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mrmallard · 4 months

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man I recently rewatched this video of a guy showing his dad Plastic Beach for the first time - it's a great video, channel is called "turning the tables" - and afterwards I looked up reactions or reviews or anything of the next Gorillaz album after that one. The next album after Plastic Beach was a much lower-key affair that Damon made with an iPad while he was on tour, and he initially only released it on the Gorillaz website before it got a wider release. The album is called The Fall, and I really love it.

And it has NEVER escaped the shadow of being "the iPad album".

It certainly isn't perfect, the opener is kind of a turn-off for starters and the quality doesn't really touch what Plastic Beach or Demon Days accomplished, but the album hits at points. Even by the time the second song comes on, Revolving Doors, there's depth in this great juxtaposition between gentle, cleanly picked acoustic guitar and big, squishy synth notes.

After The Fall - well, after Plastic Beach; The Fall was more of an afterthought - Gorillaz went into an extended hiatus. They'd come back later in the decade with Humanz, which was flush with features and light on Damon Albarn's singing (and got a mixed reception), and then later with The Now Now (which brought Damon back to the forefront, but which was still not exactly the comeback people had been waiting for). Both albums have songs that I like, but neither album were really my thing outside of some standout tracks I eventually fell in with.

Both albums have always had their lovers and haters. Humanz is very polarising, while I think The Now Now has more of a "meh" to "it's aight" dichotomy. Being polarising, both albums have a bunch of discussion around them, positive and negative. For better or worse, there is a dialogue.

And then, in the middle, fuckin NOOOOOO-ONE talks about The Fall. Because "Damon Albarn made it on an iPad in a tour bus, it's not even an album, it's a mislabeled side-project at best" etc. etc. A lot of empty platitudes that say nothing except finding the album to be lacking worth based on a perceived lack of depth.

And it bugs me, because Humanz - to a degree - got its roses. It got a lot of shit, but enough people have come around that there's an earnest slice of the fanbase who've argued for a reformation of its reputation after being received poorly at first. The Now Now, while seen as kind of a bland album by some outside of its use of a Powerpuff Girls character, got its roses.

The Fall gets one reaction video where the dude keeps skipping through the songs because he's bored before hastily rating them on a tier list.

That's rough to watch.

I'm just being salty, sorry. Honestly, Plastic Beach is always gonna be that special album to me - I have a really special anecdote from when I was a teenager, I was downloading the song On Melancholy Hill on LimeWire with a dial-up connection and I saw online that a music video show was broadcasting the music video on TV at six in the morning. I stayed up all night trying to download the song, because if it downloaded and I got to listen to the whole thing before the video aired, I would go to bed - but if it didn't finish, I would watch the music video on TV.

In the end, the download didn't finish in time. I saw the video on TV at 6AM, with the harsh morning sun shining through the blinds. That's gonna be a core memory of mine for the rest of my life.

The Fall didn't have a moment like that. I actually didn't like the first single drop. But I did have a moment where I listened to it and enjoyed the music more than I was expecting - at worst, you could describe it as like an epilogue to that first era of the Gorillaz; the 2D album after Gorillaz was the Russell album, Demon Days was the Noodle album and Plastic Beach was the Murdoc album. I really love and appreciate this album, as low-key as it is.

And seeing how it's been wallpapered over since 2010 and relegated to the spot of "The iPad Album", I have no choice but to stan forever. The Fall is the most underrated Gorillaz album. The original self-titled album doesn't get much play any more, maybe, but The Fall gets NO play. And considering how much I like it, that hurts a little.

idk how to end this post but here's a gif

#gorillaz #messyposting #just venting sorry. everyone has preferences and stuff i know

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polyghostfacehours · 3 years

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Ooooo SO! Gimmie a NSFW and a SFW one about Sidney!

NSFW maybe something about oral and the SFW one about her ideal date maybe? Give it upppp.

YES. I seldom get to talk about Sid, but I have so many thoughts on our queen Im excited to share!

I POPPED OFF ON THESE BTW lol. Did what you wanted and more~

General Sidney Headcanons:

SFW:

Her ideal date is going to watch a nighttime outdoor stage play, eating good food, basking in the glow of the strung up lights, and holding her loved one against her

I tend to hc her as Asexual Biromantic or Pan with Female Pref.

The first one is my go to, but the second is what I have in mind if I write smut with her.

Sidney and Tatum go way back. They met in elementary school, 3rd grade, and their meeting consisted of Tatum pushing some girl bullying Sidney off the slide and getting suspended for it. They've been best friends ever since.

Fucking with the timeline a little, But Sid's favorite Powerpuff Girl as a kid was always Blossom.

Despite this, her favorite Ice Cream truck flavor was always the Bubbles one lol.

Sid doesn't like Horror movies OR Romantic Comedies. But she'd watch them anyway for Billy or Tatum if they wanted to.

Her favorite movie genre is actual Musicals. Modern Sidney would've loved 2012's Les Mis

She loves theater. Through and through. And absolute theater kid.

She actually met Billy in 8th grade Theater class. Most kids in Woodsboro were of the sporty type, and Billy waited last minute to turn in his elective sheet, so he got stuck with Drama class.

They were friends for a couple of years at first. It wasn't until near the end of sophomore year they got together.

She was in love with Tatum, but never knew how to express it. Her asexuality added confusion to the issue. All she knows is that that one time Tatum kissed her in 9th grade, before either of them dated Billy and Stu, that she wanted to taste Tatum's Orange Crush lip gloss for the rest of her life.

She'd die with this secret, but deep down, a part of her jumped on using her mom's death as an excuse to stop Billy's sexual advances.

Sidney hates dresses. Not because she's not feminine, but she just hates the thought of feeling vulnerable.

She's well aware of Randy's crush on her, but she acts oblivious on purpose bc she doesn't feel the same way, and she isn't sure how to deal with the issue without compromising their friendship.

She gets annoyed by Stu's callousness, but she never like, disliked him that much. He was just a casual friend, the least close to her, and she actually did find some of his jokes funny.

One really good memory she has with Stu was during a Sit In theater screening picnic with him, Tatum, Randy, and Casey (Stu was with her at the time). She had gone to grab some slushies. Some asshole bumped into her and she spilled them all over herself. Stu saw it happen while getting some hot dogs, and not only offered to let her change into his shirt temporarily, he drove her all the way to the nearest Wal Mart to get her some clean clothes, and even paid for them. He joked around with her the whole time, trying to make her feel better. It was a rare, but appreciated moment of camaraderie between the two.

She sees Dewey as her own brother.

She genuinely loved Derek. Unlike Billy, he never ever pressured her into sex, and straight up told her that if she never wanted to have sex again he'd still be with her. When he died, it was like Billy's betrayal and Tatum's death all over again. Pure heartbreak.

Sidney was willfully blind to Maureen's promiscuity. She saw how much it hurt her dad, and she'd overhear people talk bad about her mother, but in her mind Maureen was just a genuinely loving, kind, amazing woman. She and Sid were very close, and she couldnt handle the thought of her mom being a "slut".

