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This is based on opinion. Please don't list it on a work's trope example list.

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Tear Jerker / The Powerpuff Girls (1998)
aka: The Powerpuff Girls

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Per site policy, Spoilers Off applies to all Tear Jerker pages, so all spoilers here are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/powerpuff_girls_tear_jerker.PNG
Poor, poor Bubbles.

So once again, the audience has been left in tears, thanks to... The Powerpuff Girls.

The Powerpuff Girls Movie has its own page.

For the 2016 series, see here.

General:

  • Any time Bubbles cries. Seeing such an adorable and likable character upset is always a huge gut-punch, the most notable instances being "Octi Evil" and "All Chalked Up". However, you may become desensitized by it due to the fact that Bubbles cries a lot.
  • Whenever Professor Utonium fears for the girls, it's pretty sad.
  • Buttercup is subject to this, if you think about it long enough. First of all, the professor had no good reason officially to name her Buttercup other than that it begins with "B". Second, she has no unique power for the longest time (tongue-rolling doesn't count). Finally, nobody really pays her any attention, and even when they do, it's usually when she's in trouble. Even some fans never seemed to care much, instead opting to exploit her misery and attitude for kicks and giggles. Especially since she tends to be remembered as "the bitchy one".
    • In addition to all of that, Buttercup tends to be the victim of Disproportionate Retribution, despite that most of her misbehavior is typical of children her and her sisters' age.
  • In "Aspirations", Ace outright states, "Mommy loves us!" once Sedusa rejects them. You can infer a lot about them possibly being orphans or runaway teens with lots of baggage on their shoulders.
  • Whenever the girls are ostracized by the citizens of Townsville can be pretty sad. It makes you wonder why they even bother saving them given the amount of times that it's happened.

Specific episodes:

