Original air date: 10/20/2000
Production code: PPG-306
Jewel of the Aisle: A clumsy robber gets away from the girls with a diamond, but ends up losing it in a box of 'Lucky Captain Rabbit King Nuggets' cereal, which is then bought by Professor Utonium.
Super Zeroes: When the girls read comic books, they believe that they will be better superheroes if they copy the comics, but when they try to fight a monster downtown, their new titles are less than effective.
Jewel of the Aisle contains examples of:
- Animals Hate Him: When the crook tries to get into the Powerpuff Girls' house via the chimney, his first successful bid is interrupted via a squirrel attack.Crook: AAAAUUUGGHH! AAAAHH-AAAHH-AAAAUUUGGHH! (Staggers around the roof) GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET IT - (loses his balance and falls) - OOOAAAAUUUUUUGGGGH...!
- Art Shift: The "Mechanimals" show the Powerpuff Girls watch is animated in CGI, and the 'Lucky Captain Rabbit King Nuggets' cereal commercial is animated in the same style as actual cereal commercials of the time this episode was made.
- Becoming the Mask: The crook spends so much time trying to imitate Lucky Captain Rabbit King that he starts to forget about the jewel until it falls into his mouth.
- Butt-Monkey: The crook in question. His initial escape from the Powerpuff Girls is more a stroke of luck than anything, and it gets worse and worse for him after that.
- Cape Snag: When the thief disguised as Lucky Captain Rabbit King disguises himself as Mr. Phan, the girls' gardener, he rides a lawn mower, then tells the girls that he'd like the Lucky Captain Rabbit King nuggets they're eating. When Buttercup tells him to throw the mower in reverse, the thief does so, but his cape gets caught in the riding mower as a result, exposing his Lucky Captain Rabbit King disguise.
- Contrived Coincidence: The one last box of cereal (out of hundreds) that contained the stolen diamond ends up getting bought by Professor Utonium of all people and brought directly to the Powerpuff Girls for their breakfast. The crook promptly lampshades the improbability of these events when he finds out.
- Failure Is the Only Option: Everything the crook tries to get into the girls' house.
- Hastily Hidden MacGuffin: The diamond, which falls into a box of cereal that ends up being bought by Professor Utonium.
- Humiliation Conga: The poor crook goes through a lot in his attempt to get the jewel.
- Mascot: In an attempt to get into the girls' house and steal back the jewel, the crook dresses up like the mascot of the girls' favorite cereal, Lucky Captain Rabbit King.
- Inelegant Blubbering: After going through several rounds of abuse trying to get onto the roof of the Powerpuff Girls' house, the crook finally manages to jump down the chimney...only to find that the costume's too bulky, getting him stuck. After a few moments of struggle, he just breaks down crying.
- Motive Decay: The crook spends so long trying to get the cereal box he forgets about the diamond he hid in it.
- Needle in a Stack of Needles:
- How the crook manages to lose the Powerpuff Girls the first time. After falling into the factory he ends up in the same uniform as all the other workers, leaving the girls unable to distinguish him from the crowd and having to give up the chase.
- The crook loses the diamond in a cereal factory, and it ends up in one of the hundreds of identical boxes that are shipped to the supermarket. He spends the entire night in the supermarket opening every box, leaving him with only one. But just as he is about to grab the correct box, Professor Utonium takes it.
- Ninja Zombie Pirate Robot: The cereal mascot the crook disguises himself as, Lucky Captain Rabbit King, as a generalized mashup of real cereal mascots.
- No Name Given: We never learn the crook's name.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Some of the Crook's disguises, such as posing as a worker in the cereal factory, pretending the girls "grandma babysitter" and gardener Mr. Phan while still wearing the Lucky Captain Rabbit King costume.
- Shout-Out:
- The show the girls watch is clearly an expy/parody of Transformers (specifically Beast Wars and Beast Machines).
- "Lucky Captain Rabbit King Nuggets" and its mascot are a reference to the cereals Lucky Charms, Cap'n Crunch, Trix, and King Vitaman.
- When the crook first tries to get the cereal, he says, "The Captain & Tennille has a headache."
- Stuck in a Chimney: A thief loses a stolen diamond in a box of Lucky Captain Rabbit King Nuggets cereal, which ends up in the possession of the Powerpuff Girls. The thief disguises himself as Lucky Captain Rabbit King and tries many unsuccessful shenanigans to get the box from the girls, one of which is disguising himself as Santa Claus and going down the chimney, despite the fact that it's summer. He gets stuck in it and has to be saved by the Fire Department.
- Stupid Crooks: The villain of this episode. His bad luck aside, some of the mistakes he makes are rookie-level. When he first finds the jewel on the conveyor belt, instead of grabbing it right away, he playfully scolds it for "running away", allowing it to go into the shipping area. When he gets to the last box of cereal in the market, he takes his sweet time going to grab it, allowing the professor to grab it instead. When impersonating an old lady, he doesn't take off his Captain Rabbit King costume before putting his "grandma babysitter" outfit on, allowing the girls to see his rabbit ears and mustache. His dumbest moment has to be when he dresses up as a monster and uses a model of Townsville to make the girls think he's a monster attacking the city. The result? The girls go and beat him up. What did he think was gonna happen?
- Would Harm a Senior: It's implied the crook mugged an old woman for her outfit. Crosses over with Would Hit a Girl.
- Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: The crook sports these. Ultimately, however, he's just not very good at what he does. At all.
