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crystallizedday · 1 year

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So for the past few weeks, I’ve been fleshing out my “PPG 20 Years Later” AU a bit in my spare time, & I’ve finally decided to share what I have so far with y’all!

Do keep in mind that these are just concepts I may change later & these are all just sketches for the most part, but I’m way too excited about this AU & I’m too lazy to do the line work, so uh

HERE YA GO!!

Also, this AU’s based off of the first 4 seasons of the original show, so uh… do keep that in mind too.

Anyway, let’s start off with the designs for the trio.

Since Blossom’s the most academically smart of the three, I had her be the one to follow her father’s footsteps & becoming a professor, a master of many scientific trades. During that 20 year time skip, Professor Utonium actually created his own research facility, one that Blossom later inherits & runs.

Bubbles is a veterinarian, the best Townsville could ever offer. Being able to speak to & understand any & all animals certainly helped her obtain that title. Her kindness from her childhood is still as strong as ever, evident by how she spends most of her time outside of her job doing community work & generally helping out the city however she can.

Buttercup is Townsville’s star athlete, competing in any & every sport she can schedule. She is far more in control of her own emotions than when she was a child, rarely ever lashing out at anyone who didn’t deserve it. She is a lot more patient & considerate of others than she used to be, & is never afraid to lend a helping hand when needed.

Out of the three, Blossom is the most… well, not okay as she begins to struggle with feelings of self doubt. During one of her more concerning episodes, she created a little A.I. buddy to keep herself more emotionally stable.

Button was programmed to be very kind & considerate, her primary function being to keep Blossom company & to ensure she did not do anything too… heinous, something Blossom is immensely paranoid of. Button CAN & WILL go beyond her initial programming to try & get Blossom to socialize more often instead of being cooped up in her lab 24/7.

Button is only visible through a particular pair of goggles Blossom created for herself, just to make sure no one else would discover Button’s existence. After all, she didn’t want anyone thinking she’s finally lost it, & she didn’t trust anyone else to know about her dwindling mental & emotional state.

Because therapy is apparently overrated.

Button simply wants the best for Blossom & everyone else in the world, constantly pushing Blossom to focus on inventions that ensure the safety of the people & could help them thrive. However, this clashes with Blossom’s ever-growing desire to do something about the rising crime rates, since Blossom’s solutions for that particular issue tend to be rather extreme, much to Button’s disapproval.

& while Blossom for the most part listens to whatever Button will suggest, her initial trust in Button’s opinions become… skewed, not due to anything Button does in particular, but more so due to Blossom’s dwindling self worth taking…

too much of a toll on her…

…

NOW ON TO THE BADDIES!!

Mojo Jojo is still kicking, just as persistent & petty as ever. & while the city has grown more used to his… questionable acts of villainy or even his genuine practices of his own citizenship, he is still VERY MUCH a threat, his mechs & schemes growing more & more dangerous by the year.

He’s also… incredibly lonely, & will pathetically beg for ANY other villain to hang out with him so he’ll have SOMEONE to talk to for once.

Princess Morbucks has recently inherited her father’s business, just as Blossom has. She is still very much a brat, but now she no longer needs her father’s permission (for the most part) to throw money at her problems. Despite her criminal record & unlikable attitude, she has become a bit of a celebrity to Townsville & even other neighboring cities. She will almost always use this fame to rag on anyone she pleases, particularly Blossom & the facility she inherited. However, Blossom couldn’t give less of a shit, often leaving Morbucks frustrated with how she can never get a reaction out of her.

Fuzzy Lumpkins is VERY much retired & spends most of his time in his lil shack, enjoying the quiet & beauty of the luscious forest around him. He surprisingly doesn’t mind visitors nowadays, but he rarely ever speaks. He just likes to listen. Bubbles often visits him from time to time to talk with him, since she worries poor Fuzzy gets rather lonely, & she feels like he doesn’t deserve to feel so lonely.

Him has gotten quite the transformation over the years. He’s become a little more monstrous now with no pupils & no visible mouth… at least not at first. He doesn’t actually SPEAK with his claws, he simply eats with them. WHAT exactly? Well I’m sure you can figure that one out. His boa has also formed into a sort of tail for him, constantly moving around & such. He rarely ever leaves his own dimension, only ever bringing certain mortals into his world either for his own entertainment or as a snack. Thus, it’s a lot harder to really deal with him.

The Amoeba Boys are NOT the same characters as the ORIGINAL idiotic Amoeba Boys. Instead, they are mitosis-created descendants of what has essentially become a sort of mafia-esque family, with three of them getting the originals’ hats as a sign of “passing on the torch”. Unfortunately, the youngest one’s hat had become far too torn & tattered throughout the years, so all that the little guy’s left with is a hat they stole at some convenience store one day.

With how fast they’ve been multiplying for the past few years, it might not be long until they’re eventually taken care of for good to prevent them from taking over Townsville with their sheer numbers ALONE.

Sedusa has long since retired from her criminal ways, now settling down as a still-single woman (cause, let’s face it, she may be hot, but no one in Townsville wants to share their bank account with this woman) just trying to keep herself beautiful.

She’s cranky, irritable, & even the mere mention of the PPG gets her in a bad mood after all the shit they’ve done to her. All she wants nowadays is to be left alone to live her life without being accused of a crime she didn’t commit… which happens a lot on a count of she used to be a master of disguise & all.

Now…

It is time for the IMPORTANT SIDE CHARACTERS!!

Or at least a few of them, because I am reaching the image limit for this post & I haven’t fleshed out too many citizens yet.

While I am not COMPLETELY sure about this one, I am thinking Miss Bellum probably stepped up to be mayor once the OLD mayor… well… yeah.

She didn’t necessarily WANT to, feeling like she didn’t really deserve to be the mayor (showing that, despite how she knew of the old mayor’s incompetence, she still cared for & respected him very much), but Townsville quite liked her & how much she’s helped the city over the years, so she was encouraged into this position. Her competence has greatly helped Townsville stay afloat, & her own combat skills means she can handle almost any attempts to harm her or take her hostage without the need to call for aid.

Now…

Y’all remember Mr. Green from the Chris Savino seasons of the original series?

Well, while I have my fair share of problems with that episode, I decided to not waste the potential of this character & use him as the basis for a bit of an oc of mine…

SOOOOOOOO…

Miss Keane is still a kindergarten teacher, but she often still keeps contact with the PPG to see how they’re all doing. She’s even sweeter than she used to be 20 years ago, & every kid in Townsville absolutely adores her for it.

However, at some point, she met a certain someone, a fellow teacher. On account of the green skin, unnaturally white hair, & the horns, this guy was most likely from Monster Isle, where all the monsters that attack Townsville are from. It’s odd how he’s more humanly proportioned & it HAS raised a few eyebrows considering this isn’t what monsters are usually known for, but Miss Keane didn’t care.

She saw how sweet & considerate he was & eventually fell in love with him, the two being married for a good few years now. This as well as a few other accounts of Townsville civilians showing some compassion & humanity towards other “monsters” has recently resulted in a sort of shift of attitude towards monsters in general, even if tensions between the two sides are still rather high.

So uh

Yeah!

Meet Mr. Oliver Tilia!

A play on both the word “Reptilia” as well as the tilia genus, which (during my brief research on it) can be found in some species of trees & bushes! This’ll make sense in another post.

So uh…

Yeah!

That’s pretty much what I got so far!

Imma make a reblog of this to showcase some other sketches of mine to further flesh out this AU, but this shall be the main post about it!

I hope y’all enjoy this AU!

& hopefully I’ll get a better name for it soon JWIWKWKCKSKDL

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mythicaldemigoddess-of-deltarune · 3 years

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Blossom x Dexter In The Friend Zone Ship (2021)

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Credit for Dragon Ball Series goes to Akira Toriyama

Credit for Samurai Jack Series & Dexter's Laboratory Series goes to Genndy Tartakovsky

Credit for Invader Zim Series goes to Jhonen Vasquez

Credit for The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy Series goes to Maxwell Atoms

Credit for The Powerpuff Girls Series goes to Craig McCracken

-------------------------

I’m glad I finally got around to posting this, I had to edit it a bit

to add in my new tumblr name as well as the other name I go by.

and also add in my first tumblr name too, just to be safe.

I will post this at the other place I post fan art too.

in this drawing Dexter is holding a Yellow Rose,

which has a meaning to it.

I had used a type of love calculation thing,

and I was inspired to draw all this....

the reason why Aku isn’t in this is well, just because.

plus it works better with Ashi, who (in theory and Fan Headcanon)

both her and Jack might be Professor Utonium’s Parents and The Grandparents of the Powerpuff Girls....

the ship of Dexter & Blossom in Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi

is very adorable and sweet, but like what if in the end the two might not end up together as Boyfriend and Girlfriend.

I love that comic series, and it was around before Powerpuff Girls Z.

Other Versions of Blossom being ship with Nergal Jr., Goten and Red.

are the different type of ships.

Red isn’t in love with Blossom, but has a fondness for her and becomes really protective of her (but the feelings could grow into the romantic love years later.)

not all ships will start out romantic right away, and love the romantic kind, takes time and like a flower, it takes time to grow and bloom.

Goten x Blossom ship would be like in the Romantic Ship,

where it is still in the adorable early stages.

Blossom x Nergal Jr. is in the OTP Level,

and besides shipping Dexter x Blossom together...

the ship between Nergal Jr. x Blossom would be my Alternate OTP.

I guess that even if re-reading the PPGD Comic from the start,

did make me start to like the Blossom x Dexter ship again.

but I can’t help but think that Blossom could do better,

even if Deedee wants those two to be together,

and it does happen in the Timeline of the Comic series

Grim Tales From Down Below.

but the Grim Tales From Down Below, is a Alternate Future Timeline.

who’s to say that Blossom might not end up falling for someone else?

also I hope that someday there will be another PPG Reboot,

even if some parts in the last one wasn’t my favorite,

but some of the episodes were still good, well to me they were.

and yeah it is kind of not right that the original series of the Powerpuff Girls, is always seen as 100% perfect.

but there were hidden innuendos in a few of them,

like when the PPG wanted to join that club full of Super Heroes.

but at least it is the type where the jokes went over the head.

and I will agree that the whole twerking thing that happen in the Powerpuff Girls 2016, wasn’t right.

and I hope that they keep Bliss, and keep the whole friendship between Blossom and Princess.

how Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup handled the situation with Princess when they first met her....wasn’t right.

same with that episode in MLPFIM where nopony tried to see from Gilda’s point of view.

it is pretty obvious the reason why she stole that apple, is because the pony selling them wouldn’t sell to her.

and Fluttershy was in the wrong because she was facing her back/tail towards Gilda, and if it was anyone else besides Gilda,

like a Colt or Filly, and they were just crossing the street

and Fluttershy bumped into them, then the colt or filly could of gotten seriously hurt.

plus then there was that time when Trixie first appeared,

she wouldn’t of had to lie or show anypony up,

if it weren’t for the fact that Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity were being big flanked jerks.

Trixie’s show was suppose to be fun and for entertainment.

so what if she seems a bit full of herself, but deep down she is a good person/pony.

she didn’t become corrupted until Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity heckled her and bad mouthed her.

I don’t really blame Trixie for the Alicorn Amulet Incident.

it was the ponies that hurt her and made her feel she had to lie to impress everyone.

I still love MLPFIM, but even if the last episodes were still good.

what happen with Chrysalis, Cozy and Tirek wasn’t right...

they could of just I don’t know, banished them to the Human World.

it wasn’t right that Discord did end up scapegoating them.

I still like the episode where Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow turned to stone.........but the part with them being turned to stone is my less favorite part in that episode.

Pinkie becoming the Goddess of Chaos was awesome though.

and the episode with Luster Dawn was awesome as well.

I don’t believe that it is right for the “good guys”

to keep scapegoating, I mean the only reason Bradford Buzzard became the way he did, was because of his insensitive Grandmother.

who I believe gave Bradford some pretty bad trauma.

and yeah Magica was a bit bad from the start, but she only got more worse because of Scrooge.

the last episode of Ducktales 2017 was awesome,

but I think that the reason why Bradford transformed by that sword,

was because of all the anger, trauma and hurt inside of him.

even if there are some Villains that can’t be saved because they lost the goodness in their hearts or never had it from the start.

I just can’t agree with the “Good Guys” when they pull a Anti-Hero move.

Discord, Celestia and Luna turning Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy to stone.

a Anti-Hero Move.

Star Butterfly deciding to destroy the realm of magic,

that was a big Anti-Hero movie, even if I still love SVTFOE.

I know that Magic was never the problem, it was Star and her family’s misuse of it that was the true problem.

the very end where Mewni and Earth Merged was Awesome.

plus the whole placing Cozy in a Prison with Tirek,

was a Anti-Hero move....she is still a filly, there is such a thing as juvenile hall, and could of just send her to Sunset.

don’t misunderstand me, like I said before I still love those shows.

I even love the last episodes of the last seasons.

but I can’t agree with the Anti-Hero actions, even if the other scenes in the same episode (that has the Anti-Hero Actions) was still amazing.

and it’s like you got to take the good with the bad, even if the rest of the episode was awesome, there can be that one part in it that you don’t love as much because it ends up having you see the worse side of the good guys.

anyway like I was saying before all that,

I hope that there will be a new Reboot of the Powerpuff Girls,

maybe have it like how it was in the original but a bit more animated like how that new Johnny Test show but slightly different.

I still love the original and the other PPG series...

but like I mentioned before, Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi

is my number one top favorite.

and the ship of Dexter x Blossom in the comic is still very sweet and adorable, but I do wonder if Blossom might end up falling out of love with Dexter, and she might end up falling for someone else.

which might end up causing a Love Diamond.

cause of Dexter having feelings for Olga and Blossom,

and Blossom loves Dexter, but she might end up falling for someone else too.

I guess that it’s like how Blossom and Dexter’s love started,

is still sweet and really amazingly adorable.

but the love between them might end up becoming more platonic,

but could start out as estranged because of something that happen between them.

they don’t start talking to each other again and starting over as just friends, until some time later after the fight between them.

this would show to Blossom that there is more to a relationship than just having the same interests.

in one timeline Blossom and Dexter do end up married in the future.

but in the other timeline they don’t,

and Blossom ends up with someone else.

if Blossom had to end up with anybody besides Dexter...

I would like her to end up with Nergal Jr. or even Goten.

#Invader Zim Fanart #tallest red #the grim adventures of billy and mandy #nergal junior #dragon ball super #dragon ball series #son goten #dexter's laboratory #dexter x blossom #samurai jack #ashi #blossom utonium #the powerpuff girls #crossover ship #protective grandparent #friend zone

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bre-meister · 3 years

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Spiders

Thank you @over-under-through1 for the prompts!

Butch’s class had run late and for an already unusually late class to run late meant that by the time he turned his car onto his street it was already late enough that most houses were dark. An errant light could be seen behind closed curtains here and there - some even turning off as Butch drove by as if reading his mind that it was just utterly too late to be lurking about in or outside the house.

Pulling into the driveway of the small two-bedroom house he shared with his girlfriend, Butch contemplated whether he should risk opening the garage and pulling in or just leave the car outside tonight. He knew that Buttercup tended to complain that on late nights like these the sound of the garage door rattling as it opened was enough to wake a normal person let alone someone with super hearing. He could see lights flashing intermittently through the front window and assumed that Buttercup had been watching t.v on the couch trying to wait up for him. She might not be asleep but it was more likely than not - it wouldn’t be the first time she’d fallen asleep in front of the television. Butch was tired and already annoyed at being forced to be out so late because his professor’s tangents went on tangents. He wasn’t quite sure he had the patience to deal with a sleepy, pissed off Buttercup Utonium at the moment, so he turned the car off.

Stepping out and closing the heavy door as quietly as he could, he made his way to the front door. He tried to keep his keys from clanging around too much while still trying to unlock the door. Butch expected the house to be quiet. Maybe he’d pick up on BC’s soft snores - she insisted she didn’t snore but Butch found it endearing if not a little cute - or the sounds of some random show playing from what he’d thought was the t.v. What he was not expecting, not in the slightest, were the multiple holes and char marks on the wall.

