Recap / The Powerpuff Girls (S1E7): "Major Competition"/"Mr. Mojo's Rising"

Original air date: 1/6/1999 (produced in 1998)

Production code: PPG-107

Major Competition: The girls get competition from a new superhero, Major Man, but quickly discover he’s actually a fraud.

Mr. Mojo's Rising: Mojo Jojo reveals he used to be Professor Utonium's pet monkey until the accident that created the girls made him smart...as well as an outcast. He demands the professor to give him the same powers as the girls.

"Major Competition" provides examples of:

• The Ace: At first, Major Man seems to outclass the girls in every way. The truth is that he's only good at heroics when he set up the situation himself.
• Aside Glance: The girls glare at the Narrator angrily when he nearly misnames them the Powderpuff Girls.
• Attention Whore: It turns that Major Man's "heroics" are really a ruse he does because he wants the fame and admiration that comes with being a superhero.
• Beat Them at Their Own Game: The girls expose Major Man as a fraud by setting up a monster attack themselves. Major Man, who is accustomed to being in control of the "threats" he defeats, turns out to be completely outclassed when faced with a threat he didn't orchestrate.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Major Man appears to be a brave and selfless superhero, but in reality he set up all those crimes to get all the fame and glory.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Major Man's superpowers are genuine, which means he could be a superhero for real if he wasn't obsessed with gaining fame.
• Didn't Think This Through: Even if the Powerpuff Girls hadn't deliberately made a deal with a kaiju, Major Man's decision to gain fame through Engineered Heroics was still incredibly short-sighted given the sheer number of insane things that attack Townsville on a daily basis. If Major Man couldn't fight one giant monster, something the Powerpuff Girls do all the time, then his superhero career would have ended just as quickly as it started all on its own.
• Easily Forgiven: The girls were rather quick to accept the townspeople's apology for rooting for Major Man over them, and resume their duties protecting them. In fairness, they were genuinely sorry.
• Engineered Heroics: Major Man deliberately sets up crises so that he can show up and save the day.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Even Professor Utonium is charmed by Major Man, and considers him a better hero than the girls.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Blossom gets the idea to set up a monster attack for Major Man to be confronted by when Bubbles pops out of the cloud they're on pretending to be a cloud monster.
• "Everybody Laughs" Ending: Everybody except for Fred the monster, when Bubbles playfully punches him.
• Expose the Villain, Get His Job: Or rather, expose the fraudulent hero, get the job which he took from you back.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: Major Man deliberately sets up crises so that he can swoop in and fix things. When faced with a threat that he didn't create, he proves to be way out of his league.
• Foreshadowing: A subtle example. When the old lady seemingly gets mugged, you can hear the mugger stammer a bit as he threatens the crowd. This is a sign that he is acting the part and Major Man put him and the old lady up to it. Furthermore, his banter with Major Man seems a little too witty, like it was rehearsed, and he leaves his hostage behind when he makes a break for it, allowing Major Man to capture him without any trouble.
• Glory Hound: After being exposed as a fraud, Major Man admits that he only became a superhero because he wanted to be famous.
• Ideal Hero: At first glance, Major Man appears to be this in every way. Subverted since he’s actually a con artist who can’t hold his own in a real emergency.
• Idiot Ball: One only has to take a quick look into Townsville’s history to know the city is infamous for its high crime and frequent monster attacks. Major Man really should have known that it was only a matter of time before a real emergency happened and he would be exposed as a fraud.
• Karma Houdini: A downplayed example. While Major Man does get seriously humiliated after being exposed as a fraud, he never faces any criminal charges for the things he did in his quest for fame, with the Townsville police simply letting him fly out of town.
• Kick the Dog: Literally—Major Man kicks an innocent puppy into the road so that he can save it from being run over. The girls see this first hand and realize that he's causing crises to make himself look good.
• Lantern Jaw of Justice: Major Man has one, though considering he’s a con artist the “of justice” part is questionable.
• Leitmotif: Major Man has his own theme song.
• Miles Gloriosus: Major Man can only solve a crisis when he set it up himself beforehand, and proves to be completely inept when faced with a situation beyond his control.
• Monster Protection Racket: All the heroic deeds Major Man performs were with fake disasters or robberies set up by himself. When the girls find out, they turn the tables on him by making a deal with a Kaiju to attack Townsville and expose Major Man as a fraud.
• Superman Substitute: Major Man is clearly a homage to the Silver Age Superman.
• Track Trouble: One of the things Major Man does during his superhero montage is fix a broken bridge before an approaching train can cross it. When the girls expose Major Man for the fraud that he is, among the other disasters he set up, Major Man admits that he deliberately bent the tracks so he could fix them.
• Verbal Backspace:
  Mayor: I'd never be able to get to the crime scene as fast as you do.
  Major Man: Of course not, Mayor. You'd have to know about it in advance, like I do.
  Mayor: What?!
  (The girls' eyes pop wide open)
  Major Man: Um... I mean... that's right, Mayor, you wouldn't have a chance. Now how about that theme song, huh?

