#stubborn as the earth with goals as lofty as the sky! => ABOUT GIOVANNI

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So, the theft of Pokémon isn't Team Rocket's primary enterprise for a variety of reasons.

Stealing Pokémon was fairly common when Team Rocket first came about--enough so that it basically became what they were known for--as a means to destabilize the ruling power, retrieve the Pokémon that had been stolen from the people of Kanto, and add to their own force.

Originally, it worked out rather well--especially since post-war Kanto had a very “guerilla” style of Pokémon raising, where speed and power was emphasized over emotional bond, which made it easy for Team Rocket to “reprogram” them to be loyal to them instead of their original trainers.

As time went on, many grunts can and do steal Pokémon, it’s not the favored means of generating revenue or obtaining Pokémon for the enterprise.  

For one, it’s a very noticeable activity.  Most stolen Pokémon are reported which causes unwanted attention for the organization as a whole.   

Secondly, many stolen Pokémon actively attempt to return to their trainer, rendering the entire process pointless.  If they don’t manage to escape, it still makes them incredibly difficult to train to suit Rocket’s goals.

Thirdly, the value of these stolen Pokémon is incredibly niche.  If the Pokémon cannot be trained, the options are to sell it to someone wiling to deal with the misbehavior, kill it for parts, release it back to the police, or otherwise put it to work.

All in all, it’s much more efficient and much less risky to simply mass capture and train Pokémon for a specific purpose.  

That being said, there is still one specific group that is especially a target for Pokémon theft:  neglectful, abusive trainers; usually younger, richer trainers that have no real attachment or value of a Pokémon. 

These Pokémon are often thankful to be freed from the trainer, and that immediate emotional bond is extremely valuable and easy to manipulate to Team Rocket’s will.  There’s no risk of the Pokémon trying to get away, and many of them, given their entitled nature, don’t even bother to report the theft, or if they do, aren’t taken seriously or given priority.  And in the case that they are tracked down, demanded to surrender the property, it puts the officer in a moral predicament:  ah, yes, officer, here you go, return this Pokémon that clearly doesn’t want to go back to the owner that mistreated it.

If Giovanni has a new Pokémon, especially one that isn’t native to the region or isn’t Ground-type, you can almost be certain he stole it from some asshole that wasn’t minding his belongings.  

As for what they do with the Pokémon: virtually anything to turn a profit.  

In many cases, this involve simply doing what’s already legal but avoiding the regulations in order to offer cheaper / faster / illegal services; such as Miltank milk, Slowpoke tail, or Cubone skulls. 

Services that put Pokémon to work are also common; really, Giovanni sees no difference between using Pokémon to battle for entertainment and using them for an actual purpose such as powering devices or being used for manual labor.  

Selling of Pokémon.  Delivering Pokémon to interested buyers across the world; in many cases getting new and unique Pokémon in the hands of people who may otherwise never be able to get them in a world that encourages “go out and explore and catch them yourself.”

Enhancement of Pokémon.  Not necessarily genetic experimentation as Giovanni is rather turned off by that, but research into how to supplement their training.  Vitamins.  Diet.  

That being said, Giovanni himself has quite strict morals and in general takes extremely good care of the rackets and Pokémon involved.  Team Rocket has documented training methods that keep Pokémon in physical, mental, and emotional shape, while quickly and efficiently training them to actively want to contribute to the cause.  In essence, it’s brainwashing, but, again, Giovanni sees it as no different than training Pokémon to fight one another.  

He’s a businessman--he’s very keen on what works best, what turns the best profit, and what is provably the most efficient.  In many cases, this means keeping Pokémon happy and healthy.  In some cases, it means contributing to causes seeking to keep Pokémon from going extinct.  Breeding programs, reintroducing Pokémon that were previously eliminated.  You can’t profit from a Pokémon that doesn’t exist, after all.  Funding research into better, more efficient means of training and improving Pokémon.  

[badmusejail]

If Giovanni was married to Ariana and fell in love with Rowan (a dude), why doesn't he identifies himself as bisexual?