A loud commotion in the living room caught his attention and he went into defense mode, floating above the floor to avoid making any sound. If there was an intruder - although anyone would be stupid to try to break into a Ruff or a Puff’s house - he didn’t want to alert them anymore to his presence than he already had when he opened and closed the door.

Turning the corner from the entry hallway into the main room he was shocked to see Buttercup floating above the couch, lasers firing from her eyes every few seconds.

Well, he thought, that explains the lights through the window.

“Buttercup,” he whispered. When she didn’t acknowledge his presence he repeated her name a bit louder, “Buttercup!” A bit louder turned into yelling to be heard over her war cries.

She paused and looked at him quickly before turning back to whatever she had been doing before. Without his powers aiding him in tracking her motions, he probably wouldn’t have realized she’d even acknowledged him at all. He might have been tracking her motions, but it seemed that she was tracking the movement of something else.

A quick scan of the room told him that there was no one else there but her and him.

“Buttercup,” he sounded exasperated, annoyed, confused, but also curious at the same time, “what the fuck are you doing?”

“Well,” she started to explain but her eyes were still looking around rapidly, “ I was in the kitchen because I had cooked and I wanted to leave you some food out for when you got back and I was cleaning up and then I came out here to sit on the couch and wait up but then I saw a spider and I almost had it until you distracted me and now I don’t know where it is!” her rambling had turned frantic by the end.

It Butch’s brain, tired as it was, a moment to catch up to what she had said.

“I - a spider?” Butch was dumbfounded. He knew that his girlfriend had a fear of the eight legged creatures but he never thought it would express itself in the physical act of putting holes in the wall.

“Yes a - “ something moved out of the corner of his eye and Buttercup squealed - a most dignified squeal that definitely did not sound like Bubbles thank you very much - “SPIDER, YOU GET THAT SIDE OF THE ROOM IT CAN'T RUN FROM BOTH OF US!”

Somehow, the spider was managing to evade her erratic eye beams so Buttercup changed her tactic. Another beam shot out turning those beautiful jade eyes a menacing red. Unlike its predecessors, this was not a quick, contained blast but one continuous beam. The lasers followed the spider who was, somehow, still managing to outrun the blast. Butch realized that Buttercup was either going to fry the spider or burn the house down trying. Butch rather liked their little start-up and would rather keep the damage to a minimum so he decided to step in.

“Buttercup stop! Calm down!”

The beam continued - she wasn’t listening. Thinking quickly Butch flew up behind her and covered her eyes with his hands, effectively blocking the beams. His palms burned from the intensity of the lasers. His hands being so close to the source didn’t help either. Briefly, Butch considered that he hadn’t completely thought this plan through. In the end though, it was better his X enhanced skin took the brunt of the attack rather than the already scorched walls. They wouldn’t have held up much longer from the looks of it.

“What the fuck, it’ll get away!”

“No, it won’t. It’s just sitting on the wall or, well, what’s left of it.” The last half of the sentence was mumbled but with their superpowers he was more than certain she had heard him.

“Just let me handle it ok? I’d rather not have to sleep in the cold because you burned our house down trying to get rid of a spider.”

“Whatever, just make sure it’s gone! And I mean gone. None of that, taking git outside shit just so it can come back later!I don’t want to see another spider in here ever again!”

If Butch were less mature like he’d been in his youth, he would have laughed at her for the way her tone wobbled. She was clearly shaken up by the idea of the things she feared - and that list was very small - invading her home, her safe space. But this Butch, the one who had grown and matured recognized that teasing would only cause her to clam up and when it came to Buttercup and fear, her bottling it up never boded well for the future.

So, Butch simply slung his backpack around his shoulder and opened the bag. As he made his way closer to the arachnid he pulled out one of his textbooks. Crouching down, so he was level with the spider, Butch took a moment to address it,

“Sorry little guy. I hate to do this but,” he shrugged, “the missus had spoken.”

Standing up, Butch swung quickly using the hard textbook to end their little spider problem. He collected a tissue from another pocket in his backpack to wrap up the squashed spider.

Walking into the kitchen he saw Buttercup by the stove. The microwave was going behind her and she fidgeted as Butch leaned around her to deposit the tissue in the trashcan.

“Is it… is it over?” She asked quietly.

Butch couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped as he answered,

“Yes, Sunshine. It’s over.” he moved in closer, hands rising to grab her hips when suddenly she was on the other side of the kitchen.

“Uh uh. Wash your hands first!”

Butch raised his hands in front of him as he moved towards the sink. He made a show of washing and drying his hands. When he was done, he held them out in front of him, eyebrow raising,

“Good?”

“I suppose,” she hummed.

Butch spread held his arms out further and just as quickly as she’d dogged him earlier, she was in his arms. Her own wrapped around his neck as he placed his on her waist.

“Thank you. I know it’s kind of stupid but -”

“No,” he interrupted softly, “the way you feel, your fears? They’re never stupid. Not to me. I’ll gladly slay a spider for you anyday, butterfly. Especially if it means keeping the house from falling down.”

“I am sorry about that.” Buttercup looked over her shoulder at the decimated wall that used to separate the kitchen from the living room.

“Well, look on the bright side.” She said after a moment.

“And that would be?” Butch was genuinely curious as to what she was about to come up with.

“I mean, it wasn’t a load bearing wall,” she turned back to him and shrugged her shoulders, “ Now we have that open floor plan I’ve been saying I wanted.” Buttercup smiled playfully.

The laugh that escaped Butch’s moth was sudden and loud. If the neighbors hadn’t awoken by all the lasers and shouting they certainly would by the loud laughter at such a late hour.

Butch’s stomach growled reminding him that it was late and he hadn’t eaten since early afternoon. Buttercup’s light laughs joined him at the sound. Butch ignored his hunger. Instead, he leaned down to plant a soft kiss on Buttercup’s lips.

The two separated once the microwave beeped, signaling it was done heating up whatever was inside it.

“Common Mr. Hero. I put your plate in the microwave. Eat so we can go to bed. I’m tired and it’s late.”

Butch preened at the nickname knowing that it was only half a joke. Reluctantly he let her go sso she could get his food out of the microwave. He moved to the fridge to get them drinks before returning to the table where Buttercup now sat, a plate of hot food in front of his usual seat. Butch couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face.

They talked as he ate. She told him about her day and he did the same. As she launched into a story about some of the characters, as she called them, that visited her bakery - a small start up but Butch just knew that, with Buttercup’s talent, it would take off - Butch couldn’t help but smile. He didn’t mind the late nights as long as he got to spend them with her.

#PPG #ppg buttercup #ppg greens #ppg butch #ppg fanfic #arachnaphobia #My writing #sorry but in the green's house that spider was not making it out alive #it had to be done

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silyabeeodess · 4 years

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Fusionfall Headcanons: The Fates of Characters (Future)

When you arrive in the Future, you find that several of the characters simply "aren't around anymore," their fates either kept quiet about or left to speculation by those remaining. This is going to go into some dark territory given the topic, but the following will include a list of ideas focusing on the fates of those characters. Given that this will largely cover MIAs--many of which were listed due to being cut off and losing contact with various bases--and that we already meet several characters in the future portion of the game, I won’t be listing everyone/explaining all of their disappearances; however I will try to cover as many as possible in the context of “reports” known by the majority of Fusion Fighters:

Sector V KND Operatives:

Numbuh 1--Status: TERMINATED

Numbuh 1 fought hard in the Battle of Tech Square, however, he suffered grave injuries from both fusion monsters and overexposure to fusion matter. To ensure that both his friends and the time-travelers survived, he remained behind and sacrificed himself.

Numbuh 2--Status: ALIVE

Numbuh 3--Status: TERMINATED

Numbuh 4--Status: TERMINATED

Both Numbuh 3 and Numbuh 4 were confirmed losses after the KND Jungle Outpost was overtaken by fusion matter’s devastation of The Wilds. As leaders, they stayed behind to the very end to ensure that as many people as possible could escape the base.

Numbuh 5--Status: ALIVE

The Kanker Sisters:

Lee Kanker--Status: TERMINATED

Marie Kanker--Status: TERMINATED

When the fusion matter infection began to heavily settle in Peach Creek, both Lee and Marie were swept up in the destruction. They weren’t in a good spot and the ground collapsed under them, burying them with a ton of fusion matter. If the collapse itself didn’t kill them, overexposure to fusion matter did as no one was around to reach them in time.

May Kanker--Status: MIA

The Eds:

Ed--Status: MIA

Edd--Status: TERMINATED

When Lee and Marie Kanker stopped trying to get into the Cul-de-sac, everyone knew that in itself was a bad sign. Edd felt partially responsible for their disappearance, even though he wasn’t the only one who wanted to keep the sisters out, so he left with a small squad to go find them. Unfortunately, only a few members of the squad made it back: The rest were ambushed by fusion monsters, Edd included.

Eddy--Status: ALIVE

Eddy was pretty stubborn when it came to both the Kankers and Edd’s decision to look for them, holding a fearful grudge against the girls for all of the stunts they’ve pulled both before and during the war--and, honestly, they were such a thorn in the Eds sides that he didn’t expect anything to happen to them. When none of them came back ok, he became a little more serious, maintain an outwardly confident, business persona, but also trying to make up for what happened by trying to be a better leader. It’s a lot harder without either of the other Eds by his side, and he has a lot of self-blame for their disappearances and not appreciating them sooner.

Father:

Status: DESERTED

When things started to really get bad, Father decided to “cut his losses” and abandon Peach Creek. However, this was also around the same time when a report came out saying that the Delightful Children had gone MIA. It’s assumed that Father went looking for them, possibly taking his family into hiding if he managed to find them.

Stickybeard:

Status: AWOL/MIA

According to candy pirate Root Canal Rita, Stickybeard went missing while he was looking for a new ship. Many of those who served under him claim that, while he left his post, he wouldn’t have done so to abandon the war effort, but rather to become an active fighter again. Whatever the case, no one’s seen him at Candy Cove or anywhere else since.

The Powerpuff Girls:

Blossom--Status: ALIVE

Bubbles--Status: ALIVE

After the Battle of Tech Square, Blossom and Bubbles opted to stay on one of Dexter’s airships to guard the survivors and search for any others. Able to fly at rapid speed, they were able to make great cover for the airship against any further attacks as well as split off to the collapsing structures in the area to save people.

Buttercup--Status: ALIVE

Having Buttercup back in the fight was a huge morale boost for the Fusion Fighters, especially after facing a string of devastating losses. Remaining primarily on the battlefront, she tends to go wherever she’s needed most for a fight. After the Battle of Tech Square, that meant returning with the rest of the heroes to guard the remaining bases and ensure the time-travelers were prepared to face off against Fuse’s army.

Professor Utonium:

Status: POW (Presumed Dead)

When Buttercup went missing, it took a large toll on the professor. Seeing people around her age fight in the war--and knowing his other two daughters were also out there fighting a gradually losing battle--pushed him to taking a more active role as a soldier instead of just leading scientific/technological endeavors in Genius Grove. Unfortunately, while he was able to protect civilians, he was captured. Fusion monsters don’t take many POWs, so the worst could only be assumed.

Mojo Jojo:

Status: MIA (Presumed Dead)

At the point of the time-travelers’ arrivals, the Monkey Minions haven’t seen their leader for days. Two theories, however, surround his absence. The first is that Mojo effectively “went down with his ship,” unwilling to let Fuse get any of his tech from his volcano base to the point of dying over it. The second is that he tried pushing forward on the frontlines and was inevitably killed in battle. Either way, all of the monkeys insist that he wouldn’t have just turned tail on them.

Him:

Status: DESERTED

“Gentlemen, it’s been a pleasure.” These were the last words and sole warning from Him just before the Fusion Fighters lose Endsville. Leaving them to hand the area’s collapse, it’s believed he returned to the Underworld to spend however much more time Earth had there. People are just glad that things didn’t get worse.

Grim, Billy, and Mandy:

Status: ALIVE/AWOL

Placing these three together, because it’d be more difficult to talk about them otherwise. When things got bad, the Fusion Fighters were still somehow able to convince Grim to maintain the last few Resurrect ‘Ems--even if the reaper didn’t think there was much use for them up to that point. Nevertheless, Grim opted to head back to the Underworld and Billy and Mandy tagged along, per his obligations as their “friend.” No one really sees much of the three besides Grim on rare occasions, who spends his time out of the Underworld to vent when he’s not working. According to him, Billy’s a pain, but at least Mandy’s still technically trying to help... if by getting into some pretty dark arts...

Dee Dee:

Status: ALIVE

It’s confirmed by Dexbot Q-33 that Dee Dee’s ok, however, she stays in her house at Genius Grove. While still a kind of home-giver like she in the past at the base, she takes an even more active role now as a nurse as well, which always keeps her busy. That, and that she’s also a target as Dexter’s sister pushes her to stay safe.

The Foster’s Home Gang:

Pretty much everyone at Foster’s was TERMINATED or has gone MIA, because one of the first things Fuse did when closing in on some of the more secure areas was wipe out Foster’s Home. This includes Frankie, Mr. Herriman, Wilt and Mac--the last two having gone there to try to protect Foster’s for as long as they could. Three to have survived are Coco, Bloo, and Eduardo. These survivors were split apart so that, in the event of Fuse capturing another base, they’ll still be a few imaginary friends left around.

Bloo fell into kind of a depression after losing Mac. He lost his usual self and has gotten pretty reserved, unwilling to see much of anyone. Sometimes, he blames Coco, since Mac initially split off from him to protect her, but he also largely blames himself for not being there for Mac and the others in the end.

Coco is kept under constant protection by the Fusion Fighters, who are always worried about losing her support and all that she supplies to the war effort such as her eggs and her strength as an imaginary friend.

Courage:

Status: MIA (Presumed Dead)

A loyal pet to the end, the Fusion Fighters last saw Courage trying to save Eustace and Muriel from the overtaking fusion matter claiming Nowhere. They never saw him again after that, and at best could only hope that he and the elderly couple managed to meet up somewhere with some of the Eggplants/Chickens.

Juniper Lee:

Status: MIA

Juniper just went missing one day in the middle of leading a battle, and while no one knows what happened many assume that Fuse or possibly even someone from the Underworld kidnapped her for her connections/abilities as the Te-Xuan-Ze. Grim was asked to keep an eye out for her, given her ties to him, but there’d been no update.

Ben 10 Characters:

Vilgax--Status: DESERTED

As soon as things took a turn for the worst, Vilgax bolted. He did try targeting Ben one last time, claiming that it was worthless to allow the Omnitrix to be destroyed along with himself and Earth; however, Ben beat him. Everyone saw it coming anyway and nobody grieved.

Max Tennyson--Status: TERMINATED

Max perished with several other Plumbers trying to protect civilians from fusion monsters during the City’s final days.

Hex--Status: MIA

Gwen Tennyson--Status: MIA

Kevin Levin--Status: AWOL/POW

When Fusion Fighters lost contact with the base in the Pimpleback Mountains, Kevin abandoned his post to go looking for Gwen despite all orders against it. His last transmission was to report that the base had been overtaken, right before it cut to himself being caught by fusion monsters. It’s believed he was captured for his Osmosian DNA so that Fuse could experiment on him.

Ben Tennyson--Status: ALIVE (wounded)

Ben fought hard in the Battle of Tech Square, but sustained heavy injuries and slipped into a coma-like state. It’s a miracle at all that he survived, and it’s assumed he only managed to because of some alien DNA in the Omnitrix protecting him as the device’s host.

Tetrax--Status: ALIVE

His initial plans were to study Fuse and while he has no personal investment in Earth, he’s remained loyal to protecting it from the remaining airships. Nevertheless, he doesn’t have much faith in Earth’s survival, and so he mostly tries to convince several Fusion Fighters into leaving the planet--citing that they could do more good and save their species if they left and shared their powers/knowledge regarding Imaginary Energy and nanos with the galaxy, thus preventing Fuse from conquering anymore planets. If all else failed and Earth was lost, he planned to kidnapped some Earthlings anyway (including Ben) so that not all hope would be lost.

