Team Rocket Grunts (Japanese: ロケットだんいん Team Rocket Member in Generation I, ロケットだんいんのしたっぱ Team Rocket Underling Member in Generation II, ロケットだんのしたっぱ Team Rocket Underling in Generations III, IV, and VII, shortened in Generation I to だんいん Member) are members of Team Rocket. They act as fodder, enforcers, soldiers, workmen, crooks, and backup for various leaders in the criminal organization.

Terminology

See also: Executive → Terminology

Generation I

In Generation I, the Trainer class "ROCKET" (Japanese: ロケットだんいん Team Rocket Member; in the end-battle dialogue, shortened to だんいん Member) refers to the Trainers who would be later known as Grunts. In Pokémon Yellow, the Team Rocket trio is also collectively referred to with this term (both the English and Japanese versions), while Jessie and James are never named in the game dialogue or its manual. For instance, in Pokémon battles:

• "ROCKET wants to fight!"
• "ROCKET sent out <Pokémon>!"
• "<player> defeated ROCKET!"
• "ROCKET: You will regret this!" (one of the quotes when the Team Rocket trio is defeated in Pokémon Yellow)

Generation II

In Generation II, the term "Grunt" was introduced. Each of these characters is known as a "ROCKET GRUNT" (Japanese: ロケットだんいんの したっぱ Team Rocket Underling Member). For instance: "ROCKET GRUNT wants to battle!"

In the game data, this is formed by the Trainer class "ROCKET" (Japanese: ロケットだんいん Team Rocket Member) and character name "GRUNT" (Japanese: したっぱ Underling).

In this generation, the male and female Grunts are grouped in two separate Trainer classes equally named "ROCKET", each of them with its own battle sprite (in addition to two other "ROCKET" Trainer classes for the male and female Executives). Each of the Team Rocket Grunts was individually named "GRUNT".

This generation introduced female members of the Team Rocket. However, in all generations, Team Rocket Grunts do not use the gender symbols (♂♀), unlike several other Trainer classes.

Dialogue example:

• "Heh, I'm just a GRUNT. I don't know the password. Too bad for you."

Generation III

In Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, this is known as "TEAM ROCKET GRUNT" (Japanese: ロケットだんの したっぱ Team Rocket Underling). In English, "ROCKET" from previous generation was expanded to "TEAM ROCKET". In Japanese, 「だんいん」 (Team Member) was shortened to 「だん」(Team).

In the game data, this is formed by the Trainer class "TEAM ROCKET" (Japanese: ロケットだん Team Rocket) and character name "GRUNT" (Japanese: したっぱ Underling). Unlike the previous generation, there is a single "TEAM ROCKET" Trainer class, which equally applies to the male and female versions of both Grunts and Admins. Each Team Rocket Grunt character was individually named "GRUNT".

Dialogue example:

• "GRUNT: Stop! I give up! I’ll leave quietly! ...Okay. I’ll return the TM I stole. <player> recovered TM28 from the TEAM ROCKET GRUNT."

Generation IV onwards

In Pokémon HeartGold, SoulSilver, Let's Go, Pikachu!, and Let's Go, Eevee!, this is known as "Team Rocket Grunt" (Japanese: ロケットだんの したっぱ Team Rocket Underling).

In the core series games

Being the underlings of Team Rocket, the grunts have appeared in all of the games this villainous team has appeared in; namely, in Generation I and Generation II, as well as their remakes, FireRed and LeafGreen and HeartGold and SoulSilver, respectively.

How grunts are referred to has varied slightly throughout the generations. A grunt is called Rocket (Japanese: ロケットだんいん Team Rocket Member) in Generation I, Rocket Grunt (Japanese: ロケットだんいんのしたっぱ Team Rocket Underling Member) in Generation II, and finally Team Rocket Grunt (Japanese: ロケットだんのしたっぱ Team Rocket Underling) in Generations III, IV, and VII. Additionally, unlike other Trainer classes, Team Rocket Grunts are never given individual names, a tradition continued with the other villainous teams, whose members are also referred to as simply grunts. Due to the nature of how NPC Trainers are named, however, the Trainer class was technically Rocket in Generations I and II, and Team Rocket in Generations III, IV, and VII, with the name from Generation II onwards being Grunt. Despite them all having the same in-game name, there are four grunts that appear to be related to each other, the Rocket Brothers^RBYFRLG/Rocket Sisters^PE, in Silph Co.

