TEAM MEANIES
tw: vague allusions to death. contains spoilers for pokémon mystery dungeon: red and blue rescue teams!team meanies is basically my all-time favorite group of antagonists in any media ever. they don't get a lot of attention compared to other pokémon characters (even compared to other characters in the pokémon mystery dungeon franchise!) and i wanted to talk a little about them and why i love them so much!!
jump to: Who are Team Meanies? / Gengar / Medicham / Ekans
Who are Team Meanies?
team meanies is the name of a rescue team from pokémon: red and blue rescue teams. the team is composed of a gengar, medicham, and ekans. while the primary point of a rescue team in the canon is to help other pokémon in need, through rescue missions, fetch quests, or other helpful tasks, team meanies are in the business to get lots of treasure and take over the world!!
in short, team meanies are the primary antagonists of rescue teams. they are the driving force for a number of plot points in the game. more importantly, they are completely ridiculous and silly, with the trio acting more like bullies for most of the game instead of a true threat.
back to topGengar
the de facto leader of team meanies, gengar is bossy, loud, and, well, mean! he starts off the game immediately hostile towards the player character and their partner. he does a lot of really awful stuff, and ultimately sets the climax of the game into motion.
despite this rise from a low-threat to causing great harm to the main characters' team, we learn a great deal about his true history and significance to the overall plot of rescue teams, and he has an impressive story arc by his final moments on screen.
gengar specifically is my absolute favorite of the three (though of course i love all the meanies!!) and is one of my actual all-time favorite video game antagonists!!!
back to topMedicham
medicham is basically second in command of team meanies. she has a pretty rotten attitude is definitely acts like a "mean girl"... which i love lol.
her rude attitude does seem to be only surface level once the main story is completed. she clearly cares a lot about her team mates and expresses concern when gengar starts acting "off" during team meanies's final storyline. it's confirmed in a rescue team DX special video that medicham and ekans were already friends before joining team meanies.
also as a fun easter egg, it was somewhat popular fanon that medicham from rescue teams and medicham from team charm of explorers were, somehow, the same one. this messes a lot with canon, but it was a fun idea. it was then basically confirmed with super, where there is a chain of connections between gengar, ekans, medicham, gardevoir, and lopunny. it also impled that gardevoir of team charm was also gardevoir in rescue teams, which i didn't expect!!
back to topEkans
the final member of team meanies, ekans is the yes-man of the group. he doesn't have a big part in the main story, mostly just agreeing to what the other two say, but is just as rude and awful as his team mates!!
like medicham, there are hints that he isn't truly as heartless as the team tries to make themselves appear, as he also notices when gengar is acting strangely and wants to help him.
ekans and medicham have history, with the previously mentioned rescue team DX special video mentioning that the two were partners before meeting gengar. it's also somewhat implied that medicham is often at ekans's "rescue," being the more assertive between the two. and i just think that's nice.
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