The Origin of Team Rocket

This is something I wanted to talk about even though some of the information is obvious to anyone familiar with Time Bokan.
If you're interested in the Time Bokan series, the latest version of the series has both of its season available on Crunchyroll. The 2008 Yatterman remake is probably the best place to start for western viewers, though some of the episodes have Duwang level subtitles.
Also, TimeBokanTurnip.tumblr.com is a great English language blog for information about all iterations of Time Bokan and their article on the connections between Babes in Toyland and its influence on Yatterman was a great resource for this video:
timebokanturnip.tumblr.com/pos...
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[@MercuryFalcon]

According to Did You Know Gaming, Mario Tennis was supposed to introduce an evil counterpart to Peach, Warupichi, alongside Waluigi. To me, this confirms that Waluigi is based off Grocky from Time Bokan and that Wario, Waluigi, and Warupichi would have been a Time Bokan inspired evil trio. Miyamoto disliked the Warupichi concept so they just added Waluigi. Without the trio dynamic to work off of, Waluigi is just a strange lanky man.

[@Hromovlad1]

knew they looked familiar!

[@THEAnimeHERO]

That explains a lot.

[@hobossuck2]

I was just ask about wario and waluigi being a time bokan sort of thing haha

[@ToruKun1]

Miyamoto is a damn coward for not giving us an evil Peach

[@devinweathers7520]

Good grief they are SUPERBOLUS DAM VILLAINS

[@Bloody-Butterfly]

These characters are so endearing because they maintain style and confidence despite their many failures.

[@fishdude2954]

Only thing that wasn't mentioned about the Rocket trio was that they pursue Ash's Pikachu because they _think_ he's especially strong, not because he actually is. In their first encounter he got supercharged from the lamp on Misty's bike and ignited Koffing's gas but they didn't realize it, so they thought he made the huge explosion all by himself They also just generally seek rare/powerful Pokémon and Ash has led them to many, so they keep following him. They don't just solely care about Pikachu

[@fishdude2954]

*Edit - he got supercharged from the backup-power Pikachu who lived at the center, and the current went through Misty's bike

[@mraaronhd]

Yup. Exactly.

[@LordM46]

Yes, and also to be fair. They do try to steal other pokemon as well both wild or those that already have owners especially if they are rare.

[@Azarian]

TIME BOKAN! I'm MOSTLY familiar with the Doronbo Gang from Yatterman but I fucking LOVE the misfit trio villain trope in anime.

[@Oct8pus]

Yattaman and Yattodetaman were 2 of my faves growing up. I had such a crush on Miss Dronio

[@spindalis79]

You were lucky. In the U.S. we could only envision our animated crushes naked. They would never just come out and do it in the show.

[@spindalis79]

I've now gone so deep down the "Time Bokan" rabbit hole, that I've come up with my own spinoff. Would you watch a Time Bokan parody/spinoff called "Suzumeman?"

[@mephitismephitis6825]

The best song in which a small group villains celebrate their villainy is in "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol".

[@jamcalx]

Don't forget Petra fina, dino & mite from Flint the Time Detective or Prince eccentro, gluco & batch for Mon Colle Knights.

[@pikachu0Z]

Yeah or the rubber robo gang from Medabots or the Alpha gang from Dinosaur King

[@opetrikg]

Some Fox Kids vibes right here

[@Kingwel]

Yeah, Flint the Time Detective was (as a kid) my first instance of recognizing that the Team Rocket trio was some kind of trope, and the trio from Mon Colle Knights further cemented that.

[@gustyko8668]

My childhood!!!

[@spindalis79]

I just recently started researching this series. I had a image of Dronojo pop up on my homepage and clicked it. I had no idea that this Hanna-Barbera/Dic Entertainment looking cartoon existed and was introduced to the public around the time I was born. Apparently during that time they had no problem showing female nudity in a kid's cartoon as many of the woman antagonists end up naked at one point or another.

[@ma3mc3mu-X]

Well, Yatterman at least. Time Bokan was pretty much testing the waters.

[@Kuudere-Kun]

I think the Antagonists in Last Period could also be said to descend from this tradition. And perhaps another Western Animation influence were the villains on Rocky and Bullwinkle.

[@haileyshannon7548]

I always got a lot of Boris and Natasha vibes from Jessie and James!