Sidney wanted to be on Broadway one day. She ended up becoming an author.

Her and Gale have the strangest relationship. They've known each other for so many decades now, yet never became super close or anything, yet would still fucking die for each other. It's strange and neither woman knows how to describe their friendship/ The best way to describe it would probably be Frenemies

Sidney never, ever truly got over Tatum. She thinks about her on most nights, all these many years later. Whenever she sees another young, bubbly blond she can't help but let a soft smile spread along her face as heat gather behind her eyes. When she looks in these young women's eyes, she sees Tatum and everything she could've been.

Her feelings on Billy are extremely complicated. She thinks back on their relationship a lot. And in her middle age finally realized that, yeah, there was a clear turning point. In the first half year of the relationship, she was on Cloud 9. Billy's smile reached his eyes. She didn't mind getting hot and heavy with him (she's not sex-repulsed or anything). He seemed less of the "Perfect Boyfriend" and more real. Let himself show his flaws. It wasn't until where she believes the turning point happen that Billy became too perfect, too understanding, too "in love" with her. Sidney now sees how fake he became.

She always thought Mrs. Loomis was weird. She never mentioned anything about it to Billy, because she knew he loved her a lot, but every time she came over to Billy's house, she felt uncomfortable with Mrs. Loomis' smothering.

She loved her food though. She can't look at Italian American cuisine the same again anymore :/

Honestly could see Sidney identifying as Non-Binary if it wasn't the 90's.

NSFW:

So Ace!Sid isn't sex-repulsed, but she doesn't ever crave it or feel sexual attraction to people. HOWEVER, Pan!Sid is an oral QUEEN.

She prefers eating pussy, but she sucks a mean dick too tbh.

She loves the taste of pussy juices. The tang, the slight changes in taste depending on diet...it's addictive to her.

She actually doesn't like the taste of male cum much, but its not the worst thing in the world for her.

She's imagines how Tatum tastes a lot. She never got around to it by the time of the events of the movie, and Tatum's premature death prevented her ever doing so.

During the beginning of her and Billy's relationship, it really was hot and heavy as he said. They never had sex, but oral was a constant thing for both, and whenever parents weren't home or upstairs Billy usually ended up fingering her (and trying to take it further, especially near the end of their relationship)

Lmao She had a wet dream about Randy once and was like: :/

Sidney prefers giving than receiving. It's the romantic aspect of pleasuring someone you like that gets to her.

Sidney doesn't do one night stands. She's not demi like Billy is, but she definitely doesnt feel comfortable jumping into sex with someone, no matter how romantically or sexually attracted she is to them.

#Sidney Prescott #Tatum Riley #Billy Loomis #Stu Macher #Scream 1996 #Sidney Prescott x Tatum Riley

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itsamepatches · 3 years

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Patches reads the CW "Powerpuff Girls" script PART 5

19 pages out of 60 into this script, and we're with a familial reunion between 25-year-olds Bubbles, Buttercup, and the distant Blossom. Of course, since Ace the cameraman from "Vigro Management" has been recording all this time, Professor Drake Utonium has to make a hilarious question after watching the sisters hug:

DRAKE You getting this?

*canned laughter*

And now, we reach the end of Act 1.

PART 1 (here) PART 2 (here) PART 3 (here) PART 4 (here) PART 5

Can I have some, too, Blossom? I might want some later.

I'm

pretty sure you guys wanted to be superheroes, Blossom.

Forgive me if I'm not entirely right because it's been a while since I've seen season 3 and onwards of the original cartoon series, but, yeah, having moments where a superhero goes "I didn't want this, though" is common especially for a long-running superhero series, and perhaps the Powerpuff Girls had a moment or so of this in the cartoon; however, they still loved what they did. They had an episode where they were stuck inside with no crime happening because it was bloody raining. They were bored to death. Buttercup wanted to punch! CW Bubbles has a good bit here, though. Blossom was the leader, and leaders lead no matter the circumstance.

No Buttercup, it's Chik-Fil-A.

Oh shit, here we go again:

Surprise! Blossom has a PANIC ATTACK again!

If she has it this severe to the brink of losing consciousness, you would think her dumb therapist guy would've done more than simply say "u must think of ur child self mate" but I guess not.

Okay, so as you read the final part below, go ahead and pull up this song (Glow Worm - Mills Brothers) since that's the apparent song that's playing...I think. I checked, and there are several other songs called this, but this one is nice and catchy, so I'll go with this one.

He's dead.

Looks like the cute kid is a smart cookie who makes evil robot caterpillars for a living. I'll bet her parents are proud of her. :B

Hooooo...boy. We're done with the first of many acts. I would go ahead and start the next act in this post, but I'll go ahead and dump some comments I have of what we've read so far.

About the Professor: In the previous "Patches reads", I mentioned the casting choice about Professor Utonium being awkward. For those unaware, Professor Drake Utonium is played by Donald Fasion (Dr. Turk from "Scrubs", Bartik from "TRON: Uprising", a LOT of appearances in "Robot Chicken"). Having Professor black is pretty cool, having Donald playing a guy who is a gentle and intellectual dad to a trio of superhero girls sounds cool!

What isn't cool is how you disregarded the loving professor people grew up loving while watching the cartoon. Why on earth did you find it necessary to do that? As a biracial black person, I want to give an ittsy-bittsy tiny benefit of the doubt that they didn't purposely casted a black man to play freaking Professor Utonium and then make him the complete opposite of what he actually is/was. Let Donald be Professor Utonium, please ;;

(I could do a similar bit with how both Blossom and Buttercup have those unfortunate implications such as a biracial Asian girl play Blossom and a biracial black girl play Buttercup, but plenty of people have already made those; however, speaking as a mixed person myself...some of them were kinda racist towards biracial people for saying they don't look "xx enough". Y'know. Knock it off. I might talk about the thing with the "Buttercup is a lesbian" bit though.)

About Sara: sara got screwed over in this script, next.

About Blossom killing Mojo: Would this plot have been better if they waited longer into the series for her to kill Mojo? I'm not certain. Like, yeah, some people might groan over the "accidentally killed a villain plot" but they'll get over it. I just feel like this would be a really dramatic moment if handled correctly. I know people have done plots like this in their fanworks for the Powerpuff Girls better than this, and if you (the person reading this) did this at any point, I wanna applaud you.

Killing someone on accident is an absolute nightmare - imagine the horror dawning on a superhero who had committed such a tragedy. Sure, some won't care if it was a bad guy, but I don't believe Blossom would be the kind to shrug it off. Like I said earlier in this reading also...Blossom is a leader - a leader isn't supposed to kill unless necessary (or not at all, depending).

I don't hate this plotline! It's just

the effect of the traumatic event is weak, but I'm guessing it's due to it being script-form. ...I think.

Okay, I think I'm done. Since this one was short, Part 6 will be up fairly soon. :B

and if you read all of my nonsensical ramblings, thank you and I'm sorry

#Patches is talking

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rai-knightshade-art · 5 years

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Mac Ever After Metas

(With a bonus Lily Story doll of Bradán!)

