Line #30 Headscratchers/ThePowerpuffGirls2016


1	* The use of Bubbles's old model during the flashback in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLVA7zUdRvU this preview]] was no doubt a CallBack to the original show, but does this mean that the whole reboot is either a continuation of the original show or is it set in a new universe regardless of that model?
2	** To answer your question, it was always meant to be a continuation of the original WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls which depicts the girls as being Elementary Schoolers. Right from the start.
3	*** Then that raises the question of why they would expect to return to kindergarten in the first place...
4	*** If that's the case, shouldn't the writers have built on the characteristics that the characters already had, rather than taking them in a different direction, or depicting the girls in such a way That they are less able to self regulate? In some ways, it's like the girls are less mature now than when they were younger.
5	*** Dumb possibility: the girls are growing up and starting to experience new stuff, they're starting to make bad and/or dumb stupid decision since that's what some people do when they grow up: act dumb and do dumb stuff for no reason.
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8	* I might be missing something, but why are people saying that Horn, Sweet Horn (The episode about the pony who wants to be a unicorn) talks about gender identity?
9	** They might have been going for the allegorical approach.
10	** WordOfGod actually confirmed it before the episode even aired. The producers were trying so, so hard to hype up how supposedly "brave" and "important" the new show was going to be, and they specifically called upon "Horn, Sweet Horn" as an example of that, 'specifically' introducing it as an episode about gender identity. And it's easy to see in the episode itself, with lots of jokes about gender ("Wait, what's the difference between a colt and a filly?") and the...shall we say, "imagery" involved in the Mayor's bizarre "pickle museum." Where the largest pickle is shattered. By the episode's metaphorical trans character. The "pony" who identifies as a "unicorn," who turns to the Professor to help him transition. There's definitely commentary on gender happening in this episode... The problem is that literally every last bit of is hateful and stigmatizing. It's an episode 'about' trans issues written and produced by people who clearly don't 'understand' or 'respect' trans issues.
11	*** [[https://storify.com/creatrixtiara/emily-brundige-s-apology-re-the Except no. It isn't. It isn't "about trans issues" and there is no "commentary on gender". Anything in the episode that came across as such was unintentional. And the writers must SOME understanding and respect for trans issues because they've apologized for how "hateful and stigmatizing" the episode came across and how the promotional team lied about it being about gender identity.]] Any troper who read the YMMV page knows this, but I'm going to assume the above was written before they admitted their mistake.
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13	* Why is Cartoon Network seemingly airing the new episodes out of order? The previews made their new HardLight powers seem like the Girls had never used them before, but the seventh new episode (introducing Packrat, who ''also'' seems to have been previously introduced) has them already using them as if they'd been practicing for a while, but the seeming-introductory episode for them (which very clearly takes place at night) still hasn't been aired.
14	** I think it's because the show has a loose continuity, so whoever sets up the airing schedule thought the episodes could be aired in any order, and it'd be fine.
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16	* So... they said they removed Ms. Bellum because she went against the message they were trying to convey. How, exactly? What was so terrible about her that required her to leave the show completely? I always thought she was a pretty strong and cunning woman in the original series.
17	** Because she was "sexy," I'm guessing. A woman drawn with hugely, hugely exaggerated curves and literally no face. And if that's the case, then, sure, I mean, I see what they were getting at, but they didn't have to 'remove' her entirely to address it.
18	** The LampshadeHanging of the MaleGaze her facelessness represented was probably part of it (although you CAN see her face briefly in the 10th anniversary special of the original series.) Because really, [[SarcasmMode that's such an outdated trope! Also, who'd want to have a character who's smart, competent, yet stuck in a job that appears low-level on paper (a PA) but actually does most of the work, and apparently be perfectly happy with it?]]
19	** PoliticalOvercorrectness, basically. The original show had a strong creative vision, which included a cheeky, naughty sense of humor covered in a veneer of sugar and spice. But the revival has no real creative vision; it's just hazily-remembered tropes from the original show assembled into something focus groups assume kids will love (as long as it's been sanitized for their fragile little minds). However it stinks of hypocrisy as the episode "Painbow" has a hypnotized Blossom and Bubbles twerking.
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21	* I have to ask: ''Why'' is everyone mad that the show references memes? The No Me Gusta one I can get, but the ones in "Painbow" kind of fit (at the very least) into the [[BizarroEpisode type of episode]] it was.
22	** Because there's no real point to them being referenced. The memes are just shoehorned in so the creators can seem hip and with the times. Even in the context of a [[BizarroEpisode Bizarro Episode]], what reason was there for Bubbles to say "Yaaaaas", or to have Blossom reference the "literally can't even" meme? Sure, they might make sense in a certain light, but there's still no reason for them to be there. Plus, they made 5-year-olds twerk. That's a reason in and of itself, in my opinion.