[@montyheisenberg36]

@@haileyshannon7548 not to mention superteds own villain trio; Texas Pete, bulk, and skeleton (and yes those are their names)

[@THEAnimeHERO]

So far this has become my favorite video on your channel. I never put the pink cat together until you brought it up. It's surprising how influential the Time Bokan villains were. Is there any specific reason why Yatterman had more episodes & exposure than the rest? Popularity?

[@MercuryFalcon]

My guess would be that Yatterman had great toy sales. The person that runs the Time Bokan turnip blog said Time Bokan has always been a series driven by toy sales. They were also unsure if Time Bokan 24 would get a 3rd season because even though it pulled in great ratings, the second season only I introduced 1 new toy to the line. Plastic models have excellent shelf life because fans and hobbyists will buy them years after the show is cancelled or finished. For toys, kids gravitate towards what's new so when a show ends, the toy sales plummet. When toys do well there is a push to keep the show on air as long as possible.

[@THEAnimeHERO]

Thanks for info. I recently started collecting figures so this does intrigue me as I haven't heard of many anime with toy lines. I was aware of it from the designs of TB24 but didn't think the toyetic approach was going on since the 70s.

[@spindalis79]

@@MercuryFalcon Very similar to Hasbro in the U.S. in the 80s with the popularity of He-Man, GI-Joe, Transformers, My Little Pony, etc.

[@1u5e-Y]

They also got their own game on the PS1 in Japan. Its a bullet hell game. Super fun.

[@krismitchell5496]

At 2:18 who says american animation just rips off anime? :giggles:

[@timebokancentral56]

What a great video, you really did your research on the similarities between Time Bokan and Pokemon! My only nitpick is that Team Rocket's Pokemon such as Wobbuffet and Victreebel are more akin to the Time Bokan cockpit mechas, or gag robots, that popped up randomly and inconvenienced the evil trio. The argument that they're like an extra member still works though, like the Mimikyu in the Sun & Moon series.

[@MercuryFalcon]

Thank you! Glad to see you back on youtube after all these years!

[@ma3mc3mu-X]

Fun fact; in a Sun/Moon episode, the Stufful actually does a parody of that pig gag.

[@raveastjennifersandy9220]

​@@ma3mc3mu-X Time Bokan/Yatterman reference🙌.

[@SuperCosmicMutantSquid]

The fact that your videos don't get as much attention as they deserve is CRIMINAL. These are wonderful videos and I love the anime/manga history you give with this. I heard about Time Bokan YEARS ago after seeing pictures of the main villains being compared to Wario a Waluigi (for obvious reasons) but I sort of put it in the back of my mind without thinking for the longest of times. When I saw this video I nearly went 'HOLY SHIT! I REMEMBER THAT!' and because of that I went back and looked up more info on Time Bokan and it's a series I must sit down to watch.

[@Hektols]

In the Megadrive/Genesis videogame Gunstar Heroes we a have a similar trio with Pinky and her two henchmen, one slim, the other fat and attacking the player characters piloting gigantic robots with animal appearance.

[@MaliceInCandyland]

K.O. Beast also has villains based on Time Bokan. The dub came out after Pokemon, so they're voiced by Jessie's first voice actor, James's first voice actor, and Cassidy's first voice actor.

[@BurnRoddy]

Back in the day there was this Anime inspired by Akira Toriyama's Dr. Slump called Robby The Rascal (known as Cybot Robotchi in Japan). This Anime also presented an efeminate male villain called Horace (Highbrow) piloting a device to fight/destroy the main protagonist Robby. Because Robby was very similar to Time Bokan C-robot (Chororo) I thought the series were somehow connected. Now seeing how stylistic and high budget GoShogun looks, I'm pretty sure it must have aired in Latin America at some point before my time (I was born in 1987) but sadly I never cought any reruns of the show so I no idea about its existence. Thanks to this video I now concur that Team Rocket's James was inspired by Leonardo Medici from GoShogun whom in turn was inspired by Horace from Robby The Rascal. I discredit this as the original inspiration since Robby The Rascal seems to be pretty obscure these days, and it is clear that effeminate villains have been around in Japan for a very long time from Gatchaman's Berg Katse, to Cybot's Highbrow, to GoShogun's Leonardo Medici, to Riki Oh's Yumi, to Team Rockets James, to Mone Colle Knights Ludwig Von Monsterstein Eccentro. So there has to be some original inspiration at least from the early 70s or the 1960s, if not from before.

