold and SoulSilver Let's Go, Pikachu!, Let's Go, Eevee! Stadium 2 |
| Gender | Both |
| Notable members | Proton, Petrel, Ariana, and Archer Iron-Masked Marauder (anime) Lt. Surge, Koga, Sabrina, Carl, and Sham (Adventures) Grey (The Golden Boys) |
| Anime debut | Celebi: The Voice of the Forest |
| Manga debut | JBA4 (Jō's Big Adventure) Piloswine Whine (Adventures) Gold and Black vs. Team Rocket (The Golden Boys) |
A Team Rocket Admin, Rocket Executive, or Executive (Japanese: ロケットだんかんぶ Team Rocket Executive, introduced as ロケットだんいんの かんぶ Team Rocket Executive Member) 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 Poison- and Dark-type Pokémon.
Terminology
- See also: Team Rocket Grunt → Terminology
This Trainer class is variously referred to as an Executive or Admin in English, depending on the generation. Prior to Generation IV, they do not have individual names. In all generations, the Trainer class does not include a gender symbol (♂/♀).
In Generation II (including Pokémon Stadium 2), they are referred to as a "ROCKET EXECUTIVE" (Japanese: ロケットだんいんの かんぶ Team Rocket Executive Member). In character dialogue, they are referred to as simply EXECUTIVE as a shorthand.[1]
In Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, they are referred to as a "TEAM ROCKET ADMIN" (Japanese: ロケットだんの かんぶ Team Rocket Executive). In English, "ROCKET" from previous generation was expanded to "TEAM ROCKET", and "EXECUTIVE" was changed to "ADMIN". In Japanese, 「だんいん」 (Team Member) was shortened to 「だん」(Team). In character dialogue, they are referred to as simply ADMINS as a shorthand.[2]
In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, they are referred to as an "Executive" (Japanese: ロケットだんかんぶ Team Rocket Executive). The Executives now have individual names, so Executive serves as a Trainer class instead of their entire name. The Japanese version is mostly unchanged from Generation III, still including "Team Rocket" (unlike the English name), although the space and possessive particle 「の」 before 「かんぶ」(Executive) are removed.
In Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, they are referred to as a "Team Rocket Admin" (Japanese: ロケットだんかんぶ Team Rocket Executive). In English, this matches the name used in Generation III, while in Japanese, it matches the one used in Generation IV.
In the core series games
Generation II
In Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, there are four male executives and one female executive (who is battled twice). (The Executives are all unnamed, but the number of distinct Executives can be extrapolated from their parties and where they appear.) They battle the player at Team Rocket HQ and Goldenrod Radio Tower.
Generation III
In Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, two unnamed Team Rocket Admins appear in command of the Rocket Warehouse. They seem to be two of the same members who would head Team Rocket in Johto three years later (Ariana and Archer, although they did not have names or distinct identities until Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver).
Petrel, Archer, Ariana, and Proton in the game intro of HeartGold and SoulSilver
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 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 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
In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, there are four Executives each with distinct 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.
Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver adjusted the number of distinct Executives relative to Generation II: Proton takes the place of both a Grunt in Slowpoke Well and an Executive in the Radio Tower; and Petrel takes the place of both the Executive in Giovanni's office in the Team Rocket HQ and the Executive disguised as the Radio Director. In both cases, their parties in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver are a combination of the parties of the characters they replaced from Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal.
Generation VII
In Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, Archer is the sole Admin of Team Rocket, being first encountered at the Team Rocket Hideout in Celadon City. He later leads the organization's takeover of the Silph Co. in Saffron City and fights the player and Trace in an attempt to keep them from interfering. During the post-game, he meets the player at the hideout again, informing them of his plans to leave Kanto and someday restore Team Rocket, before leaving to do just that.
Gallery
In the side series games
Pokémon Stadium 2
In Pokémon Stadium 2, two Executives, one male and one female, appear along with a pair of Rocket Grunts, interrupting the player's progress through the Johto Gym Leader Castle after the player has defeated Jasmine. Because their teams contain the distinctive Pokémon Vileplume and Houndoom, they appear to be inspired by two of the admins from Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal.
Trainer list
Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal
Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen
Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver
Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!
Pokémon Stadium 2
In the anime
The Iron-Masked Marauder, a Team Rocket Executive in the anime
Main series
The Iron-Masked Marauder, the main antagonist of Celebi: The Voice of the Forest, is a Team Rocket Executive, known as the master of Dark Pokémon due to his signature Dark Balls, which corrupt any Pokémon caught with them into mindless fighting machines. However, his Executive rank is only mentioned in the original Japanese version.
Pokémon Generations
Petrel was featured in The Lake of Rage, where he confronted and was defeated by Lance during the latter's raid of the Team Rocket HQ.
In the manga
Pocket Monsters HGSS Jō's Big Adventure
The four Generation IV Executives appear in the Pocket Monsters HGSS Jō's Big Adventure manga, fulfilling similar roles as in the games.
Pokémon Adventures
Red, Green & Blue arc
Initially, Lt. Surge, Koga, and Sabrina were Team Rocket's commanders, having abandoned their respective Gyms to work for the evil organization instead.
Yellow arc
After witnessing a battle between Yellow and Lance on Cerise Island, Giovanni realized that he still had a lot to learn and told his three commanders to return to their Gyms.
Gold, Silver & Crystal arc
Under the Masked Man's leadership, Neo Team Rocket's executives were Sham and Carl, who were based on the Generation II Executive designs.
HeartGold & SoulSilver arc
In this arc, Archer, Ariana, Petrel, and Proton took over the organization from Carr and searched for Arceus and its Plates to accomplish their plan of making Giovanni return to Team Rocket's leadership.
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.
In the TCG
This listing is of cards mentioning or featuring Team Rocket Executives in the Pokémon Trading Card Game.
Trivia
- "Sorry. Authorized personnel only beyond this point. It wasn’t that way before. There’s something wrong with the Director…"
