Original air date: 12/9/1998
Production code: PPG-104
Buttercrush: Buttercup becomes smitten with Ace, the leader of the Gangreen Gang.
Fuzzy Logic: The beastly bumpkin Fuzzy Lumpkins goes wild in Townsville.
Buttercrush provides examples of:
- Added Alliterative Appeal: Delivered by the narrator as Buttercup is partying with Ace and the gang while her sisters are in near-fatal danger.Narrator: Oh, no! Blossom and Bubbles’ screams are being drowned out by this rogue Romeo’s rambunctious rock!
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Buttercup develops a crush on the clearly evil Ace.
- Attentive Shade Lowering: Ace puts the charm on Buttercup by pulling down his shades and winking.
- Be the Ball: Blossom and Bubbles use Arturo as a volleyball during their pummeling of the rest of the gang minus Ace at the museum.
- Blatant Lies:
- Ace tries to say that the rest of his gang "didn't know what they were doing was wrong", and that he's sorry.
- And near the end, Ace even tries to convince Buttercup that he's innocent while the rest of his gang tried to put him up for destroying her sisters, y'know, despite the fact that he's The Leader.
- Broken Pedestal: Buttercup instantly stops liking Ace once she sees her sisters in danger and he only used her to fulfill their plans.
- Bowdlerisation: On CITV in the UK, the part where Buttercup gives Ace a bloody nose after doing a flying kick at him is replaced with a red screen.
- Conveyor Belt of Doom: The Gangrene Gang manages to trap Blossom and Bubbles onto one that leads into a hydraulic press. Unlike most examples of the trope, they are not saved in time and the press traps both girls into cubes of compressed metal, which are then grabbed by an electromagnet and slowly lowered into a melting pit. They are saved from that one though.
- Death Glare: Buttercup gives one to Ace when she figures out what's been going on.
- Delayed Reaction: Bubbles has one after unknowingly answering the phone to one of the Gangrene Gang.[Blossom and Bubbles are fast asleep in bed, snoring softly. Suddenly, the phone rings.]
Blossom: [sleepily] Bubbles...get the phone.
[Bubbles picks up the receiver]
Bubbles: [sleepily] ...Hello?
Grubber: [high voice] Oh, hello! I'm Buttercup, and my foot got caught in a conveyor belt at the city dump! I'm afraid I'm stuck. Help me!
Bubbles: [sleepily] OK. Bye bye.
[Bubbles puts the phone down and immediately shouts out her next line]
Bubbles: [top volume] BUTTERCUP'S IN TROUBLE!!! - Diving Save: Buttercup manages to catch her car cube-encased sisters just before they make contact with the lava pit.
- Does Not Know Her Own Strength: Buttercup discovers the gang's scheme by accidentally knocking down a wall while dancing.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- Grubber's "impression" of Buttercup is comically pathetic, unlike his ability to perfectly mimic any voice in all future appearances.
- Buttercup isn't really one to look for crushes or romance, but she falls for Ace shortly after his sob story.
- The Girls didn't have their hotline yet, as they have a regular rotary phone here.
- Hammerspace: Buttercup produces a soda can behind her back that is almost her size.
- Kick the Dog: On the junkyard, the Gangrene Gang tortures a cat by tying bags to its feet. And Buttercup joins them in doing it!
- My God, What Have I Done?: Buttercup realizes her crush on Ace nearly led to Blossom and Bubbles' fiery fate, the instant she accidentally busts down the gang's wall and sees them in trouble.
- The Silent Bob: Buttercup doesn't speak, aside from brief giggling when she sees Ace, until the very last line of the episode, when she gives her sisters a heartfelt "I'm sorry..." In most of the scenes when Buttercup and Ace are with each other, Ace does all the talking.
- No Snack for You: Due to Billy first smashing the soda machine to pulp, and the gang then trying to cram a vase into the bill slot.
- "Oh, Crap!" Smile: Ace's initial reaction when Buttercup discovers his deception and gives him a Death Glare.Ace: Heh heh. Aren't we having... fun?
- Packed Hero: Blossom and Bubbles get lured onto a conveyor belt to have discarded cars dropped on them and crushed into cubes. Only their heads stick out from the cubes, and they're unable to move.
- Precocious Crush: A female on male example, since Ace is at the very least in his teens or even young adult, while Buttercup is in kindergarten.
- Unwitting Pawn: Ace uses Buttercup's crush on him to make her this.
- Using You All Along: Ace pretends to go along with Buttercup’s crush on him, but actually he is just using her.
- Voice Changeling: Downplayed. Grubber does a pretty terrible imitation of Buttercup's voice, but Bubbles buys it anyway.
- Woman Scorned: Buttercup does not react well to Ace just using her in an attempt to destroy her sisters.
- Would Hurt a Child: The first thing we see the Gangrene Gang do is pick on a group of young kids, including giving a boy a Wedgie.
Fuzzy Logic provides examples of:
- Ash Face: Fuzzy after trying to shoot a squirrel off his head.
- Berserk Button: Fuzzy will go into a rage if somebody gets onto or touches his property.
- Bowdlerisation: On CITV in the UK, the parts where Fuzzy claws Blossom's dress and bites Buttercup on the leg are replaced by them being flung at the wall. However, the part where he kicks Bubbles wasn't cut.
- Clothing Damage: Fuzzy tears a good chunk from Blossoms’ dress during their fightnote , but somehow the dress is whole again in the next scene.
- The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: The first victim to step onto Fuzzy's property and get shooed off was the Narrator himself.
- Hulking Out: Fuzzy does this whenever somebody touches his stuff.
- Interrogation by Vandalism: When fighting Fuzzy in his house, Buttercup is able to force Fuzzy to stand down by threatening to throw his beloved banjo into the fireplace.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Fuzzy spends the whole episode screaming for people to stay off his property or stop touching his property, even when all they want to do is return it to him. When Fuzzy is arrested and thrown in jail a big tough prisoner steals his beloved banjo from him, calling it 'his property. The narrator lampshades this, laughing at Fuzzy and calling him Mr. No-Share.
- Non-Fatal Explosions: When Fuzzy shoots at the Narrator with his boomstick, he is completely unharmed and retreats pretty quickly.
- Police Are Useless: A police officer witnesses Fuzzy Lumpkins attacking people after trying to give him his stuff back. He marches up, says he has "one thing to say to you!".....Cop: Is this your hat?Fuzzy: YES!!!!
- Speaks Fluent Animal: This episode establishes Bubbles' unique ability to talk to animals, particularly squirrels, as she is able to understand what the squirrel is telling her.
- Ungrateful Bastard: When people offer Fuzzy the stuff that he dropped after a truck crashed into him, what does Fuzzy do? Beat them up, of course!
- Unstoppable Rage: Fuzzy, naturally. And he takes out his frustration on everyone in Townsville that is unlucky enough to cross his path.
- This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Bubbles’ ability to speak to squirrels comes in use when a flying squirrel is the only witness to Fuzzy’s rampage that is able to give the girls some usable information.