Albedo--Status: DESERTED

Hardly anyone had any faith in Albedo’s intentions when he first signed on for the war, and the former Galvan never helped his situation thanks to a series of incidents where he actually sabotaged the Fusion Fighters–particularly to get to Ben and his aliens. To be honest though, it usually wasn’t much different than any of other villains’ antics, be it on purpose or not. Although he did takes things too far to the point where he got locked up more than once, like them, he was largely given a pass because of Fuse being a bigger threat and thanks to his abilities. Needless to say, no one shed a tear when he vanished one day–either still somewhere plotting how to take the Omnitrix from Ben or trying to find/craft a ship to escape Earth.

The Scotsman:

Status: ALIVE

No one understood how this man’s survived everything he’s been through beyond sheer luck. He constantly remains on the frontlines, determined to keep fighting for Earth until the very end no matter how hopeless things seem. It’d really be encouraging in the med team and Resurrect ‘Ems didn’t have to keep pulling him back from the brink of death...

Demongo:

Status: DESERTED

The turn of war had already moved against the Fusion Fighters. In the middle of one of the final battles for the Darklands, after Samurai Jack had to return to the city, Demongo betrayed them--claiming many of their strongest soldiers before vanishing. It’s assumed that he returned to Aku’s side, but there’s been no move by him or his master since.

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fly-pow-bye · 5 years

Text

Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Brainlord”

Written by: Jake Goldman

Written & Storyboarded by: John Martinez, Andy Cung

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

Should have done the noodle dance.

This episode starts with Townsville under attack by a monster. If the Narrator was here, this could be an opening of an original episode. It's not just any monster either, but it's Gothra, a monster that first appeared in Bucketboy. Giving the reboot some credit; the original never really had a recurring monster in their rogue’s gallery, the reboot introduced two of them. For this episode, they add something else to this potential beloved villain other than his looks: vocal cords!

Gothra: Roooooar. Once I destroy you poser humans, you will finally understand how sad and empty life is!

Honestly, the monotone and yet loud roar would have been just fine, but they really wanted to show off that Gothra is a goth. At least he has a personality, and he will hammer in with every line he says.

Also like the original, the Powerpuff Girls show up to beat the stuffing out of him. Blossom tells him that they're going to turn his frown upside-down. Smiles are a goth's worst enemy...I think that's what she were going for?

Unfortunately, the Reboot Puffs show their usual failure here, as, of course, this leads to a Monster Punch, Girls Down. Womp, womp. Not even a minute into the episode, this even including the opening theme song, this living pun manages to punch the Powerpuff Girls into a crater, them completely helpless from the wrath of a goth moth.

One of two things can happen from this: the Reboot Puffs get up and use a different strategy than just rushing in and punching him, or they stay helpless before someone else gets to save them from their peril. If you picked the former, welcome to the reboot. Before Gothra can crush the Reboot Puffs like his dreams, get it, goth, he gets blasted by this episode's knight in shining armor.

In comes Brainlord, a superhero that can shoot lasers out of his gigantic brain, wearing a costume with white and purple stripes and a big purple cape. Using his almighty brain power, Gothra explodes in an explosion of justice. As in, the cloud even spells and whispers the word "justice."

The Powerpuff Girls awaken to see their savior, and before you can say "Major Competition", which is not exactly what this episode is ripping off but I wouldn't blame anyone for assuming at this point, we get to hear his origin story.

He was the hero of a planet called Braintopia, beating up the bad guys, and rescuing the overly large brained people. Unfortunately, the Braintopians had a custom to keep their heads super shiny, which blinded them all from a meteor bigger than their entire planet. He survived, not because he was chosen to be put in a rocket before the big cataclysmic event, but because he was in another galaxy to get his car washed.

In other words: Superman’s origin story, except with jokes!

The Powerpuff Girls didn't find it funny, though. In fact, they found this origin story so sad that they get tissues, and Buttercup outright says that this is the saddest origin story she's ever heard. Even sadder than Bliss's origin story, apparently! Yes, it is pretty sad to know that all of his friends and family are dead, but why show this? Is it a joke on how the Powerpuff Girls are saddened by this silly story? Is this just a way for them to force a tear jerker moment? It's not working.

After hearing that sad, sad story that they really wanted to let you know is sad, Blossom decides to offer this total stranger dinner at the Powerpuff home. I mean, he's a fellow superhero, and he just saved them from that 90's Hot Topic customer! What could possibly go wrong?

To be fair to Blossom, there is no hint that something is up other than this person's costume looking a little similar to a certain arch-nemesis. They can drag this on until a big reveal in Act 2, but they don’t wait that long.

Brainlord: Yes, see you tonight...

Discount Jojo: (changes face back to his own) ...for your doom! Hahahahahaha!

...they just reveal immediately that Brainlord is actually Discount Jojo in disguise. There is a point to this: it's to make this episode a Discount Jojo-focused episode where he gets to live along with his arch-enemies. It's just like Not So Secret Service or Quarantine, and those episodes were so good that I was overjoyed to see another one of...I can't even complete that sentence.

Even in the Brainlord costume, his voice is just Roger L. Jackson doing a different voice. There are a few times where he goes a little too close to the Jojo voice, and that actually works in this episode's favor.

His main plan is to infiltrate the Powerpuff Girls' home, earn their trust, enter the Professor's lab, and blow up the Professor's black hole machine with a bomb. This is all shown with pen and crayon drawings. I kind of like this, actually, it reminds me of that other arch-nemesis.

The first thing Brainlord does at the dinner table is ask where the Professor's latest invention is, as he claims he was a minor celebrity on his formerly existing home planet. The Professor decides to show him exactly that, though it turns out he invented something else since the black hole machine: spaghetti and meatballs a la Utonium! He is not too thrilled about this, until he decides to take a bite.

We then get the "Buttercup really liking Jojo's waffles" scene from Not So Secret Service, except instead of stock footage, it's a bunch of random scenes where Jojo is happy. It is better. After that glorious dinner, the Powerpuff Girls decide to sing him a song teaching him all about the place they live. Wait, could this be some much needed worldbuilding?

The Puffs: Welcome to Townsville, Brainlord!

We hope you're not plain bored!

Too late! They then sing the many different reasons why Townsville is great. They mention that the beach should be checked out, how the mall is neat...and that's it. No, not the song, but that's the only two reasons we get to hear, as they instantly skip to number 487, which just says that’s the end of the song. Missed opportunities all around, I'd say.

What gives this "overly long song" joke far less of an impact is that Brainlord was not even phased by the length. In fact, he was so charmed by this song and dance, that he asks for an encore! Before we can get a song about the 487 reasons why Citiesville sucks, Brainlord says that this song was such a blast, reminding himself that he had a Powerpuff-destroying scheme to do! He asks to go to the little Brainlord's room.

Brainlord turns his face back into Jojo, and he tells himself that while the Powerpuff Girls being such great hosts almost makes him not want to, he wants to go through with this plan anyway.

The Professor really had to step the security down from the one he once had, because the only thing between dastardly villains and Chemical X, dangerous transmogrification rays, and black hole machines is a security question. Specifically, it asks what the Powerpuff Girls' favorite thing is. Jojo, using the utmost of his genius, decides to make a perfectly reasonable guess.

Discount Jojo: The Powerpuff Girls' favorite thing is...being destroyed by Mojo!

Obviously, that wasn't the answer, and if he gets the question wrong again, the lab goes into total lockdown. Suddenly, Bubbles shows up, and Jojo has to put on his Brainlord face. He puts on a facade that he's just thinking about his home planet and how much he misses it. Bubbles tells him he can stay at their house, and maybe they can show him their favorite things! Brainlord responds by evilly laughing, but Bubbles doesn't pay it any mind. In fact, the scene just changes immediately after he laughs; we couldn't even get a joke out of Bubbles' obliviousness.

The next day, we get montage #1, where Brainlord goes to a carnival. There's really no jokes here, it's just Brainlord and the Reboot Puffs having fun on all the rides. It's very pedestrian; I would have loved to see them enjoying these rides and games in a superhero way, like, say, Brainlord attempting to use his brain lasers on the bottle game. Maybe they were worried about copying Despicable Me...but when has that stopped them?

After all that fun, the Powerpuff Girls suddenly start talking about how family is so important to them. Oh, and Buttercup says this.

Buttercup: Yes, blood is thicker than water, blood rules!

I get it, like related by blood, but I can't say I didn't enjoy how they just shoved in the phrase "blood rules" into at least one episode. Bubbles ends this family talk by saying family is their favorite thing, and Brainlord suddenly runs off to the Powerpuff home.

Thanks to Bubbles' big mouth, Discount now knows the secret password and gets it right the second time, giving him full access to the lab and that black hole machine. Using a stick of dynamite with a timer on it, he's going to destroy the people that gave him entertainment, because he is a bad ape!

While cheering, Bubbles calls down to Brainlord that they're going out for ice cream! Wow, the Powerpuff Girls are just having the best day of their lives, and Jojo doesn't want to miss out on any of it!

We get another montage that has the same purpose as the carnival one, with most of the same problems. The only difference is that we get scenes where Jojo has to keep extending the clock because he just doesn't want the fun to end.

Well, okay, I guess there is a scene where Brainlord gets his fingernails painted. Oh, that Discount, while he's learned a few more jokes, he's still finding some way to do something feminine.

In the end, the Powerpuff Girls offer this scrapbook of all the times they had. This is the part where Jojo finally decides that maybe the Powerpuff Girls aren't worth destroying after all. I mean, being with the Utoniums has been a total blast for him! After saying something along the lines of that, Brainlord suddenly realizes he may have forgot something.

It's here that the episode finally figures that there has to be some sort of problem that isn't caused by a one-joke moth, as the bomb explodes, causing the black hole generator to make a black hole. They don't seem to think about how this black hole generator suddenly activated or got destroyed, though that might have taken a backseat to them holding on to a door frame to save their own lives.

The black hole generator can only stop if someone goes in the vortex and blows it up. The Professor also happened to be carrying a bunch of dynamite just for this purpose. That's just something he carries around. You know what they say, better to have it and not need it than vice versa.

Blossom: I'll go!

So Blossom decides to let go, not realizing that everyone was holding her leg. Thanks to Blossom's mistake, everyone goes into the vortex and ends up floating around in the vastness of outer space. Discount and Sitcom Dad die, and eventually, the Reboot Puffs stopped thinking. Oh wow, I guess there really was a satisfactory finale for this series!

No, I'm just kidding, of course it's Brainlord that ends up taking the dynamite and sacrificing himself. For all the Powerpuff Girls knew, their family friend just had the time of their lives, and is now going to suffer what is most likely a painful death...or is that really the case?

There is a slight twist to this, and I usually don't spoil the twists, but I have to talk about this one. Right before Brainlord lets go, Bubbles drops this bombshell.

Brainlord: Remember me!

Bubbles: We will, thanks, Mojo!

Brainlord: Yes, and never for, wait, you knew?!

Outside of this one little scene, nothing is made of this sudden revelation that Bubbles knew this whole time. It feels more like something they just threw in in the last minute to give the episode some sort of a big twist.

Some may also ask how Bubbles knew Brainlord was Jojo. Honestly, with his constant yelling of his plans throughout the episode, the Powerpuff Girls would have to be deaf to not figure it was probably him. If that was the case, why did they not do anything to stop this from happening? Whatever.

Oh, and that black hole just leads to a dumpster. This reboot sure loves putting their characters in the garbage; feels like a hidden message.

Does the title fit?

Name of a character, and one that doesn't even use his brains.

How does it stack up?

Out of all of the "Mojo Jojo has to live with his arch-enemies" episodes, this is probably the least worst one, but it's still not anywhere near mediocre. While Not So Secret Service couldn't find a plot and stick to it, Quarantine was just horrendous, this one's just mostly boring.

I debated on giving this a really low Neutral or a really high Disgusted. I wouldn't lie and say the montages weren't charming, if they were a bit too pedestrian to my taste, but that’s really all this episode has. Sorry, Brainlord.

Next, it can't be worse than Foodfight!, can it?

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hermionesterrier · 6 years

Text

More Than Human: Chapter 9 Liveblog Pt. 1!

“Monday Broke My Heart” It really did :’(

The hilarious irony that BUTCH is the one with the defensive special power hehehehe

“We'll be moving," Blossom said. "We'll find you," Brick responded, and she went warm. HE'LL FIND HER JKHGFDSATLKGHFD!!!!

Someone please hit Butch.

"I hope Butch won't," Buttercup snarled. "I hope he gets punched in the sack." SAME!

Kiss With A Fist by Florence and The Machine very appropriately decides to come on my playlist right at this moment xD

BUTTERCUP YOU DON'T HAVE POWERS WTF ARE YOU DOING *FACEPALM*

Butch to the rescue....kind of xD

Butch is absolutely loving this

"I feel like I'm wearing some sort of girl armor," he remarked once they were in the air. "It's weird."

Butch, you fucking idiot!

BOOMER! I know Bubbles is your girlfriend but you grab BOTH girls with no superpowers

Why do people still live in Townsville? One of life's greatest mysteries...

*Cue musical montage of Brick looking like a heroic Greek God*

Oh Blossom...he'll never be the hero you want him to be.

"Oh, in that case," he said, then produced a really big gun from behind his back. "Buttercup has a point," Blossom said. "Where do you hide these things?" A serious question that needs an answer asap

Now Brick to the actual rescue!

Reds screaming at each other...well this feels more familiar xD

Awww it's really adorable how worried Brick is about Blossom. You'd think something like this would knock some sense into his thick skull but no ofc not!

Oh my fucking God Butch YOU DROPPED HER WTF DUDE

She stopped, then looked at Boomer. "I'll give you ten bucks," she said. Boomer immediately slugged his brother in the face. Buttercup later gave him an extra ten for the sound Butch made as he ate the asphalt.

I neeeeeed to know what Bubbles is working on *_*

He picked at a corner of his textbook cover, trying to straighten it and thinking of how easily she had smiled at Robbie. "I can't believe you did that. Without powers or anything. Jumped through glass, I mean. Up from seven stories. And then beat Mojo Jojo, on top of it." He could almost sense her relaxing beside him, her anger giving way to a slight confusion. "You're kind of a beast," he said, and she fidgeted. Brick is totally buttering her up and she is totally falling for it lmao

What a heartwarming father-son reunion xD

He turned on his most beatific smile and saluted. "Hi there, Professor Utonium. Nice to meet you. I'm, you know, Boomer. I'm here to see Bubbles." "Of course," the Professor said, and something curled in Boomer's stomach, something dark that screamed Danger and Doom and Death Will Soon Be Upon You.

R.I.P Boomer...you will be missed :')

I think the real question is what wouldn't he do to you, Boomer? :’) MWAHAHAHAHAHA

Oh man this face-off between Brick and Mojo is EVERYTHING holy shit

"You," Mojo Jojo said quietly, "have been such a disappointment." Brick's eyes flashed. Brick is totally triggered that the one who created him, the one Brick considers to be beneath him, the one who's wasting his talent and brain by staying in Townsville, is disappointed in HIM! You can tell how much this enrages Brick because, unconsciously, he's still looking for validation from Mojo. He wants Mojo to admit that he, Brick, is better than him and has put his talents to better use. He wants Mojo to admit that he's a failure. Basically it's a who's-more-Evil contest. That whole visit was an ego trip for Brick. It backfired. Obviously. Because even with everything he's achieved, Brick is a teenager craving his parents' validation of his life choices but still wanting to be free of them. You can’t have it both ways when your creators are a diabolical evil monkey and the Devil himself.