(Warning: long post)

Don't have any art at the moment so here's some metas I had for the Mac x Ever After High crossover au I've been playing with, divided into Character Metas and Story Metas. Enjoy!

Character Metas

Macgyver characters at EAH:

Mac: Professor Angus Mac Cumhaill (pronounced mack-cool), the latest Fionn Mac Cumhaill and the Science and Spells teacher at EAH. Has received several warnings over "accidentally" blowing up parts of his lab (infinite wisdom but he's still kinda a dumbass). Is generally the preferred science teacher of the students. Is also nicknamed Blondie, presumably for the irony (because Fionn just means light haired).

Jack: Sir Jack Dinadan, the latest Sir Dinadan of Arthurian legend. He runs a home security business located in Bookend that serves many of the area's royalty. There's rumors that he's the mysterious "boyfriend" that Professor Mac has mentioned in passing but no student has ever seen. Got turned into a stag once, did not enjoy it, Mac just laughed at him.

Riley: professor of experimental fairy math by day, white hat hacker by night. The next Paul Bunyan (she hacks trees). Was previously rumored to be dating professor Mac before he put the rumor to rest and mentioned the infamous boyfriend. She helps Jack with his business by testing security systems for their hackability

Bozer: Drama teacher, professor Mac's best friend, role unknown. He's the faculty advisor for the costume department during play/musical season. Might be Dr. Coppelius??

Matty: advisor to the Royal Student Council by day, leader of the Phoenix Round Table team by night. The current Goll Mac Morna (aka the guy who killed Fionn's dad) with the Phoenix as the Fianna. She's actually still in charge even though it should technically be Mac cause of the story but he wants to be in the field more than he wants to be the leader at HQ (Oversight doesn't exist in this one cause he actually did get killed and instead Sam and Desi taught Mac how to improvise).

Sam: witchness management 101 teacher, is Druid mom from Fionn Mac Cumhaill (played more of a protective older sister role in this telling)

Leanna: creative storytelling teacher, Bozer's girlfriend, role unknown

Desi: works at Jack's security firm, is Warrior mom from Fionn Mac Cumhaill (played more of a protective older sister role in this telling)

Murdoc as that one bad dude that cursed Fionn's wife? Fer Doirich? Maybe? Plot twist he's the one that cursed Jack temporarily ("When I said I was going stag tHIS ISNT WHAT I MEANT MURDOC!")

Nikki: offscreen character cause she already completed her role as Sadhbh and got turned back into a deer, was in love with Mac but left to complete her story and because she wasn't ready for the married life (which. Fair enough I suppose)

Bradán: Mac and Nikki's kid aka the next Oisín; he showed up in the Enchanted Forest one day while Mac was gathering potion ingredients. Approx. 7 years old (Nikki left about 8 years in the past and he would have been born sometime in that first year) and more than a little feral but he's learning. Can escape pretty much anything (Jack wants to put a bell on him cause he keeps escaping to visit Mac). Is learning English and asl congruently because he wasn't really taught how to speak before coming to Mac.

Some Dialogue Snippets:

Mac: No Brady you can't have a knife, they're dangerous.

Brady: but daaaddd! Papa Jack says you gave a knife to a monkey once!

Mac: one) that was a monkey, if it gets hurt it doesn't matter as much to me as if you get hurt, and two) that was a Swiss army knife. You had a SHIV. One of those is significantly more dangerous than the other in your hands

Mac: Brady you really need to stop ditching Jack; he knows I don't mind you visiting me, he'll bring you over if you want him to.

Brady: yeah but sneaking out is more fun!

Mac: *sigh* I know but you're gonna give him a heart attack one of these days and then he won't give either of us cuddles

Brady: ....no Papa Jack cuddles?

Mac: nope

Brady: ....ok maybe I'll let him bring me over

Mac: that's my boy. Now let's blow some stuff up

Brady: YAY!!!

Alternately--

Mac: stop that

Brady: shan't

Story Metas:

(or, how the plot of Mac Ever After goes)

Slice of life story featuring Mac finding Bradán and learning how to raise him, but before we reach the end--psych! This is still action adventure and now eah is under attack. Again. Not sure on a villain yet, maybe Captain Hook? Murdoc as Mac's villain gone hardcore? Not a wonderlandian again there's been too many. Anyways the school's under attack and now Mac and Jack have to do their thing (probly with help from Riley and the others from outside) and save all the students, teachers, themselves and Brady. The students get out with the help of Arion's little magic pool (portals are closed but the villain didn't realize this one existed and so didn't think to check if it was closed) and the power of merpeople kisses (Arion and the other mers kiss each non-aquatic student so they can breathe underwater; Tempis goes first as a guinea pig and so she can warn Pacifica that they're coming cause the telescreen is down). Meanwhile the teachers are fighting goons, Mac's improvising and Jack's guarding the kids. But towards the trail end of the kids suddenly they get attacked and Brady gets taken by the villain themself, with Jack helpless to stop it. (Cue super emotional moment where for the first time Brady calls Jack Papa but it's while he's being torn kicking and screaming from the man himself.) Mac comes in immediately after to find several very shaken up kids (who he tells to continue leaving and not to stop until every last kid is out) and a distraught Jack. Cue another emotional moment where Mac affirms that Jack isn't at fault for Brady's kidnapping and that he IS Brady's Papa just as much as Mac is the kid's Dad. They vow to get their kid back by any means necessary and start making a plan while the other kids continue leaving. Arion and Anteros are the last to leave, with a passionate life-affirming kiss of course, so now it's just the teachers, the villain/minions, and Bradán caught in the middle of it all. All the teachers plus Jack bind together and come up with a plan that involves several distractions, more than a few explosions, and Mac and Jack personally fighting the villain, which they do and succeed. Now cue the heart warming moment when they gather Brady in their arms and just. Just hold him. Their little family has been through a lot in a few hours it's what they deserve. They then go to work fixing the comm room so they can start sending messages, starting with Pacifica and then extending to the families of the students.

Meanwhile speaking of Pacifica, Tempis arrives breathless to tell King Aeolus about the attack and the mass of teenagers coming for the kingdom, to which he responds by immediately making accommodations for all of them. Arion meanwhile leads everyone home, where they're welcomed warmly and given temporary tails by the court alchemists so they'll be a little more comfortable. Arion finds and hugs his dad and stepmom tightly, needing the comfort (they've all been through an ordeal and his parents are right there, can you blame him?), and then sheepishly introduces his boyfriend to them for the first time (possible subplot from earlier about meeting the parents). Soon the telescreen crackles to life and shows Mac and Jack with Brady, banged up but grinning in relief that the fight is over and that comms are back up. They explain the situation, when it should be close to resolved, and thank the king profusely, to which he informs them that HE should be thanking THEM for sending his son back home safely to him. Everyone's happy and relieved to be safe and go back to ever after high and the day is saves thanks to the Powerpuff girls--wait. Wrong show.

