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Join Team Rocket! — Supervisor Roland Hosts Recruitment Panel at Anime Expo

Team Rocket Panel

 
Have you ever wanted to join Team Rocket? Apparently, they have great insurance.

At Anime Expo 2014 in Los Angeles, Rocket Supervisor Gunter Roland shared the benefits of joining his organization at the Team Rocket Recruitment panel on July 4. Assisted by Rocket Grunt Ethan, Roland presented his points to a packed audience through a slideshow presentation… often to hilarious effect.

Benefits

The potential benefits of joining Team Rocket included, but weren’t limited to:

  • Insurance
  • Stress-free Work Environment
  • Free Pokemon
  • Cool Automobiles
  • Fashionably Awesome

The insurance package included dental work, free shock therapy, and Pokemon coverage. The insurance might be a much-appreciated benefit.

“Just last week I got punched by Giovanni,” said Roland, “… greatest experience of my life.”

Team Aqua

It might have been a hard sell for some people. Present among the audience were a few representatives from rivals Team Magma and Team Aqua. Roland was not impressed with their goals.

“I don’t want my world flooded and I don’t want it covered in land,” he said.

Additionally, some people seemed unconvinced by Roland’s pitch, accusing Team Rocket of illegal acts.

“We do not steal Pokemon,” Roland replied in response to the accusations.

He later explained who the true villains of the Pokemon World were, namely Professor Oak, Nurse Joy, Officer Jenny, Champion Lance, Ash Ketchum, and your mom.

Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy

Of Professor Oak, Roland denounced how the old man was not only forgetful, but pushed young children into the world with only a single Pokemon. He questioned Nurse Joy’s motives if she truly wanted to see trainers return to the Pokemon center. He explained that one man, Lance, should not have all that power and that the title of “Champion” was only just a name.

It is uncertain how many people were convinced by Roland’s presentation.

Of course some people may just not be cut out for Team Rocket.

When asked by an audience member if they could have Digimon, Roland replied, “Get out.”
 
 

Roland and Ethan

Gunter Roland was played by Arron Pleitner and Ethan was played by James Hill. Hill also designed the costumes.

The two men put on an entertaining event that had the audience members roaring with laughter and shouting in excitement. Many times, Pleitner played off the audience including the aforementioned Team Magma and Aqua representatives and Jesse and James cosplayers.

Jesse and James

“Jesse and James, what are you doing here? You already know what’s going to happen,” he said upon seeing them.

Neither Pleitner nor Hill expected quite the turnout they received, predicting, at most, 100 people. They wanted to “go to this panel and work [as] hard as we can,” said Pleitner, in order to “get these people to laugh.”

Pleitner was inspired to host the panel after seeing a similar event at NashiCon in Columbia, South Carolina. The host, Logan Simmons, created the original slideshow and was “extremely happy that it had such an amazing audience,” according to Pleitner.

Keep Calm

Pleitner plans on hosting the panel again at Anime Los Angeles in January. He may also attend conventions during the Fall. Pleitner may be contacted at [email protected]. Additional links below:

DragonMasterAssociation (YouTube)
Fate/Cero (YouTube)
YaroShienDMA (Twitter)
Dragon Master Association (Facebook)

In this reporter’s opinion, if you have the opportunity to see one of Pleitner’s and Hill’s panels, you should definitely take the chance to do so. You won’t regret it.
 


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