Reviewing/talking about every episode bulbapedia categorized as 'focused on meowth' #2: who gets to keep togepi
we all know how this one goes! teamrocket steals egg and all at once Meowth's pokemon instincts kick in (putting this in my trans meowth collection)
theres also this cute bit at the begginign of Jessie and Meowth excluding James from schemeing lmao
anyway
wow this episode is adorable <3333 also other Meowth fans may recall that one time Maddie Blaustein (Meowth's Voice actress) said that if Meowth got to keep togepi they would've been happy togetehr and Meowth would be a great dad
anyway so Ash and co try to steal back the egg: we get that comedic 'i got it-!' 'I GOT IT' thing (that happaneed with the elements of harmony in Return of harmony part 2 i rememebr)
unrelated sidenote
Pikachu has brown eyes! :3
this is important because it means that Krazyshipping can be
I'll be sure to reblog here when I inevitably draw that!
love how everyone just shares witnessing the beautiful wonders of pokemon birth before going back to fighting lol
so anyway
custody battle ensues!
literally because Ash has a one track mind and was like 'well obviously we Pokemon Battle' (idea: au where they all just play rock paper scissors instead)
look at how he looks at Togepi he is a proud father 🥺
we also get a 'meowth forgets he's a pokemon' moment
and honestly I feel like Meowth participating in this really is proof of how he cares for togepi, Meowth is not a battler, hell the only move he uses on the regular is fury swipes, ussually for the purpose of being a menace to the Js
also my god 'Meowth give him your scratch attack' 'okay here goes' MY GOD HES JUST A LITTLE GUY
Ash and Misty just being like 'damn' is fucking hialrious to me as well
so Meowth improvises by throwing conveniently placed water buckets on onyx, showcasing his resourcefulness and problem-solving skills.
he also says the line "i am merely a parent fighting for it's child" which ogh my heart
more importantly: little paw peace sign!!!!
theres so many small bits here 'in that case I choose meowth' aka his only option. 'i still remember when you were an egg' homie that was litterally yesterday
anyway: i really like this episode! particularly it's a prime example of one of Meowth's two 'core traits' as I mentioned in my last post. I think this episode really showcases the dichotomy and intersection (ain't that an oxymoron?) of meowth's identity. I mean during the Pokemon battle part he literally plays two roles (going in my meowth identity crisis collection) this episode Meowth feels particularly in touch with his pokemon side, all while still being a weird little goofster. I think a lot of the best parts of his personality are on display here, his admission of defeat feels reminiscent of the philosphical and 'actually gives good advice' (i cant think of a word for it) traits of his that we see explored more throughout the series (Chimchar, Litten, Mimikyu, Ditto, off the top of my head)
Reviewing/talking about every episode bulbapedia categorized as 'focused on meowth' #1: Island of the Giant Pokemon
anyway! after I do all of these I think i'll do the episodes categorized as 'focused on team rocket' :3
so this is part of the 'st anne arc' if you will, after escaping the sinking of st.anne. I remember this being one of my favorite epsiodes as a kid!!! I really liked seeing the interaction between the pokemon
for starters the moment Jessie and James take notice of Meowth's absence they say how they're the invicible 'teamrocket' with this pose
they were expecting to complete the bit with them
also he says the last couple of lines of the motto and theres the little musical motif in the background: I jsut think it's adorable lmao: particualrly how he says 'surrender now and prepare to fight!' and the very next line is
Meowth instructs Ekans and Koffing to attact and is confused when they don't: explaining how they only listen to Jessie and James respectfully.
in his shock Meowth says that he is 'twice as smart' as those 'you call masters' : and this begins probably the MOST INTERSTING part of this episode
I went ahead and decidded to also check out the original japanese at of curiousity, it's pretty much a match. the sub on internet archive had the dialogue here as
Nyarth: what! nyou really think of those two clumsy blockheads as nyour masters?! [ in japanese nyarth speaks with a ton of little 'nyas' added, this is sometimes implemented particualrly in the early seasons with english meowth, specifically saying 'meowth' instead of 'me' on occasion. i wondered if maybe he spoke with osaka dialect sense those are often dubbed into brooklyn accents, but nah, the brooklyn accent was just a way of translating Nyarth's unique speech patterns in general: ANYWAY seems the subtitles are trying to put those nyas in with any words that start with y or a sounds.]