(explanation available upon request for those who don't know the backstory and stuff for my Ever After High OC's. Or ever after high in general.)

#macgyver #ever after high #macdalton #angus macgyver #jack dalton #au: mac ever after #oc: bradan mac cumhaill #myposts #long post #metas #headcanons and metas #story plots that ill never write

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fly-pow-bye · 5 years

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Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Lights Out!”

Written by: Haley Mancini, Jake Goldman

Written & Storyboarded by: John West, Angela Zhang

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

It’s an uphill battle, in more ways than one might expect.

We're at the beginning of the episode, and we already get our peek at this episode's special guest. That's right, it's that guy that looks like Guy Fieri wearing a toupee, checking out that jetpack to Flavortown. No, just kidding, it's actually the giant wacky inflatable tube man, making his return appearance from Man Up! That was the very first episode I ever reviewed, and it gives me good memories. I remember when I actually thought this show was going to be okay, and then I watched it!

So what are all these people gathered around for? It's the Townsville Town-Topia Fair, "the town of the future", where people of all countries get to show off their inventions!

One of the exhibits is a Japanese cat robot which gets the mechanical heart of Schedulebot. He appears exactly one other time, and they completely forgot about him and his love. I am sure we are all crestfallen at how we avoided seeing yet another character in this reboot get a love interest for a sake of a love interest.

Not forgotten is a running gag where Sitcom Dad decided to go on the roller coaster that consists only of an infinitely tall lift hill. It kind of explains by itself why it is useless, both as an invention and as a joke. It just builds up and builds up, and it has no real payoff. I might as well call all of the terrible running gags uphill roller coasters.

But enough joking around, this episode main attraction is everyone's favorite DeviantART OC, Blisstina Insert-Fifty-Other-Names Utonium, or Bliss for short! She's here to show off an invention from the Universal Protection Bureau: the Buggly! Just put it on your ear, or the place where an ear is supposed to be, ask it for anything, and it will magically generate it for you.

At first, I was thinking it was called the Buttly, as it's basically a butler one wears on their ear, but I appreciate that calling it Buggly prevents any unnecessary butt jokes. Isn't that right, Buttercup?

Buttercup Wheelz: No, WHEELZ! Wheelz with a z! I'm reinventing myself for the international stage!

Speaking of unnecessary jokes involving something that has the word "butt" in it, Buttercup wants to be called Wheelz. Why? I dunno. I wish I could say it disappears after one time like Schedulebot, but sorry, it lasts for most of the episode. Needless to say, this is uphill roller coaster #2.

Blossom especially loves this device, because the thought of generating pizza from thin air can give her more time to over-analyze everything she says! That's what she says, just roll with it.

In comes Jared Shapiro, whose "hi" causes her to over-analyze about how she should have went further than just saying "hi" back! This comes up a few times after this, so this is uphill roller coaster #3. Thankfully, I'm not talking about Jared, as he disappears after this scene.

His only role in the episode, and vast majority of his appearances, is to show off how much Blossom loves him. I'm sad they didn't decide to change his character to the dork he was in Phantasm Chasm. It would have been a slight improvement.

As the Buggly is able to generate more Bugglys for everyone to share, the Puffs have more fun with it. Bubbles is busy tinkering with it, because, surprise, this is a coder Bubbles episode, too! As for Blossom, she makes a kale smoothie from Penguin Pete's just by asking the Buggly to make one for her.

Bubbles: Why didn't we just go to Penguin Pete's? It's right here!

For starters, Penguin Pete's costs money, and this thing can make kale smoothies for free! I was expecting a twist where the Buggly was actually stealing stuff from the nearest vicinity. However, that crime would be far more fitting for Discount Jojo than the villain of this episode.

In fact, Discount is too busy getting pied in the face for daring to think Wheelz is a terrible name. Also, the Buggly can also be used to give Buttercup Wheelz another accessory for a toy line that will definitely never exist at this point.

The real villain will be revealed right now, as a sudden shockwave knocks down the Reboot Puffs. Even Bliss gets knocked out by this. Clearly, something must be going on. I mean, Bliss getting knocked out?

Also, the power went out, and worst of all, the Bugglys stop giving everyone free stuff. That's the real problem here! The Powerpuff Girls turn to Bliss to ask her what happened, and she reveals that it's all her fault.

She teleports away and appears on every TV in the TV repair shop, laughing maniacally. It was her, Blossom, it was her all along!

And Silico decides to abort the ruse immediately and show himself. I guess even he thought the "evil doppelganger" plot was too cliche. And yes, Silico just happened to know everything about Bliss, including the name of her intergalactic protection agency. At least I could say being able to take the form of anyone isn't unheard of for Silico; the cliffhanger of the last episode featuring him had him turn into Sitcom Dad. Having him become Bliss is an upgrade, I would say.

He also reveals that the Bugglys were not from space, but they were invented by him. Along with being able to create anything out of nothing, he programmed in another feature on the Bugglys.

Specifically, the ability to reprogram everyone's brains to hate the Powerpuff Girls! But wait, one might ask if they really cared that much, weren't the Powerpuff Girls wearing these Bugglys too? Is this another situation where the Powerpuff Girls are immune to mind control because the plot wouldn't work otherwise? No, because Silico says that he disabled their Bugglys, but all the other ones are under his control. He probably could have reprogrammed them to play dead, but plot.

They even get attacked by their various weapons, like a giant crayon bazooka from Ms. Keane, and a croissant grenade from a random French guy, all coming from their Bugglys. Now I realize another reason why they decided not to call it the Buttly. Bubbles tells her sisters that she wishes the Professor were here.

Yeah, that uphill roller coaster sure wasn't shoved in here, I completely lie. What could the Professor do even if he wasn't on this roller coaster? After flying away from the people of Townsville, they run into a familiar face.

The real Bliss shows up. There is one line that explains that she came to Earth for Town-Topia, and presumably saw all the carnage, so it's not entirely unexplained. The Puffs immediately assume it's just Silico doing another trap, but Bliss proves that it's her by stopping them with her telekinesis. Yes, her defining trait, being able to stop the other Powerpuff Girls. A trait that seems to shared by Silico, but that doesn't seem to cross their mind.

Bliss figures that Silico wouldn't be anywhere without power. Yes, Bliss happens to know that Silico exists. Maybe they talked about him during another webcam chat where Bliss talked about how she moved a planet just by not thinking too hard about it. Sadly, that's not much of an exaggeration.

But, oh no, these reprogrammed townspeople are in the way, ready to sock them with...well, anything. I'm sure you can probably throw a sponge at them, and they would drop dead.

They could fight all of the people they loved, something they did in the original, but there's also the possibility that Bliss can just use her ability to teleport right into this building. Which they actually do. Only a second later, they get hit by a laser beam.

Turns out, this was indeed where Silico was hanging out, but, being the excellent planner who is always two steps ahead, he planned for Bliss to teleport inside! This leads to the one fight scene worth talking about.

