Team Skull is misunderstood... By the players. People think they're just all comedy, but IMO they are the most realistic team we've ever seen in Pokemon.
It's teens that all felt ostracized by society and their families, joining under a charismatic leader, who also had that problem (Guzma was abused by his Dad). Team Skull is literally just a real life gang in Pokemon, in terms of why it exists and motivation. And it's made into comedy, because in the real world, people also kind of make fun of gangs in similar ways that the game makes fun of Team Skull. And because Alola is just lighthearted on the upper tone, dark on the undertone.
Some like to act like Team Rocket is realistic because oh money, but here is the thing, there aren't really Team Rocket grunts that are like "oh I need to feed my family," because that is the actual cause of most crime of that nature. It is literally just unsympathetic people who like money but never show any signs of actual struggle. Team Skull exists because Alola's society has an in-culture for its youth and expected path, and all else is somewhat discarded. That, and apparently child abuse runs rampant, as shown by literally several key characters to the storyline.
Team Skull best team don't @ me, also Alola is one of the few Pokemon regions with actual in-lore systemic problems which is cool. Fictional worlds that are utopias can get boring after 30 years.