[@0047sssss]

LatinAmerica got the international Macron 1 Dub of GoShogun in the 80's most animes that were dubbed in Latin America were based on American Dubs or european dubs

[@jairusmacomber8374]

That was really cool. I love learning about anime history.

[@thesapodcast]

This was a fantastic amount of knowledge I didn’t know I needed, keep up the great work!

[@SWIFTO_SCYTHE]

Man you have done so much research and write such good scripts you deserve more subs and exposure.

[@KevinKess]

Not sure if this would count as an example of a Team Rocket-esque villainous trio, however... one other group that would come to mind are Chino, Mino and Jamine from the anime series Mix Master: King of Cards. For anyone curious, here's an explanation on what the series is: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mix_Master

[@budddmj8191]

so full of info!! thank you for this!

[@YophiGames]

I didn’t know ANY of these Tatsunoko characters when I played Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, so seeing these videos helps me see the characters with footage.

[@LordM46]

Very interesting, excellent review. Yes, it says a lot that writers take inspiration from many sources so they can create something amazing. I learned a lot here, thank you and good job.

[@prophet1546]

I knew it always. This is also true with Wa peach now

[@gustyko8668]

And now, Nintendo revealed theird scraped of "Wapeach", who would have been on a trio with both Wario and Waluigi.

[@justchyll2009]

Underrated channel

[@eligamerman]

Thanks for sharing this!

[@gohanssj48]

It never ceases to amaze me how you can connect dots.

[@gaiunx]

This was really fun to watch, great channel here, i hope you get to the newer shows like gatchaman crowds (which i didnt like much) and yoru no yatterman (which I found really great)

[@kingkoopa3000]

This i really cool, I didnt know about any of this stuff! Good video , bro.

[@1EagleTutoriais]

Dude I love your videos

[@stizanley3987]

So in other words, "Everything has been inspired by everything else and nothing is original. "

[@fishdude2954]

No, more like "there's no such thing as a work without tropes"

[@joserobertosolismerlin5527]

More like pop culture comes in circles

[@uidtoficial6086]

Great video. I saw time bokken when i was a Child in the 80s. So much nostalgia but certainly the team rocket was suspiciously alike to something else but didnt know what. Greetings from El Salvador.

[@SlapstickGenius23]

Yoshitaka Amano of FF fame also designed the Time Bokan Characters.

[@SubwaySandwichBossIngo]

Very informative! Thank you c:

[@bandi138138]

I was wondering if Grandis Gang was gonna be brought up, and you didn't disappoint

[@fushigiman140]

Pink and her lackeys from Gunstar Hero was the one

[@stillbuyvhs]

Didn't Toei's Puss-In-Boots movies have a bumbling team of cats chasing Pero around long before Time Bokan?

[@siamiam]

excellent video

[@therealwinston3634]

that's where this anime "trope" originated

[@thestudentofficial5483]

It is weird that i watched Taimbokan so much but NEVER Pokémon.

[@detectivewobbuffet2778]

speaking of inspiration, how much you wanna bet the trio member with the big teeth and thin mustache is inspired by Iyami from Osomatsu-kun?

[@VHSandStoryUploader89Lives]

I always thought that Grocky and Warusa were the inspiration for Wario and Waluigi

[@BlueJack222]

For the next incarnation of Team Rocket, I want a new member to join them, a human one

[@vivvy_0]

huh aren't there two humans

[@fishdude2954]

In the radio dramas they have a sort-of fourth member, Mondo, who helps them out after blastoffs and brings them supplies. He's never been referenced in the anime though It'd be cool if we got to see Butch and Cassidy more often, they'd make for some good moments

[@mechajay3358]

I always felt that Team Rocket had that Dick Dastardly edge to them, because they were based off characters who themselves were based off him.