See, this fight is actually very interesting, as it pits the girls' powers against Silico's ability to generate anything he could think of. He uses a cannon, and Blossom makes a net aura to catch the cannonballs. Bliss then lifts the cannonballs up and throws them using telekinesis. He then makes a giant, and says "you're out". Silico is rather jokey here; reminds me of one of the better parts of The Trouble With Bubbles.

Wheelz, actually, they kind of forgot about that uphill roller coaster by then, tries to fly right to him and bust his lights out, but he generates a giant brick wall. Silly Silico, he should have learned from the theme song why that shouldn't work. It goes like this:

Breaking all their bones

When they hit a wall

They gon' quit

(Who's got the power? They certainly don't!)

That might be a misquote, but that might as well be how it goes. However, this does distract Silico, as Blossom and Bliss do a team up plan to strike Silico when he's not thinking about defending himself. With the combined minds of the Game Breaker and the smartest Powerpuff Girl unless she has to do math or coding...

...they just punch him in the face. Honestly, I don't mind this at all. At least I can say they're using the abilities they had before this reboot, too.

I got to say, it's also good to see that this is a fight scene where Bliss just fights alongside the existing Puffs. No special Powerpuff Sisterhood, no Bliss just taking care of everything by herself, just good old fashioned teamwork. This is one of the better fight scenes in the reboot overall. This is not saying much, but it's something.

Bubbles sneaks up on Silico and puts her reprogrammed Buggly on him, and you can watch the episode to find out what happens next. Honestly, I already spoiled enough when I mentioned Silico is in this. I will say it's an ending similar to that one episode of Codename: Kids Next Door, and it doesn't fit the "gives you anything you want" device. However, neither does reprogramming people's brains.

Maybe they might have been aware that this could be his final appearance, as, unlike all but one of his episodes, this episode doesn't end with a cliffhanger. It's a fitting end for someone who was angry at little girls for breaking his toys. What does it end with?

Rest in peace, Sitcom Dad. You were such a Sitcom Dad. No, it's just uphill roller coaster #1, which happened to be the uphill roller coaster.

Does the title fit?

The lights going out seem to be more of a side thing than anything else.

How does it stack up?

There are some pretty bad running gags that take up far too much time. If they took out those, this could easily be a top ten episode for me. As it stands, it's merely only good by reboot standards. The fight scene is interesting, Silico actually manages to get some good lines in here and is not a total dingus, and it manages to have Bliss be useful without making her overpowered. A decent episode all around.

Next, finally, Barry gets his own episode! It could be just what I always wanted, as the monkey's paw bends one of its fingers.

← Brain Freeze ☆ Bucketboy! →

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

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fly-pow-bye · 6 years

Text

Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Small World: Heart to Heartstone Part 4”

Written by: Jake Goldman, Haley Mancini

Written & Storyboarded by: Kyle Neswald, Jaydeep Hasrajani

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

...but after 100 episodes of this, it mostly turned into a world of fears. Mostly.

So all of the Triforces have just been collected from their various dungeons, and now it’s time to face off against Ganon. Okay, maybe I should make a better synopsis than that.

Having collected all of the Heartstones, they go back to the crater where Townsville used to be. Buttercup then gets flung off-screen as the Professor shows up to congratulate them. Already, the tone is going to be rather jokey, but not jokey enough to where it's going to suffer from what I would call "The Trouble With Bubbles syndrome." The Powerpuff Girls then fly off to Lester Van Luster's lair, but the Professor wants to come, too!

They decide to carry the Professor around, not only because he wanted to come, but because he happens to know the lair's coordinates. Instead of actually showing them these coordinates are like he did with the Heartstones, the Powerpuff Girls just carry him around while he goes "wheeeeee!" They don't really make a good in-universe excuse for this, though there is a good plot reason for it.

Buttercup: [We're going to] pummel Mojo and Lester Van Loser into oblivion!

Even Buttercup is getting into the act of giving this guy inflammatory nicknames, though I think she could have been more creative. Where’s Bubbles?

She's still with the geese. This time, she offers an origami goose to be the leader. The geese then eat it, and fly away. Joke over. Adding to the theory that any intent to show that she can speak animal in these scenes was probably unintentional is that in none of these geese scenes does Bubbles honk at them, she just talks to them like if they were people.

The subtitles in the last episode imply they do understand her, which makes me wonder if they're really going to go with The Wild Thornberrys route. Now that this special is almost over, I should say one good thing about these scenes: at least I can say they use subtitles and not just have the geese talk this time. Non-talking animals is a rare sight, and after Donny, Pug-Faced Paulie, Eddie, and that one zebra, it's a breath of fresh air that I didn't even know was possible.

They reach the lair of Funfetti Spaghetti, and move across the tons of shrunken landmarks in his “trophy room”. Apparently, this guy was really busy, shrinking the Taj Mahal, Big Ben and a bunch of other buildings that surrounded Big Ben, and worst of all, the largest ball of yarn! Nobody told them Lester was going Carmen Sandiego across the entire world while they were gone; I guess it wasn’t that important.

They reach Lester's room, where he's just sleeping on his throne. The Professor apparently decided he was the leader now, but Blossom doesn't matter. She seems to like her dad now that he's doing the planning for her. I wouldn't blame her.

They slowly sneak around Lester, with sneaky music playing in the background. The Professor decides this was a great time to shout "Girls! Way to go!" as soon as the Powerpuff Girls reach the wand. It doesn't actually affect anything; the scene may as well not exist. There's no consequences!

He may be smarter than he is usually, but he's still that Sitcom Dad, right? Well, maybe not quite, as we're about to get to a twist that I didn't see coming at all. If you don't want to be spoiled on what happens in this special, you probably should have stopped reading a few parts ago.

As soon as they touch the wand, three heart shaped slots appear. The holes, they were made for them, so they slowly float away from the Puff’s hands right into them. The green one apparently is the clumsy one, as it knocks into the wand a few times. Well, I guess having its previous form sliced in half really affected its accuracy. We hear some evil music play during this, which honestly shouldn’t be appropriate if these girls were going to use it to save Townsville.

Turns out, the music was jumping the wand a bit, as when Blossom tries to grab the wand, the wand floats away, landing right into the Professor’s hands. I mean, him actually being helpful tends to be out of character for him, too. It's here where we get this episode's biggest twist.

It was Sweety Gumdrops this whole time! Wait, how did he manage to be the Professor and still be Lester when he's hanging out in his lair, getting his Marble Sofa moved by his adoring ape?

Discount Jojo: MAGIC!

Oh, hus...actually, that would be a good explanation here, but there's a little more logic than that. We never see the Professor and Stars McShiny at the same time, and he seemed to know a lot about the Heartstones for someone who is supposed to be a scientist. I would also mention the whole "he's not anything like the Sitcom Dad I've grown to hate", but I think I bashed that into the ground.

As for the Lester that was sleeping on his chair, that was actually Discount Jojo, playing his best role: sleeping guy! He certainly plays that role a lot better than he plays Mojo Jojo, that’s for sure. The Powerpuff Girls try to rush in to do what they do the worst in this reboot.