There's a few different layers to this answer so I'll just go through them in order.

Internalized prejudice. The Pokemon world certainly isn't a 1 to 1 for our world, he did grow up in a household with a religion resembling modern Catholicism and while I'm not going to go into homophobia in the Pokemon World, I feel it was definitely a thing at least in the past. If not explicitly, it's the type of thing that just wasn't talked about when he was younger, and it's stuck with him. For as open-minded as he tends to be with him, there's still some degree of his mind that's "it's whatever--for others, not me tho, I'm normal."

He just doesn't care to distinguish or identity in a different manner. Words can only go so far to describe the world and the simple truth is--does it really matter if his identity happens to be straight or bisexual? No. Some people do put a lot of emphasis and pride on those identities, but he really doesn't care.

He feels there's a difference between the types of love. The people he'd willingly spend his life with and the people he's sexually attracted to don't always overlap. He feels that just as an asexual can love and have sex with people without being attracted to them, he sees no reason why anyone else can't do the same--it just so happens that many people prefer to persue relationships with people they're sexually attracted to. He claims that for as much as he did hold a deep fondness for Rowan, he was not sexually attracted to him and thus not bisexual. Now, whether or not that's the truth...... Well, Giovanni keeps his secrets.

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So I guess we're doing this.

Pros:

Rich man

Can and will get you just about anything you want

High empathy

Calm, calculated, and predictable (once you understand how he operates)

Honest (excluding lies by omission)

Promises and oaths are important to him

Knows how to be romantic when he feels like it

Will remember your birthday, anniversary, other important dates

Loyal, if you deserve it

Cons:

Literally a crime boss.  Wanted by the police.  Has done a lot of awful things.  Etc.

Manipulative

Disappears for days or months at a time without any indication of where he’s going, what he’s doing, or when he’ll be back.  Is he out playing with cats or is he murdering someone?  You’ll never know.

Just because he understands how you feel doesn’t mean he cares.

Cynical and bitter.  

Blunt.

Will remember everything you’ve ever done wrong in his eyes.

Will drop you without warning if you cease being interesting to him.

Bonus, Good!Giovanni

Pros:

Rich man

Can and will buy you just about anything you want

High empathy

Naturally romantic

Genuinely sweet

Will go out of his way to help you or anyone else that needs it

Loves the world and everything in it

Cons:

Unpredictable.  Don’t take your eyes off of him or he’ll be doing something stupid.

No sense of self preservation

Negative self-worth

Pretends to be happy

Avoids his problems

Struggles with addiction.  Probably an alcoholic, possibly others.

Will lie to your face if he thinks it’ll make you happier than the truth

No real understanding of how basic things in the world work

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Something I was discussing on Discord last night is just how good Giovanni used to be before his fall.  

Really, his transformation from someone who wants to help everyone and elevate the world to the best it can be to someone who only wants to help himself and watch the world fall apart is heartbreaking.  

So utterly optimistic, idealistic, friendly, and helpful...  He was the type who was always searching for someway to help, who always believed that there was something more he could do.  A man who dedicated every breath to the world around him and loved Pokemon and people with the entirety of his heart.  

Of course he wants to save his region. Of course he’ll fight for it. Of course he’ll fund your experiments... Of course...

is it really any surprise that he shattered so beautifully?

What remains in the pieces?  You can still see traces of his goodness in him; friendliness, charisma, and loyalty comes naturally, and while he’s not inclined to help anyone unless it benefits him directly...  well, if you’re lucky, you just might be able to appeal to a long lost humanity.  

No one forced him down this path.  It’s a road he drove himself down, fueled by bitterness, hatred, and loneliness.  How much good can a person give before it burns out?

(Could he have been saved?      if someone was there?           if anyone had cared?)

He doesn’t regret it.  And, he thinks, perhaps that’s the most damning thing of all.  Sometimes he wonders if it could have gone differently, though.  