[@MrlspPrt]

Interesting, I remember here in México I watched that series as some special of many episodes linked, it should've been in the 90s, but I didn't liked the premise of three villains singing every time about how bad they were (I remember almost nothing about the time travel). About Team Rocket, I heard that in the Mexican dub, actors got the freedom to improvise, so James said in his motto "para extener nuestro reino hasta [insert some place that can be used as a joke]" ("to extend our kingdom to..."), in most of the series they got too many freedom, the actor even used his last name when James dresses himself as "Moltress el Guajolote Macías" ("guajolote" means "turkey", Macías is the actor's last name). But at some point they got the order of stop improvising, something almost the entire continent hated, even when most of the jokes were Mexican references. Sometimes James' dub actor added particular elements like fragments from Mexican songs, or in later seasons phrases from comedians. Mexican Team Rocket was the best part of Pokémon, it was even better if you're Mexican because you can get almost all references.

[@bulaluigi]

I still maintain that Team 10 from Naruto were (at least visually) based on this trio.

[@Sairnaq]

I Think Bonne Family From megaman Legend is also base of them X3

[@skurvay3429]

This just goes to show that there are no Original Ideas, just Reworks of already existing ideas.

[@FingerBreakerWu]

Time Bokan was the funniest of the “Yattaman” series. I watched it when I lived in Japan in syndication and never missed an episode. It ended up losing its charm with the 3rd series “Zendaman”.

[@spindalis79]

About a month ago I watched the "Gyakuten! Ippatsuman" series. The animation and overall artwork seem more advanced, and to me was very reminiscent of series I grew up with in the 80s. "Yattodetaman" is also an enjoyable watch. In this series similar to "Yattaman" the life of the villains is a lot more entertaining than the protagonists.

[@NoraInuG]

I wouldn't say that I liked Otasukeman, and in my opinion Yattodetaman was the funniest of the Time Bokan spin-offs.

[@DarkbluesEXE25]

Wario and Waluigi

[@EdWoodJr1956]

Actually, the special thing about Pikachu is that no one else uses one; they are considered almost impossible to train.

[@MercuryFalcon]

Richie has one and he's a twerp. Dude puts stickers on his Pokeballs. What a joke!

[@stillbuyvhs]

In Shudo’s novelization, Professor Oak has several other well-trained Pikachu. He gave this one to Ash because it was rebellious.

[@fishdude2954]

Damn bro, why hate on Ritchie? He had a smart idea so he could tell his Poke Balls apart from everyone else's (and that became a thing you could do in Gen. IV too)

[@coolandlongmusicalbumsmusi3666]

Cool!

[@mmmghool]

Cool video. Never knew that

[@kharnifex]

Don't forget how often the trio have their clothes stripped off them

[@hoppyhoppy9267]

❤❤❤

[@gustyko8668]

You could argue that Lust, Envy and Gluttony from Full Metal Alchemist may have been inspired by them to a certain extent. Obviously minus the comedic aspect......well, maybe except Gluttony in the manga and Brotherhood.

[@thecharlierealz]

Im actually seeing more of cruella deville and her henchmen in them. 101 dalmations pre dates everything mentioned here

[@thecharlierealz]

Blah spoke too soon, how embarassing

[@MercuryFalcon]

I was about to say

[@WormyJester8]

And now Tatsunoko is following Disney producing live-action backstory drama about Doronjo

[@jamesmoss3424]

It all make sense. 😀👍

[@TsukiCondor]

Where did you find English Subbed Yatterman '77

[@MercuryFalcon]

It was subbed by anime sol, there still some torrents around the internet

[@TsukiCondor]

@@MercuryFalcon Ah ok,I just wanna say Anime Hero send me too you and I LOVE your videos!

[@iwasanangryyoungman]

I just hope that Time Bokan and Doctor Who cross over

[@VexX6]

wats dat song at the end

[@MercuryFalcon]

Time Bokan 24 OP 1

[@nicholaslull1415]

Where is the English version of time bokan

[@eblom366]

do the villains in Nadia trace to Time Bokan, too?

[@gustyko8668]

Yes

[@LoveFactorySweatShop]

It's always a creepy old scientist hanging out with little children. SMH.

[@Souhib-Bas]

Man i swear to God there wan an anime in 2015 i think was only about those villain but I can't remember the names of it

[@MercuryFalcon]

Probably Time Bokan 24

[@Souhib-Bas]

@@MercuryFalcon i found it tho (Yatterman Night) is it some how related to this anime?

[@MercuryFalcon]

Souhib Bas yeah it’s interesting it’s the descendants of the villains trying to defeat Yatterman but it’s played serious. I enjoyed it.

