Team Rocket's Meowth

"Go West young Meowth, go West, to Hollywood!"

- Meowth Meowth is James and Jessie's main Pokémon that traveled alongside them, but now he travels with Ash and friends. He is one of the few non-Legendary Pokémon that is capable of speaking human language. And along with Slowking, they are the only Pokémon known to learn actual human speech and not telepathy.

Early life
Before joining Team Rocket, he was just a normal Meowth living on the streets of Hollywood (AKA "Tinseltown") after he came there searching for fame and fortune.

He joined a gang of street Meowth lead by a Persian. They annoyed humans in Tinseltown (in typical alley cat fashion), such as stealing food and rummaging through trash cans. Eventually he met a female Meowth named Meowzie, who he fell in love with. However she rejected him, in favor of the attention of her rich human mistress. Wanting to impress her, Meowth began learning to become more human-like. With a great amount of time and effort, Meowth learned to speak human language (with a New York accent) and walk upright. However all his efforts backfired, as he was again rejected by Meowzie, who now saw him as a freak. With his heart now broken, he decides to join Team Rocket (mainly due to the fact that the word "Rocket" was the first word he learned to speak).

According to Meowth (himself), he claims to have been Boss Giovanni's personal pet (or "Top Cat"), but he was later replaced by a Persian (possibly due to Meowth's having not learned the move Pay Day and due to Giovanni's favoring of rare and powerful Pokémon over all others) the evolved form of Meowth. In BW045, Meowth revealed that he was fired from Team Rocket and decided to travel with Ash & Co. At BW049 Meawth revealed that getting fired from Team Rocket was apart of his plans.

Partnership with Jessie and James
Eventually Meowth was assigned by Giovanni to work along side Jessie and James. Though he often bickers with the duo (possibly due to his belief that he is their superior/boss), he bonds with them. After their first run in with Ash Ketchum and his Pikachu, they become obsessed with stealing Ash's Pikachu and presenting it to Giovanni. Meowth also believes that by catching Pikachu, he can regain Giovanni's favor (and his position as his "Top Cat" and replace the current Persian).

Traveling with Ash and Co.
During the mission in Unova, Meowth was fired from Team Rocket. After he was fired, he was found by Ash and co. beaten by a wild Scrafty. He then decides to travel with the heroes and help them on their quest, then Iris tries to catch him, but she fails. Then Meowth shows that he wasn't fired from Team Rocket it was all part of his plan (BW49)

Moves and Abilities
Meowth himself rarely fights other Pokémon, and mainly leaves the fighting to Jessie's and James' Pokémon. Due to the effort he spent learning to talk and walk upright he never learned his species signature move "Pay Day" (a fact that is not left unnoticed on the often penniless Jessie and James).

Fury Swipes
This appears to Meowth's favorite move (it could even be considered "his signature move") as he uses it the most. He once used this move to defeat Onix after weakening it with a bucket of water. (Who Gets to Keep Togepi) In the episode, "Jumping Rocket Ship" defeated Barry's Empoleon using it (which is strange because Fury Swipes is a normal-type move and should not have done too much damage, due it being a dual Water/Steel-type).

Scratch
Meowth's weakest move. This was likely one of Meowth's first moves he learned.

Bite
A Dark-type move first used by Meowth in "The Path to the Pokémon League". It is currently the only dark-type move shown being used on-screen by Meowth.

Night Slash
A powerful dark-type Meowth claims to be learning in the episode "Jumping Rocket Ship" (this has as of yet to be confirmed by its used on screen). If true this would put Meowth's level around 49 (in the video games, Level 49 is the level at which a Meowth learns Night Slash).

Possible Moves Learned

 * Taunt - Given his personality, it is possible that he may have learned it (however given the fact that a Meowth learns it before Pay Day, it is possible Meowth never learned it due to his efforts to become more human-like.


 * Nasty Plot - Given Meowth's tenancy to come up with various plans to capture Pikachu (A Meowth can learn it at level 38).


 * Chatter - Given his ability to speak, it maybe possible (however unlikely) that he could learn it.

Voice Actors

 * Nathan Price (IL002-IL017,IL019-IL031)
 * Maddie Blaustein (IL018, IL032-AG145)
 * Jimmy Zoppi (AG146-Present)
 * Charis Grigoropoulos (Greek)

Trivia

 * Meowth learned how to speak because he wished to win Meowzie's heart. However, this attempt failed, as she saw him as unusual.
 * In IL018: Beauty and the Beach, Meowth was voiced by Maddie Blaustein, since the episode aired in America when she took over for Nathan Price.
 * A trend Meowth has in the anime is that he falls in love with female cat-like Pokémon: in Kanto, before he met Jessie and James, he fell in love with a female Meowth named Meowzie, in Hoenn he fell in love with May's Skitty and in Sinnoh he fell in love with a female Glameow. In Unova he fell in love with a male Purrloin who he and Ash's Oshawott both thought was female.
 * Meowth is jealous of Giovanni's Persian and has a desire to fill in for it.
 * Meowth acts as a translator for Team Rocket and sometimes Ash and his friends, translating what other Pokémon are saying.
 * He was allowed to go to the Unova region despite being a Kanto Pokemon as he was more of a regular Team Rocket member than Pokemon.