If you happen to know him from before, or know of him, and happen to comment on it... perhaps he looks sad for a moment, if the light hits at the right angle, but, his response is very simple:

“People change.”

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👀+ What is your biggest pet peeve that other people do?

Send my muse “👀 + a question” and they’ll have to answer with 100% honesty.

"Trying to take a moral high ground while simultaneously denying that the world is more complicated than black and white.

"Now, I won't judge an individual claiming they're a better person than I am. The world is witness to the fact that I've done questionable things for dubious reasons.

"However, when they try to claim that everything they've ever done is pure and good and only has positive consequences while everything I've done is evil and bad and only has negative consequences... Not only does it become obvious that they not only misunderstand me, but vastly misconstrue their own relationship with the world.

"Judge me for who I truly am, not for who you imagine me to be."

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Tracing his morality is interesting.

On this blog, at least, it can be simplified as:

Before the war =>  I’m a good person, and I do good things Early formation of Team Rocket =>  I’m a good person, and I’m doing bad things in the name of furthering the greatest good Disbanding of Team Rocket =>  I’m a bad person and I’ve done bad things (and I don’t care as much as I should) Resurrection of Team Rocket =>  Good and bad are labels created as a byproduct of one’s actions in an attempt to simplify a complicated world.  Every action has both good and bad consequences that ripple out through the world just as a pebble sends ripples through a pond.  Trying to adhere to a pure “good” or “evil” ideology is not only foolish but also utterly unattainable and will run a person into ruin.  

Speaking of canon, we don’t get much insight into his past, or why he created Team Rocket (if he did, it varies by canon) but we do get some insight to his ideologies. 

Anime and PokeSpec Giovanni seem to be fairly one-dimensional villains, with the exception that PokeSpec Giovanni is at least shown to care viciously for his son.  (To the point that it was implied that he created Team Rocket for the primary purpose of hunting down said kidnapped son.  Or was it explicitly stated?  I don’t remember LOL.)  My thoughts on anime Giovanni can fill another whole post (in brief, I think they adjusted his character because they didn’t want to delve into topics that dark when the anime was first established.)

In the games, however, we see something a little less pure evil.  

I’ve mentioned before that in the original games he states that he’s leaving Team Rocket for good, whereas in the remakes the dialogue is replaced with him stating he’ll rebuild it as something better.  Probably to justify the fact he comes back without, gasp, making a three-dimensional character.  W/e.  

Really, a lot of his interactions imply respect--for his men and for his adversaries, which is something I find rather fascinating for a villain.  He’s shown in virtually all mediums to have a graceful respect for those that manage to ruin his plans or beat him in battle--whether that’s Red, or Ash, or the protagonist in USUM, or Gold, Silver, or what have you.  

A lot of his fascinating characterization comes from Masters, really--where his dialogue involves the following:

Disliking being classified as evil, but begrudgingly accepting the label

But openly considering himself a “bad guy” who may be lying to you at any point, while also being direct about that face

Having an open-mind about differing opinions (that’s business, baby!)

Treating his Pokemon as tools--but tools must be well maintained

Implying that he simply treats Mewtwo as a business equal and pays it to fight with him

Considering leaving behind his criminal life and going straight (a comment that’s never revisited)

Lamenting that all versions of him seem to be a criminal

Respecting his son’s divergent path and showing pride for him (presented as a foil to Ghetsis and N)

Stating that power isn’t inherently good or evil--people are simply divided into those that have power and those that don’t, and there will always be people who benefit and people who don’t from any given action

Stating that he doesn’t enjoy people suffering but it’s a byproduct of some of the things he does

Flirting with the player character (ok this isn’t related but it’s hilarious ok?)

Really, Masters tends to play him up more as a shady business guy that’s only interested in power and money rather than an outright villain.  

I think it makes for a more interesting character, at least.  (Though I do still adore those that have the guts to make Giovanni Pure Bastard tm)

In short--morality is a crapshoot.

Do what you want, have fun.

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Giovanni doesn't mind being told what to do.