[@Souhib-Bas]

Actually i was right it is related to the time bokan series, the series celebrated the 40th anniversary of the time bokan.

[@raveastjennifersandy9220]

I've familiarly watched Kiramekiman about trio villain.

[@panrandom2127]

Bro yattaman op song on italian is fire

[@picolete]

4:50 aren't those the guys from Zorro?

[@nicholassims9837]

I always wanted Fairly Oddparents to do something like this with Vicky, Mr Crocker and Foop

[@MercuryFalcon]

Foop???

[@nicholassims9837]

@@MercuryFalcon baby Poofs evil counterpart . Now 2 of them dide form a league with another Villain Dark Laser but i feek since Vicky was the first antagonist from the very beginning she should have been the third member .

[@MercuryFalcon]

@@nicholassims9837 I am apparently very out of the loop on Fairly Odd Parents lore

[@victorgomesweise.0393]

I Love the... Glamour

[@channelwithout]

70s anime looks kind of interesting...I guess? Which 70s anime would people recommend?

[@MercuryFalcon]

The original Mobile Suit Gundam. Easy to find in high quality with a good dub. There's also Science Ninja Team Gatchaman which is dubbed and subbed on the streaming site HiDive.

[@0047sssss]

Mazinger Z, Gatchaman, Space Battleship Yamato, Captain Harlock, Lupin III Parts I & II

[@ChangedMyNameFinally69]

Anything from Tomino

[@joadarium9605]

Didn't these dudes ran into Casshan once?

[@kemskyfarezy]

Voxy Onepiece too

[@trexsaurus]

Brooo

[@ChaoticBloodMoon]

Amazing video and I have to say another trio of mine if you exclude Viscount Pygman since he wasn't in it much but Dr.Hell and his two minions Count Brocken and Baron Ashura from Mazinger Z is another trio as well. But as I said that's if you exclude Pygman XD Another Go Nagai classic and this is also from the 70s kzbin.info/www/bejne/iaq1oHlsbZ6JiKc

[@haileyshannon7548]

Isn't everything basically a rip-off/inspired by something else: The Flintstones=The Honeymooners Top Cat= Sgt. Bilko Chief Wiggum= Edward G. Robertson The Monkees=The Beatles The Lion King=Kimba the White Lion/Jungle Emperor

[@ChangedMyNameFinally69]

Last one was heavily disproven by YMS

[@SlightlySylveon]

1 dislike?

[@NotOrdinaryInGames]

Nadia version is still the best.

[@imreplyingtothiscomment2378]

108th like

[@nicholassims9837]

I think Mlp mean 3 with Cozy, Crystals and Terk is the only time to have 2 females and 1 male .

[@mikienowhoosebad1438]

Would you say timebocon is a cool anime in spite of its ridiculous description?

[@avaranabraham8507]

team rocket is reincarnation of the doronjo gang

[@m.a.packer5450]

If there's one thing anime writers and artists are good at, it's plagiarizing each other

[@MazinGo-1972]

No that's common everywhere.

[@fishdude2954]

Using a general trope isn't plagiarizing though, that would only be true if they just recolored the characters or gave them near-identical personalities and backstories

[@Firedrake-SP]

I’m almost getting tired of Team Rocket all the time, as much as I’m getting tired of Ash and Pikachu all the time.

[@fishdude2954]

The Rocket trio are great characters but they're really underutilized, it'd be great if we got some Ash-only and some Rocket-only episodes so both groups could be developed more and not be interrupted by the other Or if the show had a rotating cast, like if we got episodes about what Tracey or Richie were up to

[@sephirrothvt]

When you thought some trope was original and turned out it has just been the rip-off of a rip - off

[@fishdude2954]

It _is_ a trope, tropes are storytelling conventions. The idea of a villainous trio is the trope, but the different variations, backstories, and personalities of trios in different works are what make them original/unique A ripoff on the other hand would be like what Video Brinquedo did with Disney movies

[@sephirrothvt]

@@fishdude2954 hahahaha indeed, but I thought pokemon started an original story line but I guess copying from others is an old thing. There is no original content no more.

[@Jack-tn8os]

BRO I WANTED TO KNOW THE ORIGIN OF TEAM ROCKET NOT ORIGIN OF THE “TIME SKELETONS” OR THE “DYNAMO STONE” WTF!