Arbo: a master's a master (Dogars: no other, no other)
Nyarth: but we nyare the villains, right? (listening the word he's using is 'warui' which I guess you can best translate as 'bad' excuse me for being a nerd but warui is also where wario and waluigis names came from, while the mario-wario makes perfect sense with m and w in english, waluigi as a pun only works in japanese (sense the actually character of the lu in luigi is the same as the ru in warui, l=r pretty much, so in japanese it's a perfect pun of warui and ruigi crossed over but in english it sorta just sounds like your tagging on the wa from wario) the villains do bad things whether there or nyot
Arbo: there's no such thing as villainous pokemon (honestly I think they should of subtitled this the 'bad guys' because 'theres no such thing as a bad pokemon' is a way more accurate and better sounding translation, also because villain tends too instead indicate taking an antagonistic role, where as this is more so talking about moral standing) (more Dogars backup dialoguue)
Nyarth: are nyou saying pokemon can't be villains?
Arbo: when a pokemon does bad things, it's because their master is bad.
Nyarth: nyo way! but I wyant to do bad things even without a master
(there is a small weird translation with that line into the dub but i chalk it up to lip flaps + an exprssion of speech)
anyway! that was a fun little side tangent! back to the point
I think this line is really interesting for a ton of reasons, for starters I think the point here is less so that 'pokemon are inherently good' and more so that Pokemon don't fit into human concepts of morality.
this is what I mean when I talk about one of Meowths core traits being 'the conflicting human and pokemon parts of his identity' Meowth is shocked/taken aback by this because he does view himself within human concepts of morality, he does acknowledge his actions as 'bad' from a human perspective (his perspective) so particularly the idea that 'pokemon only do bad things when their human guidance is bad/tells them to' is particularly offputting, as Meowth expresses that he 'always seems to act like a rat'
Meowth expresses particularly that he is 'bad' without human influence, and honestly I find this sentence to sort of weird as self-deprecating at another glance. especially when we take into account Meowth's past as a street-cat (which involved being a pest to humans)
I think Meowth proabbly also feels pretty fucking betrayed, as Ekans and Koffing ignore his pleas for help, like these are his teamates and he just learned apparently they don't share the same drive/goal as he and the Js
anyway the rest of the Pokemon talk while Meowth is just tied to a tree which godamn thats fuckign hilarous
KRAZYSHIPPING MOMENT
pikachu unties Meowth before Meowth even asked: there's this wonderful pause of Meowth staring at Pikachu like he's trying to asess his actions afterwarsds. (he says 'i couldve gotten out myself' becuse all cats are at least a little bit tsundere)
ANYWAY
COZY BUNDLED UP POKEMON BE UPON YE
also I spotted an animation error! (as an artist spotting animation errors is a fun little game i play litterally whenever watching animations)
it's only visible for a second but theres a clip where meowths paws are colored wrong
so thats pretty much all!
I really like this episode. 10/10 >:3c
Delia is a morning person and was surprised to learn that Jessie was even more of a morning person than her
Jessie's a massive romantic and is usually the one to plan all their dates
Jessie and Delia enjoy doing karaoke together
After finding out Delia wanted to be model, Jessie started making a lot of new outfits for her using her years of expertise from making disguises
Jessie enjoys giving Delia makeovers and Delia loves getting them
Delia enjoys being big spoon
Delia initiated their first kiss
Jessie cuts Delia’s hair for her
Once Jessie becomes a nurse and starts going to work, Delia starts packing lunches for her every day. It’s usually way too much food
Whenever Delia’s working in the kitchen, Jessie’s always waddling right behind her. Not really being much help but Delia doesn’t mind
Jessie's not great at cooking but makes an effort to make food for Delia when she notices Delia's tired. It's usually bad but Delia appreciates the thought
Delia is incredibly fond of Jessie’s Pokémon, Wobbuffet and Gourgeist in particular
Delia is terrified of snake Pokémon
Delia never really drank before meeting Jessie but now they have wine nights together. They usually end with Jessie passed out in Delia’s lap
When Delia gets really drunk, she gets REALLY affectionate and grabby
Delia can't swim and it's her secret shame
Professor Oak is very cordial with Jessie but also wary of her. He mostly wants to make sure Delia is taken care of and won't get her heart broken
Pikachu comes around to Jessie rather quickly after realizing she’s not really a threat and finding out how good at head scratches she is (she has nice long nails)
Mimey takes the longest to come around to Jessie
Jessie calls Delia “my Deerling” and Delia calls Jessie "Smoochum"
Delia loves when Jessie gives her kisses on the forehead
Delia is a huge Jessilina fan. Jessie reveals that she is Jessilina but Delia doesn’t believe her at first
Jessie and Delia do a lot of movie nights together. Jessie loves sobbing at romcoms and Delia likes really fucked up horror movies for some reason (Jessie’s terrified of them but doesn’t want Delia to think she’s a coward)
Jessie likes to randomly scoop Delia up and carry her around the house
Delia picked up a habit of talking to herself prior to Jessie moving in. It frequently catches Jessie off guard
Jessie gets irritated when people flirt with Delia. Mostly because that's her girl but also because she's mad they weren't flirting with her, herself.