Alas, the Magic Man Who Rips Off The Incredibles' Syndrome More Than Just His Hair’s cane is just way too powerful. Honestly, he probably didn’t even need the Heartstones to do that. He does explain to them that the Professor actually didn't make it out of Townsville; he's stuck in the snowglobe along with everyone else.

Professor: Hi, girls! I made a new friends! (points towards snowman)

Ah, there's the Sitcom Dad, confusing snowmen for actual people and being completely oblivious to everything going around him. They do a similar joke with The Mayor in a previous episode, but at least that one is more believable. I mean, it's the Mayor.

Using his newly gained omnipotence from the Heartstones, he decides to change into his Super Saiyan God form. With all of his might, I.M. Meen finally does his ultimate plan against those goodie-goodies that make his stomach churn. Oh no, he’s not going to shrink them, that’s the old magic hat!

Instead, he’s going to shrink-wrap them and also turn them into the very merchandise they were probably imagining would fly right off the shelves! They even use "tada" music on this; not nearly as blatant as the "cool toys" scene from Total Eclipse of the Kart, but the effect is still there. I wonder if this was some sort of meta-joke about the blatant commercialization of the Powerpuff Girls, which would be incredibly hypocritical for this reboot.

This toyset seems to have a lot of problems, though. How come Buttercup and Bubbles have their Snuggle Buddies, but Blossom just has two books? Why does Bubbles have the Kung Fu Grip when it's well established only Buttercup can throw a punch most of the time? One thing that doesn’t surprise me is that this toyset only gives Buttercup the ability to talk; considering how much Heartstone time she got in this special, she’s clearly the favorite. What does she say, anyway?

Buttercup: (badly acted) Mojo is a ugly green doofus!

I don't want to call him Doofus Jojo, because I don't want to give Buttercup any credit. Sadly, they're not sentient toys, so they're essentially dead. Best case scenario, of course, this could also be a "I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream" situation, too.

Of course, Discount Jojo is absolutely ecstatic that they managed to defeat the Powerpuff Girls together, and he decides to make some suggestions on what these Beat-Alls can do next. One of his suggestions is blowing up Citiesville. I'm sure a lot of people would think that would not be evil, but he could have meant the "Honey, I Blew Up The Kid" meaning of blow up. Making all of those jerks that live in Citiesville giants would be delightfully evil, too. Flamehair Poofydress doesn't agree.

Lester Van Luster: Well, how do I put this gently...you're a pathetic excuse for a supervillain...

Eh, he's better in this season than he ever was in Season 1, especially in the first part of this very special, so it's not entirely justified. When he's fighting the Powerpuff Girls, not because of his fangirl tendencies, of course.

Lester Van Luster: ...and I've been using you to take over Townsville and get the Heartstones for myself.

Oh, okay, he's not going to justify anything, he's just trying to make sure someone will be angry at him so this plot can have a satisfying conclusion. But that can't be it, right?

So, for almost no reason whatsoever, he decides to kick Discount Jojo out of his castle, literally having him fly out of the castle to drop down, after all he did for him. Thankfully, anyone's ability to survive 15+ foot falls continues with this episode, as Jojo not only survives, but Lester even drops his marble couch on him to no real effect other than, "haha, he mentioned it". Hey, some continuity between the parts! Power of Four wasn't that good at that.

Sure enough, Jojo is quite upset by this predicament, and decides he should actually be against this guy. Being evil is the only thing he was good at, at least according to him. He's the most diabolical, evil, dangerous villain! Clearly, he only has one path to go...

...the path of a cobbler! See, it’s funny, because one would think he’d be mad enough to take on Hi Hi Puffy Shirt himself. However, he accidently hammering himself, reminding me of one of the better shorts this reboot managed to create. I guess I could say that's a plus. He decides to do a Plan B.

Discount Jojo: MAGIC!

Oh, hush, Discount! Oh wait, that was the episode doing a decent book-end, not my running gag. Silly mistake. The King of the Lollipop Guild did make one major mistake: Jojo still has all of his magic training, including all of his equipment! He shows this off by blowing some magic dust, which gets in his eyes. This may be the time he's getting serious, but he still has to do "a funny".

After a far too long gag where he tries to use a grappling hook, Discount the Jojo shows himself to his former idol. Macaron McMuffin asks how Jojo managed to get up here before saying he doesn’t care. These two gags don’t really go well together, because he clearly used a grappling hook for the last 20 seconds. The joke could be that he is that he’s really bad at figuring out other people’s magic tricks, but that never becomes apparent.

Before he blasts him for daring to bring light to his lair, Jojo decides to apologize and do a magic act to appease him. For he is Mojo The Jojo! Well, he’s already at least giving himself a name, something he didn’t do before. He then pulls off his Magic Hat, revealing his usual brain hat. It may be a hint that he decided to wear this hat above his usual one instead of switching his costume entirely.

He pulls out a Lester poster and a Lester party balloon, all possibly from his own collection of Lester memorabilia we just never saw until now. Yeah, that's it. Being as egocentric as his cheeks are red, he ends up being impressed by this. Discount The Jojo, eh, it doesn't really work, sees one more thing in his hat that will knock Lester's socks off! Of course, Lester doesn't think that this could be literal, as he leans in and Jojo does his most evil act yet...

...plagarizing Bubbles' trick from the first part! Jokes asie, it's good to know he can learn from previous mistakes and use them to his advantage. Most importantly, this punch was powerful enough to make Fruit Stripe Hair lose his magic cane, and having it land right in Jojo's hands.

In a rare moment of kindness to who could be arguably be his sisters if his origin story is still canon, he decides to turn the Powerpuff Girls from the marketed brand to the superheroes they should be. Even Jojo feels that this is way too anti-climactic, and the show agrees.

Lester The Not So Friendly Ghost-Like Man poofs right next to him, makes the magic stick float to him again, and turns him into a goose! He then kicks him out in the same way he did when he was an ape, making me question why couldn’t he just fly back into that window. Instead, that’s the last we see of him for the rest of the final fight. Congratulations, Discount Jojo, you contributed.

Candy Cane Man decides not to turn the barely waking up Powerpuff Girls back into toys, because he knows that no matter what, the Powerpuff Girls will eventually defeat him in the end of the story. Instead, he tries his hardest to punch them into many pieces with a Heartstone-fueled punch. The Reboot Puffs decide to go with their patented Reboot Puff strategy of just staying in one place and just take it. Blossom does add another part to this usual strategy: tell the big hand that’s coming at them to stop.

...and it does, much to both their and Lester's confusion. He shakes around his stick for a bit, yeah, maybe I should word that better, and tries to hit them with a spiked ball instead. The Deliciously Sugary Mage tries again, and the Powerpuff Girls do a slightly better strategy of commanding themselves to duck!

Sure enough, the Heartstone aura then turns into a duck, who merely just quacks at them impolitely. The Master of Quacks wonders how he can't control these heartstones.