Poor Boomer AHAHAHAHAHAHA

"Shut up. You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen." The urgency in his voice made it obvious. Mitch meant it. Buttercup looked at the camera, her eyes soft, almost sad, but that smile was on her face, that tiny, scared, and yet deliriously happy smile that lit up her expression, made it almost shine in the dark. Mitch was right. She was... Just wanna point out that this whole scene is from Butch’s POV. He’s the one thinking all of this. One look at this happy, scared, in-love Buttercup and he agrees with Mitch 110%. She is the most beautiful girl Butch has ever seen. Not on a superficial oh-she’s-so-hot level, but more like on a deep I-see-your-soul level. Butch isn’t falling for Buttercup because she’s fucking hot (though obviously he knows she is), he’s falling for her because she’s beautiful and he knows her. He knows her and she knows him and they share a deep, quiet, comfortable and comforting connection that they don’t have with anyone else.

Butch stared at the screen, his jaw sore. He'd been clenching it; he hadn't even realized. It's always a ‘show, don't tell’ with the Greens AND I LOVE ITTTT

Butch is so thrown off by the Buttercup in the photos and videos. He's not used to a smiling and genuinely happy Buttercup and he feels left out that he wasn't a part of that. He's jealous, not just of Mitch because obviously he's jealous of Mitch and the fact that he and Buttercup dated, but he's jealous that he, Butch wasn't there during this time and that Buttercup might have shared a connection with someone else other than him. He's supposed to be her best friend, no one else. And he also wants this Buttercup. He wants that image of her smiling and being happy so yes, damn right, he's gonna keep staring at it until it leaves a permanent print on his brain.

I wonder if he keeps them though...

I love how surprised Brick is that Robin invited them to her party #introvert

Awww @ Brick missing Bubbles in class ❤

Blossom was already there, and she glanced up from her book as he came in. He tried to take his time getting over there. Keyword being "tried" ofc AHAHAHAHAHAHA yea sure Brick as if you didn't attend this class just to see her xD

"If it's free reading could we just leave?" one of the students asked. "Who was that? John? Stacy, hit John for me." There was a whack, followed by a subdued, "Ow." BAHAHAHAHAHAHA...JOHN IS ME THO

since feeling is first who pays any attention to the syntax of things will never wholly kiss you; It's a testament to how many times I've read this story that I now know this bit by heart. LOVE the choice of poem considering who's reading it *winks*

Brick is unrecognizable in this part of the chapter...his feelings for Blossom are intensifying and showing and that's terrifying him but at the same time he's not giving a single shit...so far.

"He started it!" Butch cried, pointing his knife at Boomer. "He made fun of Bubbles!" Boomer cried, pointing his knife at Butch. "You started it," Buttercup growled, pointing at Butch. "And you were the one being made fun of, not Bubbles,"

Ugh Reds are KILLING me this chapter

Brick racking his brain on how to ask her out and growing so desperate that he literally chokes on air bahahahahahaha

THE BOYFRIEND KILLING MACHINE OMG I AM LMFAOOO

IT IS SO A DATE I MEAN COME ONNNNN

Reds at their best and most adorable *_* I LOVE it when they forget themselves and actually get along. I'm in love with these scenes of them and how they're both completely loosening up in a way they never have around other people. THOSE TWO CONTROL FREAKS ❤

This story has made me wanna read Camus ngl

Oh my god I think this is the first time we ever see Brick laughing a real genuine full-on laugh like wow

She swallowed her bite, her guilt dissipating as she watched him take a bite for himself, from the other end of the slice. He nudged the plate towards her. "I don't mind," he said around the fork in his mouth, staring at the plate. His voice sounded odd, a little strained, even. "It's not a big deal. I don't mind sharing it with you." BUT IT IS A BIG DEAL HOLY SHIT I'M DYINGGGGG

BRICK OPENING UP. BLOSSOM OPENING UP. BRICK AND BLOSSOM ARE ON A FUCKING DATE AND I'M LOVING EVERY LITTLE TINY BIT OF IT!!!!

Seriously, the date scenes are my favorite Reds scenes. SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GET ALONG LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE YOU TWO CONTROL FREAKS!

"I beat Mojo Jojo up for candy," she said, a little breathlessly. "I let our dad steal toys for us when he was sleepwalking. I stole an expensive set of golf clubs for him." The candy episode is one of my faaaavorites!!

Oh my god, Blossom, you're supposed to be the smart one! OF COURSE HE'S FLIRTING WITH YOU! AND OF COURSE IT'S A DATE!

Brick trying so damn hard to look cool and casual as if his heart isn't light speeding waiting for her answer hehehe

"These are awesome, Buttercup," Mitch said, "Thank you, Mitch." After a pause, she added, "See? No wonder Mitch was the only guy I dated." A sudden, awkward silence fell over the room. Buttercup, seeming to have regretted her attempt at comedy, started to devour her snickerdoodle. Butch stared at her from the corner of his eye. Her customary smirk and hard expression had given way to uncertainty and she was clearly upset with herself. The laugh he forced sounded natural enough, and everyone turned to look at him. "Don't lie, you dyke," he said, still forcing a snicker. "Sorry to break it to you, Mitch, but you were just a beard." CAN WE JUST TAKE A MOMENT TO APPRECIATE THE BEST FRIEND THAT IS BUTCH BECAUSE HE JUST DOESN'T GET ENOUGH LOVE! Also also another instance of Butch reading people like a pro and being better at social situations than he’s ever given credit for.

I think Blossom is having an out-of-body experience xD

Brick? A gentleman? And worried about seat belts? Huh...?

OMG BOOMER'S BRAIN GOING ON OVERDRIVE DOMESTICATION SLOW DOWN DUDE AHAHAHAHAHAHA

"I'm fine. Fine. Just... my brain's being stupid." He smirked at her from behind his hand. "You know... just being myself." She settled back, a frown on her face. "I don't think you're stupid." He moved his hand away from his eyes and rested his chin on it. "Thank you for thinking that." THAT IS PROBABLY THE FIRST TIME ANYONE'S EVER SAID THAT TO BOOMER AND IT BREAKS MY HEART TO PIECES

Blues being one in the same *_*

Those two control freaks being spontaneous together ❤

Brick sure is a chivalrous date...who'd have thought xD

Aaaaand mood killed. Leave it to Brick to think of Blossom as "fucking icing on the cake". THIS IS WHY YOU'LL DIE ALONE!

So I decided to split this chapter’s liveblog into 2 parts because I obviously cannot stop rambling and this first part was big enough xD

Click here for more awesome ships to cry over!

#sbj more than human #jess reads mth

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porthavenhq · 4 years

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Welcome to Porthaven, Marie! We can’t wait to meet Blossom Utonium!

Please look over the acceptance checklist and submit your blog within the next 24 hours. If there is a problem or a prior obligation and you need more time than provided, just message the main and we will gladly extend!

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　OUT OF CHARACTER　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Name: Marie Pronouns: She/Her Age: 21 Timezone: MST Activity Level: I’d say either a 4 or 5? I probably won’t be online every night, but I try my best to be active! Triggers: N/A Anything Else: so ?? I wasn’t quite sure how to write this without dictating some aspects of Barter and Bonnie’s backstories? I tried my best to focus on just Blossom but I don’t think I really succeeded tbh. I am definitely open to editing this later if future Barter/Bonnie applicants want to change some things!! also this got so long and i am so sorry

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　CHARACTER INFORMATION　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Name: Blossom Utonium Age: December 28, 1996 ( currently 23 ) Gender: Cis Female FC: Lalisa Manoban ( Lisa )

Character Biography

Nothing about Blossom Utonium has ever been ordinary. She is the eldest of San Francisco’s literal miracle babies — the seemingly impossible result of injecting magic into embryonic stem cells. For years, Professor Antonio Utonium had researched the possibility of blending magic with science, spending countless sleepless nights in his lab, only to be called a farce by the scientific community. Magic and science simply do not mix, they had told him, and any attempt to do so was unnatural and inhumane. Still, never one to be deterred, the professor worked around the clock until, finally, he had perfected not one, but three samples for volunteer surrogates. In what could only be described as a true miracle, three babies were born from the samples, and the professor quickly grew attached. He no longer saw them as his experiments, but as living, breathing children. His children. His once ever-present desire for scientific acclaim moved to the back burner, and Antonio became the one thing he never knew he wanted to be: a father. Despite the children’s supernatural abilities, the professor did everything in his power to give them a happy, normal childhood — though with dubious results.

Like many young children are prone to do, ten-year-old Blossom adored reenacting her favorite superhero movies, donning a makeshift cape as she rescued her dolls from the scary monsters (stuffed animals) threatening their town (the dollhouse). Unlike many children, however, Blossom was capable of incinerating her bedroom wall with just a simple glance. After far too many incidents (accidentally freezing over her middle school, to name just one), the professor had no choice but to step in. Over the next few years, Blossom was home-schooled, diligently practicing her powers after completing her afternoon homework. Whereas other kids her age went to the movies, she honed her magical abilities in the backyard. Being the compassionate man he was, her father never explicitly forbade her from going out with friends, but young Blossom was determined and refused to let herself succumb to any distraction. Thanks to the professor’s academic credentials and Blossom watching far too many superhero training montages, she came out the other end with a leg-up on her high school peers and a near-perfect control over her powers. From here on out, there would be no more accidents. The red-haired teenager could finally lead a normal life, right in time for her sophomore year.

Of course, there was no such thing as “normal” for a person like her. That first semester at public school went better than she could have ever hoped for. Blossom easily outshined her peers in intellect, cementing herself as that over-achieving goody-two-shoes that high schoolers hated and teachers loved. Unfortunately, those few months must have been a fluke, because soon Blossom and her sisters found themselves sucked into the whirlwind world that is teenage vigilantism. After all, there really is no going back after you accidentally stop an armed robbery with your bare hands. The transition from straight-A student to crime-fighting vigilante wasn’t exactly a smooth one, but Blossom managed the best she could. By the time she graduated high school — as valedictorian, no less — Blossom’s dreams of normalcy were long forgotten, and the super-powered sisters had moved from stopping petty crime to taking down some of the state’s most wanted criminals.

Looking back, Blossom wonders if maybe they shouldhave just stuck with the petty crime and left the big guys up to the professionals. Maybe then things wouldn’t have gotten messy, and they could be living happily in their beloved hometown. But no — Blossom had to suggest going after the major crime syndicate operating in the city’s underbelly. She had to push, even when everyone around her told her it was a bad idea. She just couldn’t let it go. Up until that point, her mission plans were always perfect. This mission may have had higher stakes, sure, but it wasn’t supposed to be any different from the rest. Except it was, and Blossom paid dearly for it. Innocent people were hurt, millions in infrastructure were damaged, and, whoops! turns out some of the most powerful people in the city were also part of the aforementioned crime ring. Soon, the very same powerful people were demanding the police “finally do something about those kids!” and it wasn’t long before every media outlet in the city had turned against them. Angry protestors formed outside their home almost daily. Profanities were spat in their faces. It was as if the years they had devoted to this city meant nothing to these people. And while the three super-powered sisters weren’t in any imminent danger, their clearly mundane father was, and it was becoming clear that living in the city was no longer safe for their family. Overnight, they packed their bags for Porthaven and fled.

Blossom doesn’t hate Porthaven, per se, but she knows there will always be a part of her that longs for home. Rationally, she knows it’s a stupid desire — the city turned on them, not the other way around! She owes those ungrateful people nothing! But despite the anger and resentment, what-ifs continue to linger in her ever-racing mind, and she carries a heavy guilt for leaving the city in such a horrible state. And not that she’d ever admit it to anyone, but she kind of misses the vigilantism too. Brainstorming missions, kicking ass, barking orders… there’s nothing quite like that thrill. She’s trying to make a new life here — really, she got into law school and everything — but leaving her old life behind is a lot harder than she thought it’d be.

Headcanons

After what happened back home, Blossom is extremely hesitant to use her powers. Although Porthaven is much more accepting of … people like her, she can’t help but be cautious. With how little she uses her powers, she could almost pass for a mundane, if it weren’t for the pink eyes.

When she isn’t in class, Blossom works as a part-time archivist at the local library and is prone to picking up books on her downtime. This, combined with her photographic memory, has given her an impressive breadth of knowledge on even the most obscure of topics.

As a child, Blossom would sooner be caught dead than be seen without a large red bow atop her head. Although she eventually grew out of wearing the bow, she still rarely leaves her home without putting effort into her hair. A high, sleek ponytail held by a thin ribbon is her go-to style.

As far as Blossom is concerned, she is always right. She is physically incapable of letting a logical fallacy or grammatical error go unnoticed. Reading random wikipedia articles and correcting them is, embarrassingly, one of her favorite past times.

She keeps a planner with her at all times, and, yes, it’s color-coded.

Her biggest secret? She can’t cook to save her life. And the fact haunts her everyday. Blossom is someone who prides herself at being good at everything. But cooking is the one thing she can’t hack.

Inspiration

pinterest — i’m currently locked out of this acc and yes i’m in tears about it

spotify — this isn’t my playlist but it popped up when i searched “blossom powerpuff girls” and it brought back so many visceral memories that it needed to be included. i wrote this entire app listening to this playlist.

#phqacceptance #disney rpg #disney rp #disney roleplay #multifandom rp #cartoon rp #animated rp #magic rp #city rp #bio rp

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omegarising · 4 years

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Today.

I did not know that I was getting Cartoon Network on TV. Never bothered to scroll that far in the list of channels. I saw some bits of Powerpuff girls today and they had a character called Sapna. Way to go. Doesn't matter that the character was an insane spider monster but it was good to see Professor Utonium after all this while.

No going out today because evening is going to be filled with work of all kinds. Yesterday's little disaster is getting fixed up today so that's one task off the list.

Now I'm going to make some coffee and work longhand on another project of mine.

---

There is a guy in the society who always stares at me whenever I'm going about my tasks. I think next time I see him I'll have a word with him. Maybe he knows me. Even though I don't know him. But I don't like his face and I kinda want to punch his very punchable face. I've stayed here longer than anyone else and I'm done getting stared at by some weirdo.

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fly-pow-bye · 6 years

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Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Not So Secret Service”

Written by: Jake Goldman

Written & Storyboarded by: Kyle Neswald, Benjamin P. Carow

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

Not so great service, more like.

According to Cartoon Network US's website, this is the first episode of Season 3. However, it aired in other countries as a Season 2 episode. The confusion only starts here, because there's also Aliver and Never Been Blissed, both of which aired as Season 2 episodes over here and will be Season 3 episodes everywhere else. I am going with the US order, because the show is made in the US, I'm in the US, and I already reviewed both Aliver and Never Been Blissed.

And now, the delayed first review of a Season 3 episode, and it already starts off with some excitement, as the Powerpuff Girls are beating each other up!

In a video game. The Powerpuff Girls are playing what is essentially a robot version of Mortal Kombat. The robots, under the command of a surprisingly bloodthristy Blossom and a not-so-surprisingly bloodthirsty Buttercup, continue to do Fatality moves on each other, the robots apparently reforming themselves after every one.

Buttercup: Prepare for the battle axe! (red one cuts the blue one open)

Blossom: Here comes the organ shredder! (blue one twin-saws the other one in half)

Bubbles: Send them home...in pieces! (red one turns into a bomb and blows up the whole screen)

The joke is that the Powerpuff Girls aren't normally like this.

The Professor decides to be the responsible adult, and tells the girls to stop playing the game because it's too violent for them. He then leaves, deciding that doing anything to prevent these kids from being desensitized, like looking at that little letter on the box that tells you not to give this to your kids, is just too much for him. Blossom is confused by this, but not in a way I would think.

Blossom: Why does the Professor not want us to play it? It's not like it's going to make us violent in real life!

Perish the thought: the video game might inspire the Powerpuff Girls to actually be violent in this reboot! I take that back, I hope they continue playing! As soon as the hotline rings, they learn that Discount Jojo is in the Mayor's office. Apparently all hyped up on those non-age-appropriate robot fighting games, they decide to start the carnage!

They break into the City Hall, and decide to punch first and ask questions later in a psychadelic slideshow beatdown. Before Buttercup can drop the Mayor's desk on him, the Mayor skateboards into the scene, totally not to save a few dollars on walk cycles, to tell Buttercup he called for the Powerpuff Girls to help Jojo.