Delia tends to keep a lot of her negative feelings to herself but after meeting Jessie and seeing how unapologetically expressive she is, she starts letting her guard down a bit. She rants about rude customers and Jessie could listen to her all day
Because she lived alone for so long, Delia sometimes needs her space. Jessie’s still getting used to this (as someone who hates being alone)
Delia is very particular about how chores are done as well as how things are organized in her house
Prior to getting her own job, Jessie would just do chores then sit around at the Ketchum house waiting for Delia to come home. She’s very bad at entertaining herself
Jessie puts on a healthy amount of relationship weight over time. Long gone are the days of Jessie eating snow (out of necessity) and starving
Jessie still likes snowgasboard as a treat
Delia and Jessie both have abandonment issues and require a lot of reassurance from one another
Delia's not super strong but she starts working out in order to one day carry Jessie on their wedding day
Jessie, who is used to being on the run, gets antsy from staying home more frequently. She takes up a lot of yoga and running. Delia joins sometimes.
Ash Headcanons
When Ash first found out that his mom was dating Jessie, he was, justifiably, suspicious of her.
Early on Ash would secretly prank Jessie in hopes that it'd make her leave
Jessie and Ash slowly bond through Pokémon battles as well as sharing Pokémon facts with each other
Ash never calls Jessie “mom” and she’s very okay with that. He does however call her “dad” to piss her off
Jessie calls Ash “champ” in retaliation
Jessie's been quietly invested in Ash's love life, having seen him travel with so many people and witnessing all the crushes people have had on him.
James Headcanons
James is aroace and happy not being in a relationship
Now that he's settled down in Pallet, James spends a lot of his time indulging in his many hobbies (bottle cap/Pokéball collecting, gardening, building miniature models of various things, raising and training Pokémon, etc.)
Because Jessie kept passing out at wine nights, Delia started inviting James to them and it's now become more of their thing
James started off as just a waiter at Delia's restaurant but Delia found out he was great at cooking so they exchange roles sometimes
Jessie frequently goes to him for advice on how to impress Delia and be a better person for her. He's the nicest person she knows.
Jessie is still pretty affectionate and close with James and he gets freaked out about it, thinking Delia would have a problem with it (she does not)
James and Ash really get along. Even early on when he was still getting used to Jessie being around the house, he'd confide in James (and James, like a secret helper, would help Jessie out by letting her know Ash's needs)
Meowth Headcanons
Meowth took getting fired from Team Rocket the hardest
Delia and Professor Oak filled the Giovanni shaped hole in his heart
Oak had a really hard time trusting Meowth at first and whenever he translated anything from the Pokémon, Oak wasn't sure whether to believe him or not
After some time working at Oak's lab, Oak gave Meowth a pet on the head after he did a good job and it altered his brain chemistry forever
Meowth had a hard time making friends with Ash's Pokémon at Oak's lab (obviously) but Infernape, right away was happy to have him around. He helped all the Pokémon come around and get to know Meowth
Meowth was the first one to pick up on Jessie's crush on Delia. Unlike James, he didn't get too involved, worried that Jessie dating Delia then potentially blowing it might ruin a good thing (his views on love are a bit jaded after his experiences)
Meowth is now very supportive of Jessie and Delia, and is happy that one of his best friends found love
Other Headcanons
Professor Oak is very cordial with Jessie but also wary of her. He mostly wants to make sure Delia is taken care of and won't get her heart broken
Pikachu comes around to Jessie rather quickly after realizing she’s not really a threat and finding out how good at head scratches she is (she has nice long nails)
Mimey takes the longest to come around to Jessie. Jessie's asked Meowth to help her figure out what Mimey's deal is but Meowth is also scared to talk to Mimey.
Seviper desperately longs for Delia's love and attention but she's too scared of it. She eventually gets to the point where she can pet it with no issues as long as Jessie is also in the room
Early on, Delia's customers start to pick up on the fact that Delia was happier. They assumed she'd finally found a new boyfriend but they were very surprised to find out she was dating a bombshell of a woman
The people of Pallet were initially a bit scared of Jessie. Not a lot of women there look quite like her. She has an intimidating aura but over time find that she's quite pleasant, especially when she's with Delia
General Team Rocket Heacanons!
Headcanons for Jessie, James, Cassidy, Butch, Attila and Hun! Wanted to type something like this up for my own reference and future drawing
Do Jessie and James hang out allot in your AU or have they more so gone their separate ways in terms of life? I never really see them with each other in your AU lol!