The Puffs figure out that they didn’t just get the Heartstones, they earned them by doing the tasks they had to do. Bubbles earned it by getting over her fears and coming up with her own strategy. Blossom earned it by realizing what “leave its equal” means. Buttercup just had to beat up a monster, something she tends to do more often than her sisters.

Because of this, the Heartstones are under their complete control, even though they were pretty happy to follow Lester’s command’s before. Maybe it was one of their many tests! They fly out of the magic wand, turning Lester back to his ordinary Cupcake Shrinky Boy self, and they become their new jewel-encrusted headbands! Yay, more accessories for the potential toylines. Bubbles had to use the most effort and actually learn something to get her Heartstone, and she gets rewarded by getting hit in the face with it. Because she’s the silly blonde!

Lester The Future Snake Jellyfish Or Cerberus Food can only run away screaming as the already powerful girls get even more powerful with the Heartstone Monster Aura Shells! Blossom gets the Jellyfish, with fancy electrocution action! Bubbles gets the Snake, with the ability to suffocate anyone within a one mile radius! Buttercup gets the Cerberus, with surprisingly excellent barber expertise!

Tell your parents to collect all three of them, or they can go to hell, where Him is still wondering if he was meant to be the villain of this before they decided Jojo idolizing Satan wouldn’t fly on a kids network.

They probably could have just cut to the scene where he gets defeated, but we do get to see sort of a fight scene. At least it’s a one-sided defeat I should expect from the Powerpuff Girls, with the Powerpuff Girls dishing out the pain. Blossom electrocutes him, Buttercup swipes off his poofy hair, which apparently instantly grows back, and, in the move with the most visible contact, Bubbles squeezes poor-if-he-didn't-deserve-it Lester in the same way she was squeezed in her episode.

The Powerpuff Girls decide that jail would be too easy of an escape for him. Actually, they never seem to consider that if the police aren't around to throw them into a police car.

Instead, they decide to join in on his interest of shrinking people, though Lester apparently isn’t as fond of being shrunken himself, and shrinks him down to tiny size! Blossom exclaims that now that Townsville is back to its normal size, everything is back to normal. Well, except for the landmarks. Or the fact that the Powerpuff Girls now have these ultra-powerful heartstones they could use on far more powerful villains like Him and Gemoire.

Well, we do get one loose end tied up.

Jojo the Goose ended up being the new leader of the geese. Apparently, he’s doing this a lot better at this than being a villain, and far better than that silly blonde! The end!

Does the title fit?

Heart-to-heart, Heartstone, yeah, I could say it fits.

Since it’s over, I could say Small World isn’t exactly the best title for this special. Sure, the villain likes to shrink things down, but it’s never the focus. Honestly, Heart to Heartstone would have been a better name for this entire special.

How does it, and the whole special, stack up?

It's a satisfying conclusion, even if anyone could predict that the Powerpuff Girls would win in the end. I mean, why would they not? I like the idea of the Heartstone monsters coming back, and how everything connected in the end, which is something I wish the reboot would do even in non-specials. This episode ends up being part of a special that only managed to have one episode that didn't have this rating.

Really, with the entire special, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself actually getting some enjoyment out of it. Even the lesser of the four, Stone Cold Spider, had some okay moments. One could argue that they played it safe. Outside of the use of smartphones, this could have straight up have been an episode of the original.

This is not to say this is the absolute best episode of the entire reboot, and that it was mostly flawless. As promised, there are some general problems with this plot that I'll touch upon before giving it my final judgment.

For an episode about the Powerpuff Girls travelling through the world, the locations are disappointing. Even the Buttercup Job at least gave us Atlantis with its walking fish and Greek gods. Buttercup goes to a cave full of monsters, something that should be normal even in Townsville. Blossom goes to a sunken ship with nobody around. Bubbles gets to go to a labyrinth with a very anachronistic security guard at best. There’s no personality to any of these locations; it may as well be anywhere.

Then again, I probably should have known, considering the only place that was even on land was some random place in what appears to be Brazil judging by that map. They could have went to various countries, learning about different cultures, really giving that worldwide appeal. The best we get is all those landmarks that were shrunken, but they don’t even treat it as a big deal.

Discount Jojo’s role in the plot isn’t that bad looking back at it, but his actions in this are kind of odd for his character. Again, would he really be fangirling over someone else, especially after episodes like Mojo The Great and Not So Secret Service? This is especially true when one considers that Lester Van Luster wasn’t a well established villain.

Speaking of that Cupcake Shrinky Boy’s actions, the special never really makes you feel like the stakes are that high. Sure, they seem to care about Townsville, but once that city is saved, they don’t seem to care about anything else. People around the world are missing their monuments, but the only hint we get towards this is a scene near the end, and it’s mostly just used for a ball of yarn joke.

But, despite all of that, this is still a surprisingly decent special for the reboot. It’s a special that actually feels like an adventure to save Townsville, and not just the Powerpuff Girls having to save themselves from their own mistakes. I wouldn’t say these parts are the absolute least worst this reboot has to offer, but it is still watchable, which, compared to most of the reboot, is a huge accomplishment.

The special may be over, but PPG 2016 sure isn’t! Next, we get yet another Halloween special! They're really compensating for the original's lack of one. Either that, or they wanted more costumes for the toyline. Definitely the former, I would think!

← Small World: Maze Daze (Part 3) ☆ Witch’s Crew →

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

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fly-pow-bye · 6 years

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Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “The Trouble With Bubbles”

Written by: Haley Mancini

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

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

The return of Coder Bubbles!

The episode starts with the first time we actually got to see her code something. We saw the end result, but never the process. She is coding a small toy based on her famous Baby Bunny game she made in Viral Spiral, which she then prints on her pretty pretty 3D printer.

This does feel more like 3D modelling than coding, even if she appear to will this bunny into existence by...using a building block-type beginner's language? At least that would explain how this character who can't spell can code. Whatever the case may be, she is glad she has all of the time in the world to do so. Nothing can possibly go wrong!

Enter the Professor, who wants her off the "computer box" so that she can do her homework. Yeah, the guy who made a simulation room and was able to make a sentient scheduling robot still calls computers "computer boxes". Can't have the Sitcom Dad's interests overlap with Bubbles' new interests, after all.

Blossom and Buttercup don't help at all, either. Blossom tells her to sign the thank you cards for people who read her thank you cards. Buttercup needs her to take care of a greased pig, because of reasons Blossom asks Buttercup for later in the episode. Needless to say, there's no answer, it's just random. She complains that she can't possibly do all of these things at once by herself. She gets an idea from this, and starts typing on her laptop.

Sometime in the very next day, according to a night-and-day time passing shot, Blossom and Buttercup are watching a show on how to tell if your friend is either an alien, or was abducted by aliens. The writing is inconsistent, big shock, I know. According to this show, aliens and/or alien-abductees are super-organized, do everything on their to-do lists, and are able to vacuum the ceiling. No points to whoever can guess what this will lead to.