Buttercup: Help him out of his misery? Okay!

Okay, that's a line from Samurai Jack, but what a missed opportunity. Instead, Buttercup gets to lament that she rarely gets to hit anyone with a desk. It turns out even the characters are sick and tired of the lack of actual fighting in the reboot.

The Mayor explains that, despite being a supervillain, he's still technically a citizen of Townsville, and is therefore eligible for the Townsville's People's Protection Program, or "T Triple-P" for short. Because he's cool with the cool kids, you see?

With an old-timey film, the Mayor explains how it works: if someone is in trouble, a superhero will come to protect him or her. Apparently, superheroes always existed in Townsville, because this is all in Townsville's Constitution, along with a law that states that only real cowboys can dress in a cowboy outfit. My first guess was those Discount Jojo Cowboy jokes from Deb O'Nair was so bad, they needed a constitutional amendment to prevent them from happening again...

...but it's just so Bubbles can decide that now is the time to put on a cowgirl outfit and act like a cowgirl for a decent chunk of the episode, complaining that everything she wants to do is illegal. It's a running gag that is completely forgotten halfway through the episode. It should have been forgotten when it came up, really.

What did Discount Jojo do to need this help?

We go to a flashback, where Discount Jojo has created the ultimate super-weapon: a robot made out of a cardboard box and two giant machine guns that fire lasers. See, that's the difference between TV-Y7-FV and TV-14; this robot can have big machine guns, but as long as it fires lasers instead of bullets, it's A-OK!

The robot learns who is Jojo's worst enemy, and it happens. The screen even shows a reference to the original Powerpuff Girls, the reboot assuming that anyone familiar with that show is still watching it. I wouldn't give that a high probability. The show decides that he needs some motivation to destroy the Powerpuff Girls, even though we didn't need one before. With this Box-Droid, he will win an Evil Award for Best Mad Scientist.

Without it, he will lose to a man we have never heard or even seen before this episode, will not show up after this scene, and we’ll probably never see again. I would tell you his name, but there's no point. He tries to throw something at this picture, and it bounces right back in his face, causing him to call himself his own worst enemy. The robot took it literally, and that's how this situation happened.

The Powerpuff Girls are, of course, not big fans of this. They answer every excuse for them to not take care of Discount Jojo.

They bring up that Discount Jojo admitted that he wanted to murder his would-be saviors, but the Mayor simply doesn't care.

The Powerpuff Girls can't stop the robot, because the robot is apparently a master of disguise, leading to another running gag where the robot dresses up like an ordinary person, rather poorly, and asks around where Discount Jojo is. It's an attempt, to say the least.

How are they going to get Jojo past the Professor? For some reason, they decided to consider that an issue. Well, it gets solved in a very expected way for our good old Sitcom Dad...

They dress him up as a cousin named Johann. The Professor buys it, because the plot wouldn't work otherwise. It's kind of a shame, really; it would have been somewhat interesting to see the Professor live with his former lab assistant, but...

(ding!)

Professor: Ooh, Peach Cobbler!

Said peach cobbler ends up taking him out of the entire episode. I guess they couldn't find anything else for the silly dad character to do. He doesn't even come back to resolve that all important "violent video games" plot; it just barely comes up again right at the end of the episode.

This appears to be the setup of a good episode, and in the original, it was. There was an episode called Child Fearing, where Mojo Jojo ends up being the Powerpuff Girls' babysitter.

This reboot takes it in a different direction, because Discount J, er, Johann is the one that going to be annoying to the girls. Johann decides to take every advantage he can. Stealing a meatloaf patty from Buttercup, and immediately spitting it out because he only wanted the flavor. I swear they stole that joke from somewhere.

He then decides he's tired, and decides to steal the Powerpuff Girls' bed...and Octi, too! He also screams in the middle of his sleep. This seems like something they just added to make him the most annoying person ever, but I could imagine he's dreaming about the times the Powerpuff Girls beat him up to a pulp. If only that was even implied.

The next morning, the Powerpuff Girls are exhausted. Johann makes them some of his famous pancakes! Buttercup wonders if they're poisoned, but she decides to try it anyway. In a surprising twist...

...it was so good, we needed stock footage to show how amazing it was. He also fixes up Octi and cleans the curtains he dirtied up from before, winning Bubbles and Blossom's respect. See kids, let that villain who wants to kil, er, destroy you in your house; sure, he'll dirty up the place, be an awful snorer, and will steal your meatloaf and/or toys, but he'll make good pancakes! What a great lesson.

After Johann shows his positive side, we immediately get a parody of sitcom openings. If it was done in a more superhero way, I can see how it could be clever, but it's just...it's the Powerpuff Girls and Discount Jojo, and there's a bear in one shot. Okay, there is one particular thing that reminds me of Discount Jojo's character: Johann puts on a princess costume! At least it’s not the only joke this time, but still, that’s a bad reminder of how his character used to be in this reboot.

It even ends with an exterior shot of the Powerpuff home with sitcom music, which is how they sometimes open real episodes of the reboot. This could have been the start of a huge parody of sitcoms if this was done near the beginning of the episode. Alas, they wasted all of that time on the useless Bubbles jokes.

Johann immediately decides to leave the room and run away from the house and protection program. The very thought of becoming friends of his worst enemies is sickening to him. Compared to Princess's near face-turn, turning into a friend because he makes good waffles would be a major step down.

He then encounters the robot, who, due to a visit to a library in his stints of trying to blend in with society, found out that "my own worst enemy" is just a figure of speech. After an evil genius-robot hug, Discount Jojo decides to finally destroy those Powerpuff Girls with this strong robot made of cardboard. Surprisingly, the Powerpuff Girls don't do their usual plan of just standing there waiting to get lasered, because there's less than a minute left!

The Powerpuff Girls immediately eye-laser it. In fact, this is one of the same moves done in the video game, in the only real book end that plot had. An aesop about violent video games would seem hypocritical in a show where superheroic girls beat the stuffing out of people; it's kind of funny how violent video games actually helped out in the end!

In response to this, Discount Jojo has two different expressions at the same time. Clearly, an artistic way to show the duality of Discount Jojo’s feelings of the situation...and the fact that the people who animate the show have stopped caring.

Amazingly enough, they then beat up Discount Jojo in another psychedelic slideshow beatdown. They even drop an entire desk on him, much to Buttercup's delight. That is one book end I do not mind. Too bad I had a lot to "mind" about this episode.

Does the title fit?

This is more Witness Protection Program than Secret Service. Also, it apparently is a secret, since they have to keep the Professor from knowing its Discount Jojo. Maybe it's "not-so" because it only seems to be an issue for about 25 seconds of the episode.

How does it stack up?

I could see why Cartoon Network US sat on this one. This episode can't decide what it wants to be. An anti-video game episode, a "silly monkey" episode, a "Jojo being terrible" episode, a "Jojo being good" episode, a sitcom parody, an action-packed episode, and, at best, any of those ideas are excuted poorly, and at worst, not at all. While this isn't the worst Discount Jojo episode, I just couldn't get into this.

Next, the Fashionistas are back!

← Aliver ☆ Worship →

#fpb ppg 2016 #ppg 2016 #powerpuff girls #cartoon network #fpb reviews

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fly-pow-bye · 6 years

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Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Never Been Blissed”

Written by: Jake Goldman, Haley Mancini

Written & Storyboarded by: John West, Alicia Chan, Angela Zhang, Caitlin Vanarsdale

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

Yeah, it's not much of a blessing.

A decade ago, the Professor, out of jealousy of another scientist who did the same thing, concocted the original, and most powerful Powerpuff Girl. Her name was Blisstina Francesca Francia Mariam Alicia Utonium, or Bliss for short! She's the most powerful Powerpuff Girl ever, but she causes problems because she can't control her powers. Ultimately, she has to learn to not try so hard, and soon she would be moving entire planets back into orbit!

No, this is not an excerpt from a fanfiction, this is an official character from a official reboot. Because of the fans' frothing demand for new Bliss, Cartoon Network decided that the world needed a second Bliss episode.

Well, maybe that's not entirely the story. This episode had one scene already ready to go by the end of 2017 to be featured in a promo dedicated to 2018. Either the draft to air for this show is extremely short for an animated cartoon, or the crew and/or Cartoon Network already assumed that Bliss was going to be a beloved new character and greenlit another episode. I have more than a few hunches that it is the latter.

While her first special was a 50% mess, I would be lying if I said I was not interested to see what happened to Bliss. Bliss isn't in my top 5 worst characters. To make a long story short, I wish I could expect better. To make this short story long, let's get into the episode.

The episode starts with a janitor talking to his mop about how the kids these days make such a mess, comparing it to a meteor hitting the ground. Sure enough, a meteor hits the school. Nobody reports on this meteor hitting a random school, and nobody seems to care about it. Speaking of not caring, this janitor does not really do much and actually disappears halfway through the episode, only offering a few attempts at humor and nothing else. This is something the episode does a lot.

We immediately cut to the Powerpuff Girls home the next morning, I assume, where Blossom is making a batch of cookies for the upcoming Spring Fling. Because she is a nerd, these are soy mash cookies that taste horrific. Before we can get an awkward yet fitting scene where the Professor tries to lie to keep his children's spirits up, the door bursts open. Literally.

Bliss is back from space, and my standards were so low that I was surprised to not see Bliss be on Earth with no explanation whatsoever. Bubbles immediately wants gifts, and she gets one: a wanted poster with a picture of an alien named Sporde. While she was in space, she was hunting down this alien, and it happened to crash land right near the school.

The Professor decides to join in, too, as he just got a job as a substitute teacher! He wants to shape those young minds, and he learns that he's just out of touch with today's cool youth. You're better off not knowing what the self-proclaimed "King Cool of Daddy-O Street" does in this episode, it never leads to anything funny. Add him to the list of useless characters in this episode, alongside that janitor.

Speaking of "out of touch with our cool youth", we get another potential plot alongside the cookies and the Sporde: Bliss has never went to school. This plot is immediately thrown out when all the popular girls accept her because she has cool hair and a wicked dress. The Powerpuff Girls have that same wicked dress; I guess it is all about those...thigh-to-knee socks? White pants? They still never really explain what those are.

After that plot was wrapped up, and thrown downtown into the nearest garbage can, we go back to the “Powerpuff Girls trying to look for Sporde” plot. Buttercup hangs Barry upside down, dropping his lunch money and candy. Bubbles literally just pounces on Big Joey. One will never believe who Blossom gets to fool around with with far more time than the other two!

Of course, good ol' Jared Shapiro. His last major appearance had him be this awkward nerdy friend, but he's back to being the generic love interest brick here. Just look at how subtle this romantic plot is displayed.

Blossom: Jared, if you're not an alien, then you'll eat these cookies and tell me you love me...uh, I mean, them!

Jared Shapiro: (completely avoiding to acknowledge...anything) Yummers!

Yuck-ers. There is some good news: while everyone else manages to survive Blossom's cookies, Jared is not so lucky. Blossom asks him if he wants seconds, not realizing that her soy cookies just make Jared have a bad reaction.

No, really, Jared falls to the ground and remains nearly motionless in a pit of his own drool. This is the last time he ever appears in this special, not even appearing in the big dance. Good, the less needless romance scenes, the better. Blossom decides to take this as a no, not really worried about it. Being oblivious appears to be a common trait with the Powerpuff Girls in this episode, and a few other characters, too.

That may even include Bliss, as she does what could be the most expected "joke" you can think of when she encounters a girl with orthodontic headgear. She proceeds to roughhouse her. No worries, the girl tells everyone that the new kid touched her hand, and everyone wants to touch it. Bliss: so awesome, she could bully someone and still be popular!

Bliss talks about how there's no possible way to unless we see a trail of slime. Only in this one scene, we see a trail of slime, and immediately after, she gets tackled into a broom closet by a new character. This is as subtle as it gets, and you'll know what I mean later.

After fighting each other and accusing each other of being the alien, they decide to introduce themselves. This guy, who looks like if Ben Tennyson was a contestant on Total Drama Island, introduces himself as Logan of the Universal Protection Bureau.

Yes, Logan. This special was in production long before the Logan Paul Youtube scandal, but that is a sad coincidence. A coincidence that will not get even worse later, surely. Anyway, he's an alien fighter from the Universal Protection Bureau, and he's also looking for the Sporde. He's top-ranked, he's also an outsider, and he's already starting to flirt with Bliss.

They almost immediately get lost in each other's eyes, because we got to have some romance in this. There's even a running gag where they almost kiss until they get interrupted by someone, in the first case it's the wacky janitor and his wacky mop. This episode does re-confirm that this is an elementary school in a completely random Sherlock Holmes reference; Logan may as well be the only other teenager here.

That never really seems to come up, by the way. Everyone is just fine with these people who are 6-10 years older than everyone else hanging out in elementary school. Considering a lot of the students look like high school students already, I could see how it would not cross even the viewer's minds.

They meet up with the Powerpuff Girls, who have yet to get a single lead on Sporde. They're not consistent on whether or not there's a "The" in his name, so neither will I. The Powerpuff Girls have no idea what this Universal Protection Agency is, but they seem to agree that this Logan is completely trustworthy! I was almost worried.

As an aside, Blossom is happy that the cookies are surprisingly doing well with all of the kids that aren't Jared. Buttercup tries another one, only to find out that they really are still terrible. But do not tell this to Jennifray, who is really getting into the cookies, shoveling them into her mouth. She's also turning purple and growing fangs!

It turns out, only an alien would want to eat Blossom's cookies, but Blossom still does not realize this means her cookies were really terrible. Buttercup does her best by flying in to bash this aliens head in. I always imagine that one scene in Three Girls and a Monster whenever these scenes pop up where Bubbles just counts down to the inevitable Monster Punch Girls Down.

Sure enough, Monster Punch Girls Down, womp womp. Every fight scene in this episode is just a slideshow slow motion beatdown. Two exceptions, the second will come later, and the first being a shot where the Professor is listening to 80's music while this carnage is going on.

What is surprising is even Bliss gets knocked out. In fact, Sporde manages to pin her to the ground. I guess they had to counter all of those people who accused her of being this overpowered original fan character by showing that, yes, Bliss can get a terrible face reaction shot, too! She even has to be saved by one of the Powerpuff Girls. Just one of them, in fact, though she does get some help from the plan master.

Blossom tells Bubbles to use a battering ram, and she hits Sporde with a ram aura. And...that's it. Once hit by a ram aura, Sporde spits out a maggot, which Logan zaps with his ray gun. Mission accomplished, says Logan.

I can just imagine Sporde just being this tiny little maggot trying to take over the universe. However, it does contradict a little on what has been said about Sporde being a shapeshifting alien himself. There's still 13 minutes of special left, and there will be an explanation.

The first part ends with this shot of a bunch of those Sporde maggots coming out of a water fountain. This is a decent hook, though I could imagine that what it led to already happened, considering, you know, Jennifray.

The second part is where it "goes off the rails", quoting one of the characters here, not my own opinion. If you wanted to watch this episode without being spoiled on the main twist, then stop reading now. Don't worry, your expectations are not going to be entirely subverted.

← The Trouble With Bubbles ☆ Sugar, Spice, and Super Lice→

...

We cut to the still-unnamed-outside-of-that-one-short-but-at-least-Elementary-school Spring Fling, and Bliss is wearing her best outfit and a new hairstyle that would actually work on making her not fail the Matt Groening Sillohuette Test. By the way, have you noticed they forgot her headband this whole time?

Bliss and Logan are still doing their lovey-dovey shtick, and outside of some talk about beating up trash lizards, there is not much talk about his role as a space defender. It's still a better romance story than Blossred, which, as mentioned before, never shows up in this episode again. Logan, as a gift to make her even more beautiful, decides to give her something special.

Huh, a necklace. Just like the one from the title image, except the heart isn't broken here. It is almost as if it will eventually be broken in away that will be detrimental to Bliss. That can not possibly be the case, especially if we do not consider that the Powerpuff Girls were victims to this exact thing before. Bliss even tries to do another kiss, only to be interrupted by...wanting punch? They throw that running gag away, too.