Team Rocket Grunts use Pokémon from a variety of types, but often employ Poison-type Pokémon more than others. The majority of their Pokémon are from evolutionary families introduced in Generation I.

Appearance

Male Team Rocket Grunts are depicted as men wearing black uniforms with a big red R on them, as well as gray gloves and boots (white in Generations I and II). They also wear a black cap, which in the first three Generations completely hides their short hair, though it is shown as pink in Generation IV. In Generation I, they each hold a whip, though, in a similar change to the Cooltrainers, it is omitted in all further depictions. They also seem to be middle-aged adults in Generation I, though they appear younger in further games. Jessie was the first female Team Rocket Grunt to debut in Pokémon Yellow. Alongside James, their appearances match their anime counterparts.

In Generation II, female Team Rocket Grunts were expanded upon. These female grunts are depicted as red haired women in white Team Rocket uniforms without caps, with their design being very similar to Cassidy and their outfit similar to Jessie's. However, their overworld sprites had caps and black uniforms like the males. In Generations III and IV, their design is drastically changed, and they are shown more similar to their male counterparts, wearing a black uniform with a red R, a black cap, and gray gloves and boots, though they wear black shorts or a skirt instead of pants. They are shown to have short, pink hair in the games, though their artwork from Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen shows their hair as green.

Artwork

Sprites and models

In the core series

In other games

History

Main article: Team Rocket → In the core series games

In Pokémon Red and Blue and Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, the grunts are found throughout Kanto creating general disruption. They first appear in Mt. Moon, going after Fossils. One grunt is found at the end of the Nugget Bridge recruiting for Team Rocket, and another had stolen a TM from an elderly couple in Cerulean City. In Celadon City, the grunts operate a base under the Game Corner trafficking Pokémon all over the world, and they are also responsible for the murder of the mother Marowak in Pokémon Tower as part of a plan to steal Cubone and sell their skulls. They also appear when they take over the Silph Co. headquarters. After the player defeats them there, Giovanni disappears, later reappearing at his own Gym, and the grunts are not seen after this in the original games. However, in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, two grunts remain in an old man's house next to the restaurant in Celadon City; they will never leave, nor will they battle the player. Additionally, in Pokémon Yellow, both Jessie and James are from the Rocket Trainer class, and appear next to the regular grunts in Mt. Moon, the Game Corner and Silph Co.

In Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, grunts are also found on several of the Sevii Islands, even after Giovanni's defeat. On One Island, the player faces two in front of a cave which leads to the Ruby for the Pokémon Network Center. On Four Island, the player helps Lorelei, who nearly defeated a grunt with her Lapras's Ice Beam while interrogating Team Rocket at Icefall Cave. On Six Island, there is a grunt in front of Altering Cave. On Five Island, the player finds a group of male and female grunts operating from a warehouse obtaining a large number of Pokémon, most of them rare, and trying to make a working prototype of the high-frequency sound wave machine which would influence evolution. After the player defeats the grunts and the two Admins, they will pull out, but not before telling the player that they will find Giovanni and restore Team Rocket. They have not been seen in the Sevii Islands since.

In the Generation II games and their remakes, three years after the events of the original games, Team Rocket, under the administration of the Executives, create havoc throughout Johto gaining profit and trying to communicate with their old leader, Giovanni. The grunts are first seen operating in the Slowpoke Well, led by Proton, cutting off Slowpoke's tails to sell. In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, a Grunt is seen bothering a Kimono Girl at the Ecruteak City Dance Theater. In Mahogany Town, the player finds Team Rocket HQ underneath a souvenir shop, in which Team Rocket have been using a fully-working high-frequency sound wave machine that influences Pokémon evolution, transmitting it from an antenna in a tree. They also help their Executives take over the Goldenrod Radio Tower, as well as guard the Radio Director, who is hidden in the Goldenrod Tunnel. After defeating Archer, most grunts are gone for good. However, a lone grunt appears in Cerulean City later on, unaware of the disbanding of Team Rocket, who has stolen the Machine Part from the Kanto Power Plant. After he is defeated, he states that he will return to his home country and revive Team Rocket there. It is later revealed that when he returned home to Icirrus City, he fell in love and started a family, effectively abandoning the idea for a quiet and peaceful life with his wife and child. Team Rocket has not been seen since.

Trainer list

Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow

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

Pokémon Stadium 2