"Mr. Mojo's Rising" provides examples of:

• Apathetic Pet: Mojo Jojo is revealed to have been Professor Utonium's lab assistant before he became an Uplifted Animal. Though Mojo remembers being helpful to the Professor, as it turns out, Mojo never helped him and always loved to destroy things.
• Bindle Stick: In a flashback, Mojo can be seen walking away from the Utonium house with one of these.
• Comically Missing the Point: After hearing Mojo's story, while Blossom and Buttercup let out a Big "WHAT?!", Bubbles was shocked that the girls used to have their own pet monkey.
• Create Your Own Hero: Jojo the lab monkey is the one who caused the Freak Lab Accident that created his future nemeses, the Powerpuff Girls.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: The newly-powered Mojo mops the floor with the Powerpuff Girls.
• Fireball Eyeballs: Professor Utonium gets these when Mojo’s destructive behavior brings back the bad memories about what a terrible pet Mojo used to be.
• Freudian Excuse: Mojo claims that not receiving any attention from Professor Utonium and the girls, despite his new intelligence, was what drove him to evil. Of course, it's all a lie as part of his scheme to get superpowers.
• Genius Bruiser: Mojo after being given the same powers as the girls.
• Hard-Work Montage: Mojo and Professor Utonium share one when building the machine that can give Mojo superpowers.
• Hero Ball: When the Professor hears about Mojo's backstory, he uncritically believes him and gives him the Powerpuff Girl's powers to him, convinced that he owes it to the villain for "abandoning" him. Of course, this leads to him giving a supervillain incredible powers to match and he stabs them all in the back the second he gets them.
• Idiot Ball: After reading the note left behind by Mojo Jojo, Bubbles asks who kidnapped the Professor despite clearly knowing who took him.
• Irony:
  • The narrator gleefully points out how ironic Mojo creating the girls actually is.
  • Also, on the same day the Professor decided beforehand to get rid of Mojo, hence why he had easily forgotten about ever adopting him.
• It's All My Fault: Mojo says this when he realizes that he accidentally created the girls.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: The resulting explosion from the Girl's births apparently led to the Professor forgetting he ever had a lab monkey, much less accidentally mutating him in the process.
• Madness Mantra:
  Mojo Jojo: "It was me... It was me... It was me... It was me..."
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: True, he wasn't a villain yet back then, but Mojo was responsible for creating the Powerpuff Girls since he caused the Professor to spill Chemical X into the bowl of ingredients.
• Once More, with Clarity: Mojo's flashback was retold from the Professor's point-of-view showing he was responsible for creating the girls.
• Origins Episode: We learn in this episode how Mojo Jojo became the mad scientist monkey he is today. This was later further expanded in the movie.
• Parents in Distress: Professor Utonium is abducted by Mojo in order to lure the girls to his lair.
• Purple Is Powerful: After gaining powers like the Powerpuff Girls, Mojo's eyes become light purple, and he becomes especially more dangerous.
• The Reveal: Mojo Jojo is responsible for the Chemical X being added to the concoction to create the girls.
• Self-Serving Memory: Judging by Mojo's reaction to discovering he helped create the Powerpuff Girls, it's apparent that he believed his version of the story was genuine. Then again, he was just a normal simian before the accident, so it's likely that these were the memories that his then-limited mind had developed at the time.
• Sudden Eye Colour: The scene where the Professor starts to remember Jojo gives a close-up on his eye, which reveals that he has blue irises.
• Tap on the Head: Mojo does this to the Professor when abducting him.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: After seeing Mojo Jojo destroying his own weapons, Professor Utonium finally remembers how awful his former assistant really was and calls him out on it.
  Professor Utonium: Mojo Jojo, now I remember you! You were the worst lab assistant I ever had!
• Tragic Villain: Mojo tries to paint himself as one by saying he turned to evil after he was ignored by the Professor in favor of the girls. According to the Professor after he finally remembers him, however, his destructive tendencies went back to even before he gained sapience.
• Titled After the Song: The title is a pun on "Mr. Mojo Rising", a lyric from The Doors' song "LA Woman", and an anagram for frontman Jim Morrison.
• Villainous BSoD: Mojo suffers a massive one after hearing that he was the one who caused Professor Utonium to spill Chemical X into the bowl of ingredients to create the perfect little girls, and thus created the Powerpuff Girls. He is so stunned by this news that he finds himself unable to do anything more than just stand and repeatedly mutter "It was me..." to himself how it was all his doing, even when the girls drain him of his powers. He's still not over it by the time the credits roll.
• Wham Episode: We learn that Mojo Jojo not only originally belonged to Professor Utonium, but he was the one responsible for the Powerpuff Girls' birth.

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