As long as he's given respect and the discussion is open, he doesn't mind suggestions, or even direct orders, about what he should do--he's not a control freak and he doesn't mind stepping away and letting someone else be in charge.

In fact, I've mentioned before that he much prefers partners and people that can actively challenge him and who don't cower at a glance.

And really, this is necessary. A fair amount of Rocket's operations rely on plausible deniability; he can't be held responsible for something if he didn't know it was happening. He doesn't micromanage his men. He stays in the dark about as much as he can simply because it needs to be that way.

An example is the Rocket that operates on Sinnoh--by all accounts they're a spin off sect that operates in Giovanni's name but entirely outside of his control. Essentially a copycat group; one that Giovanni holds no legal accountability for or connection to.

In contrast, Giovanni absolutely does not like being told what he won't do. If that's confusing to you, let's just say if he's holding a gun at you and you say "you won't shoot me" it's a good way to get shot. And this is exactly how he started his violent decline in Modern verse, but that's another post.

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Marianelle Family

The Marianelle Family has been around in Kanto for generations--very large, very rich, and very prestigious.   They mainly reside in a large family estate near Viridian City, filled to the brim with large gardens and a variety of Grass-type and similar Pokémon.  Many, but not all, of the people in the family are trainers, and most tend to specialize in the types around the estate, such as Grass, Poison, Ground, or Normal.

Most members of the family remained in the back during the war, mostly showing their support for the region through the children of the family--Giovanni, who was serving in the Elite Four at the time, and Irene, who was in the military fighting for the region.  

Under the impression that Lance had killed Giovanni upon successfully overtaking the region, the family submitted fairly easily, deciding that they had lost enough.

Upon the revelation that Giovanni was running Team Rocket, the family was drug into a scandal, but they were absolved of any association with the criminal organization.  

Giacomo Marianelle 

 A Rock-Type specialist and leader of the family before Giovanni.  Giacomo is a very stern individual very focused on strength--both in terms of Pokemon battles and status. In fact, almost nothing could break his fixation on his career--at least not until he met Louane.  She taught him that not everything in the world is about strength, and that sometimes, giving up is the strongest thing you can do.  Giacomo was a Gym Leader for many years, before stepping down to focus on his family as he got older.

Louane (Dubois) Marianelle “Mama Giovanni”

Louane is a Poison-Type specialist.  Raised to be a fighter, she charged at the League challenge with the might of her posion types at her side.  ...She made it about a third of the way through, before realizing that it wasn't what she wanted to do with life.  After all, poison and medicine are just two sides of the same coin--and so she quit the challenge and focused on learning more about Pokemon and how to help people.  Meeting Giacomo was more of a happy coincidence than anything, but she loves her family; even the troublemaking members of it.  

Doriano Marianelle 

Doriano was the first born to Giacomo and Louane Marianelle, but chose to take the easy path like many of the rich families--lounging around and not doing much.  He was never one who had much interest in Pokémon and battling, but he did have a few grass types he kept around.  Though this wasn't entirely a result of laziness--he had medical issues that made it difficult for him to move around too much.  Alas, these issues later turned fatal not long after the war finally ended.  

Gianpiero Marianelle 

Ah, yes, twin brothers; inseparable.  Not so in this case, as Gianpiero and Giovanni seemed to hate each other from the beginning.  Rather than going on a journey, Gianpiero decided to be a family child, attempting to learn everything about the family and be the perfect child. Giovanni went out on stupid journeys; Gianpiero stayed behind and learned how to manage the family.  Giovanni was outgoing and rebellious, Gianpiero was obedient and close to the family.   Even so, they always seemed to favor Giovanni, instead.  Everyone always seemed to like Giovanni, which Gianpiero never understood.  

Giovanni Marianelle

Giovanni was considered by many to be the star child of the Marianelle family; from taming a rare Persian at a young age, to eventually being the first in generations to claim the title of Elite Four--it seemed like everything Giovanni did was blessed with excellence.  Unfortunately, his excellence was cut short by war, ultimately so when Lance took over and presumably killed the star trainer.  ...What really happened was arguably even worse for the family's reputation.  