What are the other Powerpuff Girls doing? Blossom is trying to sell these cookies, which are still doing surprisingly well. Despite being the genius, she never suspects a thing about it. Buttercup acts as the party's bouncer, a perfect job for someone who can lift people upside and steal their lunch money.

Bubbles gets to be on trash duty, because, as also mentioned before, the Janitor just disappeared from existence. While Bubbles is singing a song about taking out the trash, she eventually notices, also via song, that she's surrounded by a bunch of alien pods, which look like the Sporde ones Bliss was telling her about. Hey, it could have been something else. This is Townsville, after all. I think.

Bubbles gets Blossom and Buttercup to investigate this. She gets Logan too, as she still remembers he is supposed to be this space detective and not the love interest.

See, Logan makes a slasher smile, and fires his ray gun three times. We weren't clued in by that puddle of goo, or the fact that he's that one character we haven't seen before. Well, that and the janitor, but we already saw that he existed before the meteor, so it couldn't be him.

Logan goes back to Bliss, hoping we all forgot about that last scene, and decides to sing her a song by turning his ray gun into a guitar. Of course, Bliss is loving it, making that face. All I'm thinking of is when this guy is going to transform. And sure enough, Bliss's necklace starts to glow green and starts to sap her energy. Before she can ask what is going on, we get to see the real twist.

Logan: Sorry to cut this chord...

Logan: ...because I AM THE SPOOOOORDE! (transforms)

Bliss: What...you’re The Sporde?

Really, he was The Sporde the whole time? One of the first reactions anyone had to that description was that Logan was going to be the alien. It was not even a matter of if he was going to turn into the alien, but a. how they were going to do the reveal, and b. if they were going to add anything on top of it.

They did, actually. That "Sporde" reveal in part 1, possibly the one without the "the", was an admittedly clever bit of misdirection. I could see this reboot completely changing direction from a superhero action comedy to a generic romance, and, of course, they don't entirely do this.

Also, cool transformation scene.

Right after this big reveal, we get a quip from the Professor. Oh yeah, he’s the DJ now. It is as if they cannot ever go full action; we have to remind people this is a comedy by interrupting it constantly with these scenes. Anything is better than the intentionally poorly animated wacky faces, but this is not much of a step up.

Another riff from the ray gun guitar, and the other students turn into the Spordelings. It even rips apart their clothes. Sporde finally explains that the cookies were the source of their energy. Blossom's response to this is to cry about how nobody really liked her cookies.

The Reboot Puff we know and love interrupt this dramatic scene, revealing that they survived. The best we get is one line about how the ray gun just was not powerful enough to keep them down. That ray gun scene turned out to be pointless, and, much like to this episode's twist, I am not surprised.

The Reboot Puffs actually do a good job fighting the minions this time, even though just one of them was able to beat down the Most Powerful Puff. Maybe they didn't have as many cookies. That seems to be a general Season 2 trait; good at fighting the minor guys, but once the big guy starts attacking, the Puffs are as good as captured.

Sure enough, they do get captured, as The Sporde has the ability to spit sticky green goo, putting the Powerpuff Girls that saved Bliss in the first part of this special out of commission. It turns out, there's no room for the main three in this episode. Really, outside of saving her in that one scene they only put in to give Bliss some form of weakness, they don't do much outside of being oblivous.

With all hope lost, The Sporde airs his greivances about Bliss. He's not here to take over the Earth, he's only here because Bliss keeps going from planet to planet, destroying his pods. I do like how Bliss looks demented here. This is Sporde’s point of view, after all, that should be more common with villain flashbacks.

He also calls Bliss worthless. That came out of nowhere, though I can not exactly disagree with that notion. Maybe it was related to that "Bliss trying to fit in to this school" plot that they really did not get into. Sporde tries to deliver the final blow with his scorpion tail, only for Bliss to use the last of her power to move the guitar that was powering that necklace in front of her.

I am glad to see that Bliss punching the ground wasn't the result of a Katie Kaboom-style teenage meltdown. Do not remember Katie Kaboom. That is not a question, you should not. Instead, this punch is the equivalent of about 50 battering ram auras, making all of the Spordelings spit out their maggots, tranforming all of the students back to their former selves. It magically makes their clothes grow back, thankfully.

There is a huge contrast. Power of Four, the Powerpuff Girls had to team up to fight the main villain. Here, they’re stuck in Sporde’s...mouth goo. Bliss has to save herself in this situation, and she does. Considering how they built this alien up as this dangerous shapeshifting menace, the whole Sporde fight scene is just him getting whacked across the walls with telekinesis and that's it.

While they had to prove "The Power of Four" in her first episode, this scene shows off that Bliss can handle a huge fight all by herself. This even comes with Bliss thanking Sporde for showing what her purpose is: to be her own superhero in a spinoff series. Okay, they don't put it that way, but that's how it came off to me.

Bliss is not going to stay, of course. I'm not going to spoil how they write her off this time, but there is a reason why Bliss would be handing out wanted posters, and destroying pods. I kind of wish they would have focused more on that backstory than this school dance plot, really. To not give everything away, it would have been more honest.

Bliss leaves, the Powerpuff Girls and even the Professor begging for her not to. She tells them not to worry, because she'll be back for Sunday brunch. Yeah, that and the Bliss spinoff that this is not a pilot of. Judging by this episode's ratings, I would not hold my breath for that.

Does the title fit?

Despite the running gag, Bliss never actually gets a kiss. Not even from her own father figure!

How does it stack up?

A half hour “alien invading a school prom” plot was obviously going to be a let down compared to an hour and fifteen minute duel with the devil. Thinking back, this episode does manage to be better than most of Power of Four; there's no terrible retcons, and Bliss isn't necessarily that bad here.

I have softened up from my initial first impression, but this episode has its fair share of problems. It’s predictable, there’s a lot of wasted time for bad humor, and the ending just seems like it insults the original Puffs for the almighty glory of this new original character. Compared to the first Bliss special, it doesn’t become as much of a mess as the middle, but it never really gets as good as its beginning and end. A Neutral.

Next week, the Powerpuff Girls have to fight a different sort of evil invertebrate than usual.

← The Trouble With Bubbles ☆ Sugar, Spice, and Super Lice →

#ppg 2016 #powerpuff girls #fpb ppg 2016 #cartoon network

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fly-pow-bye · 6 years

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Powerpuff Girls - “Twas the Fight Before Christmas”

Written by: Lauren Faust, Craig Lewis

Storyboarded by: Lauren Faust, Greg Colton, Brian Larsen, Paul McEvoy

Music by: James L. Venable, Thomas Chase, Steve Rucker

Art Direction: Paul Stec

Animation Direction: Robert Alvarez, John McIntyre, Randy Myers

Seasons Beatings!

Narrator: ‘Twas the City of Townsville, and all through the town

all the townsfolk are stirring, as snow is falling down

It's bitter and freezing in the dead of December,

But there's reason for joy, if you can remember.

For it's this time of year that our story unfolds,

When our hearts are the warmest, despite all the cold.

Yes, it is Christmas, just two days before,

And all through the town, none can wait anymore...

No doubt about it, this is a Christmas special. Not only is it snowing and freezing, the Narrator speaks entirely in rhyme. Fitting, as this plot is similar to a Dr. Seuss classic that took place during Christmas. Well, sort of.

The special starts two days before Christmas, as Townsville awaits that “one certain fat guy”. This is especially true for the kids at Pokey Oaks Kindergarten. Ah, Pokey Oaks. Not only does the Narrator say it, we see the sign right there.

Bubbles is singing Deck the Hells as she’s taping drawings of Santa on the bulletin board. Buttercup is gloating about her long Christmas list, the only readable word being “Gimme.” Got to love the subtle background jokes.

Not so subtle is a reference to the Red Ryder BB gun as made famous by A Christmas Story. This was long before A Christmas Story was mass-marketed to the point where they made an awful sequel to it more than a decade after the original. Hmm, sounds a bit familiar. No points for anyone who can guess the response to this, courtesy of Princess.

Parodying so many movie posters that it’s hard to tell which one its referencing, Princess comes up to the Powerpuff Girls to tell them that, since Daddy gives her everything she wants anyway, she only has one thing on her list: to be a Powerpuff Girl. Duh, she’s naughty, and the Powerpuff Girls even give a list that is essentially a best of for the people who aren’t familiar with her:

She bought the city and legalized crime! (Bought and Scold)

She hired Mojo Jojo and tried to destroy the Powerpuff Girls! (Mo Job)

She gave the Powerpuff Girls a bomb for their birthday! (Birthday Bash)

She teamed up with three felons and went on a crime spree! (Meet The Beat-Alls)

She tricked their friend Robin into stealing, and then tattled on her! (Super Friends)

I believe this is the only episode that actually mentions Robin outside of Super Friends, actually. I can understand why: new characters being added late in the show is a great way to jump the shark. Still, such super friends! As Blossom walks away, she tells Princess to change her ways, or else she's getting coal in her stocking. For the record, even in the original, a walking Powerpuff Girl looks awkward.

Princess completely scoffs at this idea that she’s spoiled and naughty, as she steps on Ms. Keane’s foot on her way out. She asks her driver if she’s naughty, and we get a whole skit. It could have been a short all to itself, it’s a classic.

The same scene happens with a servant and a nanny, and this episode’s biggest problem shows its head here. This special is 44 minutes long, four times the length of a normal Powerpuff Girls episode. Season 4′s problems with pacing in certain episodes due to their double-episode length are exacerbated here, as I feel a lot of scenes are here just to fill time. This is far from the worst example.

After opening her closet to get more pillows, as her maid quickly decided not to say anything and leave the room at her "naughty or nice question", only to be completely covered in a mountain of coal apparently stored from previous Christmases. She uses the coal to put lines under her eyes, and she puts on an all black outfit. Princess is planning something big, the Narrator fears in rhyme. But first, we got to take a detour.

Some people put up their decorations early, and some people put them up really late, and the Powerpuff Girls home is certainly in the latter, waiting until at least Christmas Eve Eve to finally put up all the decorations. Then again, when your kids can fly super fast, there’s no need to spend a whole day putting up everything.

Indeed, we see the Powerpuff Girls decorating in a super hero way, all in a race to see who gets to put the star on the top. Does this actually add to the plot? Not really, but it’s still a great scene to show off the more mundane ways the Powerpuff Girls use their powers. It is also a great way to have footage a promotional music video would use.

The Professor is here to make this not-so-generic tree lighting day special by lighting up the tree. Unfortunately, he has a bit of trouble with the lights, as we see for the next minute. I can see what they could have taken out if they wanted to condense this into a regular episode. A 22 minute episode, but still.

Professor Utonium: I can make three girls out of seasoning, but I can’t get these lights to work!

Thanks, I needed this quote.

We get a small tour of Townsville awaiting for the next day, which is used for contrast with future scenes, but is mostly just filler. Highlights include a shot of a My Little Pony parody being awaited by the Mayor, doubly funny considering one of the credited writers of this special, and Mojo Jojo trying to hang an ornament on a metal tree.

Princess infiltrates Santa’s workshop in a way similar to a spy movie for the next three minutes. I will say, wearing all black was probably not a good idea in the bright and cheery Santa's workshop, but it works anyway. There's some creative imagery, being Santa's workshop and all, but I didn't remember too much about this scene. We're only waiting in suspense to learn the obvious that she couldn't realize.

She gets to Santa's private office, and is horrified to see the truth: all of the girls she hated are on the nice list, and she's on the naughty list. Actually, there's a lot more to it than that!

See, Princess was so naughty, that she’s the only person on the naughty list. He didn’t even need to make a list; he just has the naughty sticky note. She was just that bad; everyone else is nice by comparison; even Mojo Jojo is going to get something for Christmas. Remember that when you got presents even though you totally stole from the cookie jar: Princess sinned for your sins.

That, and it’s pretty convenient for Princess’s plot.

Using a magic pencil that can erase ink, she swaps the two headings. Hey, it is Santa Claus we're dealing with, he probably has an eraser with a blue part that actually does erase ink. Of course, Santa can’t possibly think that every person except for one kid was naughty, right?

At the Powerpuff home, we cut back to the Powerpuff Girls slowly going to sleep. Bubbles wakes up early because she heard sleigh bells, only to find the cookies not eaten, no presents, and a lump of coal in her stocking. Bubbles decides to investigate further.

Bubbles flies around every house in the residential area of Townsville, looking at other people’s presents with her x-ray vision. She goes to one house, she goes to another house, and then another, and another, and another, and so on. Remember when I said "worst example"? I didn’t get out of my seat and yelled "okay, I get it already!" I only thought it loudly. Honest.

At least there’s some payoff to this, as Blossom and Buttercup tell Bubbles that she must have gotten coal because she looked through other people’s presents. Buttercup tells her this again later on, leading to this great reaction from Bubbles. It’s just the way it’s animated; there’s no need for No Me Gusta. Well, there's a quarter for the "reboot jabs in original reviews" jar.

Rewinding a little bit, once they see that they got coal in their stockings, too, Blossom and Buttercup realize something is terribly wrong, too.

The Powerpuff Girls, after changing into their normal outfits off-screen, yeah, that’s it, go up the chimney to find Princess. Princess is flying, and it’s not because they didn’t know she couldn’t. Since Princess is the only nice girl in the entire world, Santa decided to give her what she always wanted, and give everyone else coal.

She threatens to fly all the way to Santa Claus to tell him that those three jealous girls that always denied her is now going to destroy Santa’s workshop in retaliation for their much deserved coal. Why would he believe her? Because she’s the only nice child in the entire world, silly! As she starts flying off, the Powerpuff Girls chase after after her.

There are boring ways to fill time, and there are good ways to fill time, and while the driver scene is close, there is no better way to fill time in the Powerpuff Girls than with an action sequence. They must have known this, too; almost an episode’s worth of time is spent with them racing towards the North Pole, them fighting, pulling each other’s hair, and much, much more.

There are so many highlights I can bring out of this, but I got to leave something out of the review or I'll be here forever. I should highlight one scene in particular, though: Blossom has ice breath, Bubbles has the ability to talk to animals, Buttercup can roll her tongue, what does Princess have?

Crown-controlled telekinesis! Well, Bliss isn’t so special, is she? Alright, fine, enough with the reboot jabs; I'm running out of quarters to put in the jar. As she throws this giant ice ball, she ends up splitting this ball into three, shaping it into her face. A neat touch.

Princess: Cool it, girls!

Even Princess is good at the one-liners.

In a speed more rapid than eagles, 8 minutes to get to the North Pole from somewhere in the US is rather impressive, they finally arrive at the North Pole. Yes, I timed it. They destroy everything in sight thanks to a hair tug caused fight. Princess ended up being right about the Powerpuff Girls destroying the workshop, as said earlier, though it was all her fault.

We get to see ol' jolly Saint Nick himself, except he isn’t so jolly. He's sad that every kid in the entire world is bad except for one kid. Maybe he shouldn't have skipped over the whole "he sees you when you're sleeping" part in the beginning. Considering how Bubbles is demonized for doing so earlier in the episode, maybe they didn't want to point out the hypocrisy.

How did they get Santa to believe that Princess is wrong, and they are right? Simple: all Santa needed to hear was that they were the Powerpuff Girls. Knowing who they are, but not knowing what they looked like; what kind of Santa are you? He's still cool.

Then again, Princess calling him "Santa Clod" probably helped with his next decision.

Santa realizes that, no, he doesn’t have to follow a list to know who's naughty or nice when it's clear to him. He tears the sticky note up. Who's to think that the only person that learns a lesson in this special is Santa? I can't even think of a time where that has ever happened before.

Well, there is one list that he will follow: the crew vanity Permanent Naughty List, as Santa noses Princess’s name on it. Maybe I should explain that: when he pokes his red nose, Christmas magic happens. I feel sorry for poor Bill and Ryan; Santa taught of them before thinking of that next guy.

Santa: Bum bum bum!

No, really, he says “bum bum bum” as the camera zooms into this face when he does this. Even with his utter lapse of judgment, I can still say this is one of my favorite portrayals of Santa Claus.