  • Rainbow the Clown's fate at the end of the episode "Mime for a Change". He is a fun-loving clown who loves to entertain at children's parties; after a bleach truck hits him, he turns black and white and gets superpowers. Rainbow turns into his evil alter ego, Mr. Mime, who can erase colors by touch and even render objects, animals, people, and music mute. Mr. Mime even nearly wins, removing the color from everyone but Bubbles. With the power of music, Bubbles brings back the color to Townsville, including turning Mr. Mime back into Rainbow the Clown. Rainbow personally thanks the girls for returning his color and throwing away his frown and that he owes it to them. Suddenly, the girls proceed to beat up Rainbow and Bubbles, rather callously, tells the beaten clown that he's going to jail, despite the fact he clearly wasn't himself when he did the crimes. The cartoon ends with Rainbow looking sad in his jail cell as the narrator states, "Boy oh boy, your colorful life is going to be pretty black and white from now on, Rainbow".
  • The episode "Twisted Sister" is utterly heart-wrenching, from beginning to end. The girls try to make a fourth Powerpuff Girl, and because they substitute some ingredients, their new sister Bunny turns out a little... special. She tries very hard to fight crime, but never gets it right... until the end, where she saves her sisters and then she explodes. The other three girls feel horrible, because the last thing they told her was "Bunny do bad!" and that she wasn't cut out to be a Powerpuff Girl. This is why it's considered by many to be the saddest episode in the entire series.
    Bubbles: She was good after all. [voice shaking] We were the ones who were bad.
    Narrator: So, for the first and final time, the day is saved... (Bunny appears in Blossom's spot, posing just like her) ...thanks to Powerpuff...BUNNY!!
    Bunny: Powawull!
    Narrator: (sobbing in utter despair) Oh, why...?! WHY?! Oh, go to a commercial!
    • The mere fact that Bunny is the one who appears in the "Day is Saved" closing. That part of the episode serves as the highest seat of honor in the show, usually reserved for the Powerpuff Girls. It's a mix between sad and sweet that the show itself sent her off with nothing short of its highest praise.
    • Worse still is that because of their shoddy effort at the formula, Bunny was likely doomed to an untimely end from the start. The fact that she dies before they finally came to appreciate her for who she was is what makes her short existence so tragic.
    • This particular tearjerker is so potent that it was even used in Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi as part of Blossom's Dark and Troubled Past.
    • Most explosions in this series are loud. Not Bunny's, though—it's silent to a heartbreaking degree.
    • Perhaps the hardest point of all is that there is no joke or Black Comedy at its expense. There is no "things get better" ending, or some dramatic aftermath. The episode straight up ends with Bunny dying, the girls realizing they screwed up bad, that's all she wrote. Even in some of the sadder episodes there's usually some levity, but here it's just a brutal Deconstruction of the episode formula where no one ends up well by the end.
  • The ending of the episode "Knock It Off". The Professor bursts into Dick's factory as he's slowly killing the girls by draining their Chemical X. He desperately pleads for the lives of his daughters...but Dick just decides to kill all of them, anyway. As his army of grotesque, monstrous clones take the Professor away, he tearfully tells the girls that he loves them, and they weakly manage to say, "We love you too..." before dying. After seeing this heart-wrenching goodbye, the clones turn on Dick, release the girls, and tell the Professor to run before the factory burns down. He escapes as the factory explodes in the background, killing all of the deformed clones, and cries over the apparently dead bodies of his daughters before they come around.
  • In "Tough Love", when Him replaces the town's love for the girls with hate. When the girls (who were then unaware) come to see the Professor, well...let's say it isn't pretty.
    • The entire episode is hard to watch, actually. Seeing the city, which normally is incredibly friendly despite all that it goes through, torment the girls is heartbreaking. It's especially bad when The Narrator, who is probably one of the nicest, happiest characters on the show, snaps at them. The horror and shock on the girls is all too evident.◊
      Narrator: Oh, for crying out loud, would you three shut up for once!? Always crying and moaning about something... sheesh, you give me a headache!
  • There’s something hard-hitting about the start of “Imaginary Fiend” where Mike is too shy to talk to anyone and sits alone. Anyone with shyness can sympathize with the boy.
  • Bubbles' reaction when she gets coal in her stocking◊ in "'Twas The Fight Before Christmas", leading her to break down on the floor and cry.
  • There's one moment in "Octi Evil" when Blossom and Buttercup are arguing and it slowly pans over to Bubbles crying alone in their room.
