>>54060639villain teams in pokemon are interesting, arent they?
The only team that could be considered genuinely evil is probably Team Plasma, and even they had a schism when Ghetsis's manipulation of N was made public. The Aether Foundation is conditionally evil similarly to Macro Cosmos, as they're enforcing the will of a charismatic leader with a tangible vision of a better tomorrow, even if those leaders aren't necessarily evil themselves (SuMo > USUM for Lusamine). It's easy to consider groups like Team Skull and Team Yell to be villainous, but Skull is a gang of misfits led by Guzma and allowed to exist by Nanu and Tapu Bulu because they don't pose any real threat to the island/s. Yell on the other hand are people desperate to keep their shithole town alive because they're the only ones who care about it fading from existence. Team Star likewise are more antagonist than villain, hell Paldea has no real villain beyond
the inventions of Sada and Turo causing trouble long after their creator's demise.
I think Arven and to an extent Bede are steps in the right direction for rivals though. Bede is a brat who can only have his true potential brought out by someone of stronger will than the player's—but he's still better than you and wants to make sure you know this. Arven meanwhile is not some anime asshole who hates you because he knows you're better than him (Bakugo), he dislikes you because he's got mom issues but he eventually grows to trust in and value you as a friend