Another "bum bum bum" is that it's just too late; he's already done his journey. The fact that the workshop is in ruins doesn't help at all, but he doesn't hold it against the Powerpuff Girls. If only there were someone that can fly super fast.

The Powerpuff Girls become Santa for a year, saving Christmas like all those characters in the 80's. We don't see them go all around the world, just through Townsville's residential area. We can just assume the rest of the whole world didn't wake up to coal in their stocking, as the Narrator does.

We almost end on a joke with the Professor trying to wake the girls, but they're too tired having to do Santa's job in an inkling of the time it took Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, and et cetera. It could have ended with that, but that wouldn't have been as cheerful for a Christmas special, so they wake up and celebrate Christmas after all.

The Narrator ends the show like how every Powerpuff Girls episode ends, in a more rhymey and Christmassy way. Just wanted to highlight that because I miss it so much. Maybe I should make some plans for the new year.

Does it still hold up?

Minus a few scenes that lasted a bit too long, it’s a great special from start to finish with lots of actions and some creative humor. There’s not a lot of Christmas specials that can claim that, especially the former.

All I can say to end this review is...

Marry Krismas, Ms Kene.

#fpb ppg 1998 #powerpuff girls #cartoon network #christmas

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fly-pow-bye · 7 years

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Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Bridezilla”

Written by: Haley Mancini

Written & Storyboarded by: Jaydeep Hasrajani, Leticia Abreu Silva

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

Oh no, they say she’s got to go!

The episode starts with the Powerpuff Girls opening an invitation for the Utonium Family. Not the Powerpuff Family, the Utonium Family. Even the people who wrote the invitations don't agree with what you think your last name is, Blossom. Maybe it's a retcon, and we never have to hear "Blossom Powerpuff" again. Wishful thinking.

I'm also glad to see the Bikini part of their name hasn’t been retconned by how often they call them “The Fashionistas”. Speaking of which, that jail sentence at the end of Monkey Love must have been pretty short lived; it's not even mentioned in this episode despite clearly being a sequel. Townsville's jail must have a revolving door, just like Gotham City's.

Blossom: BYOB. Bring your own...bananas?

One minute in, and we’re already far closer to "Monkey Love" than the actual Monkey Love.

Blossom and Buttercup immediately think something is going on. Not because of anything in the letter, but because they’re villains. Bubbles, on the other hand, thinks it’s just going to be a normal wedding, and accuses Blossom of judging a villain by its cover. Blossom picks up a book that says “Always Evil: A Memoir”.

Mojo Jojo shows up, smashing through a door for no reason other than to give Blossom and Buttercup a reason to not trust him. He calls for the Professor in a threatening way...to stay with him at a bachelor party! It even has a catchphrase: "Don't Lose The Mojo"! Yeah, he already did since his first appearance, and only got slightly better over time.

After the Professor leaves with his former lab assistant turned evil chimp, Bianca Bikini shows up, also smashing through a window for no reason other than to give Blossom and Buttercup a reason to not trust her. A reason they won't even use.

Buttercup: Ugh, does anyone know how to use a door?

This could have been a better gag if the Powerpuff Girls were still bashing through walls. If they didn't want to make them hypocrites, they could even reference it as a reason why they don’t do it anymore. I would rather them break through walls, since even this reboot's theme song says they do, but an explanation would be better than nothing.

Bianca is here to tell the Puffs that if the wedding happens, Townsville will go "ta-ta". Blossom and Buttercup do question trusting her after all she did to them, even referencing the brainwashing in Fashion Forward, but they believe her anyway. Because VILLAINY! Bubbles is the voice of reason in this episode, Blossom and Buttercup don't even get unique roles.

UNDERCOVER OPERATION!

They go undercover as non-discriminate gal pals at Barbarus’s bachelorette party. They tell Barbarus that Reboot Jojo told them her butt smells. This completely backfires, as she takes it as a compliment, because apes. Bubbles and a group of people from previous episodes, such as the inept camera girl from Bubbles of the Opera and Zeitgeist from Road Trippin’, go aww over this moment.

UNDERCOVER OPERATION!

After that failure, they go undercover as non-discriminate guy pals at Reboot Jojo’s bachelor party.

Reboot Jojo: And his monologues would go on and on!

Must be talking about his more competent and funnier brother, Mojo Jojo. They try to do the same thing they did to Barbarus. I did mention the whole "two characters, one role" problem, but there is one subtle difference: while Buttercup was able to do the butt line on the spot, Blossom needs index cards to be mean. Good touch.

Blossom: Barbarus told you you're unfunny, unclassy, a weak villain...

Love it when Blossom does my work for me. Unfortunately, she also does a butt-related comparison, which makes him really happy. Bubbles and a group of people from previous episodes, such as the monster-for-hire from Princess Buttercup and the talking zebra from Tiara Trouble, go aww over this moment.

UNDERCOVER OPERATION!

No, it's done, random voiceover guy. Where is the Narrator, anyway? At least this season is consistent with his non-appearances.

Blossom and Buttercup go back to their drawing board, showing that they tried everything to stop this wedding. They tried fabricating lies, photoshopping jealousy by putting a picture of Barbarus's head on what looks like someone going on a date with Fuzzy Lumpkins, and anti-Barbarus campaigns that look suspiciously like anti-Obama stickers. I'll just let that unfortunate implication speak for itself.

Before we can think about that too hard, Bianca shows up to tell Blossom and Buttercup that they're going to do something evil at the wedding. Just from that, Blossom and Buttercup assume there's a bomb in the lasagna at the wedding. Bubbles tries to be the voice of reason, but Blossomcup trusts the person that tried to drown them in tye-dye and already left.

And so the wedding begins to be ruined, starting off with Blossom and Buttercup beating up the bride and groom and asking where the bomb is. At least I can say they’re not being weak this time, as they easily trash the party. The same two people that were able to hold down Bubbles and Buttercup like they were weaklings in the last episode. I guess it just takes evil.

Being the voice of reason in this, Bubbles tries her, but failing. One scene in particular has Blossom and Buttercup throwing out the cake to find the bomb. Bubbles desperately tries to catch the cake, and succeeds, but it gets hit by the Wedding Hippo. Bubbles questions the existence of a Wedding Hippo, and that’s all anyone is going to get. Random!

One thing I will say: they seem to do a far better job at making this a monkey wedding rather than a generic couple wedding. Not necessarily the villain part, but the ape part. This is shown when they eye laser the presents, and a bunch of bananas come out of them. At least it's something!

Blossom and Buttercup declare that the day is saved, as the wedding is now in ruins. Reboot Jojo tells them that, no really, he just wanted to have a normal wedding. Possibly to defer blame, Blossom and Buttercup blurt out that Bianca told them all about their plans. Bianca gets angry, but Barbarus gets even angrier knowing that Bianca caused this misunderstanding to happen. Barbarus growls Bianca's face off. Literally.

It was probably less freaky in the storyboard.

This anger turns into outright rage, with Barbarus even hulking up slightly, and she starts chasing after Bianca and rampaging through the city. She picks up taco trucks. The Powerpuff Girls try their best to save Bianca. Because they're superheroes, they can't just kill people, right?

We even get the classic “people carrying glass across the street gag“, where Bubbles smacks right into it. Bianca was easily able to break glass in the opening. Sad to see that aspect continuing from the last episode.

The Powerpuff Girls struggle to keep Barbarus from ripping apart Bianca, showing her determination to “get” Bianca and showing the writers lack of determination to give any truth to the “girl power” tagline put on this show. Well, Barbarus is a woman, so I guess it would technically still be true.

The Powerpuff Girls aren’t just, but they also want to give her a chance to say sorry. They beg her to say sorry, but Bianca just tells them to stay out of this. The Powerpuff Girls decide to follow that advice, and let the dress go. Jeez, Reboot Puffs, I thought this was the lighter and softer reboot; they're actually going to let a giant angry gorilla maul Bianca to death.

Nah, of course not. At the very last second, she finally says sorry. This immediately causes Barbarus to turn back to normal. It was a good thing the Powerpuff Girls knew this was going to happen! Bianca explains her motives: ever since Barbarus started dating Reboot Jojo, they haven't been together. This doesn't really fit with the last episode, which had Bianca join in on every date, but that's par for the course for this show.

They hug each other and make up, Bianca finally accepting Barbarus's love. This sisterly bonding is so sweet, that not only does Bubbles goes aww over it, Buttercup starts crying over it. I do like the line she says to cover it up, she's just allergic to sad things. A minor like. It’s almost like a drama version of the fistbump joke, but I don’t see it as bad. Maybe it’s because this it’s a very rare occurrence in this show.

For the record, before they can say “I do”, they get into an argument and never actually get to it. It’s left open on whether or not this negates the wedding. There is one line I really like, coming from the hateable-in-this-episode Blossom of all people.

Blossom: Maybe this is why you shouldn't get engaged after two dates.

It's almost as if it was making fun of how sudden the relationship was. The episode ends with Jojo threatening to destroy the city, justifying Blossom and Buttercup's prejudice, and the Powerpuff Girls beating up Reboot Jojo in an off-screen fight. It seems like they can only show violence when it’s bad.

Does the title fit?

The bride rampages through the city, just like a certain giant monster.

How does it stack up?

I like how the Bianca plot was wrapped up. Even the Barbarus x Jojo relationship, which I didn't agree with, seemed to be played for humor more than the last episode. Sure, the ending seems like a way to reverse everything back to the status quo, but I didn't want to see it happen anyway.

I can see how people could hate this episode, and it's all on Blossom and Buttercup. While their cruelty isn't rewarded like in certain episodes of the original, it's not exactly punished either. Then again, Reboot Jojo is supposed to be their most notorious villain, and Barbarus isn't much better. I just didn't feel like it was as forced as this relationship was to me. Your mileage may vary.

I can see how people would hate this episode, but I found it alright. I would give this a high Neutral, but I've been giving those out like candy on Halloween lately for episodes worse than this one, so I'll be nice here.

Next, the big one. I'll wait until the episode airs to tell you my plans for that one.

← Monkey Love ☆ Power of Four (Parts 1-2) →

#fpb ppg 2016 #ppg 2016 #powerpuff girls #cartoon network #fpb reviews

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fly-pow-bye · 7 years

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Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Take Your Kids to Dooms Day“

Written by: Haley Mancini, Jake Goldman

Written & Storyboarded by: Jaydeep Hasrajani, Leticia Abreu Silva

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

This reboot is doomsday.

The episode starts with the still nameless outside of that one short school’s Parents Day, where Ms. Keane is allowing all the kids to bring their parents for show and tell. There actually is a general Parents’ Day, though this seems to be more of a Father’s Day episode.

After presentations from a firefighter, an astronaut, and a vampire, because if unicorns and magical pandas can exist, anything goes, the Powerpuff Girls’ father figure is up next. They’re pretty excited, as is Ms. Keane, because he’s a scientist! Gotta say, if they’re hinting at some sort of adoration between the Professor and Ms. Keane, it’s far more subtle and better than a certain other relationship in this reboot.

The Professor comes up to the podium, and, to no surprise, he’s not going to fulfill the Powerpuff Girls’ hopes. Or anyone’s hopes.

Professor Utonium: What makes me, ahem, great, are my three little girls!

Everyone else: (groans)

I know the feeling, kids. Buttercup yells at him to do science stuff, and he focuses on the science of slightly changing the colors of chemicals. This doesn’t impress anyone, as told by a sad trumpet sound. He then wants to talk more about his girls!

Glasses Kid: Make it stooop!

Wow, even the characters in the show want the PPG 2016 to stop. Seriously, every time he brings up the girls, we get a shot of these students groaning. It’s supposed to show how boring the Professor is, but the way they place these groaning scenes makes me think they hate the girls, too. Maybe they only saw the same Monster Punch, Girls Down scenes, too.

As the bell rings, Ms. Keane gives the class their new assignment due on Friday: make a video showing off what makes their parent great. The Powerpuff Girls are not exactly happy, because they apparently don’t see their father as great. Barry, the Illuminati Kid, understands their plight, as his mother stays at home.

Specifically, she’s a stay-at-home ninja...who speaks Korean? Weren’t ninjas strictly a Japanese thing? Maybe they were just that good at staying hidden. The more we know about Barry, the more interesting he gets. He wears the Eye of Providence, he’s daring enough to play with his phone while floating in the ocean, he has a ninja mom, and he’s not impressed by that. Sadly for Barry, they’re probably waiting for Season 3 to have the big Barry episode. He’ll be waiting, and waiting, and waiting.

After Buttercup goes “ugh, Barry”, the Powerpuff Girls reveal their plan: they can follow him to his new job. That’s one thing the reboot has focused on: the Professor being a job seeker. He doesn’t work at a university anymore, and that’s assuming that “Professor” isn’t just his first name. In Sister Sitter, his reason for not being able to look after the sick girls is because he had to do a job interview for an agriculture company.

I guess he didn’t get that job, because now he works at a tech company named Tech-Co. As a scientist, he’s able to invent things for them. With Buttercup on the camera, he shows off his inventions!

A fabric that can stretch a thousand times its size! He demonstrates this by accidently making it fling around the room like Flubber. Sad trumpet sound.

A small Lithium battery! Apparently not eco-friendly! Different sad trumpet sound.

And the coolest thing at Tech-Co: a spring! A super spring that has the power of four thousand other springs. I guess Coilie the Spring Sprite got to him. Yet another sad trumpet sound.

The Powerpuff Girls ask if he actually invented anything interesting, like a shrink ray, rocket socks, or a metal thing that holds water. Guess who suggests that last one. The Professor instead shows off Trent, his co-worker that loves to make Mondays jokes on days that aren’t Monday!

No sad trumpet this time, instead, their faces just shrink to a very small and undetailed size. That seems to be their new favorite face this season. I will say, despite having the same storyboarders, this episode has far more restraint than Tell-Tale Schedulebot. It’s almost as if this episode was supposed to be taken more seriously.

The Powerpuff Girls, thinking their whole video is bust, attempts a plan to make their video great. While the Professor is away, Buttercup tells Bubbles to get props, and Blossom to be the feet.

Bubbles holds up a cardboard cutout of the City of Townsville in front of the camera, and talking over it. It must be a reference to that guy that hasn’t appeared since Fashion Forward. I think his name is “Commentator”.

Bubbles: Oh no, Townsville is under attack!

She also doesn’t exactly say the famous line correctly, which would have improved it tenfold. Granted, he doesn’t say “The City of Townsville” in the reboot outside of two episodes, counting one that shouldn’t count. Bubbles walks into frame and trips over a potted plant, pretending it’s an evil monster. She yells for help like the superhero she is. Just like in their actual fights!

Blossom and Buttercup dress up as the Professor. I like how they clearly stole one of the lab coats for that disguise. Unfortunately, it doesn’t end well, as they bicker about how uncomfortable they are, and they fall down.

After the Powerpuff Girls fail at making the Professor look cool, the real Professor comes back in to introduce his boss, a lady named Ms. Licosi. Ms. Licosi asks the girls if they were impressed with what they saw, which the Powerpuff Girls respond very similar to their classmate's reaction to whenever the Professor talks about them. Ms. Licosi, ignoring their groaning, tells them that they’re invited to a press conference in a way that is not menacing in the slightest.

Licosi: (eyebrows lower) Believe me, it’ll be quite a show.

Outside of TV Guide’s rather spoiler-y description, in hindsight, there’s not a lot of hints that this office is more than it seems, so I can see why they added those eyebrows and close-up. It’s pretty subtle, as they don’t even change the cheerful music that’s playing in this scene. It is an improvement over previous episodes, unlike Blue Ribbon Blues’...

Not A Janitaur Bent On Turning Everyone Into Animals, (Not) Honest: YES!

...whatever this was supposed to be.

The Powerpuff Girls take their seats, expecting a snorefest. Bubbles wonders what Barry is up to, as we cutaway to Barry looking at his phone while his mother is preparing to fight a bunch of ninjas in her Bruce Lee Game of Death outfit. Buttercup does another “ugh, Barry” to this, possibly jealous that he seems to have far more entertaining adventures.

