The Powerpuff Girls

About

The Powerpuff Girls is an American children's animated TV series created by Craig McCracken that ran from November 1998 to March 2005 on Cartoon Network. Centered around a trio of sisters with special powers, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, who were accidentally created during a laboratory experiment by Professor Utonium, the show primarily focuses on their superheroic adventures in order to stop various evildoers from harming their hometown, Townsville. Since the premiere of the original series in 1998, the show has garnered an online fandom and several internet memes, and it continues to enjoy popularity with the Cartoon Network's premiere of a new reboot series in 2016.

History

The show was originally created in 1992 by McCracken as a project while he was in collage at CalArts. He entitled his cartoon "Whoopass Stew". Cartoon Network noticed the show, and after changing the name to "The Powerpuff girls", included it in their showcase series What a Cartoon!^[1] in 1995. Three years later, the show premiered on Cartoon Network on November 18, 1998. The show aired a total of 78 episodes in 6 seasons, eventually ending on March 25, 2005. It has also received a tenth anniversary special episode, which aired in 2008^[2].

Reboot

In June 2014, Cartoon Network announced that the Powerpuff Girls would return for a new series in 2016^[3]. Early speculation held that the animation style would mirror the updated CGI-influenced animation which was used in the January 2015 Cartoon Network special Dance Pantsed.

However, the original voice actors, including Tara Strong, the prominent voice actress who played Bubbles, were all recast. The new voice actors are all young girls, including Kristine Yi, Natalie Palamides, and Amanda Leighton, all of whom debuted in Vine videos released by Cartoon Network on June 8th, 2015.

Upon hearing the news, Tara Strong tweeted:

On April 4th, 2016, the first episode of the new series premiered, accompanied by a popular viral campaign called "Powerpuff Yourself" in which people could create their own image in the Powerpuff Girls animation.^[11] The new series also featured a new theme song, called "Who's Got the Power" by the Seattle band Tacocat.

Live-action Reboot

On August 24th, 2020, Variety^[17] reported that the CW was looking into a live-action reboot of the series which reimagined the girls as disillusioned twenty-somethings. The news was met with skepticism and parodies from fans who expressed that the idea of an adult, gritty reboot missed the point of the original series.

Reception

The Powerpuff Girls has received many positive reviews from both fans and critics alike. It has also been given two Emmy awards and three nominations, along with being ranked 18th in IGN’s "Top Primetime Animated Series Of All Time"^[4] and rated 13th in TV Guide’s "50 greatest Cartoon Characters of all time"^[5]. It currently holds a rating of 7.2 on IMDb.^[6]

Donny The Transgender Pony

On April 7th, 2016, Cartoon Network aired the fifth episode of the reboot series "Horn, Sweet Horn," featuring a new character named "Donny," a pony who undergoes a "transmogrifying" process to achieve the dream of becoming a unicorn with the help of the Powerpuff Girls, only to discover that he was always a unicorn despite the physical appearance of a pony. The episode's creative attempt at discussing the topic of transgender identity culminated with an ending scene that features a giant heart in the colors of the transgender flag.

Shortly after its airing, the episode was met with generally positive reviews for its creative approach towards gender-identity education, including major news outlets^[12] and LGBT publications^[15][16], although not without criticism from some fans on Tumblr who felt that Donny was misportrayed as a stereotype of a transgender person. On April 8th, Tumblr user Jitterbuglive^[13] posted a lengthy review of the episode and its LGBT-themed subtext, in which she points out several moments that stood out as overly exaggerated or unsavvy depictions. In the following days, the blog post snowballed into a large-scale debate^[14] surrounding the portrayal of gender-identity topics and stereotypes in pop culture.

Fandom

Powerpuff Girls has spawned a massive fanbase, and merchandise and images from the show are still popular. The characters are especially popular in the cosplay, fan image, and fanfiction sectors. As of June 2015, a search on DeviantArt returns more than 77,000 results^[8] and a search for the same term on Fanfiction.net returns 1,165 different stories in several different categories.^[9] A subreddit /r/powerpuffgirls was created March 25th 2012 and has 321 readers.

Related Memes

"That's The Evilest Thing I Can Imagine"

That’s the evilest thing I can Imagine is a meme that first appeared in Season 6 Episode 2 of The Powerpuff Girls; showing 2 villains known as HIM and Mojo Jojo using the expression. It is commonly used online to mock online trolling attempts or to describe anything that one would consider “evil”.

Powerpuff Style Parodies

Powerpuff Style Parodies refer to art of characters from separate shows, games or other media drawn in the art style of The Powerpuff Girls.

Search Interest

External References