Oh they definitely hang out a lot! They can't be apart for too long. They usually have playdates for their Pokemon but it's an excuse for them to hang out along with Meowth
Comic-wise you just don't see him as much bc it is a shipping au where the characters being shipped are the focus haha. I have a few ideas about him and Jessie I'd like to get into tho~
being low-key obsessed with the wider world of this AU, here are some of my unorganised thoughts about the other characters and how they interact:
Oak has a very different masculine presentation/energy to James, and Jessie is mildly uncomfortable with it (and sometimes repulsed, e.g. by pit stains, visible ass-crack when he hunkers down, scratching of certain places)
There's a bit of tension between the two of them because Oak doesn't want to see Delia get hurt again, and later because he feels displaced as Ash's father figure. Meanwhile Jessie senses the tension and isn't aware of the second reason for it, which breeds resentment on her side because hasn't she proved herself by now??
Delia and Jessie's first big argument happened when Delia found out that Jessie had made James trade away his Victreebel. Delia was shocked and a little scared that Jessie could hurt James (who she clearly loves very much) that way. Jessie got defensive and upset because that's just one of a million terrible things she did in Team Rocket, and if Delia clutches her pearls every time she finds out about one then... then... why did Jessie think this could ever work out?! She actually started packing a bag, which of course panicked Delia more (it lessened when Jessie sobbed that she might as well go live in the woods since everybody hates her). Delia stopped her and explained why she reacted the way she did. She agreed that Jessie would have a clean slate with her, but she couldn't ever start packing her stuff in the middle of an argument again. Jessie was horrified when she realised she'd triggered Delia's abandonment issues and promised her she'd never do it again. After they made up, Jessie saved some money and presented James with a Leaf Stone, awkwardly telling him she was pretty sure Ash would know where to catch Weepinbell. Over the top hugging and wailing ensued.
Early on in their relationship, James obliviously crashed Delia and Jessie's more casual dates ("Going to the bar? Count me in!") On one such night Delia grabbed Oak and pleaded with him to entertain James. This led to the two guys bonding, once they found common ground (poetry and getting folded by Pokémon) and after a few failed attempts ("The blonde at that table over there - what do you think?" "...Well those earrings look cheap.")
James becomes a favourite of some of the old dears who frequent Delia's restaurant, he's such a polite young man and always so well turned out. They're surprisingly progressive ("Oh stop trying to set him up, Danielle, he's happy as he is. Like your Emily!" "Ohhhh.")
Meowth briefly has Crazy Meowth Professor Oak Fantasies but they fade because he actually has a good boss now and doesn't need to imagine.
Meowth forms a clique at the corral with Infernape, Muk and Kingler. Bulbasaur takes a while to warm up to him though.
Meowth's jealous of Tracey at first but calms down once he's getting regular praise and appreciation from his new boss. He still has a competitive side, however.
Seviper is very sad that Delia is afraid of it and tries various wacky schemes to make her like it. Such schemes include disguising itself as less scary Pokémon and staging a wild Pokémon attack, which Mimey foils.
Surprisingly, Meowth is the only ex-Team Rocket Pokémon who isn't more or less instantly accepted by Ash's Pokémon. This is because he was essentially a wild Pokémon who made his own decisions, versus a trained Pokémon obeying their person.
I feel like the two major points of contention in early Hanamusa would be Ash's reaction to his mom dating in general and his mom dating Jessie in particular, and Jessie's criminal past. I think Delia would be pretty forgiving of people who want to turn over new leaves and have set about doing just that, but finding out about Victreebel might throw her for a loop. It was pretty awful of Jessie (and Meowth) to make James trade Victreebel, despite his tears, despite him explaining how much Victreebel meant to him
(not that James is an innocent angel either, by the way, he has on at least two occasions blown the TRio's combined savings on get rich quick schemes for himself, which is a particularly horrible thing to do to two people who grew up poor)
and I think Delia would view it differently than a more general/abstract "I used to be in a criminal organisation, I joined up because there was nothing else for me, I wanted to be something else but The World Wouldn't Let Me" (oh gee I think Delia might relate to life deferring/thwarting her dreams don't you). And of course Jessie's never had a relationship work out for her, and now she's dating Ms Goody Two Shoes Big Hearted Mother Twerp, come on, no-one's that forgiving and sweet and wonderful. And... Delia isn't. Not right away. It's something Delia has to resolve for herself, too. Can she take Jessie as she is now and leave past Jessie in the past? I think in the long run, she can.
And I do think after this argument they talk about it a little more, and Jessie feels like she can open up about her past and how it makes her feel (guilty, ashamed, like she can never make up for it, there's too many bad things). Delia thinks the Leaf Stone for James was a lovely way to apologise. She's very proud that Jessie came up with that all on her own.