During the presentation, the Professor shows off his real invention: a “powersuit” which is literally a suit! It can make people run super fast, is virtually indestructible, and is slim fit! It’s even powered by that battery we saw a few minutes ago. The Powerpuff Girls are finally impressed, their cowlicks, ribbons, and pigtails wiggling with glee by seeing something that would impress Barry.

Ms. Licosi congratulates the Professor on his work, and says she’ll take it from here, pushing the Professor aside and teleporting the powersuit onto her own body. We then get the big twist. Anyone can predict that there’s something more to this workplace than it seems; if they couldn’t tell from Licosi’s expression and even the episode’s TV Guide synopsis. However, it’s harder to predict what exactly this entailed.

In fact, you should probably stop reading now and watch the episode if you had any interest in watching it. It’s a surprise worth having, and worth is something the reboot desperately needs.

← Musclecup ☆ The Bubbles-Sitters Club →

...

Oh, and did I mention Licosi is an anagram? Well, it’s too late now. Ms. Licosi's face dissipates into a very, very shadowy man.

Surprise, this episode was the third Silico episode this whole time! If you don’t remember, he’s the virus robot and silly lie article wielding mastermind who is constantly in shadow and has a deep hatred of the Powerpuff Girls. Come to think of it, there was something I said about him in an earlier episode’s review:

Unfortunately, Silico has an ace up his sleeve. Those virus robots? A super suit that can allow him to fight the Powerpuff Girls directly?

I don’t think they actually read these reviews, but it’s a coincidence I can appreciate. He swats away the Professor using his own powersuit, which can make his arms longer due to being “slim fit”. This may be suggesting that the stretchy fabric was also used in this. They don’t show how the spring fits in with this, but it must be there. Car doors and phones won’t work without them, after all!

The Powerpuff Girls ask Silico why he would attack the Professor and what happened to Ms. Licosi, and Silico only answers the second question: all of the co-workers were holograms! He sure loves his holograms! The Powerpuff Girls try to get up to the task to fight him three-on-one; the first real direct confrontation between Silico and the Puffs. Unfortunately, thanks to the powersuit, it doesn’t go too well for the Puffs. Very few fights do even without it.

One part of this one-sided fight shows Blossom trying to do a flurry of punches, but it just leads to a “punch punch punch uh-oh” scene. I’m not going to hate on this scene in particular. If anyone can make a suit that can stop the Powerpuff Girls, it’s the Professor. Then again, this same exact scene happened with radioactive moles in Road Trippin’, and similar scenes seem to happen when the Reboot Puffs have to fight anything. The Reboot Puffs seem to be all talk and no actual power; not really something that shows the “girl power” that the reboot’s tagline seems to convey.

The Puffs not bruised but not at full strength, Silico turns his hand into a hammer. How a suit is able to morph his hand, which isn’t a part of the suit, is not explained. For all we know, maybe Silico is a shapeshifter. Before he drops the hammer down, he gets interrupted by a surprise person hiding in the shadows...

Professor Utonium: The only person who won’t allow you to harm my girls...me!

I’m also okay with this, but mostly because it’s not the Sitcom Dad I’ve grown to know and hate. He stands up and reveals that the Professor Silico knocked into the seats was a hologram as well, and that he was onto him from the start!

We get some flashback scenes on about how he came to the conclusion, and it's so obvious, even the Professor could figure it out. One day, he saw a computer screen seeing a memo showing the Professor and a skull and crossbones. Another day, he tried to throw something at one of his coworkers for them to catch, only to have it pass through them. Another day, this happens:

Trent: We are all actually holograms and Licosi is actually Silico. (swaps back to usual personality) Mondays, am I right?

Eh, it's an okay use of the rule of three. This is meant to be a comedy even if most of the jokes fall flat. I can understand a lot of people scoffing at this joke, and it does seem to be more of a Sitcom Dad joke for the Professor to just not notice anything wrong with this. However, I found that line a little smile-worthy; it’s similar to how certain shows would flashback after a big reveal and highlight a “clue” that would’ve given it away, often one that wasn’t even visible if it was shown before.

The Professor then reveals that he made a powersuit of his own “with a few improvements”! The suit even turns all white at one point, which could be a nod to Powerprof. One could say ripoff, but one could also say this is the reboot’s variation of it.

This is a cool scene to see after episode and episode of the Professor being incompetent, but I have to say something. First, this is one of those psychedelic colorful background and hit flash beatdowns. Apparently, they spent the budget on the Powerpuff Girls getting beaten rather than Silico finally getting his just desserts.

Also, this is Silico, the series’ closest equivalent to Teen Titans’ Slade, getting beat by the silly dad character that does silly dad things. A villain that was the puppet master in his first episode, was only somewhat beaten by luck in his second, and outright beat the Powerpuff Girls in this. Once he gets punched in a hole, he does not appear again in this episode, not even in a “cliffhanger”, so we can conclude that a man was able to do what the Powerpuff Girls couldn’t. Girl power!

Okay, I’m being flippant here. The real point for this episode is to be a father’s day episode, so we have the father save his daughters in an act of caring. The Powerpuff Girls, seeing this beatdown, realized it’s not about how cool the Professor is, and they decided to do a different idea for their video. We cut to the school, which still has their Parents Day banners up despite clearly being a different day, and the Powerpuff Girls show off their video to the class.

Instead of showing off how cool their father is, we get this cutesy slideshow showing off their family get-togethers, their playtime, and a superhero that used to regularly get punched into walls getting hurt by falling off a bike. They threw away all of the footage they took, they get to hug the Professor at the end, and, for the first time ever in this reboot as far as I remember, they finally call him “Dad”. Aw, how cute.

Does the title fit?

The Powerpuff Girls are taken to work, and they do meet their doom on this day, so sure. The space is completely unnecessary, though.

How does it stack up?

In a very, very rare moment in Fly! Pow! Bye! history, I have no major complaints about a PPG 2016 episode that isn’t a general problem with the reboot. A very good twist even I didn't figure out at first, Silico finally being cool again, and even the fighting is above the usually abysmal average of the show. That last one isn't saying too much.

This is a top-level episode of the show, up there with Poorbucks and Fashion Forward. They're getting better.

Next week, it sounds like they’re going to go from ripping off real Powerpuff Girls episodes, not talking about this episode, to ripping off one of the worst Spongebob episodes! Hopefully that’s not the case.

← Musclecup ☆ The Bubbles-Sitters Club →

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fly-pow-bye · 7 years

Text

Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Somewhere Over The Swingset“

Written by: Haley Mancini

Written & Storyboarded by: Julia Vickerman, Diego Molano

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

Swingsets! Rainbows! The worst GIF I have ever created!

…is that a rainbow? No, it can’t be. There’s not as many memes anymore, so they must be learning from previous mistakes, right?

A carny with rainbow eyes introduces a new swingset, and challenges all of the kids of Townsville to stay on it. At the first second, I already know what the twist is. I think having an overly happy fat guy introduce the swing is a good enough hint; we didn’t need the rainbow eyes. Not only that, but the swing’s seat is rainbow colored, and a rainbow also shows up in this introduction. There's foreshadowing, and then there's just giving it away.

Big Joey, the big kid that exchanged with Donny in Odd Bubbles Out, tries to conquer this challenge, but almost immediately flies off into the distance, causing a mushroom cloud. Because it was funny in Spongebob, so surely it must be funny here, right? It turns out, no kid can last more than 3 seconds on the swing, as we see a bunch of children lying on the ground. Maybe they should try not letting go? There must be someone who could figure that out, especially kids that have powers beyond any mere mortal.

The Powerpuff Girls show up, dressed up in fancy costumes. I think they’re trying to go for some sort of Siegfried and Roy effect, but all I’m seeing is a desperate plea to the toy makers. Yeah, I have a feeling all of this is for naught.

They walk up to the swing, because the director never realized how awkward that is, to a bunch of cheering fans. All of this gets interrupted by the Professor.

This seems to be a recurring spot for the Professor’s character: he’s going to tell them to do something, which they will do anyway, and he’s going to end up being right in the end. Blossom tells him that they do dangerous stuff all of the time, citation needed for the reboot, but the Professor is only okay with putting his “kids” in danger if it’s for the safety of Townsville, also citation needed for the reboot.

That rascally little green princess outright tells the Professor that they’re not showing off, they’re just showing that they can do something other people can’t. Like lifting buildings full of people and fighting giant monsters, but clearly being on a swing set is more impressive.

We get another Blossom stock image monologue, another reaccuring bit of joy. Her speech concludes that they want to inspire and show the power of “female determination”. Because the Powerpuff Girls are girls. The writers wanted people to know that. Oh, and they want to go on the Townsville Book of World Records. Makes me wonder; does the DC universe have a world record book? Do they have to disqualify Superman and The Flash from breaking every record in it? Thinking about that is more entertaining than this.

Needless to say, the Professor doesn’t budge. He urges them to promise not to go on the swing set. They promise…

Buttercup: …to wait until you fall asleep, then go down in swing set history.

Blossom: Got to hand it to you, Buttercup, it was sneaky for you to wait this long to finish that sentence till just now.

They send out a group text to all the kids, waking them up past their curfews, so that they can have an audience. I guess that’s required for that world record book. By the way, that book doesn't show up again, because it fufilled its purpose of being an excuse.

Even though the only challenge was stay on the swing, they decide to up the ante by swinging over the bar. Swinging over the bar is a physical impossibility for a human being to do by themselves. In fact, even with help, the Mythbusters couldn’t do it. Well, I guess that's why the Powerpuff Girls can do it and nobody else can.

The Professor shows up at the last second to try to stop them, but it’s too late. They go over the bar, and they seemingly disappear in an explosion.

They find themselves back in bed. They immediately assume they must have been knocked out after falling out of the swing. Sad that even the Powerpuff Girls know how easy they can get knocked out in this reboot. The Professor comes in, and he apparently took it very well!

Professor Utonium: Good morning, girls!

(laugh track)

Yes, a laugh track. An ironic laugh track, but a laugh track nonetheless. At least I can know what lines were supposed to be funny.

Not only is he not mad about the girls doing that dangerous stunt, he was impressed! They eventually get a call to the Mayor's office. Something is clearly not right; this is the reboot, we don't have time for actual emergencies!

It turns out, there isn't one. They go in and find a Mayor that is competent. He can open jars of pickles by himself! He wins Nobel Prizes! He even has assistants! Huh, I guess assistants can be "fitting to our messages" if they're generic and not strong independent women. Why did the Mayor need the Powerpuff Girls? Beats me.

He then cartwheels into a helicopter, because running would take more money away from the marketing would be less impressive. Honestly, even the Cheat would scoff at the animation for this television show. The Powerpuff Girls get another call, saying that they're needed back home!

Reboot Jojo and Reboot Fuzzy are there, but they're not tearing up the place. The villains are all good guys now, and are more interested in book clubs rather than causing crime! Insert long and unfunny scene about books.

If you haven’t noticed, this episode is a ripoff of Tough Love with dashes of Speed Demon, except done in reverse. Not just in the way everyone’s so positive and not hateful, and that this world is apparently a utopia, but also in the quality of the episode.

Well, maybe there’s one good scene. They see the Professor in a mirror, crying over his missing girls. It certainly sets the Twilight Zone tone of this episode. If only they could go all the way and have the Narrator play the role of Rod Serling.

Other than that, it's just wacky scenes that are wacky. Maybe if this episode started with a call to the Mayor's office to open a pickle jar and them beating up Reboot Jojo and Reboot Fuzzy, there could have been some contrast. Sure, I know the Mayor usually has trouble with pickle jars and that Reboot Fuzzy doesn't act like this, but how is anyone going to know from this slice-of-life non-superhero comedy?

The Powerpuff Girls instantly decide that this "perfect world" is too much for them, and go outside to find a way out. In episodes like this, there's usually some pondering about whether they should stay in this world, and that doesn't exist here. Whoever is doing this is doing a terrible job. Speaking of which...

After seeing the entirety of Townsville welcoming them to their new home, the rainbow swing set guy from the opening descends down from the heavens on the giant swing set. He talks about how this is the perfect place, and they can stay forever! He swings forward…

…and Allegro swings back, turning the world into a rainbow nightmare. If the traumatic flashbacks aren’t coming back, this is the villain from Painbow, the episode that proved to me that not only will this reboot not live up to the original, but not even live up to my lowest expectations. He's happy that all of that energy the Powerpuff Girls used to go over the bar revived him! Painbow II: Electric Buttercup Boo-a-Hoo.

The townspeople are wandering to them like zombies. I guess this is supposed to mirror the affection they were trying to get by going over the bar. Blossom laments that she shouldn’t beat up people they know. After the Mayor tries to eat her, just go with it, they decide it’s for the best. A fight scene? Maybe?

The girls beat up all of the Townspeople, who turn out to be Allegro’s party minions in disguise. Not in any clever disguise, but they just poof into their real forms when they get punched in the face. Of course, much like most of the violence in this show, it’s ruined by more Nike product placement!

At first, I thought it was the usual “gotta make it G for the toyset“ censorship, and it is, but I noticed a peculiarity when I made that GIF. I decided to cut out every frame of that dreadful hit flash, and…

…I realized the hit flashes didn’t cover anything, they’re just there. Sure, there isn’t a frame where Buttercup’s fist makes contact with Barry’s face, but the mind fills the blank. All the hit flash does is make the scene pause for a quarter of a second, distracting from the action and making it not as exciting as it should be.

Three paragraphs on this one little fight. I’m really delaying the inevitable.

Since Allegro is too busy partying, he’s not on the swingset anymore, and the girls plan to get on it to go back home. Blossom calls on the other girls to join in. Buttercup shows up immediately, but Bubbles is a too busy doing…

You know what, 🚚🚚🚚 this.

Remarks:

None.

Final Verdict:

Next episode, who cares.

← Snow Month ☆ Anything Else →

…

Nah, I won’t do that, but I really should have.

I could at least, with a very, very, very tiny sliver of honesty, say that the scene from Painbow could be defended. Blossom and Bubbles were hypnotized by the dancing lobsters, and Buttercup reacted with disgust. It was supposed to be gross. Here, Bubbles is just shaking her butt with a hippo out of her own volition, and it’s treated as another “oh, that silly Bubbles” joke.

It’s not funny, it doesn’t add to the plot, and it doesn’t really help Bubbles’ character. This scene could have been removed, and only one thing would have changed: this reboot would have one scene involving barely-out-of-kindergarten girls twerking instead of two.

There is no point in continuing, but I might as well say what happens at the end: They beat up Allegro while on the swing, he turns into a gummy bear again, and the Powerpuff Girls successfully return to their own universe. The Professor, while glad that they’re okay, still grounds them. Aren't your expectations subverted?

I would say if they took out that scene, they could have room for the hearts, but they didn’t really save the day here. They stayed up past their bedtime, too. Odd in this episode that rips off two episodes of the original, they couldn’t be further from the original’s tagline.

Remarks (for real this time):

Is the title accurate?: I guess they do go somewhere when they go over the swingset.

Better use for the title: A Wizard of Oz parody would have been better. A 12 minute still shot of a jar of mayonnaise would have been better, but still.

Fun fact: The Powerpuff Girls, the real ones, co-hosted an airing of Wizard of Oz on TCM back in 2002. They were big in the early 2000s.

Final Verdict:

It’s slightly better than Painbow in that it doesn’t have any tired memes, and there is some logic in this episode in that I don’t have to ask why the Powerpuff Girls aren’t affected by Allegro. Still, it’s not much of an improvement, and when you’re not much of an improvement over Painbow, that’s not even a mediocre sign. As it stands, the only alternate universe where this episode is good is the one where it doesn't exist.

Next, probably the falsest title of any episode of anything judging by the reboot. Yeah, even falser than “The Return of Slade.“

← Snow Month ☆ People Pleaser →

#fpb ppg 2016 #fpb reviews #powerpuff girls #ppg 2016 #cartoon network

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