23	*** Not to mention memes, slangs, and twerking date the series. If children were to watch this decades later, they would find these things a little cheesy and corny.
24	*** Hell, [[BrokenBase a lot of people]] find them cheesy and corny now.
25	*** The other problem, is a lot of times the humor relies on the meme...so anyone who isn't AWARE of memes will find it rather...disconcerting. Like the "No me gusta" face. If you don't know the face, it's just WEIRD. They're going a bit too far, and having the joke be ENTIRELY be 'the meme'. As they said...it's shoehorned in and doesn't fit.
26	** Because the network rebooted a beloved show and replaced its well-known and strongly-identifiable comedic mix of ultra-violent slapstick and cheeky & cheesy puns with little more than disposable memes and transient internet slang that says nothing and humors nobody. Generally, when a beloved show is revived, it's typically advisable to ensure it ''feels like'' the show used to, not just pander to twelve-year-old tumblr users.
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28	* When Hope told Bubbles the phrase they have to get the spirits to say to make them go back into the box, wouldn't she have had to have said it? Why didn't she go back in the box?
29	** Neither of them said that it would make Hope go back into the box, only that the spirits would go back into the box.
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31	* Puffdora's Box already aired? Where??
32	** Oh never mind, it's airing tomorrow anyways.
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34	* If Sapna knows she turns into a giant spider whenever she feels love, why did she agree to go on a date?
35	** She never specified it was just romantic love that turns her into a giant spider.
36	** Maybe she thought it was temporary?
37	** It's never precised how exactly love makes her turn into a spider. For all we know, it might be if she just feels strong love, it awakens her spider nature. As for why she agreed to go on a date, she states that guys are freaked out by her turning into a giant spider. She might feel loveless and have tried to go on dates, and grown desperate from never finding love. She might have just accepted to date the Professor because she would do anything to be loved. Maybe she also thought if she controlled her emotions and hid her monster nature, she could've had a relationship with him (she's nervous all the time, she only rushes away to transform after something significantly romantic happens to her).
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39	* Bubbles is the one who screwed up her school photo, so why does everyone act like it's the photographer's fault?
40	** Because the photographer didn't wait for her to be ready, and just seemed pretty incompetent in general.
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42	* Why weren't the kids allowed to have retakes on their school photos when the photographer was fired for incompetence?
43	** Probably because the school didn't want/couldn't get the old photographer back, or they felt that retakes weren't needed.
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45	* Why didn't Silico just build more robot friends to replace the ones the girls accidentally broke?
46	** He could have...but he saw them as 'real people'...and the girls as murderers. Not just disposable robots.
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48	* Is the show in the same continuity as the Cartoon Network series? In the 2016 series, it was the professor who accidentally create the girls, but in the CN series, Mojo caused the accident. So...does the 2016 series take place in an alternate universe where Mojo wasn't the professor's pet monkey?
49	** Judging by the character page for the girls, the 2016 series seems to be in an alternate continuity. That doesn't make sense, though, because there elements of the new show which indicate that it picked up where the original series left off, such as characters aging, and the girls and Miss Keane being placed in a school where they work on more advanced material than they usually did at Pokey Oaks Kindergarten.
50	** Bliss' episodes more or less confirm it's still in continuity with Jojo even have been her childhood friend. The Professor creating the girls by accident is so advertised in both old and new continuity, they were fine rolling with it. Besides, while Mojo was responsible, the Professor was still the one holding the pot, close to the Chemical tubes and leaving Jojo without supervision. He has a lot of factor in the whole thing.
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52	* Princess Morebucks was paying the Derbytantes to befriend Buttercup and isolate her from her sisters so she could take Buttercup's place on the team and be a Powerpuff Girl. She proceeds to call a giant monster to [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown Pummel Blossom and Bubbles until they agree to let her onto the team]], [[TwoPlusTortureEqualsFive and they reluctantly agree]]. This would make perfect sense, except for the fact that immediately after they agree, she calls the monster off and traps them in a CrystalPrison before donning a golden mecha suit to destroy the crystal and the girls declaring that she'll be the only Powerpuff Girl. This raises the following questions: If she intended to destroy the girls, why go to the trouble of isolating Buttercup to open up a spot on the team? Why did she need their permission to join much less beat them into submission to get it and what was she going to do about Buttercup after destroying Blossom and Bubbles? PlotHole doesn't even begin to cover it...
53	** Princess is a power-obsessed little brat who enjoys having enough resources to throw around and rubbing it in other people's faces.
54	** True but that doesn't answer the question of why she isolated Buttercup, took her spot on the team and then decided to destroy the team with the exception of herself to be "The only Powerpuff girl." As opposed to just destroying them altogether and taking over.
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Context Headscratchers / ThePowerpuffGirls2016