Everyone gives Team Skull a bad rap - heck, even the game itself tries to go out of its way to show how 'pathetic' these people are, how despite their stealing Pokémon from new trainers they are little more than a nuisance. This brings to my mind the question of why this is. Now, obviously, because they are a 'Team' they have to follow a particular thread, but their Pokémon are not necessarily bad; several of them late in the game have Haunters that can lay down some serious damage with their fast Shadow Balls (especially if, like me, you're packing Steel-types and forgetting that they're no longer resisting Ghost- and Dark-type attacks). However, bits and pieces of their dialogue keep popping up and drawing my attention. Phrases like, "We don't have any names; we're just Grunts!" or "The boss is a complete bully, but I'm just an incomplete Grunt. Sometimes I want to smash the world, but I'm always afraid of it." References to the fact that these are all trainers who failed at the island challenge - even Guzma himself failed to become a Trial Captain - are all over the place, if you take what they say seriously (and I've not seen any reason not to). My mind goes straight to this: "Just what did these 'failed trainers' go through to push them to the point of despair, that they would give up everything, even their name, to become faceless grunts (*points to the facemasks that they wear*) that follow Guzma? And how did he manage to convince them to do this? Also, how did they manage to wall off Po Town? It clearly isn't getting any electricity or even food, yet they insist on subsisting inside this... castle-like structure..." Now, I've only just made it here in my playthrough, and likely more will be revealed, but I felt like I needed to talk about it, at least if it's just to myself.
Good point. Im became a huge skull guzma fan. But no clue why. I think its not only with skull but most grunts and teams on severla regions. Still the part where they say . We all have the name grunt when they talk about clothes stays funny
Team Skull is my personal favorite team besides Plasma. They're the only ones I never really took seriously and their comedic dialogue kept that lightheartedness of Sun & Moon alive. It really reminds me of some of today's work ethic. I see many people most of them from the newer generations (I'm part of this, so I guess I'm guilty as well) but now with conveniences and liberalism if you will, things have changed. Things get handed to you on silver platters and it's normal to overachieve. Team Skull is the exact opposite of that spectrum. While they all had different upbringings (I imagine there are some dangerous criminals in their ranks) they're also a family of sorts. And when the island challenge got tougher, they decided to throw in the towel and call it quits instead of persisting. They'd then blame the challenge for being "too hard" because they didn't succeed right away. It's hard yes...but not impossible.
I don't like Team Skull. Skuntank always K.O.s me before I can get a hit off. Wait, wrong Team Skull? But I thought... ...Sun and Moon? Right, I'll try again. Sorry about that, thought we were talking about Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky. I haven't played Sun/Moon, so I can't say whether I like or hate Team Skull.
I've never really cared for the villain teams, or at least the grunts, mostly due to the fact their dialogue kinda ruins the whole vibe for the team. That aside, it could be that these grunts saw Guzma as a sort of symbol, a beacon. He failed to become a trial captain, yet look at how strong he is. 'I can be that strong even though I'm a failure', that kind of thing.
To me, team skull embodies the flaws of the island challenge. the biggest one being that everyone *HAS* to do it and that you aren't taken seriously if you don't succeed. The next being that while z-moves are cool and a huge help in battle, they do serve as a crutch that can hinder creativity and cunning strategy in battle. Insted of luring an opponent in then cornering them, you just "hit it till it dies", or do one big attack and leave yourself completely open. Where's the challange in one shotting an oponent like it's nothing. If I lose, I want to have at least had a chance to put up a good fight. It just seems like these people were abondoned and forsaken BECAUSE of the island challenge. That never really sat right with me and it makes me wary of the whole idea of the island challenge. It really makes you think of the moral implications of sending kids on a Pokémon journey. It's the 5th gen ethics question all over again.
Team Skull is definitely a team that’s hard to take seriously. But you can tell that things have been hard for them at times. And being just called a grunt is not a luxury in the slightest. Maybe they are on purposefully as funny as they are, to make them possibly feel better about themselves, knowing that there aren’t as many expectations to fulfill as before.
There’s also activities they could have done that aren’t mentioned. For all we know, some of them might have gotten the hobby or stealling from pokemarts, mugging children, breaking windows, etc. They also live on small islands, so once your reputation is shot, there’s really no chance of escaping it. The labels them as worthless or scum, their opportunities on repairing their reputation drops, they do something wrong in a way to lash out, and the labels increase. It’s not like we see much of a counseling system for children here either. The only ones who tried to help them are Kakuna Hala and Hau and that’s not until after he game ends. This kinda gives me an idea for a story. One grunt leaves the islands to a region no one knows him or her and starts a new life with that past as over. While trying to be a better trainer, former feelings and memories of being a disappointment or failling will keep getting in the way. Then, as a final trial, a school trip to Alola.