Super Zeroes contains examples of:
- An Aesop: Be Yourself.
- Affably Evil: Steve is a giant monster attacking Townsville, but rather than being out to hurt anybody, he is doing it because monsters who fight the Powerpuff Girls and survive are considered heroes among their kind. After getting fed up with their attempts to be something they are not, he encourages them to be themselves because they do not need to pretend to be something other than who they are to save the day.
- Big Honking Traffic Jam: Blossom, as Liberty Belle, gets caught in one of these when she tries to get to Townsville in the Morality Mobile. This makes her too late to stop the Monster, and The Mayor reprimands her for showing up late.
- Big "SHUT UP!": In response to the girls' repeatedly calling out their new gimmicks, Steve ultimately shouts, "Stop!!"
- Bring It: After delivering the Be Yourself message to the girls, Steve casually knocks over a building to get the fight going at long last.
- Calling Your Attacks: Once the girls finally get the chance to face Steve, Blossom and Bubbles make like comic books and keep doing this. (Buttercup doesn't, due to it being so bright at the moment.) It ultimately frustrates Steve into yelling at them.
- The Cameo: Steve is voiced by Dee Bradley Baker.
- Couch Gag: "So, once again, the day is saved with no thanks to Liberty Belle, Harmony Bunny or Mange, but to the one and only Powerpuff Girls!"
- Establishing Shot: Of the city the day after the "better heroes" first screwed up. It gives the Narrator the chance for his first line of the episode.
- Expy: Blossom's new superhero persona is an expy of Wonder Woman, and Buttercup's of Spawn. The monster Steve's appearance is a parody of Hedorah.
- Getting Smilies Painted on Your Soul: Bubbles tries to do this to the monster with "Happy Stickers", which don't work.
- A Hero to His Hometown: We learn in this episode that the Kaiju that frequently attack Townsville mainly do so in hopes of getting into a fight with the Powerpuff Girls, since those who survive the fight are hailed as heroes back on Monster Island.
- Hypocritical Humor: In the face of the girls talking about emulating comic book superheroes, the Professor remarks that children are so impressionable. He then gets back to reading his newspaper, specifically a science-themed comic strip. He excitedly reads it the way the girls did their comics earlier.
- Kids Driving Cars: As Liberty Belle, Blossom drives a Cool Car named the Morality Mobile. This backfires when she gets stuck in heavy traffic.
- Literal-Minded: This exchange when the Professor answers the phone:Professor: Powerpuff hotline.
Mayor: Oh, this is terrible! Terrible!
Professor: Well, Mr. Terrible, I'm sorry, but this line is reserved for...
Mayor: No, no, no! This is the Mayor! I need the girls immediately! - Overly Long Gag: The camera repeatedly shifting back and forth between the Professor on the phone, the girls' door, and the monster downtown as they are trying to get ready.
- Power Makes Your Voice Deep: Buttercup tries for this as Mange, though her not actually doing anything outside of complaining about sunlight negates the effect.
- Rousing Speech: Steve the monster tells the girls that even without these so-called new hero personas, they "still have what it takes to save the day."
- Rule of Three/Running Gag: "Better heroes, huh?"
- Shout-Out:
- Bubbles uses Underdog 's Character Catchphrase while under her "Harmony Bunny" persona, only replacing "hip, hip, hip" with "hop, hop, hop".
- When The Mayor wonders where the girls are after Steve the monster leaves, he is shown to be wearing a Jigglypuff watch.
- Suddenly Speaking: Steve, the monster, reveals himself to be able to talk when he gives the girls his What the Hell, Hero? speech.
- Super Zeroes: Both the title and premise of this episode; The girls decide to imitate their favorite comic book superheroes; Blossom as Liberty Belle, Bubbles as Harmony Bunny, and Buttercup as Mange. Blossom gets stuck in traffic when she drives the Morality Mobile, Bubbles is extremely slow due to traveling by pogo stick and her attacks consist of putting stickers on Steve, and Buttercup won't do anything because of the sunlight. Steve eventually gets fed up and tells the girls to lose their new identities.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Bubbles attempts to arrive where the monster is on a pogo stick. It takes several hours. In real life, pogo sticks are generally used as toys and are not intended for travel purposes.
- Time-Passes Montage: The girls struggling to get to the monster attack downtown, with Blossom stuck in traffic, Bubbles traveling by pogo stick, and Buttercup waiting for the sun to set because her persona cannot stand sunlight.
- Tom the Dark Lord: The giant monster that attacks Townsville 3 days in a row is named Steve.
- Transformation Sequence: Each of the girls get one as part of their self-reinventions:
- Blossom gets a standard suit-up montage as Liberty Belle.
- Bubbles crawls under her bed and enters a fantasy land, finding her Harmony Bunny costume at the end of a rainbow.
- Buttercup unexpectedly goes to a green-tinted world that could pass for hell, and a towering demonic figure transforms her into Mange.
- The Unreveal: The viewers never get to see what powers Buttercup is supposed to have as Mange since she refuses to step into direct sunlight and the monster always leaves come nightfall.
- Weakened by the Light: Buttercup's character Mange cannot stand the sunlight and only goes out when it's dark.
- What the Hell, Hero?: First given to the girls by the Professor when getting into their respective costumes takes too long, then by the Mayor when they arrive way too late to fight the monster, and finally by the monster itself when their attempts to fight him in their new superhero personas are completely ineffective.