Irene Marianelle  

Irene was the youngest of the siblings and the only one to take the Marianelle's historic association with Grass-Type Pokémon to its fullest extent.  She was wide-eyed and idealistic, eager to serve and help save her region.  She believed in trust and faith and that together, her and her Pokémon could do anything.  Unfortunately, said ideals left her dead in the war.

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📂

Send “📂“ for a random yet completely useless headcanon I have

In his modern AU, Giovanni was never Underboss, he was promoted from Capo to Boss in a slight deviance from the expected pattern.

The reason for this was completely practical--the Underboss at the time was already fairly aged and discussed with the other Capo to promote Giovanni in his place.

In all honesty, either way, Giovanni was expected to take over the family eventually. It was no secret that the previous Boss adored him and many suspected he was intentionally grooming Giovanni to take over.

Rather than forcing the family to go through two leadership changes, the Underboss convinced the other Capo to simply put Giovanni in charge to begin with while he was still around and could guide him in his first years leading the family.

Needless to say, that Underboss did pass fairly soon and Archer was promoted to Giovanni's side.

What's amusing about the situation is that Giovanni was utterly oblivious the entire time. At that point, he was fixated on moving on from Oak's betrayal and securing his future--he hadn't put any thought into becoming the Underboss let alone the Boss and was completely blindsided by the promotion.

But it worked out, in the end.

(As much as becoming a Mafia Boss can work out for anyone, at least.)

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So to elaborate, like most people, Giovanni has shades of intelligence.  He has times where he can be a strategic mastermind and flawlessly execute plans to take down his enemies, and he has times where he just, does really stupid things.  (Like repeatedly trying to cease control of the same damn Pokémon that can destroy his entire HQ with a single thought.)

In regards to, say, specifically, scientific knowledge, no, he’s not that smart, but that’s more a result of his learnings never taking him in that direction, and he’ll bluntly inform you as such.

(This genetic engineering experiment has promise?  It better, or its your ass on the line.)

That being said, it’s easy to forget given his current tendency to be the shadowy office man of Team Rocket, but he has a lot of life experience.  

He’s ran around, he’s caught Pokémon, he’s had his journey, he collected badges.  He’s served as an honest-working member of the community, he’s fought in war, he lost in war, he’s been exiled as a victim of war, he’s stolen, he’s built a crime empire.  He’s had riches handed to him, he’s had to build up from nothing; he’s seen the problems money can fix, he’s seen the problems that no amount of money can fix.  He’s walked away from everything to stand up for what he believed in.  He watched that belief crumble before him.  He’s seen the unfairness of the world, watched people a fraction of his age utterly obliterate him.  He’s loved, he’s lost, he’s been betrayed--he’s had people be loyal to him, he’s had people forget him the moment he was no longer useful.  

He knows how this world works, he’s seen the good, the bad, the meaningless, he knows how the people work, he knows how to control them.  

Smart, perhaps not always.

But he is one persistent, stubborn, driven motherfucker.

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So the last few posts have been a very great indication of just how Giovanni goes about manipulating and pulling people into his service.  

Namely:  constant reinforcement--pleasantness, friendliness, encouragement, compliments.  

It’s an insidious means of influencing people--  Of course he understands.  Of course your feelings are valid.  Of course.  Have you considered taking this action?  Have you considered letting him help you?

And it’s so damn difficult to recognize and reject-- namely because most of it is actually genuine.

Giovanni isn’t prone to lying--more just carefully reasoning with the people he meets.  

If you decide to agree to pledge yourself into his service?  Marvelous.

Otherwise?  So long as you don’t directly oppose him, more than likely, he’ll simply remain a polite stranger you met somewhere.  

What do you mean he’s an internationally recognized criminal leader of a gang?

How can you form an argument against him when... he never actually did anything wrong to you?  

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So one of the biggest realizations you can have on this blog is that Oak didn’t... really do anything.  (To Giovanni, at least, his other actions in the ROMhack are out of scope.)  