    Bubbles: Oh, I don't like arguing. Why can't we all just get along, instead of just fighting and arguing? [cries Ocular Gushers]
    • Blossom and Buttercup being driven to physically attack each other under Him's influence is also quite upsetting—the girls argue often, but usually fights never turn so serious.
  • In "Helter Shelter", when Bubbles says goodbye to the baby whale. Thankfully, she gets over it pretty quick, knowing that the whale will be with its family again.
    Bubbles: I now understand this wasn't meant to be. (sniffling and hugging the whale) But I'm sure gonna miss you anyway.
  • "Little Miss Interprets": Upon thinking the Professor wants to replace the girls with new ones, we see Blossom and Bubbles crying. However, seeing tough-as-nails Buttercup shed a Single Tear after fighting the urge to break down really sells it.
    Blossom: [sobbing] Bubbles was right. He is making new girls.
    Bubbles: [also weeping] Why doesn't he love us anymore?
    Buttercup: [voice cracking] You heard him. He doesn't think we're perfect anymore. [turns head away and a Single Tear is shed]
    • The following line from Bubbles:
      Bubbles: (to the Professor) But...I love you...DAD!
  • "The City Of Frownsville" has an In-Universe and out example of all of the city crying after Lou Gubrious sets his sadness ray on them.
  • The beginning of "Mommy Fearest" which shows that the Professor, much as he loves his girls, is a very lonely man.
    • And later when the Professor reluctantly grounds the girls. You can just feel the tremor in his voice. You can't help but feel sorry for him too.
    • It might be because of the way Bubbles reacted (Being left in tears) but it was really cruel of "Ima" to snatch Octi from her.
  • "Speed Demon" has the moment it kicks in for the girls that Townsville being in ruins was ultimately THEIR fault for being gone so long.
    Blossom: Wh... wh... what have we done??
    Buttercup: No... No! NOOOOO!!!
    Bubbles: (grabbing both of her pigtails) WHYYYYY?!! (cries)
    • Especially as the citizens' chant, "It's all your fault!" over and over again in a Creepy Monotone.
    • The state the citizens are in isn't any prettier.
      • Professor Utonium is desperately trying to recreate the girls and when he sees them right in front of him, he mistakes them for hallucinations, implying that he regularly hallucinates that his missing daughters have returned to him.
      • Ms. Bellum is crying in the ruins of town hall, holding the Mayor's hat and sash and recounting over and over how she begged him to call the Girls during HIM's takeover. It's implied that the Mayor was murdered (presumably right in front of Ms. Bellum) by HIM. At this point, she's so far gone that she doesn't even recognize the Girls and demands that they stay away from the Mayor's remains, screaming that the Mayor is "hers and hers alone".
      • Ms. Keane is left standing where she stood when the girls left, chanting "I was just standing there waving goodbye and they raced off..." over and over and over again...before ending it with "...for fifty years...fifty years...fifty years..."
  • The girls' Disney Death in "The Rowdyruff Boys", arguably peaking when even the Narrator can't believe it.
    Narrator: No... no... say it isn't so... say it isn't true... say anything, girls... but please don't say goodbye... (starts crying)
    • This also didn't help that in their defeat, the silent explosion from the above-mentioned "Twisted Sister" occurs. Fitting for the fact that this scene is the Darkest Hour of the episode.
    • The girls coming back to life and telling everyone that they're no longer fit to be heroes because they failed to stop the Rowdyruff Boys and decide that they have no choice but to leave Townsville. Fortunately, Ms. Bellum convinces them to stay.
  • A scene from "Neighbor Hood" where Blossom and Buttercup reveal to Bubbles that her favorite TV show is nothing but a set and actors.
    • The music in that scene comes from "Twisted Sister" where the girls are mourning Bunny's death.
  • In "The Boys Are Back in Town", the Rowdyruff Boys are revived by HIM. Now immune to the Powerpuff Girls' kisses, they proceed to beat the crap out of them until they're in too much pain to move. The Rowdyruff Boys then go one step too far and put a giant slug down Bubble's dress. After they do, Bubbles is clearly suffering and visibly attempts to keep herself from crying. On the bright side, this is what motivates Buttercup to find the Rowdyruff Boys' new weakness.
  • The episode "Buttercrush". It's a little hard not to feel bad for Buttercup when she realizes Ace was toying with her feelings all along. Even during her No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to them, you can tell she's truly heartbroken.
    • Even worse, the ONLY thing she says in the ENTIRE episode is "I'm sorry." And that's at the very end to Bubbles and Blossom.
  • Did anybody wanna hug all three girls in "Sweet 'N Sour" when the Fluffy Bunch managed to turn all of Townsville against them with their "adorable" crimes, since the girls were the only ones who saw through the animals' cute exterior?
