Executive (Trainer class): Difference between revisions

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) (Generation II) Team Rocket Admin (ロケットだんいんのかんぶ Team Rocket executive member) (Generations III and VII)
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
Counterpart	{{{counterpart}}}
Notable members	Proton, Petrel, Ariana, and Archer Sham, Carl (Adventures) Grey (The Golden Boys)
Anime debut
TCG debut	[[(TCG)|]]
TCG card	{{{card}}}
Manga debut	Piloswine Whine (Adventures) Gold and Black vs. Team Rocket (The Golden Boys)

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 Generations III and VII, and as a 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 Poison-type and Dark-type Pokémon.

As of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, 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 II

Generation II art by Ken Sugimori for the TCG

In Generation II, Executives have the same Trainer class name as Team Rocket Grunts—Rocket (Japanese: ロケットだんいん Team Rocket member)—but have the name Executive (Japanese: かんぶ Executive) and a different sprite.

In Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, Team Rocket has four male executives and one female executive (who is battled twice). They battle the player at Team Rocket HQ and Goldenrod Radio Tower.

Two Executives, one male and one female, also appear in Pokémon Stadium 2, 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.

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).

Petrel, Archer, Ariana and Proton in the opening 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

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.

Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver changed the number of Executives slightly: a Grunt in Slowpoke Well was amalgamated with an Executive in the Radio Tower to become Proton, and the Executive in Giovanni’s office in the Team Rocket HQ was merged with the Executive disguised as the Radio Director to become Petrel.

Appearance

In the core series

Proton's Grunt sprite from Generation II	Proton, Petrel, and Archer's sprite from Generation II	Ariana's sprite from Generation II	Archer's sprite from FireRed and LeafGreen	Ariana's sprite from FireRed and LeafGreen
Proton, Petrel, and Archer's overworld sprite from Generation II		Ariana's overworld sprite from Generation II	Archer's overworld sprite from FireRed and LeafGreen	Ariana's overworld 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	Archer's VS model from Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!
Proton's overworld sprite from HeartGold and SoulSilver	Petrel's overworld sprite from HeartGold and SoulSilver	Ariana's overworld sprite from HeartGold and SoulSilver	Archer's overworld sprite from HeartGold and SoulSilver

In other games

Rocket Executive♂ portrait from Stadium 2	Rocket Executive♀ portraits from Stadium 2

Trainer list

Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal

Trainer name	Battle	Winnings	Pokémon
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	$2592	Lv.36	-------	-------	-------	-------	-------
Rocket Executive ♂	Initial battle	$2520	Lv.33	Lv.33	Lv.35	-------	-------	-------

Pokémon FireRed and 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 and 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	-------	-------	-------

Pokémon Stadium 2

Trainer name	Battle	Winnings	Pokémon
Rocket Executive ♀	Initial battle	$----	Lv.50-100	Lv.50-100	Lv.50-100	Lv.50-100	Lv.50-100	Lv.50-100
	Second battle	$----	Lv.50-100	Lv.50-100	Lv.50-100	Lv.50-100	Lv.50-100	Lv.50-100
Rocket Executive ♂	Initial battle	$----	Lv.50-100	Lv.50-100	Lv.50-100	Lv.50-100	Lv.50-100	Lv.50-100
	Second battle	$----	Lv.50-100	Lv.50-100	Lv.50-100	Lv.50-100	Lv.50-100	Lv.50-100

In the anime

It is unknown whether or not there are executives present in the anime, as Giovanni is still in control of the organization. Instead, the anime tends to focus much more on high-ranking Team Rocket field agents such as Domino and the Iron-Masked Marauder. 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

Team Rocket Executives in Pokémon Adventures

In the Pocket Monsters HGSS Jō's Big Adventure manga

The four Generation IV Executives appear in the Pocket Monsters HGSS Jō's Big Adventure manga, fulfilling similar roles as in the games.

In the Pokémon Adventures manga

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.

Yellow arc

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

The 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.

HeartGold & SoulSilver arc

Archer, Ariana, Petrel, and Proton, who collectively call themselves the Four Generals, appear in Johto searching for Arceus and its Plates to accomplish their plan of making Giovanni return to Team Rocket's leadership.

In the Pokémon Gold & Silver: The Golden Boys manga

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.

Related cards Cards listed with a blue background are only legal to use in the current Expanded format. Cards listed with a green background are legal to use in both the current Standard and Expanded formats.
Card	Type	English Expansion	Rarity	#	Japanese Expansion	Rarity	#
Team Rocket's Evil Deeds	T	Neo Destiny		103/105	Darkness, and to Light...
Team Rocket's Trickery	Su	Undaunted		78/90	Reviving Legends		076/080
					Tyranitar Constructed Standard Deck		018/019

Trivia

• Though Rocket Executives are members of Team Rocket, like Rocket Grunts and Scientists, 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.
• In merging multiple Executives together, Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver introduced a plot hole: Petrel is present in both the Goldenrod Radio Tower and the Team Rocket HQ at the same time. When the player first visits Goldenrod City, a guard comments on the Director's changed nature:

"Sorry. Authorized personnel only beyond this point. It wasn’t that way before. There’s something wrong with the Director…"

In other languages

Language Title Chinese Cantonese 火箭隊幹部 Fójin Déui Gonbouh Mandarin 火箭隊幹部 / 火箭队干部 Huǒjiàn Duì Gànbù French Admin Team RocketFRLGPE CommandantHGSS Caïd RocketGSC German Rocket-VorstandPE VorstandFRLGHGSS Rocket VorstandGSC Italian Generale Team RocketPE Generale RocketHGSS Tenente, Team RocketFRLG Generale,RocketGSC Korean 로켓단간부 Rocket Dan Ganbu Spanish Comandante RocketPE EjecutivoHGSS Admin Team RocketFRLG Ejecutivo RocketGSC Vietnamese Chỉ huy của nhóm Rocket

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.