Original air date: 11/25/1998
Production code: PPG-101
Insect Inside: Vile villain Roach Coach plots to infest Townsville with his army of cockroaches.
Powerpuff Bluff: Three escaped convicts, repeatedly beaten by the girls, fashion themselves new identities when they find grown-up-sized Powerpuff Girls costumes inside Townsville Jail.
Insect Inside provides examples of
- Big "NO!": Roach Coach screams this when Blossom traps his roach army inside a giant jar.
- Comically Missing the Point: Roach Coach threatens to the citizens of Townsville that it is only a matter of time before they meet their demise,causing a man out with his girlfriend to think he wanted to know what time it was.
- Creepy Cockroach: An army of roaches are the villains of this episode, led by their nefarious leader Roach Coach. It later turns out that he himself is also a cockroach.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Roach Coach is short, has dark combed hair, seeks to wipe out humanity, and goose-steps in front of an army of cockroaches. All of these make him strikingly similar to Adolf Hitler.
- The Dragon: Cadet Skippy is this to Roach Coach. It is the cockroach Buttercup tries to squash at the beginning of the episode, but in actuality, it was gathering information for Roach Coach to form a plan to defeat the Powerpuff Girls.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: The end of this episode.
- Friend to Bugs: Professor Utonium makes no attempt to harm the cockroach in his house, and instead tells the girls why these insects are so important. On a smaller note, Blossom did not approve of Buttercup trying to crush the roach either.
- Funny Background Event: Ms Bellum dancing over the cockroaches while the mayor frantically speaks to Bubbles on the phone.
- Giant Foot of Stomping: Repeatedly happens to the roach during Professor Utonium’s explanation. Of course, Giant is only relative here since roaches are so small.
- Hypocritical Humor: Professor Utonium makes an effort to teach his girls the value of insects and why you shouldn't squish them just because they're icky. But then at the end of the episode, he sees a spider dangling from the ceiling and squishes it.Professor: Spiders just creep me out.
- I Was Just Joking: "What are you gonna do, put 'em in a giant jar?!"
- Loophole Abuse: The Girls promise the Professor not to squish any of the cockroaches under the proviso that they're "only yucky on the outside." However, when trapped inside the giant cockroach made of cockroaches, Blossom decides that it's ok to beat up this one because it's yucky on the inside as well.
- Mobile-Suit Human: Roach Coach uses one to get around Townsville, though this does not become clear until the girls accidentally drop him to the ground.
- Madness Mantra: Bubbles gets one as the Girls are stuck inside of a huge cockroach made of cockroaches.Bubbles: Gross gross gross gross gross gross....
- Mr. Exposition: Professor Utonium serves this role when teaching the girls more about cockroaches...
- Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: ...as well as freaking the stuffing out of them with stories about the world being taken over by a race of bug people long after humanity has been wiped out.
- Straw Hypocrite: Subverted. Roach Coach wants to destroy all of humanity with his roach army when he himself is a human. But then it turns out that he's a roach controlling a humanoid robot.
- Title Drop: Done by Bubbles when Roach Coach is revealed to be a cockroach inside a humanoid robotic body.
- The Worm That Walks: Roach Coach and his entire army eventually fuse into a gigantic cockroach.
- Zerg Rush: The roach army’s main tactic.
Powerpuff Bluff provides examples of
- Blatant Item Placement; The disguises the 3 convicts use to dress up as the girls were literally right there, in their prison cell. Seriously, how did they get there?
- Brick Joke: Blossom did try to warn Buttercup that they can't just break out of jail. Apparently, the Mayor would have agreed.
- The Cameo: Dexter can be seen among the students taking a nap at Pokey Oaks before the police bust in and arrest the Powerpuff Girls.
- Clear My Name: What the girls have to do after the crooks commit several crimes while disguised as them.
- Comically Missing the Point: After Ms. Bellum explains point blank to the Mayor that the three convicts were impersonating the Powerpuff Girls, he snaps into action and... tells the police to arrest the Powerpuff Girls. Ms. Bellum promptly groans in response.
- Counterpart Combat Coordination: The three criminals and the girls have to resort to this to tell each other apart.
- Easy Impersonation: What the three crooks pull throughout the episode, leaving everyone but Ms. Bellum to think the girls were committing crimes, putting them behind bars.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: Subverted. In the end, Mayor jokingly tells the girls they have to go back to jail for breaking out in the first place, and everyone shares a laugh... then he says, "I'm serious," causing everyone to shut up stunned.
- HA HA HA—No: The afore-mentioned subversion of the "Everybody Laughs" Ending, as the Mayor joins in everyone's hearty chortle about having to send the Girls back to jail for breaking out... then says he wasn't joking.
- Mirror Match: When fighting the 3 crooks, Blossom suggests that everyone only fights his/her counterpart to avoid any confusion (earlier in the fight, both the crooks and the girls accidentally hit each other).
- Ocular Gushers: Bubbles sheds these after she and the other two are falsely accused of crime.
- Only Sane Man: Ms. Bellum is the only one who knew the crooks in disguise were not the real girls.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: The crooks’ Powerpuff disguises. Despite that it should be extremely obvious that these 3 are not the real Powerpuff Girls, only Ms. Bellum manages to see through the deception.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: The Mayor screams like this when the convicts decide to rob his place and hold him and Ms. Bellum hostage.
- Skewed Priorities: The Mayor would rather have the crooks take his wife over a glass poodle.
- Something Only They Would Say: The girls realize exactly who their imposters are when Ms. Bellum says that one of them called her "sweet cheeks", which the lead burglar had repeatedly called both Blossom and Ms. Bellum earlier in the episode.
- Wrongful Accusation Insurance: Subverted. It looks like all is forgiven for the girls once they unmask the real thieves, until the mayor points out that the girls broke out of jail, which is also a crime.