  • The ending of "Candy is Dandy"; the girls' addiction to candy has become so extreme that they give Mojo Jojo a beating that's way worse compared to the previous episodes, leaving him crying and whimpering in sheer agony. The Girls then have their Heel Realization.
  • In "All Chalked Up", when Buttercup destroys the chalk for fun, Bubbles bursts into tears, as usual. But her sobbing sounds ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like it normally does. It's very loud. It's realistic. It's horrifying. And above all, it sounds exactly like actual crying, and to say that a lot of fans didn't take that well would be a massive understatement. The scene is pictured above, by the way.
    • What really makes it so depressing is that at first Bubbles' blubbering is very loud, but later her sobs get much quieter and realistic as she hides in the forest, which is really how real crying sounds like. Tara Strong, you really can act....
    • You also can't see Bubbles' face at all during the aforementioned scene. One can't help but wonder that she may not have been just sobbing wretchedly, but also may have looked pretty unpleasant too. To give you an idea of this, here's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment of Bubbles's sad face right before she breaks down crying.
    • All the kids plus Blossom look completely shocked at what just happened, except for Buttercup who has a smug grin on her face, emphasizing her callousness and cruelty even further.
      • Just look at Blossom at that moment. She's seeing her sister cry, and her look on her face felt like she failed to do more to help Bubbles. Poor Blossom.
    • Also tragic is Bubbles's Heroic BSoD after she sees the destruction caused by the monster drawings she made.
  • In "Ploys R Us'", when the Professor seemingly dies after being shot, the girls burst into Tears of Remorse.
    Girls: (sobbing) It's all our fault! It's all our fault!
    Mayor: And just what is that supposed to mean?!
    Blossom: We knew it was the Professor.
    Bubbles: But the toys!
    Buttercup: And we couldn't stop.
    Bubbles: And all the toys!
    Blossom: And now he's....he's... gone!!
  • In "See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey", the Girls fight all of the villains, but they easily get defeated by them, leading them to sing this extremely depressing song called "Rain".
    • Also, it's a little difficult to notice at first because of the rain, but if you look closely at the Girls during the song, you'll notice that they're crying.
    • It becomes even worse when you find out that Townsville is hardly ever peaceful for long, and the Girls just need a break from this madness.
  • The special The Powerpuff Girls Rule!!! has the scene where Mojo Jojo gives up on trying to conquer the world and chooses to shut down his volcano lair and move out of Townsville while we hear him singing the Tears for Fears song "Everybody Wants to Rule the World". It's pretty depressing to see Mojo feel so defeated and hopeless.
  • The girls getting a pet called Beebo in "Pet Feud", but the Professor warns them to only feed him once. The girls misunderstand and each of them feed him separately. BEEBO gets bigger and bigger and out of control until he eats too much and explodes. The girls then lament, "BEEBO go boom..." Thankfully, it's revealed that if BEEBO explodes, clones of him appear and everyone in Townsville gets their own BEEBO.
  • The episode "Super Friends." Watching Robin in all of her loneliness as the Powerpuff Girls ditch her to save the day is enough to bring a tear to your eye, especially if you were a kid who had been abandoned by friends before. Even worse is that the montage of this is being played with "Signal in the Sky", which focuses on the Girls being called to action to save the day. Now it's being played in Robin's perspective, as it shows how the girls' heroics means there's less time for them to hang out.
  • A small one, but when the judge starts sentencing the Powerpuff Girls to one million years in Townsville Correctional Facility for bank robbery in the What a Cartoon! short "Crime 101", he is visibly distraught when the girls sadly plead guilty and confirm that they really did rob the bank (which they only did to teach the Amoeba Boys how to do so properly) and clearly wishes he didn't have to punish the girls for their crime. Fortunately, the Amoeba Boys end up taking the blame.
  • In "Beat Your Greens", when all the adults have passed out from the aliens' spell because the families only ate meat and no vegetables is both sad and horrifying, especially with all of their children finding their parents like that. Arguably, the worst scene is with the mom who's passed out on the kitchen floor in front of her son and his older sister, as they're holding each other while sobbing and having no idea what to do. Fortunately, after the children eat the vegetable aliens, they break the spell and the mom is revived and happily reunited with her son.