Bubbles comes into the room to show that she has finished her chores. She did her homework, and even cleaned the lab! She's going to leave to wash the Mayor's car. Blossom is glad to see that Bubbles is suddenly more organized, which raises the suspicion of Buttercup, starting the second act.

But never mind that, we get some wacky Professor hijinks! He's going on a job interview, and he wants to look stylish in his loud, green, striped suit. He's confident that. He then moonwalks away, showing that he's got the style for this...job?

They never go into specifics on what job this is, and we never find out if he got the job or not. This subplot just ends with a later scene where the Professor makes an intentionally bad joke about style. We know this because the Professor laughs, there's a comedy drum roll, and Blossom and Buttercup just stare at him. If you want to know how to tell if it was meant to be funny, wait a few minutes.

Throughout most of the first part of the episode, we focus on Blossom and Buttercup's point of view. It's up to the viewer to figure out what Bubbles did. That's actually a good idea.

Of course, they slowly realize something is not right. The biggest clue starts in this scene, where Bubbles shows off that she organized a bookshelf in order of color. This leads to Buttercup pointing this out, and a running gag where the on-screen text and narrator from that alien show shows a sign that she's an alien and/or an alien abductee.

Then she starts shaking, and starts eating the books. This isn't too far-fetched for Reboot Bubbles, and the only reaction this gets is Buttercup still saying she's an alien. Blossom doesn't even get a line.

We finally get a scene from Bubbles point of view, who is relaxing, having a pretend tea party with Octi. She says hello to a face familiar to her, only for that face to turn into a monster, turning into abstract art.

Blossom and Buttercup, Buttercup notices that Bubbles happens to be vacuuming the ceiling. Even Blossom starts wondering if the alien thing can be true, until Bubbles gets distracted by a kitten in the window, slamming her face into the window. Buttercup immediately realizes that she can't be an alien, because...I don't know. Aliens don't like cats?

After that, Bubbles gets a call from the Mayor. Clearly, something must not be right; this is the reboot, the Mayor rarely calls them any more. They have to go to the Old Pancake Factory to fight the Breakfast Bandito. Another one of those wacky reboot-exclusive villains...or is it? They go in the building, only to find a giant pot of boiling batter and no bandito. Instead, we get some green lights and a very shadowy man.

It’s Silico, in a shocking twist so surprising that Buttercup outright says there was no way anyone could have saw this coming. There is no build up to this.

The Powerpuff Girls get ready to fight the most serious villain in the whole show, until Blossom gets eye-lasered in the back. Buttercup wonders what's going on, until Bubbles punches Buttercup in the face.

Turning her into whatever this is. Is "shocking twist reveal" really the best time for funny face jokes? I wouldn't say that.

Right after this, Buttercup is shocked that Bubbles would punch her own sister in the face, and asks Bubbles why she did that in a way reminescent of the two frame animation joke from Sister Sitter. Either the animators are starting to revolt against this reboot, or, more likely, the reboot decided to make a funny in a scene that didn't need it.

Before Silico can pass this off as Bubbles doing a heel turn for no reason, another Bubbles shows up to punch this Bubbles in the face in the exact same way. Blossom asks Bubbles what really happened, and Bubbles tells it in a very unique way...

...finger puppets! I'll be honest: I have no problem with this presentation. It's reminds me of The Bare Facts, and unlike the other time they tried to emulate that, it's actually not a waste of time. As for the backstory, we're just going to expand our disbelief that the girl who can't spell can not only code well, but also be able to code and 3D print a very accurate clone of herself.

This clone is named Dubbles, clever, and she was made to do all the chores. In other words, it's like those cloning machine episodes, but the reboot managed to do it in a different way than most of them. Silico just happened to know that she did this, and hacked into Bubbles' clone to make her evil. Silico is just that good, I guess; he even knew the Reboot Puff's biggest weakness: ordinary rope! It might as well be canon.

This fight scene between Dubbles and Bubbles continues as a psychadelic slideshow, only for it to pause so Buttercup can make this joke:

Buttercup: Talk about your sibling rivalries.

I usually don't talk about this show's voice acting unless it's really egregious, but I feel like this line read is missing some emphasis on the "your". I think they were trying to reference how Buttercup and Blossom fight with each other in this episode, in the whole reboot, and in the original show. How do I know it's even a joke? Well, remember when I said wait a few minutes?

Blossom: Nice. (fist bump)

There's a time for humor and a time to get serious. I should know this because there's two seperate episodes that tried to teach me this lesson. Dubbles eventually sheds her skin and reveals she now has stretchy arms thanks to Silico's improvements, grabbing the Puffs and threatening to make them a part of a balanced breakfast in the batter. At least it's a super robot grabbing them for this weekly damsel in distress situation; no ordinary rope here.

I will admit that I highlighted the worst scenes. I do like the "which one do I shoot with my eye lasers" gag, though they don't get into it that much. They get saved when a kitty cat suddenly pops into the window, and both Bubbles and Dubbles slam their faces against the window. They gave that scene a point. I guess this makes her become good again, too? They don't have time to elaborate on that.

Silico not amused, he reveals that he made some other adjustments other than stretchy arms and the evil: a self-destruct button! Bubbles' new friend is about to die in a blazing death, let's see how she reacts!

Bubbles: Oh no! Silico turned her into a bomb!

Let it be a hint that the reaction to this scene is Bubbles growing buckteeth, shrinking her eyes, and shouting that Dubbles has become a bomb with about two frames of animation. They can't take it seriously, neither can I.

Dubbles grabs Silico with her stretchy arms, and she self-destructs in an act of sacrifice. We get a slow-motion leaping away from explosion gag. It's not until now that I realize this episode has quite a few similarities to Twisted Sister. Both involve a Puff creating a new Powerpuff Girl in order to solve being overworked, and both have the girl die at the end.

There is a massive difference in tone. In this episode, the slow motion seems to only exist to parody movies, and the episode nearly ends with the Reboot Puffs talking about pancakes and how Silico couldn't have survived that one. Dubbles dying doesn't even cross their mind; it's as if they didn't want the audience to feel sad.

This episode ends with a interesting cliffhanger. Judging by this reboot's track record, it may never be resolved. However, I do have a theory which might have explained the Professor scene, too. I don't usually do spoiler corners any more, but mouse over my rating.

Does the title fit?

Bubbles technically doesn't cause the trouble in this episode; it was all Silico's fault. She is a troublesome character in the meta sense, though.

How does it stack up?

They had some good ideas, especially with how cliched "cloning machine" episodes tend to be, but, much like Bubbles' clone, this episode has some issues. The whole second part has a lack of focus, and the ending, not the cliffhanger, feels rushed. As it stands, it's an episode that teeters between Happy and Neutral, and it slightly missed for me. A very high Neutral.

This is the last episode of PPG 2016 for the year. There were some bad times, there were some okay times, and the bad times weren’t nearly as bad as the worst times with one exception. Here's to the new year, where everyone's favorite new character returns.

← You’re A Good Man, Mojo Jojo ☆ Never Been Blissed →

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