The war was a lost cause.

Their options were literally to surrender or die fighting.

Really, by all logic, surrendering was the smart thing to do...

But Giovanni, who was raised through life to believe that it was better to die than to surrender refused to do so.  Even after Oak had surrendered, after the last remaining member of the Elite Four surrendered, Giovanni refused to do so.  

So the only way that Giovanni could process it was as a betrayal.

As Oak and Agatha stood idly by, doing nothing as Lance’s Dragonite beat Giovanni into submission, as Oak walked away from the region and people that put their faith into him.  

Betrayal, betrayal, betrayal, heartbreak.  

Giovanni’s refusal to surrender is really the only reason why he was treated so badly; why his Pokémon were taken, why his rank and license were stripped.  If he had surrendered when the others had, he would have been allowed to keep his rank, keep his license, continue being a member of the Elite Four under Lance’s new league.  

Disgusting--

Though, Giovanni probably would have preferred be stripped and broken to pieces than ever willingly serve Lance.  

The Dragonite left him in bad condition.  His left shoulder was shredded by its claws and his pelvis was broken by its tail.  

But, frankly, Lance had no reason to spare him. He gained nothing by doing so--it probably would have worked out better if he had killed him.   But, this isn’t a story about heroes and villains; for as much of a villain Lance is in this perspective, he’s not pure evil, and there was no reason for further bloodshed.  

Giovanni spent a long time recovering, but thankfully healed fully minus a few scars and screws.

It was during this time--injured, bedridden, and bitter and stewing--that the first ideas for Team Rocket came to him, an inability to admit defeat in a war.

But, back to the beginning, Oak did exactly what he needed to do.  It was impossible to win the war in the state it was currently in and so he needed to get Lance off of him, needed time to devise a new means to eliminate the opposition.

But in keeping Giovanni in the dark, by tossing him aside, by seeing him as nothing more than a tool, he inadvertently secured his own failure by ensuring that Giovanni came after him when the time had come. 

The more time Giovanni spends leading Team Rocket, the more he comes to understand Oak’s decision, and the more he comes to despise himself for it.  

But even though he now understands it was necessary to surrender--better to preserve the region to some extent and live to fight on another day--he’ll never forgive Oak for the personal betrayal, for leaving him beaten and broken, for not trusting him in his plan.  

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Does your Giovanni love Silver? If he does I find it pretty weird that he would be willing to die for a romantic partner but not for his own son.

I have an answer for this, but--figuring out how to word it is difficult.  

(Also, a post about “Giovanni” and “Love” will be coming up soon, oops.)

To keep it brief, yes, he loves Silver, but love is very much a spectrum with Giovanni, and he’s very willing to make cutthroat decisions on a whim.  If that requires Silver’s death, then so be it.  If he can be saved, then he will save him.  If he decides that his own survival is more valuable than Silver’s, than he will choose himself, no matter how painful it will be.  

That being said...  allow me to suggest reading the problematic area differently.

In the situation you’re referring to, it’s not that Giovanni would die for a partner because he thinks they deserve to live more than he does, but because he thinks dying for them would be less painful than living without them.  Even that selfless act is, inherently, selfish.  

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anyways given that it’s literally exactly midnight as I’m typing this where I am,

It’s time to elaborate on:

Giovanni absolutely includes Persian in his definition that Pokémon are tools.

In this case, he’s a tool for comfort and companionship, but still a tool nonetheless.  

Giovanni denies there being any real relationship beyond that, up to the point that if you were to ask him what he’d do if Persian died?

His response would be he’d get a new one.

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How often does Gio let his Persian get away with just knocking things off tables as cats are prone to do?

He may push whatever he desires onto the floor.

Bonus, Modern!Giovanni:

"I've had to start locking my cabinets because Pascal would actively open the cabinet and throw all the wine glasses onto the floor."

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Giovanni always looks so done

Giovanni has two expressions:

Done with everything

or maniacal

And occasionally: There's-a-Spoink-on-my-head.