  • "The Mane Event":
  • Blossom's Heroic BSoD in "Not So Awesome Blossom". Even worse? She runs away.
  • The Professor admitting to the Girls that he may be unable to save Bullet the squirrel in "Stray Bullet". Thankfully, Bullet gets better.
    Bubbles: But, Professor, I don't want to have saved her just to lose her... [begins to cry]
  • Seeing Blossom get laughed at after her Humiliation Conga in "A Made Up Story" is a bit sad.
  • "Cover Up" is a huge Buttercup torture porn.
  • The scene in "Bought And Scold" when Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup are in tears over Princess making crime legal.
  • The entire outcome of "Fallen Arches", where Blossom convinces the girls to talk two elderly superheroes — Captain Righteous and Lefty — to fight the Ministry of Pain in their place, as Blossom refuses to attack a bunch of elderly villains out of respect for the fact that they are old. The two heroes accept the call, but Captain Righteous refuses to work with his old sidekick as he feels he was a glory hound, while Lefty thinks his boss constantly treated him as dead weight. It's quite a shame to see two old friends drift apart so completely over such petty disagreements.
    • The real kicker though is that Blossom's plan backfires spectacularly when the two superheroes confront the villains, clearly out of shape and no longer fit to fight. When they start to squabble with each other, Lefty is injured and Captain Righteous, horrified at this scene, performs a Heroic Sacrifice and slams into the Ministry of Pain, leading to all five being rushed to the hospital. They ultimately pull through, but the press are especially unforgiving and say none of it would've happened if the Girls had just saved the day themselves.
    • Needless to say, Blossom is quite ashamed of herself when Bubbles and Buttercup glare at her as the aforementioned news is broken to them, and she quietly slinks out of view without another word.
  • The entirety of "A Very Special Blossom". Highlights include:
  • "Meet the Beat Alls" may be a hilarious Beatles homage, but it still consists of the Powerpuff Girls suffering crushing defeat after crushing defeat (literally) against them time and time again as they get away with their ill-gotten gains. It gets to a point where the girls wonder if they can ever save the day again. We don't even want to think about what would have happened if it hadn't been for the Professor's magical mystery tricksnote .
    • There’s also Mojo’s reaction upon finding out that his Love Interest Moko Jono was actually a mole working for the girls and that she has a decidedly low opinion of him (for giving monkeys a bad name). As he's being flown to jail, instead of ranting and cursing like normal, he just utters a meek and utterly heartbroken, “You took my love away.” He might be a villain, but you can’t help but feel sorry for him there.
  • "Aspirations" manages to be one for the Gangreen Gang, of all people. The episode's plot focuses on Sedusa manipulating the boys into doing her dirty work by showing them affection and promising to "reward" them for it, but once she gets the artifacts she wanted and becomes more powerful than ever, she outright admits to her manipulation and demands they get lost. The gang is left absolutely devastated, and even Ace is left crying when Sedusa begs for them to come back. In fact, the delivery of his lines near the end of this episode are pretty painful to listen to.
    Ace: My Mommy loves us! She loves us...
    Ace: Blossom? Bring her down for us.
    Ace: Fool me once, shame on you. But fool me twice? No thanks! (kicks the plank, knocking Sedusa into the mud)
    • Makes it even sadder/interesting to think about considering Ace was hurt in the exact same manner he hurt Buttercup: playing with her feelings, toying with the promise of love. Now he knows how much it can actually hurt.
  • The beginning of "Powerprof" shows the Professor and the girls making several attempts at family time, only to have every one of them interrupted as the girls need to save the day. It ends with the Professor coming home alone from a movie, dropping his keys on the floor and trudging miserably to his chair, not even closing the door behind him.
  • In "Power-noia", we learn each of the girls' deepest fears and Him curses them with nightmares about said fears. Blossom's nightmare is as much of a tearjerker as it's Nightmare Fuel. Bubbles and Buttercup have fears that are normal and natural for five-year-old children, but Blossom believes her only value is her intelligence and no one would love her if she weren't the brainiac she is. It's normal for young children to want to please those around them, but an excessive fear of failure is very abnormal for a small child.
  • In "Octi-Gone", Bubbles finds her beloved stuffed animal destroyed. Rather than her usual histrionic crying, she just whimpers, collapses on the floor, and stays on the floor for hours in a manner similar to someone grieving the loss of a loved one.

Alternative Title(s): The Powerpuff Girls

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